Casas de terra

Rammed Earth Construction
WHAT IS RAMMED EARTH?
• Rammed earth is a simple construction technique based on compacting earth between formwork to make a homogeneous mass wall.
• Rammed earth construction is a process of compressing a damp mixture of earth that has suitable proportions of sand, gravel,and clay into an external supported frame that molds the shape of a wall section creating a solid wall of earth.
• Traditional stabilizers such as limeor animal blood were used to stabilize the material, but cement has been the stabilizer of choice for modern times.
• After compressing the earth the wall frames can be immediately removed and require an extent of warm dry days after construction to dry and harden.
• The structure can take up to two years to completely cure, and the more it cures the stronger the structure becomes.
• When the process is complete it is much like constructing a hand made wall of solid rock.
HISTORY & ORIGINS
• Rammed earth technology has been around for thousands of years, as an ancient sustainable construction material, used to form monolithic walls.
• Long sections of the Great Wall of China, and famous buildings such as the Alhambra in Granada, and the Potala Palace in Lhasa are built in rammed earth.
• Many European castles and the cores of pyramids were made of rammed earth, then faced with stone.
RAMMED EARTH SPECIFICATIONS
• Properly constructed rammed earth walls are unaffected by rain, wind, fire or termites.
• Load Bearing Rammed earth walls are generally 18 to 24 inches thick.
• Non-Load Bearing Rammed earth walls are generally 10-14 inches thick.
• Rammed earth compressive strength is approximately 300psi.
• Rammed earth walls can be stucco-ed, plastered, or left bare to expose the soft, rhythmic layers of earth, like sediment lines in sandstone.
• Rammed earth can be used in any style building with any kind of roof.
• Properly designed, a rammed earth structure will store the sun’s heat each