Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange
Abstract
In many localities the cost of farm buildings may be considerably lowered through the use of materials obtainable on or near the farm, such as logs, stone, sand, gravel, or earth, which being easily accessible would not involve heavy transportation charges and which, when used in buildings of simple form, do not require the employment of skilled labor. This bulletin describes the method of making and using adobe in the form of sun-dried bricks. The material consists of a mixture of clayey loam, straw, and water. It is of proven value as a material for walls, its use being traditional in the arid and semiarid areas of the Southeast. The so-called adobe soils are not essential to this type of construction as most clayey loams are suit. able. Nor is the use of adobe construction limited to arid regions; it can be employed in fairly humid climates provided the walls are protected from moisture and the building site is not subject to floods or excessive dampness. Very comfortable adobe houses have been built with but a small cash outlay and with unskilled labor. Many farmers might wel1 consider the use of this material, at least in certain minor structures
