Thread: Earth Bricks
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Old 11-10-11, 09:58 AM   #9
benpope
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There is an amazing site in Morocco, Ait Benhaddou, which is a fortified city built from compressed earth bricks


That is a stork nest on the right tower.

The walls are about 18 inches thick and spanned with short timbers to make up the roof or second (or third or fourth) story floor. You haven't lived until you have been on the third floor of a mud house. The outside is covered in smoothed mud to protects the bricks and then beautifully tooled. New mud is added as needed--this is not a low maintenance building method.

Compressed earth bricks are still used widely, but the more modern method is to cover the outside with stucco. I saw a lot of buildings where stucco had fallen off. I'd guess this was due to the mud absorbing and then releasing moisture causing it to break away from the stucco. In a dry climate I'd expect to re-do the outside once every 5 years. In a wet climate, I'd guess once every year or every other year.

Last edited by benpope; 11-10-11 at 10:00 AM..
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