Making Adobes

Our process for making Adobe Bricks

[@projectbiggs7694]

Marina, sorry for my slow response. So busy building the house I rarely check KZbin. Typically straw is used when you have too high of clay content in your soil. It’s used to keep the bricks from cracking from the high clay content. The asphalt emulsion is used to help stabilize and make the bricks more water resistant. You can also use Lime or cement to stabilize the bricks. Lime is use when your soil is higher on the clay content and cement is used when your soil is higher on the sand content. Asphalt emulsion is good for either one, unless it’s really high clay, then you’ll need to either add sand or use straw. We are also choosing to have all our Adobe walls visible, not plastered. Adobes with straw don’t look as good unplasterd, “in my opinion”. We do have two interior Adobe walls. The house design is a thermal mass passive solar design. So the interior Adobe walls make it so each bedroom has a thermal mass wall associated with it. Mexico should be a great place to build Adobe! I’m sure there is a lot of local wisdom and history with what works best in the area and what resources are more easily available. Good luck! It’s hard work but it’s good work and worth it!

[@perfectlypancho9777]

Project Biggs thank you!’ Adobe Is becoming a lost art even in Mexico unfortunately. My grandmothers house is all adobe, built by grandfather. It’s the warmest home in the winter and the coolest in the summer! And we really want to build our own, I think the more earth friendly people start to become we will pick back up on adobe homes. I look forward to seeing progress on your beautiful home.

[@chairmansafron359]

Hi , Really Looks Wounderful , Can You Please Explain " Asphalt Emulsion concentration, in Detail pls. How to Make Asphalt Emulsion Solution , i watch your vedios Several times. Its really superb

[@SaifaldinAltayibMedani]

So amazing 🎉🎉 I love it

[@yoshuareece8785]

I wish more videos like this would include information about the location and climate

[@davidgilbert9335]

Really good

[@stayopenminded486]

Very cleaver

[@amanda3527]

Cool! What is that mixer originally made for? I want to try to find that in my country.

[@FunPaa]

nice. few questions. is it durable or adobe bricks that people stomp every 2-3 inch and then add more soil and then stomp. What is that black water any chemical in it ? What should be composition in this brick. And should straw, wood chip be used ?

[@sajidrafique375]

Salute !

[@perfectlypancho9777]

Loved this! Is there a reason you opted for asphalt, instead of doing the straw and dirt method? I’m assuming they are sturdier. Also are only your exterior walls adobe? Looking into building our own adobe home in Mexico. Full of questions!

[@miketlane]

it is still straw and dirt. the "Asphalt Emulsion" is added to the water to make the bricks resistant to water. mixing in Portland cement also does this. its called "stabilized adobe"

[@lawandenglishlearnmorewith3628]

Good work

[@umaribnabdullah829]

Ma sha Allah. Thats a professional work you done there. Can you recommend any book, author or academy to have more information? I've been reading some books about and i hope can get more complete information about earth construction. Greetings from Argentina guy in Indonesia!

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi, there. Thanks for watching, I hope you find some useful information in my videos that can help you with your future project. I’m sorry but I don’t know any good books or of an academy for earth building. I did most my research on the internet and then when I decided to go with adobe brick construction I was lucky enough to have a guy in a near by community who had experience and was willing to share his knowledge. If I was you I would look at and research, adobe brick construction, earth bag construction and rammed earth construction. They all have very similar thermal performance but very different methods of construction. All are relatively simple but one may be easier to get done in your area. For instance if you don’t have good access or it’s to expensive to buy asphalt emulsion or cement or lime to add to the adobe mix for stabilization, then earth bag may be better. Because it doesn’t require stabilization. Good Luck to you and please share with me your project!

[@umaribnabdullah829]

@@projectbiggs7694 Thanks my Friend. In sha Allah i will. In this moment I'm living in Indonesia as an expat so for the moment i just research but once the situation allow me i will start doing some projects. If anyone wanna start with earth buildings and wanna learn from clear and professional sources I recommend the bibliography of Wilfredo Carazas Aedo do for CraTerre. Have some good techniques such as Wattle and Daud. Adobe. And much more. Very clear. Very complete.

[@batapaledah]

very perfect and very thorough processing method, success always friends, polite greetings from Indonesia 🙏🙏🙏

[@chairmansafron359]

Hi , Really Looks Wounderful , Can You Please Explain " Asphalt Emulsion concentration, in Detail pls. How to Make Asphalt Emulsion Solution , i watch your vedios Several times. Its really superb

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi there. Glad you’re liking the videos. I hope you find them useful. With asphalt emulation stabilization, you want about 10 percent emulsion in the volume of water that you use to mix up your Adobe mud. The way we did it was to put 5 gallons of emulsion in 55 gallons of water and mix. Then use that mixture to add to the dry soil until it was the right consistency to pour into our brick molds. I hope this clarifies it for you.

[@SPECIALTRADER1]

Nice 👍🏾

[@faithphokwane8311]

❤

[@esoterraearthenbuildingbys5366]

Asphalt emulsion? Absolutely horrific

[@markb.1259]

Really neat work! Where do y'all live? It doesn't appear to be Ohio or Maine? lol

[@fabianmaciel5994]

Cual es la mescla que utilizan . Esta muy bueno el sistema.

[@justinparker7795]

5;45 can't believe you guy's put your hands in there with out telling him you were!!!!!!!

[@tamarabosshardt449]

I live in South Eastern Utah with blue clay and geodes. We dug down 10 ft for a septic and the dirt is the same as the top soil. It is like the moon. I recently scored on triple pane glass and want to build a green house. Should I use asphalt emulsion mix, Portland cement, sand or straw with the clay dirt? I have watched every video out there and I still know nothing (ha ha!)

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi, sorry I haven’t logged into Facebook for a while. You will probably have to do some experimenting. You don’t want to high of clay content. But with higher clay content soils you would traditionally use straw and or lime. Try finding some sand to mix in with it. Then make some small batches and make a few bricks. Try to control the rate at which they dry. Try to slowly dry them to help prevent cracking. Reduce the percentage of clay by adding more straw and sand until you find the right mix.

[@mrsuccessful19]

Project Biggs where did you get your form? Did you make yourself of have a fabricator make it? Can you share the design plans?

[@projectbiggs7694]

I had a friend of mine who is a fabricator make it. I’m sorry but we didn’t have any plans, we just had an Idea and build it. We built it out of aluminum to keep it lighter but steel would work also and probably not be too heavy. We put a piece of 2” x 4” tubing down the middle. This is very important so you can get your finger between the rows of bricks to stand them up for the drying process. Then we used 1/8”x4” flat bar for the rest of the form. We also canted the outside edges out just a hair (a degree or two) so that the bottom of the form was a little bigger to help the bricks slip out the bottom. Then we used some square tubing for handles. I hope this helps.

[@justiceforall2393]

Hello dear great job thinking of building out family home in africa with Adobe can you please post vedeo of the finished house and long do you think it will roughly take to build a big family house

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi there! Thanks for watching the video. I have a bunch of video content and plan on posting some more videos of the process we went through building our house and also a video of the finished house, but I broke my camera. So as soon as I replace it I will put together a video of the finished house. As far as how long it will take, that’s a hard question to answer. It took us 2 years to build our house. Depending on how big it is and how much time you have to work on it and how much help you have from family and friends, maybe you can do it quicker or maybe it takes you longer. No matter how long it takes you, it will be worth it! We love our house! It was a great experience to build it together.

[@MrCoolbeanstogo]

what are the dimensions of your bricks?

[@sandrawinter9960]

I just found your channel and am really enjoying your build. We are planning to start our abode home in AZ in 4 years. Where did you get your metal forms? What training did you have prior to this build?

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi Sandra. Glad you found us. Hopefully these videos can help you in someway. My experience with Adobe building was zero.Ive been dreaming about and researching Adobe and other types of alternative building methods for about 20+ years. For the last 15 I’ve been pretty set on Adobe. I’ve worked in most of the conventional construction trades a bit throughout my life but the main thing you have to have is patience, drive and commitment. Adobe is a ton of work, but for us it’s been super rewarding. I was lucky enough to meet and become good friends with an experienced Adobe builder who guided me through my mistakes. One thing I’ve found is Adobe builder are usually excited to share what they know. I hope I can help others through their planning and building also. I’ve got some other video content of some of the mistakes and things we’ve had to overcome in our learning process that I hope to put up as soon as I have a little more time and finish up this house.

[@mukhtarumar8648]

hi sir , I need to know about that black tar thing which you mixing with water what is it

[@projectbiggs7694]

That is called asphalt emulsion. It’s used to stabilize and slightly waterproof the bricks. You can also use cement, or lime. Or a combination of cement and lime. Cement is used when you have a soil with a higher sand content and lime is used when you have a soil with a higher clay content. If you have a soil with proper sand silt and clay mixture you can use asphalt emulsion.

[@anandhur2]

Hai ,the structure looks amazing, could you explain how to make asphalt emulsion and where yo sources it.In india we have bitumen something looks similar to the asphalt emulsion ,is it possible to make asphalt emulsion out of bitumen!?

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi, thanks for watching! Where I am here in the US, it’s readily available from our road paving companies. I’m not sure where you would find it in India, sorry.

[@MrCoolbeanstogo]

@@projectbiggs7694 is that the same as roofing asphalt?

[@anandhur2]

Okay

[@anandhur2]

May I know why asphalt emulsion is used in the mixture? And what advantages it offers?

[@heritier5119]

What emulsion means

[@PFSib23]

Приветствую, что за жидкость темная в ведрах?

[@Not_really]

Bitumen.

[@kopperlanimalrescue3046]

What is the measurements asphalt to water to dirt

[@projectbiggs7694]

Hi April. It’s about 10% asphalt emulsion to 90% water. Then use that mixture to mix with your soil to make the bricks.

[@diegobaez191]

Hello my friend , can you tell me the brick’s measures and if make the bricks with

[@diegobaez191]

With cement, what proportion will there are in the mix,?please i hope your answer, good work and thank you

[@projectbiggs7694]

@@diegobaez191 Hi Diego, if you use cement to stabilize your bricks you want to use about 10% cement by weight. But remember, cement is used when you have high sand content in your soil mixture, lime is used when you have high clay content. Cement doesn’t work with clay and lime doesn’t work with sand. Sometimes people will use a lime and cement mixture if the soil mixture is well balanced. You don’t want more than 30% clay in your soil mixture. The bricks we made are 10”x14”x4” places so our wall are 14” thick. Hope this helps!

[@dariogonzalez6249]

You guys are awesome,thanks for sharing your success & knowledge.

[@lawandenglishlearnmorewith3628]

Right

[@user-di6uh2nb9c]

Trillions and trillions of dollars business in the universe years 2024

[@wyomiles6580]

So you all see nothing wrong with sticking your hands into a giant meat grinder? Please stop doing that !

[@grahambird1570]

Holy Crap !!! Speak English >>> 'More far away' ????? It's 'Further away' !!!!!

[@projectbiggs7694]

I’m sorry, for being so offensive. No ones learned me how to spoke properly. I’ll try to be more better. Wouldn’t want to trigger someone.

[@tamarabosshardt449]

@ Graham Bird. Learn to punctuate before you correct someone's grammar. It just makes you look, well... like a hypocrite.

[@tamarabosshardt449]

@@projectbiggs7694 Wow, you are a smart and hard working man building your own large home and providing for your family and a person who doesn't know how to punctuate, corrects your grammar. By the way, in a later video I hear your children singing in the background and I want to commend you and your wife for having a well balanced and happy home ( priorities.)