Rammed Earth : You won’t Believe How They Build This!
ฝัง
- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ก.ย. 2024
- Join Matt as he travels to see a Rammed Earth House being built in the High Desert of West Texas.
Architecture by - www.lakeflato.com
Construction by - www.pilgrimbuil...
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As a natural builder, I enjoyed watching this video. I have a small quibble of a point. The Rammed Earth shown in the video is called "cement stabilized rammed earth". Not to be confused with rammed earth which has no cement added.
Rammed earth walls have been used for thousands of years by many peoples around the globe. The Chinese used the method to build much of the Great Wall, and saved the stone for facing the walls to protect them from weathering.
Rammed earth is a technique that can be done by an individual, and most soil types (except sand) can be used. It is most efficient to use the on-site subsoil, preferably dug from the foundation area, and future pond excavations.
Cement stabilized rammed earth has a much higher carbon footprint, due to use of Portland cement, which is amazingly high in embodied energy use. And cement is often not needed if the design of the rammed earth structure has good "hat and boots", i.e. roof overhangs and stem walls.
Another advantage of both rammed earth and cement stabilized rammed earth, is they are impervious to insect damage. Unlike wood, or other cellulosic structures, termites and ants (and other crawlies) do no damage to the walls.
Anyway, thanks for showing us this alternative building method.
Is rammed earth building good for hot climate passive house?
Adnan Malik I’m pretty sure that is one of the best uses for it.
James Kniskern ,you seem to know your stuff .not just building but some other really neat things. I believe I’m your 4th subscriber.im a bigshot you tuber too..scrolled through your videos.every one looked interesting.let me know if you see this .my daughter & I have a spot in NC Sandhills that we’re going to pass on down the line one day & it’s been whispering “use what’s here to build “.getting louder every day. A lot of variety & the lay of the land & everything just feels right .like to make it nice for generations too enjoy.a good start anyway . your comment struck a chord.a couple things in particular. It’s late. better go.Id like to know if you could point me in the right direction or at least a direction.a good book,contact .anything would be helpful.not sure where you reside so...but if you would let me know what you think I’d appreciate it. So much misinformation online .mind-boggling amount of good & bad.
Good evening ,
Burke Wills
I was thinking, this isn't that different than just using cement blocks, it seems. You could use cement blocks then use a form and concrete to get a architectual looks on the wall exteriors.
@@wbwills2 I'm in KY. Have a strawbale house my wife designed. We know a few things. 😁Our house is a hybrid of ancient and modern building techniques. Some we used for efficiency, some for esthetics.
I talked my parents into building rammed earth over Adobe in Tucson AZ back in 1990. Their home was impressive and silent inside. Wall 2' thick, was so massive that the swamp cooler was only run evey 4 days and a single load of fire wood would keep the insides toasty for days. Power wise the house electrical only cost 15-20 a month.
I'll bet a couple gaming computers running would be enough to heat it.
@calavante swamp coolers work in Arizona because the air is so dry. They don't work in the midwest where the summer heat of 90 degrees is accompanied by 90 percent humidity!
calavante
We can’t help it that you don’t get out much. LOL!!!
@Douglas Gault,
Wow, that's awesome!
It seems clear that the people who are criticizing this type of construction as overly expensive, are failing to take into account the fact that the cost of occupying and maintaining these types of structures, is very, very low.
True, you have a higher cost up front, but these buildings will pay for themselves, over the years, in money saved on heating, cooling, and structural maintenance.
And because they are built to such a high standard, they will outlast any conventional stick-built structure, and are going to be worth much more.
In my opinion, this is a very smart way to build.
Michael Lambert why do they call it a swamp cooler if they only work in the dessert where there are no swamps?? 🤔
I live in the Algarve (South Portugal) and believe me: Most country houses that were built more that 50 years ago, were built using the very same technique you showed us in there.
Great video. A true homage to the ancient human knowledge.
Greetings from Portugal.
Thank You Mr Madeira
this technique is recent and only possible with modern technology... there's a huge difference between mud huts and compressed earth.
To all the wannabe rammed earth "experts" responding to Victor's comment, I suggest you google "historic rammed earth"
@@methemanization i just want you to know i only read the first line of that. congrats
Same greetings from Hungary applying this method for hundreds of years.
I work in the sign industry and once had to hammer drill about 300 1/4" holes into a monument sign, made out of Rammed Earth. 12 bits and 8 hours later, I realized this material and process is no joke. I wouldn't be surprised if it could withstand a nuclear blast.
In Morocco it's traditional to build our houses with earth, we don't use cement only earth with hay, the majority of ancient cities are built like that since centuries
Why the rest of the Great Wall are not rammed Earth. The Chinese see rammed Earth was Bullshit. And Chinese Wall was mixed with Clay. Not only Earth
Jimmy Nam
That means " TABOUT ´´
you are in usa, the government just let them to do that now...and they think they are free...they don`t let them to collect rain water ....in usa that free country...hahahah
We do the same thing in our region (Northern Caucasus). Besides straw we also add horse manure and make adobe bricks of desired size.
in many countries it's very economical to use earthen materials like clay and soil because it's everywhere, and it works as a good insulator.
the only problem is that if it rains you will have to repair you're house constantly, which is why you normally find these types of houses in deserts and places where it doesn't rain.
I'm an HVAC contractor in Canada and I worked on a rammed earth house once. I did the heat loss calculation and it was over 180,000 BTUH for 2500sq ft. When I showed it to the builder and voiced my concerns he just brushed it off and said my heat loss program didn't take into account "the mass" They did have a layer of 3.5" Roxul in the middle of the wall but no perimeter insulation on the radiant slab and huge thermal bridges around every door and window. The first winter they went through $10,000 of propane. I'll have to admit they do look really nice though.
Sounds like a bad climate for the material coupled with some poor choices on detailing.
Who cares about some boring calculations?) Only empiric approach, only hardcore!))
Doesn't concrete also produce CO2 ? Is there a danger of that? You are in a giant Stone box...
@@werewolf74 The manufacturing of cement releases a lot of C02, chemically and by burning fossil fuels for heat. Concrete doesn't off-gas significantly after its cured if that's what you were thinking.
That's terrible to hear, they must have been so disappointed. We have 8" of roxul in the middle and we did put 6 inches under slab and on all perimeters. We even cut the center of our top cap and filled it with foam, so there are zero thermal bridges. Our 2650 sq/ft home with a heat pump costs the same to heat as our 300 ft cabin with baseboards.
Matt. I'm watching this for a second time a year later. You should give us an update on this compound the next time you're in the area.
Still waiting on that update Matt.
For the question "When do you know it is compacted enough" it is actually pretty easy to tell as the wall will start "singing" meaning the sound changes very noticeably from a dull thumping to an almost ringing like sound.
legit! Quality shows when building this simple, no paint, no patching and done right the first time.
Here in the UK, we have "cob" houses, which is a mixture of mud and straw. I think sometimes that mix includes animal dung in it as well . Some of the buildings are still standing today and are over 400 years old .
I LOVE that desert architecture. Can't wait to see the Lake Flato house you will be building with them. They have a great style.
I live in a cob built house two foot thick walls on ground floor level. It's always a certain level temperature all year. Cool in summer and OK in winter. I somtimes put a little heater on 2kw but only for a short time or just leave on frost setting. So for 14 years now No central heating used. For real.
nice
wow that is fantastic. I've heard the original old "straw and mud" houses lasted a very long time... some still around today.
@@TiempoNuevo-ew7ty They were using baled rice straw to build houses a few years ago .Talk about thick walls . Came about as a result of restrictions on field burning . Needed a place for their straw . I think it's too much matter and decays too slowly to turn back into the soil each year .
I was in the Engineers Corp in South Africa an we built Houses same as you did when we where in Namibia in 1978 but we used more concrete and they where amazing our walls where not as wide we use to bolt the outer an inner reusable shuttering on a already cast floor we where a team of 6 we built 1 house a day we used two sets of shuttering one we built and one was being cast into. I was amazed you guys have taken it to the next level....Well Done
@@jeta-mariaswanepoel hi Mevrou hoe gaan dit met "U"
There are examples of this in Australia ,I was in the 1980's, western Australia south of Perth, Mathia's Bay.. great surf there. 18" thick. Remember that there is a ocean breeze there.. also some fire shelters in Victoria..
That’s fascinating. You built a whole wall in a day? Did you need water or was the mix all dry?
I find it funny after all this innovation and thousands of years of building shelters we've come back around to dirt rock cave-like structures. I believe that is a good thing. it's healthy and all-natural. And honestly, a structure like that would outlive many generations of people. Especially now when you have brand new houses failing in only 5 years or so.
And to think most folks think cave men were primitive dummies!
Isn't it ironic? the industries go for profit and quick, unsustainable build methods, when the end result will be thus. Such a disappointing Era, when we know.
1819 earth hut in West Texas - poor man's home.
2019 earth hut compound with heated flooring - rich man's abode.
I think the Portland cement is the big difference.
Those old earth huts just broke down and made everything unstable and dirty.
These are more like brick houses then earthen houses.
It was considered poor man's home because the culture was arrogant and ignorant and prejudice. They think poor people live like savages and don't know anything about quality culturul construction. But these Off grid, or adobe or earthen homes prove that the "poor man" was actually ahead of the game. lol
The good thing about rammed earth houses as built in places like Portugal is that although they don't last forever, but when the surface of the walls start to degrade they can be easily scraped out and reformed with a little water and re-plastered with earth stucco. When these start to break down the cement means they can't be recycled. Adobe houses use a similar principle.
@@kkknotcool More like brikies mud than brick.
A Hobbit House is EXPENSIVE!
You guy are finally doing what the Ancients were doing 10 to 13 thousand years ago.
yes but now with Ethernet and warm floors😉
Think it was much older and we have a way to go
Finally Rammed Earth on this channel!!!
In The GM Engine assembly line I worked on, small parts like the oil pan bolts would be delivered to the installer using vibration. I wonder if that could be used to deliver the dirt. Perhaps a combination between a conveyer dirt delivery truck like landscapers use ( also for spreading gravel ) and the vibrator mover to be cheaper than manual shoveling. The operator would stand where he could see where the dirt is to go and by the controls he is wearing on his hips, he is able to operate all the functions of the above said truck to control the amount of dirt placed where it is wanted.
For decades I have been a fan of rammed earth for building homes.
Hello. I'm a building materials manufacturer from Bolivia. We actually have a system like this but it can be built a lot cheaper. Here are some pointers. Make a sliding side coffer and pack 2 meter by thickness of wall each time. Use straw as a partial filler for stuctural integrity. if you Google "tapial construccion" there are a few videos. The Incas used to do this system way back in time. Cool video though. The houses look very nice. Plus they will last hundreds of years.
Thanks for this video. I am prepping designs for a new home, and hope to incorporate a couple rammed earth walls. Seeing this makes me believe it is possible. Great job!
I came up with my own building material. I mixed clay with straw and water (centuries old method) and then I added a little roofing tar cement. Stirred around really well it mixes in really good. You could plaster walls or do anything u want with this and then paint it with linseed oil after it dies. I'm pleased with this.
I WANT TO SEE THIS PROJECT WHEN IT IS COMPLETE...BEAUTIFUL!!
(I live in phoenix. I'm guessing this type of building would work very well here!)
I dwell in Mesa and have a MSBE from ASU. Would say depends on the location in Phoenix because of the lack of diurnal temperature change due to urban heat island affect in some microclimates. What does work in conditions where insignificant diurnal temperature difference is internal thermal mass. Right now living in a poorly insulated house temporary, so have 30 gallons of water stored inside and have been only needing to turn on the aircon in the evening, though shifting more towards the afternoon with warmer temperatures as Summer comes. Hope this helps.
@@adrielrowley The thermal mass of rammed earth would be similar to that of Adobe, right? The rammed earth used here is compacted dirt with 9% cement added. Most Adobe does not have cement added, otherwise, they are similar as to components.
@@DavGreg, adobe has the same concern of maintaining the average OA temperature. Both use a bonding agent, one cement and the other clay, differing on strength and stability (adobe is soft and will dissolve in rain). Straw bales have a R value of about 50 with little to no thermal storage, though have not come across too many in the desert (last time considered was long ago in California). This all starts to head towards experimental architecture. In short, praxis must support thesis.
North Phoenix here and I wonder the same. I know we have them here (more near Tucson) but I'd like to hear about the performance.
onekindesign.com/2017/06/22/rammed-earth-home/
I'm from the south and have never seen this... I AM AMAZED! this is AWESOME! If I lived out there I would definitely have a house like this.
I wonder if this is cheaper than standard constructed houses.?.?.?.
I love how the acoustics change inside an earth building. Really low reverberation.
Big lintels, yep. Consider the mass, as well as compaction forces!
There's a cool project in SA on Eisenhaur Rd that used rammed earth as well as compressed earth blocks. Pretty cool stuff. I'd love to see you cover projects in San Antonio!
The guy explaining everything to you looks like he couldn’t be more excited to talk to you.
USMC03-1408. He has a hangover and a large debt to pay. lol.
lol
@@rorytennes8576 Nope, it's what happens when you're given a job that engages your brain and you get a chance to explain the decision *you* made.
I noticed that, but in my view it's because the interviewer's manufactured enthusiasm is actually a little annoying.
Yeah, they both look like they are losing a lot of money.
23:41 They were both so stoic for almost the entire video, then Matt said "on...the BUILD Show."
Everyone loves that signature Matt Risinger ending.
They don't love it, they were laughing at it! Matt even acknowledges that it was "dorky" (which it is) and appeared a bit embarrassed by having to do it with real professionals he respects standing there.
He probably thinks he has to do it for those that need a "dorky" tag line to be entertained.
the video just started but I'm guessing this is SUPER EXSPENSIVE!
The forms alone are enough wood to build a building. Crazy!
Glad to see you guys promoting these nessisary and sustainable building methods, cheers! from Nor Cal.
Matt, get an old Whole Earth Catalog, the original early ones all had rammed earth construction techniques in them 50+ years ago.
Go back a few thousand years and native American's did this too.
for this guy everything is DAAANG COOOOL WOW
I wonder if they could make a video of the houses made during the Whole Earth Catalog days and what they look like today. I remember that was a great catalog.
Yes, until the old hippies got old and got jobs and realized that paying for labor makes it impractical. Those old school homes used nothing but friable clays, so its difficult to pass building code in any place with earthquake or rain issues. High desert is perfect. But importing the crew makes it very expensive.
@@markdoldon8852 Hi Mark! You know construction and materials... so if the old school people had used a percentage of concrete they would have passed code in earthquake and rainy regions? Do you know if any of the old school homes are still standing 50 or more years later? Are the homes presented here with concrete in the mixture... those walls don't deteriorate in the rain or break up in earthquakes and would pass code? I wonder too if the Whole Earth Catalog plan included different mixtures for areas of rain and earthquake too. I read that Germany is now widely using aircrete as the ideal material of the future. It's very easy to make, strong, light weight, waterproof, and a very low cost building material.
Pretty cool. We put the stuff these walls are made of on the ground and pave over top of it, and we call it soil cement.
There is a mosque in Timbuktu that is over 1000 years old and 5 stories high, built from "rammed earth".......... These African building techniques are ancient, the western world is just now learning of them.
?
Native American's were using this technique thousands of years ago.
9000 years ago in my country this was the same,....so, guess again m8.
@@thatdutchguy2882
"Native Americans"............? Hate to burst your bubble but America is nowhere near 9000 or even 900 years old. Whatever it was called prior to America may be, but not America. And where are any of these structures that you brag about today? This 5 story building in Timbuktu still stands today in pristine condition.
Furthermore, the oldest man made structures still standing today only date back to just over 3000 B.C. Which would put them at just over 5000 years old. And your talking 9000 🤣🤣🤣 stop smoking.
@@realnewsthatmatters9319 pfft 9000 yrs, Australian Aborigines go back 60,000 yrs but they never built anything just moved around
@@colstace2560
60,000 years ago the world was still in the ice ages. Where are you guys getting this bogus information from?
@@realnewsthatmatters9319
Well I guess everyone needs a jackass to show how smart he isn't. The ice age did not cover the entire planet. In the United States it extended to approximately 500 miles south of the northern border.
If you're going to be snarky and show off how brilliant you are please try being intelligent about your comments.
I am impressed! Working dry, pulvery earth into such solid walls! I have built some earthship-style rammed earth tyre walls, which are very solid as well. But you still need to fill the voids and do lots of plaster work. This is really impressive! Matt, Thanks for sharing this!
Hey guys, I build rammed earth homes in Victoria, Australia. Our form work is very different to yours and looks a lot easier to dissemble. Love your random courses and texture 👍🏻 great build guys.
if you get this response let me know how to contact you, if you are still building in homes. I am interested in one near Temora.
Matt I appreciate your enthusiasm. Your vids are very pleasant to watch and they are TV quality. Nice drone footage of the wall tops to show how the roof rests. New or not, I've not heard anyone else talk about this.
Love this. I would be proud to own one of these buildings. They are truly a beautiful piece of art for homes.
Reminds me too much of the bleak concrete high-rise housing of places like Russia and China.
butlerproman ...I happen to like the look of it personally due to it reminds me of uneven logs that span the entire building. I’m sorry it reminds you of that. It may be similar but this is what I have to say about it. Though what you have may be meager or great it’s the nature of the hearts in it that makes the home. So at that even though they have little real wealth isn’t measured by possessions. Also I’d be happy to have a home made of blocks or wood or stone if it’s mine.
Such a gorgeous book - each shed is unique and inspiring, and I love all the tiny details Kotite features to help readers imagine how to create their own She Sheds th-cam.com/users/postUgkxe9yi0sulKgsp0VJJCIrLWWkvVqcU7LFR . The feature on Dinah's Rustic Retreat is like something from a fairy tale. It's really inspiring to see how creative all these ordinary people are in making beautiful and useful spaces on a modest scale.
Ancient tech meets modern age. Dig it!
Wow, assuming that lintel at 10:30 is 8ft long and extends 4ft up the roof, that is 64 sqft of rammed earth. At the standard rammed earth estimated weight of 110lbs a sqft(ASTM D698), that lintel is supporting around 7000lbs. Beautiful! Beefy!
Well, I think you are weighing cubic feet of earth. And, the lintel only supports the weight of the material below the included arch in the wall. Just like a brick , or, stone wall.
Thats about right but from the description of the mix maybe closer to 130
110lb minimum.. I suspect that it is more into he 130lb range
Absolutely beautiful work! I love the bond beam detail. We live in a Rammed Earth home and we LOVE it!!!
@C J , we are in South East Arizona. It does great here, but we do have a heat source for the winter. I think most people use a ridged insulation when building with rammed Earth in the colder climates.
@C J , it will get to about 80 inside our house when the temps are I'm the high 90's low 100's outside. We typically see a temperature difference of about 20 degrees f. At night it typically drops to the high 60's so we open our windows and it cools everything down for the next day. Once you learn how to manage the thermal mass, it's great.
@C J I built and live in a rammed earth home in Canada. The biggest difference I noticed was the requirement for vertical rebar, and horizontal rebar through ties, which add a great deal of strength. Snow load requirements make it mandatory here, and somewhat higher percentages of portland cement are likely necessary, depending where you are. In the video I think he mentioned the walls are 1800 psi, ours crushed out to 4000 psi, but they needed to be a minimum of 2600 psi to satisfy the structural engineer. We have a 24" wall, with 8" inner and outer walls, and 8" of insulation in the middle. It is a very high performance home and I would love to see more of them in Canada, but unfortunately the added requirements do make it more expensive up north.
@C J it is difficult to determine the R value of the walls. On paper they have a static R value of approximately R 30. The dynamic R value is much higher. In our case, with 24" walls and 8" of encapsulated insulation, I would guess a dynamic R value of >R60. Put into perspective, our home has ten times the area of our tiny home we lived in while building, and costs the same to heat. Ranted, they have different heating systems, but a rammed earth home simply stores so much energy that it performs beautifully. It breathes very well, yes. We did not seal the walls, but many people do. Instead, we are relying on the plasticure we added to the dry mix for water repellant.
See, I didn't build a dirt house in minecraft. I used state-of-the-art rammed earth.
one of the earliest concepts of building modernized. brilliant. I gotta see this first hand
A crew with true commitment, outstanding guys enjoyed watching.
Back in the 30’s the Department of Agriculture conducted a study, decided it was too good. Didn’t stimulate the economy. Library of Congress has the study, very informative.
You mean "economy", in quotation marks? In other words something that is the opposite of the entomological meaning of the word .
Maxim C
What exactly does the study of insects have to do with the meaning of the word or usage of the word "economy" and/or it's opposite meaning or usage? I am not trying to be rude or sarcastic just trying to understand what you're saying!
Tim Cole
Yes the grand ole Department of Agriculture and their studies and any department of the government and their studies!!! They tend to suck inordinate amounts of tax payer's dollars & tend to have no answers good for the people and/or if they do happen to show benefits for the people or a competing business of any company donors of certain politicians and actual employees of the power hungry competitor businesses, are generally appointed to the committee put together for said study, then those positive processes, items, crops tend to go by the wayside and/or are criminalized i.e. hemp plants...the cousin to marijuana...which was actually the original plant that was outlawed not marijuana, but then when they perceived marijuana as some potential competitor to medicine the drug it was also pulled into the restriction because of the name being used in its official name and slang and the possible recreational usage and no way could the government say they were going to legalize street drugs anyway. So basically it went mostly unprotested by most voters who would vote way back then, or didn't know everything about the plant to protest either restriction! Hemp was outlawed because of all of it's various uses, but mostly due to it's competition with lumber, oil and petrol companies!
Hemp is so versatile it threatened the profit margins of logging, lumber companies, oil/petrol refinery companies! oil riggers, oil drillers, and the oil companies themselves. Hemp can be used to make a higher octane then most biomethane gases and is cheap to grow and extremely easy to grow and it grows a lot per square foot or acre especially in comparison to trees and is much more cleaner than gas and it also creates an oil that may or may not be used as a lubricant. I am not sure if hemp oil has ever been tested as a lubricant because the oil can be used medicinally, as well as for food!!! The plants can be used in many different ways for food and the seeds are very high in protien and are in fact higher in protien than any meat generally eaten in most American diets! And probably in the world, though i have not seen the protein labels on everything, hence the probably!! It can be used for cooking oil, hemp butter and more. Hemp can be used to make clothing, rope, and many textiles. It can be used in building, making fuel, all paper products, is easy to grow and grows rather fairly quickly and 1 acre is the equivalent to if memory serves me correctly at minimum, 10 acres of trees. One can find hemp plants growing in the wild around old manufacturing buildings from the 70s or before in cities like, if memory serves correctly on this one, Detroit and other known manufacturing cities mostly up north is where I heard most of the growing took place At least!!! It is also if memory serves correctly what Henry Ford used as a fuel source for his first vehicle built!! But the oil manufacturers convinced him as they did most electrical car companies to do which was to use petrol and oil from the crude oil instead of the hemp methane fuel and oil lubricants if it was used for his first vehicle as a lubricant as well! Same as the oil owners and eletricity owners and most businessmen stopped funding Nicola Tesla, because of money, and control! Nicola was going to create a world wide system that would allow free electricity to all people...they would loose large portions of their money making installations in society and thus their money and power and control of the people. They wanted control of the commodities and thus control of the money, power and people.
They have even gone so far as to demand one must, MUST have electricity and running water in most cities! Thus controlling the people and the money!
@@theducklinghomesteadandgar6639
When something is "too good, doesn't stimulate" the "economy", that means that that concept of "economy" is stupid.
Nowadays it's showed by intrinsic and planned obsolescence put into design of things we produce - we produce low quality things, so that they break up soon so that the cyclical consumption, that "keep "the economy" afloat", keeps happening.
More on this, and how *an actual economy* would look like from:
*Zeitgeist Moving Forward - Economy of increasing inefficiency (The Anti-Economy)*
(a clip on Nikhil VJ youtube channel)
*Zeitgeist: Moving Forward - Project Earth*
(on Christian G channel)
And/or the documentary *Zeitgeist Moving Forward* itself.
In the next comment will try to link direct links.
@@theducklinghomesteadandgar6639
And another clip:
*Zeitgeist: Moving Forward - Project Earth*
Christian G
Very interesting build method, thanks for sharing! Real shame about the absolute lack of PPE and H&S protection in general though...
you may not make a mistake yourself, but you won't get a second chance to beat the shit out of the guy that knocks you off
This was great, I was hoping you would cover the specs of the concrete stem wall or foundation on which the rammed earth wall was built, like how thick, how high, how deep in the ground, and what and how much rebar needed to support all that weight.
People have been making dirt homes for thousands of years. It's a great eco friendly building material, and while it may have its shortcomings in rainy environments through modification it can be made more resilient.
Fascinating ! I would not be surprised if a similar technique was used by the ancient American builders.If you look at some of their buildings that seem to be huge rocks tightly fitted together . If that is true then they did it even better and with no power tools ! Something to think about !
Although the home structure is boxy, I absolutely love the walls.
Magnificent work!!! The cost of this must be astronomical...
OSHA would have a night mare on this job site! lol
@Funk Enstein right? a fall from that height would be horrible.
They probably already got fined just for this video
You had me at Mooney. Hopefully this video doesn't disappoint. Thx in advance.
Matt: Look at the TH-cam channel ARTiculations and ‘Why we should be building with earth’. Wild, bumping into both these videos back to back.
Very interesting building method. What a desolate site, it looks like something from out of the Star Wars series.
A very Old building method, some of the oldest buildings in the world are earth built
Marfa is a strange place. It's where NY'ers from SOHO go to die. ;)
West Tejas is a place that has to be seen to be appreciated.
that is West Texas.
You can't bring that wookie in here.
It's basically an expensive way to do a decorative "concrete".
It's not concrete PRECISELY, but if you're mixing in portland cement and aggregate, you're essentially concrete.
If nothing else, it's interesting.
It uses existing material and less Portland cement, which is a huge greenhouse gas producer.
The fuel cost of the workers and compression drives up the carbon footprint. It doesnt perform as well or last as long as a concrete/rigid insulation wall.
@@sparksmcgee6641 There are rammed earth buildings from hundreds of years ago still standing.
I hear you hyperstrike. Whenever I see oak cabinets I'm like, why not just use pine and stain it?
@@rammedearthworksllc2864
Rammed earth on the project in the video. You're using sandy soil, aggregate and portland cement in the case in question.
What is concrete?
Sand, aggregate, portland cement.
YOUR POINT?
Yes, in other cases (like earthship construction) rammed earth is just that. Compacted soil in a retention system (tires in this case) and nothing more.
But I wasn't talking about that.
Okay, tired of this stupidity already.
Thanks for your time.
Are you gonna do another video after everything is completed? Would be really nice to see the finished product.
And then another video after 10 years. I want to hear how the owners liked these houses and if there were any issues.
Absolutely beautiful work, anyone that can't see that is blind.
Beautiful and thank you for sharing this “mouthwatering” video! A must watch! Fantastic work
These people don't appear particularly enthusiastic to answer questions.
Because your not there Clint
Yes, I noticed their reluctance also.
Well it's dirt like Adobe but compressed. I don't even want to ask the price .Its modern Pueblo and now modern American
This won't last long folks. I wouldn't buy stock in this company. Way to expensive and ugly and what women or man wants to walk on super hard surceases all day, and you think fixing cracks in concrete floors are expensive, with this construction you'll have the walls to-boot.
@@elpresidente3397 no. no it isnt.. they say multiple times it's portland cement with dirt added
The steel beam for the window frame will create a thermal bridge and when it's cold you will get condensation.
not enough humidity and probably not quite cold enough their to be a real issue I would guess. any condensation that might form the atomo would probably greedily absorb.
@@nerys71
You'd guess wrong. Some of the hundreds of years old historical rammed earth buildings around here have steel detached roofs covering the remains due to erosion by wind, water and ice.
When people lived in them they were always having to maintain them. Far more than some construction types. They also usually put a stucco type covering over the outer walls. Because it was easier to maintain, and you didn't want the weather to destroy the actual wall.
@@shaunofthedead3000 Any hundreds of years old rammed earth buildings are not at all like modern rammed earth which have a specific cement content. And rammed earth historically is quite rare, are you referring to adobe buildings? Those were fairly common and are very susceptible to weather. But very different from rammed earth
That is no exposed steel beam that is actually 3/16" cover plate for embedded struct angle above it, therefore that amount of heat transfer is far less than a beam. We supplied the steel
Yep ... I would think that would happen.
I enjoy when this show covers non traditional forms of building!
That is a VERY PARTICULAR construction method. The outside walls and floors define what the overall structure is gonna be like, but the interior walls might probably be changeable. Forget about additions... I was amazed that water was not used.
I would have thought that water was used to set the mud/cement/whatever that material mix is, but no water is used! Amazing...
I live in the San Antonio Valley, a ranching area 18 miles West of King City CA. The soil in this area gets really sticky when wet but hard as concrete when dry. Rammed earth construction was used by the pioneer ranchers for homes and outbuildings throughout this valley 100 years ago. One rammed earth pioneer home near me is still occupied by a ranching family. The last rammed earth structure constructed in the area is a garage with a laundry room built in the late 1940's. That +70-year rammed earth structure was recently rewired by the current owner for his new Tesla Model 3!
Matt.... I love your content. And I understand your niche are those big and beautiful custom homes but I'm finding myself more and more drawn to smaller homes. I'd love for you to do a mini series on tiny homes, and after touring a few, see if you could use your knowledge of building science to see if you had any idea's to advance the movement. I would love to be able to build my babies a tiny home and give it to them for their graduation gift after high school (in place of paying for tuition )... And after that... I'm gonna go build a village of modern yurts and live out the rest of my days there.
What is the mixture ratios?
The Chinese, among others, have been building this way for millennia. Of course they didn't use a cement foundation or bond beam. Rebar was most likely bamboo, and stabilizer was probably fired and dowsed limestone (like Roman concrete,) if they used any stableizer at all. Form-work was mostly done layer by layer -- not at all like this elaborate method. Tamping was done with a wooden or stone hammer. As each layer was finished, the form work was removed and reassembled at the top for another layer. Often a limestone render was applied to the surfaces. The only metalwork one was likely to find decorative on doors and windows or locks and hinges. Some rammed earth structures date back well over a thousand years. Built right, they can even be earth-quake resistant. It would be a very good method to employ for a tiny house -- especially for someone young with unlimited time but limited funds. One can even make rammed and fired roofing tiles.
Ditto on a series on cottages and smaller homes (including, but not limited to, tiny homes). I am planning on building as I get closer to retirement but it will be probably 800 Sq Ft +/-.
@@fga55 8% cement I think
@@dr.mikeybee not to mention fire proof. Good if you can use your own soil from earthworks on site
min 10:22 when he says "many many tons above the lintel". I google how much weight a rammed earth wall has. This is the answer: depending on density of soils and ramming it should range between 115-140 pounds per cubic foot. Or in normal none Imperial measures. Its between 550-680 Kg/m2
Matt, I haven’t seen it yet, but hopefully you’ll be doing a follow up on these buildings after they are occupied or at least finished. Cool project.
This is awesome. I have heard of this but never seen it done. I have seen earth bag houses done where it is hand tamped. It is great to see earth used to keep things comfortable from heat and cold. Thanks I am glad I saw you on YT channel Off the Ranch.
So glad you covered this. This should be the wave of the future. The R value, sustainability, and low carbon footprint I.E . no paint, synthetic chemicals in blown glass insulation, etc... not to mention longevity
134 woodpeckers thumbed this down
These are very beautiful houses, wonderful job in the era of 3 D printing of houses.
In Indian villages we used to live in these kinds of rammed stone earthhouses, to build houses for binding we mix lime, castor powder, some dry grasses and sugar cane extract (Jaggery) with the mud and construct walls, these houses are single-storied strong enough to last more than 200 years without any maintanance, ecofriendly
The house I grew up in was built in a similar fashion but without cement.... Was built in 1905 and finally met it demise around 1985..... And it only collapsed because no one was around to maintain the roof.....
You need to be wealthy to use a poor man's building method.
Well said. made me laff, but so true.
Well yes but that's small scale think 10,000 new homes in the the middle of India. Where only 10% of the 50 tone house needs to be brought in and the rest found locally (with in 50 km radias).
Or put it this way a cubice meter of road base similar size different material is 1.5 tone and cost $38+ ($42 for 7 bags of cement) is $80 per Cubic meter
Where a cube meter retail for concrete is $180 and weights 2.3 tone.
It's half the cost and a fraction of the weighting.
I could rant about this for hours but I'm not smart enough to know the total cost of labor and materials and transportation.
But to me it seems likely that you could use a cheap waste products to build a house.
Poor man is the one who miss knowledges. And you need more knowledges technically and practicaly to build in earth than to build in concrete.
Well said Stu
Living in clay building is sweet. Temperature is always sweet
I have done electrical to a 10 thousand square foot home in Toas NM about 13 years ago made of rammed earth the key to doing the electrical is running pvc to interior walls including your main panel and sub panels this eliminates notching the rammed earth to meet codes in these houses with open area is using floor boxes anything that can be done before slab is poured is the best way to go including communication lines the house I worked on was using spray foam insulation on the interior and exterior walls these are solid homes
somewhere there is a OSHA guy cringing at these guys walking around up there hahaha
I was really impressed with the appearance of the buildings, then towards the end of the video I became very disappointed by the complete lack of safety measures. Hopefully OSHA isn't watching this.
Why a osb engineered roof truss on a 500 yr wall design. That will be a huge issue when the glue life expires. Bad ..bad.
There has got to be enough lumber there in scaffolding to BUILD a house.
Rick Carrarini Much of that can be reused
There is another method that I'll be using where you make the RE wall in 4 foot sections at a time. U design it it key into each section as you go. when it sets, you strip down the forms and set it up next to it. greatly reduces the lumber costs and is better suited for the DIY builder or small crew.
@@klincecum I wouldn't bet on it. If these houses were being churned out by the thousands, then maybe. But these are going to be one offs and all bespoke. I'd be surprised if half of that wood get reused.
@Marten Dekker Go use a saw.
@@poppyrider5541 All of the wood is reused as forms to build other buildings several times. It's just like using concrete forms. The wood forms last for years.
I’m having butterflies each time they reveal something😂😂 Man I can’t wait to finish college to work on one of these or even build one of my own!!
In India houses in dry area (where the rain fall is not much) houses are constructed with sieved clay and splinters of Bamboo as reinforcement for walls and have light roof.
I spent a day with the author and proponent of Rammed Earth houses in Napa CA, David Easton. I think the take away was the monumental form work required, to offset the compaction stresses. Not for the fainthearted or those without significant financial resources. An ass-kicker of a way to get thick walls with character. The concealed bond beam at the top is its own event to achieve and a huge requirement here in earthquake country. Once again, Matt..... a great video.
neal walden, I also live in Napa and a friend was going to build a rammed earth house until he did the calculations on how much larger the foundation has to be as compared to a stick house. Having said that, there's nothing more beautiful than rammed earth.
Think you could rent commercially-available steel forms and get significantly faster/cheaper results. May not be the art quality of this project, but it obviously can be done far faster/cheaper, especially if you could set up your own on-site batch plant.
The labor cost of compacting every wall every 4 inches must be staggering.
Sure its a lot more labor than a poured concrete wall but its not any more than a brick/block, which are still usually layed by hand everywhere in the world (even though mechanical bricklaying machines exist now). If the site is somewhat remote but there is a nearby supply of the aggregate it could be a remarkably efficient method of construction.
@@dfpguitar traditional rammed Earth has no cement. It uses clay. It also has no stone filler. So unlike what they did here I can all come from the sight. That along with the thermal mass is why it became so common in Mexico. Shipping things from miles away has always cost more then the labour for making a home in history. Only after trains had using things from off site become a common or practical thing to do. In the end this has more in common with compacted concrete like is used on dams if what he said about the mix is true.
Not tp mention shoveling 3 million pounds of dirt.
@@dfpguitar its not. Ever. Even if the dirt is on site, the labor cost far exceeds any naterial saving. Its a high end boutique option. Efficiency and cost needs to be ignored.
@@markdoldon8852 novel methods are only uneconomical because workers with experience of completing projects hundreds/thousands of times with increasing efficiency and specialised tooling do not exist.
That's why things are slow, awkward and prone to problems.
In the UK the traditional method of housebuilding is with bricks.
In the USA you would probably struggle to find the labour to build a brick house, so it would end up slow and very expensive. Compared to the UK where it would be the fastest and cheapest.
Timber & SIPS construction has only just started in the UK. Ten years ago labour to work with that wouldn't have even existed here. Now it's begun it is typically factory fabricated stuff for commercial projects not independent homes.
American style timber "framing" skills (using a hammer or nail gun) has NEVER existed here. We skipped it. That is probably the cheapest style of construction in the US, but you would fail to find professionals to work in that style in the UK. (you could do it yourself though).
what I'm saying is that compacted earth or any other novel method is economical once the skilled labor exists.
But even without this, like the example in the video. I really can't imagine constructing these walls is more labour intensive than bricklaying.
Trucking in 3.5 million tons of sand + portland binder + concrete foundations + all the forming +++++ so much more. There is no way that this is a less expensive/stronger build than using other materials. The build is aesthetically pleasing but impractical.
James Jameson this is some of the strongest building techniques known. The oldest home found is 10,000 years old and it’s Cobb - similar, but based on mix of clay/sand/straw/water. An earthen home. The government saw fit to get rid of techniques homeowners could do themselves, require contractor licensing, and make money off every home built.
@@MW_Builds Spare us all your bullsh*t, it costs more to build a dirt home than a real home. Nuff' said., lmao...what a joke.
Love the Mooney! Best GA aircraft ever! I have many hours in one of those.
Bondo IS a house product, it was invented I think after WWII for housing use. Fillers for dents and such wasnt the intention but people found more uses for it as we went along.
Perfect natural insulated buildings, like adobe but lasts longer and more stable
yes with pur foam in sealing itz perfectly natural xD (can they use hemp ? or perlite mortar? or whatever less nasty...
That looks like a absolute ton of labor.
that's what I was thinking...then wondered if it will pass the test of time..
@@nw5052001 Not sure just know new unproven products normally at this level will have a ton of issues over time .
They are using the local soil instead of trucking in materials from very far away. Notice they had to fly in. The natural soil is very sandy and good enough to make a low grade concrete out of. Plenty strong for a one storey building. That's why in a specific application like this it's worth it instead of spending a fortune importing building materials.
Way too much...Wait until you are forced to pay Union Scale Wages too @$42.00 per hour
I love the Channel. I am electrical contractor and my biggest question is how do you wire a house like that? Is the client OK with exposed conduit?
I'm betting most of the interiors get a finish wall, might not be what the architects called for, but it's going to be a necessity for any future renos.
I've wired log cabins before and subterranean homes all had finished walls on the inside. But then your thinking what's the point if you just see drywall like every other home.
Now that’s the kind of work I would enjoy doing. Work your Hiney off and see your finished product. I’ve done lots of concrete. Built dams, silos, tank pads, bridges and sidewalks, lots of work, lots of fun.
We in Morocco have been using these techniques of construction for centuries especially in the arid areas of southern and eastern Morocco
Osha would have a field day here. No fall harnesses, no hard hats, etc..
Cory Witmer
And don’t forget riding in the forklift bucket.
F OSHA, humans been doing fine w/o all that BS for thousands of years. Let Darwin weed out the morons.
Liberals Saving the Planet get an exemption from Osha
Ever seen those acrobats in China that still use Bamboo scaffolding? Same ways for millennia
Nice change up from the usual. Have you any interest any alternative build methods, such as container homes?
seriously, I'll watch a hundred videos like this before I wanna see him talk about zip tape for an hour
Container homes only work where code does require insulation. Thermal bridging is a huge issue. Way cheaper ways yo build way better.
I'd be more impressed if they dug out where the foundation would be and built them half underground with the same dirt.
Sourcing local or onsite earth is usually checked first before spending a small fortune on shipping it in. I think from a contractor standpoint, you pay to get the correct mixture of earth brought in to save time in excavation, sifting, then mixing in the correct mixture, and then adding the correct moisture so that the earth and cement tamp together correctly.
So beautiful
My Grandfather Ken Kriegh built around 20 rammed earth homes in Claremont California in the late 30s to the 70s . He always said it was an easy and forgiving process but a lot of man hours.
I've been giving this some thought. Ther is a company called Symon's Forms. They make very large steel heavy duty concrete forms.They bolt together. They have steel strong backs and so forth. They would be a better choice for doing rammed earth. They can be put together in very long, very tall shapes. They can also be reused time and time again. Symons forms will rent them to construction companies. They're so much stronger than wooden forms that you could go to a higher psi.
Everything sounds good in theory, however with steel, you need heavy equipment to transport the steel plates, angle iron, I-beams... And then you would need some sort of crane to erect the forms. It's far less expensive to use and re-use stud grade lumber, and plywood.
@@armanflint You are basically correct, except that the steel forms and cranes or whatever save time... time is money too.
They need some way to mechanized and speed up the building.
@@justgivemethetruth That's why the Symons forms I recommended That and a custom built compaction machine would do the trick
I love the structures! They are beautiful and the quality of the finish is really nice, my only concern was, I saw ZERO PPE!! Not sure about the height of that structure, but if they're say, 15ft up (like the other building you mentioned), doesn't your building code require fall protection?!? I'm Canadian, and we'd get our site shut down like whiplash, if none of the guys had on appropriate PPE.
07:10 All that exposed rebar all around the jobsite makes OSHA mad. Won't even talk about fall protection when they climb up on the 15 ft wall forms. I guess that's the benefit of working in the desert. You can see the OSHA inspector coming from miles away.
coated rebar.. doesn't need much such as a silica anti rust clear coat, oil or epoxy based and MARFA is not going to have that type of inspector.. (ya, they should have had more safety gear of some kind.. than what we saw)
@@tsclly2377 I wasn't referring to exposed rebar because of rusting issues. Exposed rebar sticking out of the ground must have a cap over the end to prevent impailment injuries should someone fall and land on it.
Yeah, that man is just standing there on that ledge, and I keep waiting for the safety man run up yelling at him. :D
Thank you! I thought it was just me. There was a scary lack of PPE on this site.
yea and they shoulda been wearing masks cuz last year the flu killed some people
These are beautiful sculptures.
Watched a rammed Earth build in Ghana, under 3 thousand US for the whole project. I’m sure they’ll be happy to come in 300 thousand per building! Leave it up to US craftsman to take a centuries old cheap way of building homes for the common man, and turn it into a luxury project with a million dollar price point. Just crazy!