EARTH AS A FINISH

MUD
• Mud, a mixture of earth and water, is economical,
practical, functional and attractive.
• It is easy to work with, and it takes decoration as well.
Mud is especially useful in humid and hot climates.
• Mud is a natural building material that is found in
abundance, especially where other building materials
such as bricks, stone or wood are scarce due to
affordability and or availability.
 INTRODUCTION
• Mud has been the most essential building materials since the dawn of the
man.
• Approximately 58%of all buildings in India are of mud brick.
• Mud is a building material which has already being tested and tried for
thousands of years.
• It is used in modern day construction and the method of using it is very
different.
• Mud has its own limitations which can be overcome by certain techniques.
• The main advantage of mud is we do not need lot of energy to manufacture
it unlike other materials.
• Mud construction is mainly found in places which are relatively dry and have
mud in abundance.
• The mud – house uses minimal energy, is comfortable year round
• The mud – house construction uses only simple natural materials, which are
any digging soil from the earth mixed with water and added up with paddy or
hay or any dried fiber or even recycling garbage.
• Mud house construction is durable and can be easily rebuilt .
• Mud construction also provide natural air conditioning which provide cool air
from the massive walls.
 MUD CONSTRUCTION
TECHNIQUES
• Stacked earth (COB)
• Rammed earth
• Adobe
• Wattle & daub method
• Formed earth (Straw Clay)
• Earth filled in
• Compressed earth blocks
• Extruded earth
• Cut earth
 COB
• A very stiff mud is prepared by mixing mud
and water in the proportion of 1:3 and it is
moulded into huge elongated egg shape.
• The elongated egg shape mud is 12 to
18inches, (30 to 40-cm) long and about
6inches (15-cm) in diameter.
• For making a wall ,a row of cob is placed in
proper line and is pressed to avoid gaps
and crack.
• In this way two to three layers of cobs are
placed one above the other and the sides
are smoothed to avoid cracks and gap.
• Door wooden frame or kerosene tins are
used to make the openings.
• COB is good for anything except height. It
is particularly good for curved or round
walls.
 RAMMED EARTH:
• This is a method in which the
strength of the wall can be
increased by increasing the
thickness of the wall..
• Two parallel planks are held firmly
apart by metal rods and clips or
bolts, or by small crosspieces of
wood.
• Stiff mud is thrown in between these
two planks and rammed down with
either a wooden or metal ramrod.
• When one section is completed
and hard, the two planks are then
raised up and a second course of
rammed earth is repeated over the
first.
 ADOBE:
• Adobe as a building material has been used since ages
all over the world and especially in Mesopotamia and
Egypt.
• Blocks are kept covered with air tight polythene sheets
for first 48 hrs with relative humidity up to 100.
• Polythene sheets shall be removed after 48 hrs and the
blocks shall be kept in shaded area like having enough
air circulation.
• Sprinkle water over blocks daily, as many times needed,
during 28 days.
• Write date of production on block corner.
• Cover stacks top with coconut leaves or any other cover
to avoid direct sunlight.
• Principle is that blocks shall not dry for 4weeks.
ADOBE:
 CUT EARTH:
• In areas where the soils was cohesive and contained
concretions of carbonates the soil was cut in the shape of
blocks and used like bricks or stones.
• Such examples are found typically in tropical areas where
lateritic soils give a wonderful building material.
• Lateritic soils can be found in two natural states:
•Soft soils - which will harden when exposed to air due to
chemical reaction of the soil constituent with the air
(carbonation reaction). This natural reaction is called
induration .Such soils can be found on the west coast of India,
from Kerala to Goa.
•Hard crust - which was long ago a soil and has already
hardened (indured) through the ages. Orissa in India show
wonderful examples of such soils and blocks. •In areas where
the soil is not cohesive enough, people have used topsoil and
grass to create blocks.
CUT EARTH:
 EARTH FILLED-IN
•Humid soil was traditionally poured into wooden lattice works.
Thus, it gave some thermal mass to light structures as well as
some acoustic insulation.
•In recent times, dry soil has been poured into synthetic textiles
which are hold outside by wooden poles driven into the
ground.
•Dry soil is also being poured into long synthetic tubes, which
are staked upon each other.
•Cal-Earth (The California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture)
does an extensive use of filled in technique.
•They call it Super adobe construction and they are building
what is called Eco-domes. Super adobe structures are an
excellent example of green building techniques.
•They use Tubular roll of sandbag-type material which are filled
with earth. A barbed wire is use to bind the earth tube
together. Later on the earth tubes are plastered with stabilised
earth plaster.
EARTH FILLED-IN
 EXTRUDED EARTH
•The earth extrusion technique has been used since a long
while in the fired brick industry.
•Stabilised earth, at a plastic state, is as well extruded through a
machine which gives the desired shape.
•The blocks are often hollow and are cut to the desired length.
•This technique of stabilised extruded earth was developed in
the 20th century.
•Compared to the brick extrusion in the fired brick industry,
stabilised extruded earth bricks show a major inconvenient.
• The soil required for stabilised earth is much sandier than the
one for fired earth.
•Thus the soil is more abrasive and the machines get damaged
at a much faster rate.
EXTRUDED EARTH
 FORMED EARTH (STRAW CLAY)
•Very clayey soil, in a liquid state, is poured on straw, which
has been chopped to the desired length.
•The mix is generally tampered afterwards into forms.
•These walls are not load-bearing.
•they are light, have a very high thermal insulation value
and must be built in a wooden structure.
It was traditionally used in Germany and was re-used for
reconstruction after the 2nd world war.
•It is mostly known with the name Straw clay.
•Straw clay can be used as a filler wall, formed between a
wooden structure or as prefabricated blocks.
FORMED EARTH (STRAW CLAY)
 WATTLE AND DAUB
• Wattle and daub method is an old
and common method of building
mud structures.
•Bamboo and cane frame structure
that supports the roof.
•Mud is plastered over this mesh of
bamboo cane and straws.
•Due to excessive rainfall the Wattle
and Daub structures gets washed
off.
•However, the mesh of cane or split
bamboo remains intact and after
the heavy rain is over the mud is
plastered on again.
 ADVANTAGES OF MUD:
Environmental impact:
• To save natural resources.
• Using neither cement nor rock (Save our mountains).
• To save building materials:
• Main materials are soil and water, mixed to be mud, if the
mud is too sticky, we can add up with paddy husky or rice straw
or local fiber weed or bamboo.
 Energy use :
• To save energy.
• Cool in summer (Inside building temperature is about 24°c to
26°c.
• Warm in Winter (Automatic control temperature by passive
cooling system)
Capital Expenditure:
• To save money .
• No air – conditioning, no electricity bills.