Mud Construction ..: Submitted by Radhika Verma

Mud Construction…..
Submitted by
Radhika verma
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
Lab, Auroville Earth Institute
massive walls.
Auroville Earth Institute

Various construction methods are:
 Stacked earth (COB)

 Pise or rammed earth
 Adobe
 Wattle & daub method
 Formed earth (Straw Clay)
 Earth filled in
 Compressed earth blocks
 Extruded earth
 Cut earth
STACKED 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 18-

inches, (30 to 40-cm) long and about 6-
inches (15-cm) in diameter. Tamil Nadu, – Village house, India
• For making a wall ,a row of cob is placed

in proper line and is pressed to avoid gaps
and crack.
Ref-http://www.earth-auroville.com
•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.
Austin
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 Morocco

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.
India, Ladakh
India, Ladakh Construction of rammed earth
Construction technique India, Ladakh

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. Tamil nadu, India
• 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.
Tamil nadu, India
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 Burkina Faso, Quarry of Kari
wonderful building material.
• Lateritic soils can be found in two

natural states:
India, Orissa India, Orissa

•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. India, Orissa
•In areas where the soil is not cohesive enough,
people have used topsoil and grass to create
blocks.
Burkina Faso, Quarry of Kari
Kerala, India India, Goa
India, Old Goa India, Orissa

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 School of Architecture, Germany
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.
School of Architecture, Germany
•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

USA, California, Cal-Earth
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.

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. France
•The blocks are often hollow and are cut to

the desired length.
•This technique of stabilised extruded earth

was developed in the 20th century.
Burkina Faso
•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.
Burkina Faso
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. Belgium
•These walls are not load-bearing.
•they are light, have a very high thermal

insulation value and must be built in a wooden
structure.
Germany
•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,

Germany
formed between a wooden structure or as
prefabricated blocks.
Germany
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. Somalia, Genale - Village huts
•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.
France
Nigeria - Reinforced earth
France - House
Examples of mud construction-
Taos Pueblo (New Mexico) Arg-e bam (southeastern Iran,)
Shibam (Yemen) Siwa oasis (western egypt)
Djinguereber Mosque (West Africa.) West Africa (Uzbekistan)

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.
DISADVANTAGEs-
 Humidity is the crucial factor, mud-house will easily catch fungus.
 The brand- new mud-house may have foul odour of crushed green leaves.
 Erodes easily by water.
 Low tensile and shear strength , hence , roofs difficult.
 Susceptible to mechanical damage, rodents and burgles.
 Grip between earth and wood is very weak , hence, framed doors and
windows are not possible.
 Requires regular maintenance.
 Not fire proof and not termite proof.

Conclusion-
• Hoping that Mud – house will help open our eyes to an architectural
alternative design for preserving the natural world not solely for its own
sake but to provide an environment hospitable to man which should be
environmental friendly design.
• Today, common man is lost in the glory of newly introduced materials.
These materials have specific qualities but , still they are not best as
compared to the locally developed materials .
Bibliography-
•http://www.earth-auroville.com
•https://www. building-design-and-construction-systems-brick.co.in
•Pritchett, Ian. The Building Conservation Directory, 2001: "Wattle and
Daub". Accessed 2 February 2007

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Mud Construction…..

Auroville Earth Institute

 Stacked earth (COB)

• A very stiff mud is prepared by mixing

• The elongated egg shape mud is 12 to 18-

• For making a wall ,a row of cob is placed

• Two parallel planks are held firmly apart by

• Stiff mud is thrown in between these two Morocco

 When one section is completed and hard, the

Construction technique India, Ladakh

Tamil nadu, India

• In areas where the soils was cohesive

• Such examples are found typically in

• Lateritic soils can be found in two

India, Orissa India, Orissa

Burkina Faso, Quarry of Kari

India, Old Goa India, Orissa

•Humid soil was traditionally poured into

•Dry soil is also being poured into long

School of Architecture, Germany

•They call it Super adobe construction and they are

•They use Tubular roll of sandbag-type material

USA, California, Cal-Earth

•The earth extrusion technique has been

•Stabilised earth, at a plastic state, is as well

•The blocks are often hollow and are cut to

•This technique of stabilised extruded earth

• The soil required for stabilised earth is

•Thus the soil is more abrasive and the

•Very clayey soil, in a liquid state, is poured on

•The mix is generally tampered afterwards into

•These walls are not load-bearing.

•they are light, have a very high thermal

•It is mostly known with the name Straw

•Straw clay can be used as a filler wall,

•Wattle and daub method is an old and

•Due to excessive rainfall the Wattle and

Taos Pueblo (New Mexico) Arg-e bam (southeastern Iran,)

Djinguereber Mosque (West Africa.) West Africa (Uzbekistan)

 Low tensile and shear strength , hence , roofs difficult.

 Susceptible to mechanical damage, rodents and burgles.

 Not fire proof and not termite proof.

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