Permaculture by Jan Martin Bang

Author:Jan Martin Bang
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781782501862
Publisher: Floris Books

Rough stones require great skill to build with.

Easily shaped soft stone like this from Iceland can be cut to fit together.

Earth

Earth has been used in building for thousands of years in many different ways. One of the simplest is cob building, just placing handfuls of wet earth, a mix of clay, sand, silt and chopped straw, into flowing shapes that may be decided upon as you go along.

Adobe is earth bricks, dried in the sun, and cemented together using the same earth mixture as a bond. Pisé involves building a framed box, ramming damp earth in hard, letting this dry and then moving the box upwards to then ram in the next layer. In all these cases with an earth plaster finish on the inside and outside, you have a heat retaining wall, thermal mass, breathing qualities to give good air and a healthy inner climate.

You can make a test of your particular earth by taking a sample, shaking it in a jar of water, and letting it settle for a few hours. The coarser material will settle at the bottom, the finer in the middle, and the organic matter on the top. Ideally a mixture of between 50–70% sand, 10–20% clay, and a good addition of chopped straw is the best for an all-round plaster. The simplest plaster I’ve used was just a mixture of earth, sand and a little cow dung to make it hard.

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