page_title: Earth structure
section_title: Mud brick or adobe brick
hierarchical_section_title: Earth structure / Building units / Mud brick or adobe brick
caption_attribution_description: English: I took this photo at a neighbour's house in 1988
context_page_description: An earth structure is a building or other structure made largely from soil. Since soil is a widely available material, it has been used in construction since prehistoric times.
  It may be combined with other materials, compressed and/or baked to add strength.
  Soil is still an economical material for many applications, and may have low environmental impact both during and after construction.
  Earth structure materials may be as simple as mud, or mud mixed with straw to make cob. Sturdy dwellings may be also built from sod or turf. Soil may be stabilized by the addition of lime or cement, and may be compacted into rammed earth. Construction is faster with pre-formed adobe or mudbricks, compressed earth blocks, earthbags or fired clay bricks.
  Types of earth structure include earth shelters, where a dwelling is wholly or partly embedded in the ground or encased in soil. Native American earth lodges are examples. Wattle and daub houses use a "wattle" of poles interwoven with sticks to provide stability for mud walls. Sod houses were built on the northwest coast of Europe, and later by European settlers on the North American prairies.
context_section_description: Mudbricks or Adobe bricks are preformed modular masonry units of sun-dried mud that were invented at different times in different parts of the world as civilization developed. Construction with bricks avoids the delays while each course of puddled mud dries. Wall murals show that adobe production techniques were highly advanced in Egypt by 2500 BC. 
  Adobe construction is common throughout much of Africa today. 
  Adobe bricks are traditionally made from sand and clay mixed with water to a plastic consistency, with straw or grass as a binder.
  The mud is prepared, placed in wooden forms, tamped and leveled, and then turned out of the mold to dry for several days. 
  The bricks are then stood on end to air-cure for a month or more.
  In the southwest United States and Mexico adobe buildings had massive walls and were rarely more than two stories high. 
  Adobe mission churches were never more than about 35 feet (11 m).
  Since adobe surfaces are fragile, coatings are used to protect them. 
  These coatings, periodically renewed, have included mud plaster, lime plaster, whitewash or stucco.
  Adobe walls were historically made by laying the bricks with mud mortar, which swells and shrinks at the same rate as the bricks when wetted or dried, heated or cooled. Modern adobe may be stabilized with cement and bonded with cement mortars, but cement mortars will cause unstabilized adobe bricks to deteriorate due to the different rates of thermal expansion and contraction.
caption: Making mudbricks near Cooktown, Australia
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