Customer Reviews

Adobe and Rammed Earth Buildings: Design and Construction

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book is easy to read and understand when the author explains adobe and rammed earth buildings. The book seems to be a bit more focused on the details of adobe brick making which is great if that is what you want. The rammed earth sections are very informative but lack some of the construction details. I would have liked to have seen more detailed decriptions with better drawings of forms, for example. The author also has several table having containg soil composition that was a bit too technical for practical use. Overall,I believe this book is well worth the money for an introduction to adobe and rammed earth buildings. Additional books would be needed to learn enough to build one yourself though.

This book is for the individual who wants to and is able to build his/her own home. The details are geared towards someone who is already familiar with building techniques and jargon. If you're planning to design your own adobe home but have a contractor do the actually building of it, you probably don't need to know this much and will be overwhelmed by the information provided.

This book is full of great information and is well worth purchasing. For the average consumer it is all you will need. However as an engineer, I wish it had more technical information (shear capacity of adobe walls, etc). I've looked for such a book, but I don't think it exists.

I think this book is a bit dated, which I realize mostly when it discusses 'current' events from the 1980s... but mud and earth change little so the actual building information is helpful to me as a very beginner in earth architecture.