Building With Compressed Earth Blocks

[Flying J]

When I finally decided to go with CEB construction after much internet research, I set out to find, for purchase, a small manual block press. I had resolved myself to the idea that ultimately I would have to order such a machine from overseas. Though large expensive automatic machines can be purchased in this country, I was having trouble finding the small manual press. One day on some obscure forum, talking about CEB construction, someone answered the same question I was asking, "where can I buy a small block press". The answer, and remember now, I live in a very remote area of New Mexico, nothing but small towns nearby....The nearest small town to us is Capitan New Mexico, population 1,500....Guess where this forum poster claimed he heard of a manufacturer of these small presses..? Capitan New Mexico! And it is the ONLY place in the U.S. that makes them that I have found so far! If I had any lingering doubts about my choice, they were resolved with this stunning coincidence. I swear I had no knowledge of this company until I stumbled on that forum.

After purchasing the machine from this company and completing my project, they asked for photos of my building for their library. That's why you will see some of these same photo's on their website.

http://www.ferncometal.com

 

[baymule]

Welcome to the forum! Your house is cute and homey. CEB is something I have only read about, it looks like a inexpensive way to build a home. What a coincidence that the company that makes the press is right there in your town! I guess you lost no time in getting your press!

 

[sumi]

I'm so glad to see someone explaining earth blocks. It used to be THE building block around here and more than half the town we live at and all the old, surrounding farm houses were built with "mud bricks". And many if not most of those buildings are over 100 years old. What I find ironic though, is that the banks are reluctant to give bonds on properties with mud brick dwellings? These houses are sturdier than the new builds! Our farm house is build half-half, the older section with mud bricks and the additions with modern bricks and cement. We had some MAJOR roadworks nearby a few years ago that literally shook the house. Guess which walls cracked?

An added bonus is they are as environment friendly as you get. When we go out later I will try and take some pics of our earth houses and see if there is anything left of the ruin I discovered outside town one day. The roof and plaster got removed, so the rain got into the walls and they literally melted away. Huge improvement on a pile of building rubble?

 

[CDODD726]

looks great.... how did you determine the the footer size and construction? Did you just lay CBs in a mortar bed in undisturbed earth or did you actually pour a concrete footer?

 

[Flying J]

Footer size and construction somewhat depends on your location and type of dirt, etc. Living here in New Mexico the frost line is relatively shallow so a 14 inch deep footing was all that was required. I happen to have a bunch of cinder blocks left over from another project, so I used those. I simply stacked the cinder blocks without mortar and packed the cavities with dirt.

You don't want the CB's to be in contact with the earth as they will wick up moisture and degrade. With the cinder blocks being above ground level, I then started with the rows of CB's, each level mortared. You can stack these blocks without mortar but that makes it difficult to keep each course level, as each block varies in size slightly.

It has been up for 3 years now and it has not budged one bit. No cracking, degrading or any signs of movement.

 

[Flying J]

I had to experiment with the dirt I had right around this area. I was able to find some dirt that was high in clay content and mixed that with the dirt that I dug out of the ground for the footings and floor of the proposed cabin location. All this dirt was run thru a 1/4 hardware cloth screen to remove large larger stones and debris. I mixed these two piles of sifted dirt together in a small, inexpensive cement mixer. My experimenting revealed that the addition of a small amount of cement helped greatly to strengthen the blocks. Probably 3/4 cup per block. While all these dry ingredients were tumbling in the mixer, I used a pump up spray canister, as I was not near a convenient water supply, to lightly dampen the mixture. Wet material you don't want in this process. Material, when loaded into the press, is best described as humid. Even less than damp.

 

[Flying J]

From this point it is a matter of mixing and pressing blocks. I stacked these on pallets and covered them with cheap plastic tarps. Some people using this method of construction advocate immediate placement of blocks in your walls. I found this leads to too quick of drying and a weaker block. By tightly wrapping the blocks that are stacked on the pallets under the tarp, right down to ground level, allows them to cure slowly, eliminating shrinkage and cracks. Two weeks under the tarps, they can then be exposed to air. However water is the enemy of these things, so they must kept out of direct rain until protected in their final placement.

I started with a cinder block foundation, nothing fancy. This keeps the CEB's from making ground contact where moisture would destroy them. The walls were built like any brick wall. I used mortar between the courses. You can stack them block on block but with out the mortar joint, you have no real way of adjusting your wall to keep it level.

 

[Flying J]

 

[Denim Deb]

What does the inside look like?

 

[Flying J]

Thanks Baymule. It was a lot of work, but I really enjoyed doing this project. Not sure if I have the energy to do it again, but I sure am glad I did it!