Making the Adobe Bricks

So, exciting news... the roof is about 1/2 way done! We just need to put up the tiles and skylights to finish up. I will put up pictures later. Please continue to pray for God's provision as we move forward to finish our home!

Today, I want to share a little bit of what I learned about the process of making adobe bricks. I am no expert... just sharing what I saw and learned as I asked questions.

Truly, making adobe bricks is demanding and time-consuming in many ways, but it is a cost effective way to build a house. Especially in many third-world countries.

After weeks of watching these men make hundreds of adobe bricks to build our home and the staff housing... I have a lot of respect and admiration towards these men. They work hard and do their job well!

It takes a small team of men to build several hundred adobe bricks at a good pace. When they first started making bricks for our home back in January... they were making up to 100 bricks a day!

To start off, they made a mixture of mud/clay, pine needles and water... yep, just three ingredients. They mix it and mix it and mix it some more until it holds together just right.

They don't use measurements or anything like that... it is all simply mixed together by feel and how it looks. It is much like cooking without a recipe  ;)

Because of the thickness and the importance of mixing everything together well... they would get in that pile of mud and use their hands, feet and a shovel. One guy chose to work with his mud boots and a shovel while the other younger guy worked with bare hands and feet.

After watching them, it is much easier to work with your bare hands and feet! I didn't try, but I think feeling mud between my toes would feel pretty interesting. HA!

Next, they would fill up wheel barrows full of the mud mixture and wheel it to the end of the long line of adobe bricks set out to dry out in the hot sun. Those wheelbarrows are really heavy with the mud, but they were thankful to use them... most men use plastic buckets to carry the mud back and forth.

Then a simple, wooden frame is used to make two bricks at a time to make the process go a bit faster. The young guy in the red shirt fills one side at a time by packing it down firmly with both his hands and feet (sorry, didn't get a picture of him using his feet to pack down the bricks). We were told that it is very important to make sure the bricks are packed down tightly to prevent cracks and breaks. Makes sense!

After packing it down for several minutes and smoothing out the bricks with water, he carefully lifts up the frame and moves over to do all over again....

That's really all it takes! Yes, it is fairly simple, but it still takes skill to get everything just right for the adobe bricks to last and to build a solid home. Thank God for these skilled workers!

Once dried, these bricks are HEAVY! One brick weights between 20-30 pounds! I lifted up a finished brick to get an idea and I can't imagine trying to lift those bricks up as the house goes up. Talk about a back-breaking workout, but these men are strong!

If you are wanting more information on how to make adobe bricks... here's a couple links to start off with:

• Making Adobe Bricks - Mother Earth News
• How To Make Adobe Bricks

There are tons of videos and simple tutorials out there... just google around!

Thanks for stopping and reading. Do you think you would ever try building adobe bricks to make a house or wall or something?? Would be a fun DIY project!