Norah sun

Hello,
I need your help on construction with adobe.
I am looking to build an earth brick house on two floors with a basement that can't be made of rocks  because there aren't that available in Morocco for cheap and the knowledge of rock building isn't that good in that region.
So i was advised to use concrete which could end up being very expensive too.
My question is about the thickness of the walls.
I am planning to use a ratio 1/10 in hight, so walls will be 40cm thick on the first flood and 30cm thick on the upper floor and 20cm thick low wall to surround the flat roof space.
I read somewhere that the fondation should be 10cm wider on each side of the earth brick (adobe) wall. Does that mean my concrete basement walls should be 60cm thick? or is there a way to go around that thickness to limit cost on concrete?

I have never built anything my knowledge is limited, so please try to give as much details as you can.

Thank you so much in advance.

Hi Johsua Pendleton, Annual rainfall is 300mm and i live in Morocco Marrakech region

Hi elle sagenev Thank you for these precision, i just read your blog, plenty of good tips, i like the mini krater with the pawpaw tree in the middle, i will start by tilling the wheat roots then experimenting with different types of earth works to see what works best, i will then plant some seeds: clover, sunflower, alfalfa, amaranth, and flowers. Mulch it with straw and let it grow for few months, Autumn in starting here and i will wait for spring to plant the first fruit trees.

Woaw guys i just read your answers, i didn't get a notification on my inbox! Thank you for that
The land is in a valley about 30km away from the foot of the mountains, no trees yet, it is still a bear land.

So my designs change ALL THE TIME, and you are right for a DIY project i feel that it is safer to stick to the ground floor. I had the time to visit some constriction sites and some newly built adobe homes in the region and i realised it isn't easy to find builders that do a good job, if i ever get a professional to look over my project, and when i enquired about the few good ones, the fees are quite high. I also noticed that a lot of the new adobe buildings are falling appart and need too much maintenance to last, while the old ones are still keeping strong, i think the good old technics have been lost.

For now i have been told to avoid east and west facing walls and maybe have a back north facing space to chill in the summer with small windows and thinking to put up a chimney in the corridor.
I will post my CAD model for this building as soon as i decide on one and then hopefully i can get some advice about the perfect location of "The cool room"

The flower house plan

Hello

I didn't find a topic on round rooms so i am starting one.
I planned an adobe home with 5 round rooms (bedroom, living room, kitchen, bathroom, connected with a corridor, and an entrance with a sun room to use for growing food and herbs in winter, in my area the adobe and rammed earth tectonics work best, i have been told by a contractor that the maximum diameter of my rooms should be 5 metres if i am planning to use local wood and no concrete at all for a flat roof.
Any ideas on different ways to place the limber for the roofing? any images of round rooms design? any precautions to take for openings (doors and windows, wardrobes)? i specially like openings (2m width windows) will that be possible with this design? any thoughts on the subject are welcome...
Thank you in advance

Hello

I live in Morocco and i am in the process of designing a passive solar, adobe brick, 2 storey family home for the cool winter i designed south facing rooms with glazing to use the sun heat, it doesn't get too cold, minimum 5 degrees celsius for a month or two then up to 20...my question concerns the placing of cool rooms, at least one that doesn't get too hot in summer, as we have very hot summer that reach 50 degrees celsius, it is a dry hot wind that comes up from the Sahara desert for 3 months where the temperature stays the same around the hour, with nights at 40 degrees, for most people here air-conditioning is a must.
i need some ideas of placing a room in the house, so it does not get hot, the walls will be 50cm thick with adobe, it is already a good insulator, and i will place the room on the ground floor north facing connected to the south facing living room from one side, do you have any ideas to keep it cool? what about openings? shall i have a small or big window? facing north east or west?
Thanks a lot

Very helpful, thank you very much

Hi, could you tell me a bit more about your conversion? how long did it take to have an acceptable soil for fruit trees and roses for exemple? a season? a year? more?
Also what kind of cover crop did you use? Also which earth work did you do? what's your climate?
Thank you

I want to turn a 1.5 hectare land into a food forest with vegetables, grains, fruit trees and flowers as eye candies and treats for my bees. The land is in a dry Mediterranean climate, hot in the summer reaching 50 degrees celsius and temperate in the winters around 10 degrees Celsius, frosting 4 or 5 days a year, we get 300mm of rain in winter, the land has been irrigated from a well and used for wheat crops for many years, it has an OK yield but the soil is extremely dry and needs rebuilding.
What do you suggest for this conversion? Can i go from wheat to fruit trees and flowers straight away? tilling before planting or no-tilling?

Thanks you