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Adobe walls around existing wooden pillars

 
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Hey guys, right now on my property there's kind of an open shed, basically 4 wooden pillars that support a basic metal roof.  The pillars are attached to the ground with concrete.

My idea is to close up the structure using adobe bricks, above a rubble trench foundation that spans between the wooden pillars (or should it go around them?).

My question is, how do I go about attaching my adobe walls to the existing pillars and roof, so that they don't just fall over? (I'm new to construction).

Also, should I somehow treat the wood pillars, since they would be in contact with the mud mortar?

Thanks in advance!

 
pollinator
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Location: Canadian Prairies - Zone 3b
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Bumping this thread so the adobe experts can chime in.

What's your climate? In a desert, no problem. In the PNWet, rot never sleeps.
 
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Location: Sierra Nevada foothills, 350 m, USDA 8b, sunset zone 7
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Hi Axel,

How tall are the wooden posts?
How thick is the lumber?
What is the area of this shed, height?
What is the roof shape?
Are you in seismic zone?
Will you use stabillized or adobe?
If you build separate walls between the column you are losing a lot of potential stability of a square/rectangular building. Walls should have some bond beam on top - made from heavy timber, concrete, tied stone slabs, etc. In this case the bond beam will not create continuous element.
You could tie the walls to the columns using metal L-shaped anchors, but if the rubble foundation of the adobe walls will sink, it will create cracks.
If the eaves of the roof are long enough you could build continuous wall AROUND the columns.
 
Douglas Alpenstock
pollinator
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How big is this shelter? Four pillars suggests a smaller square footage. Given that, maybe you can take on more risk in your experiment?
 
gardener
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Location: Austin, Texas
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I agree with Cristobal. With adobe bricks I would build the wall around the outside of the posts (pillars) and then cob the gap between the top of the wall and the roof.

You could also you movable forms or T-Bricks as they are called in this thread if you wanted to integrate the posts into the wall system. I would use screws for the corner forms since they would have to be partially disassembled to fit around the posts. See a sketch of a partially assembled walls below.  You'll need to partially drive a lot of screw/nails into the posts to provide a mechanical key for the cob.
T-brick.png
Sketch of T-Brick Shed mid-construction
Sketch of T-Brick Shed mid-construction
 
pollinator
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Assuming you have foundations of some sort for the adobe, make mortar from the same material the adobe is made from and lay about 3 rows of adobe.
Every 3rd level attach barbed wire between the posts and lay a bed or mortar and another row of bricks.
Don't use cement in the adobe, but try a bit of lime 5% for a start to see who it helps the brick
 
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