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Rammed Earth Walls H South Dakota State University Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange Agricultural Experiment Station Circulars SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station 4-1959 Rammed Earth Walls H. H. DeLong South Dakota State University Follow this and additional works at: http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/agexperimentsta_circ Recommended Citation DeLong, H. H., "Rammed Earth Walls" (1959). Agricultural Experiment Station Circulars. Paper 147. http://openprairie.sdstate.edu/agexperimentsta_circ/147 This Circular is brought to you for free and open access by the SDSU Agricultural Experiment Station at Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. It has been accepted for inclusion in Agricultural Experiment Station Circulars by an authorized administrator of Open PRAIRIE: Open Public Research Access Institutional Repository and Information Exchange. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Circu lar 149 A prif 19 A gr,. 5 cuftura / tn 9 Depar tn. eer9i n tment g Agric ultural txpe riment Sta tton sour /.-/ 0A k ST OTA AT C t OLLEG BRoo klNGs t RAMMED EARTH WALLS CONTENTS Introduction __________________ _____________ 3 Uses and Characteristics of Rammed Earth ______________ _____________ 4 Uses- ----------------------------- ______ ________ 4 Physical Properties ____ ______________ 5 Density---------------------------------- 5 Specific Heat _________ ______________ 5 Thermal Conductivity ________ 5 Compressive Strength of Ramed Earth _________ ______________ 5 Durability _____________ ______________ 6 Tensile Stress ___ __ _______________ 8 Construction Techniques __________ 9 Foundations _______________ ______________ 9 Forms for Tamping__________________ 9 Mixing of SoiL __________ ______________ 12 Ramming Tools ________________________ 12 Attachments and Joints ____________ 12 Door and Window Openings _ 13 Construction Techniques of the Future _____________ ______________ 14 Practical Aspects of Rammed The late Ralph Patty, shown here, was Earth _________--- ------------------------------- 15 one of the pioneers in rammed earth Building with Earth is construction. Most of the rammed earth Widespread --------------------------------- 18 research at South Dakota State College Bibliography -------------------------------- 20 was done under his direction. COVER PHOTOGRAPHS Several rammed earth buildings and garden walls were constructed on the South Dakota State College campus 20 to 25 years ago. The photographs on the cover show the condition of some of the structures today. (Top) Several hundred feet of garden or retaining wall were built from 1932 to 1940. Here one of the older walls with a cement cap and stuccoed sides stands firmly after 25 years of service. (Second) Poultry house No. 1, built in 1932 and stuccoed in 1935, has been in con­ tinuous use. It is in good condition. (Third) A 26- by 72-foot machine shed with 10-foot wall height was built in 1934- 35. It still shows some of the sections of the experimental stucco panels. It is in excellent condition. (Fourth) Poultry house No. 3, built in 1939-40, was stuccoed in the fall of 1940. It is a 20- by 60-foot structure. It has been used continuously for turkeys and is in excellent condition. (Bottom) Poultry house No. 2, built in 1936, was stuccoed several years later, ex­ cept the upper part of the south wall which shows 22 years of direct exposure. 2 RAMMED EARTH WALLS H. H. DELONG1 INTRODUCTION Experiment Station constructed Rammed earth construction, as a five buildings and a number of test building process, dates far back in­ walls and protective walls and stud­ to history. The knowledge of how ied many soil mixtures and combin­ to build with this material was ations. vVork continued from 1929 brought to America from Europe. to 1940. The structures have been in There are records of homes and use from 20 to 25 years. Additional churches in the eastern United conclusions, which were not fully States which were built of rammed realized as early bulletins were pub­ earth and have stood for more than lished, can now be reported. 100 years. Inquires concerning rammed Rammed earth construction is earth construction continue to come usually associated with a "build it from various parts of the United yourself" program of construction States and foreign countries. This in which earth, the building mater­ publication reviews briefly the var­ ial, costs nothing, and in which the ious considerations in using rammed owner provides much of the labor earth as a building material. It gives of construction. Led by the Depart­ the physical properties of rammed ment of Agriculture, many of the earth, describes the construction state agricultural experiment sta­ procedures, reviews the character­ tions of the Great Plains area con­ istics of the finished buildings, and structed test walls and buildings in suggests some ways for further the 1930's. All stations concerned mechanizing the process. Favorable found that the material could be and questionable features are dis­ used, the buildings were substan­ cussed to guide those who might tial, and construction involved consider rammed earth construc­ much labor. Most of the stations tion for their own building projects. built only one or two small build­ 'Professor of Agricultural Engineering. ings. South Dakota Agricultural EJqJeriment The South Dakota Agricultural Station. 3 4 So11tb Dalwta Experi111e11t Statio11 Circular 149 USES AND CHARACTERISTICS the water slowly leaves by evapora- OF RAMMED EARTH tion. The adobe block must be reas- Rammecl earth is usually a sub- onably small so that non-uniform soil, with perhaps additional sand, drying and shrinking will not set up thoroughly tamped in layers witl 1in too many cracks. a form enclosure. The soil is placed Uses within the form in a layer about 4 Hammed earth is best adapted inches deep, leveled, and then for use in side walls and major inter­ tamped by heavy rammers until it ior partitions. It cannot be used for has reached nearly maximum dens­ below grade foundations, nor base­ ity. Succeeding layers are built ment walls above underground foot­ above it until the form is full. The ings. All but supporting interior par­ form can be taken off immediately titions are more quickly made with and the wall section stands. ·with wood or steel framing. Hoof struc­ the form re-set, other wall sections tures must be of wood or steel truss­ can immediately be built adjacent es with any of the conventional to, or on top of, the firstsection. The lighter weight coverings. form must always be accurately set For certain farm buildings, such in place and held there so that the as shown on the cover, the side walls wall is straight and true. form a substantial part of the build­ The layer of 4 inches of loose ing. In homes where so many ad­ material can be tamped clown to ditional building parts are needed, about 2 inches. Density attained will such as basements, doors and win­ depend on soil and ramming and dows, finished interior walls, insu­ will range from 115 pounds per cub­ lation, attractive roof design. and ic foot to 140 pounds per cubic foot. built-in cabinets, the side wall con­ The tamping procedure accomplish­ struction is only a small share of the es its work in t\:vo ways; ( 1) by re­ cost. Even if cost could be saved on peated ve1tical blo"vs of the ram­ the wall part, it is only a part of the mer; and ( 2) the rammer blows, total cost. which seldom strike the same place, Hammed earth is a stable, per­ tend to work the particles back and manent kind of building material. forth horizontally, thus working the It should not be thought of as tem­ material into the dense pattern. porary construction. This material is Such a relocation of soil particles never used where a tensile stress is cannot be attained uniformly by a developed, nor where a light-weight straight hydraulic press process: material is needed. The walls, if Even in rammed earth, the top of thick enough, have a fair measure each layer is more dense than the of insulation, but in most cases the bottom part, so 4 to 4)� inches is felt light-weight air-cell material, reflec­ to be about maximum for the loose tive material, or a combination of earth fill. The adobe, or mud brick both, will give greater insulation process of earth building, attains its with less space and less weight. density by shrinkage of the soil as ·what buildings can be construe- Ra111111ed Earth 1,Valls 5 ted of rammed earth? The South Da­ at the South Dakota Agricultural kota Agricultural Experiment Sta­ Experiment Station. tion, through its tests and observa­ SpecificHeat. Rammed earth sam­ tions, can recommend the following: poultry houses, machine sheds, ga­ ples ( 75% sand content) varied in rages, and barns where feed alleys specific heat from .18 to .22 British are next to a major portion of the Thermal Units per pound degree, as side wall. All such buildings should tested by South Dakota State Col­ have stucco coatings on the exterior lege Physics Department. walls and on interior walls wherever Thermal Conductivity. Investi­ there is danger of wear by contact gators' results vary widely and could with animals. well vary due to differences in den­ If rammed earth is used, it must sity, material differences, and mois­ be protected from water. Founda­ ture content at testing time. In tions should be 12 inches above 1941 the Bureau of Standards ( re­ grade, and the building site should port B�JS78) gives 11.8 Btus per be graded to drain away from the square foot per hour per degree per building. Substantial overhang of inch of thickness for their test walls eaves should be used to prevent where density was 125 pounds per water running down the walls. cubic foot. 'Nater should never be allowed to enter at the plate line and soak into Compressive Strength of Ram­ the walls.
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