We just started laying adobes this week, so now seems like an overdue moment to talk about everything we’ve built up to this point! Since we’re so behind on our social media updates on this project–and Kenny is too long-winded for instagram anyway– we’re splitting this up into two posts. Foundation post 1/2:

For this house, while continuing in our normal slow-and-steady approach to foundation construction, we’ve managed to include a couple new details that have worked well for us. Some of these are problem-solvers–things that improve on other methods that we’ve used or seen used, and some are in response to changing conditions in the larger world of construction, codes, and the availability of materials.

Instead of a 10” stem wall, we’re using 8” for this project. From the crowd well-versed in the New Mexico Earthen Building Materials Code, you will hear a subtle gasp upon reading this. This was for years an allowable practice in that code. It was included to give adobe builders a way to insulate their stem wall, but not the adobe wall above–meaning the adobe would be cantilevered out over the perimeter insulation. A few years ago it was removed from the code, but that change did not take into account other assemblies that may also use an 8” stem for a 10” wall, perhaps for different reasons, or maybe without cantilevering the adobe. Having worked on several projects that used 8” block, we opted to do that here. It is much easier to work with, uses less concrete to fill, and is readily available. 10” block is no longer a stock item at many masonry yards now, 10” bond beam block appears to be no longer manufactured at all in Albuquerque, and having to cut out all those webs is awful work… ask anyone who’s done it. Most importantly, 8” does the job just fine: to build out to the proper thickness, we thinsetted a course of concrete brick to the inside of the stem which carries the “cantilever” over the slab, and the slab itself had sleeved dowel pins every 32” to connect it to the stem and limit any vertical movement.

#adobehouse #foundation #concreteblock #cmu #adobecode #adobeconstruction #adobebuilding

Jan 9, 2025