Building With Rammed Earth PDF
Building With Rammed Earth PDF
Building With Rammed Earth PDF
Rammed Earth
Marwa Dabaieh
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About
This booklet is a documentation for
one week hands on workshop
experience with Martin Rauch and
his team. More information was
added to this booklet for a complete
overview on rammed earth
construction from historical
background to contemporary
practice.
Table of content
Building with rammed earth
5
History and background
6
Advantages of Rammed Earth
8
Disadvantages of Rammed Earth
9
Building methods and techniques
10
Soil identification and preliminary soil tests
11
Soil mixing
12
Foundations
14
Formwork
15
Ramming
18
Plastering, rendering and re-touch
19
Rainfall erosion lines- Shrinkage- Color lines
21
Openings- Roof support- Quality Control
22
Fire Safety -Codes of practice-Cement stabilization-Costs and feasibility 23
Maintenance & Repairs- Productivity
24
Thermal properties of rammed earth walls
25
10
Soil mixing
As it is the normal scenario with earth buildings the secrete recipe is not
known yet. The mix depends on the type of the soil available on site. So
the experience plays an important role in reaching a proper mix and
following the famous saying -Grandma know how to make pizza-.
However the agreed upon proportion onsite was:
2.5 gravel, 2 course sand and 2.5 clay
Mixing is the most essential operation to ensure homogeneity of the soil
used. After the thorough dry mix process (using drum mixture) water was
added gradually. The mixture had to be turned over while water is
sprinkled to ensure that all the particles will be moistened. The amount
of water added to the soil is very important, because if the mixture
contains little water the soil will not be properly squeezed, and with too
much water the soil becomes too wet and water will resist compaction.
Generally speaking water forms 10%-15% of the mixture, and the
mixture should look quite dry after adding it. The drop test gave an
indication of the amount of water needed to achieve plasticity, but the
site conditions also had an effect, as water evaporates while mixing
specially in hot weather.
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13
Foundations
Foundation design for rammed earth buildings is very similar to that for
low rise buildings. Concrete strip footing are the most common types of
footings. The size of footings depends on the type of the supported
structure and the soil bearing capacity underneath the foundation. It is
important that foundation is of sufficient depth to avoid frost underneath
and footings should be well protected from water infiltration. The ground
immediately adjacent to the base of a rammed earth wall should be well
drained. Also extended eaves and raised footings protect walls from
rainfall. Generally the installation of surface and underwater drains and
damp-proof courses are considered essentials. We used bitumen sheets
for water insulation.
Foundation formwork
assembly
14
Formwork
Formwork in rammed earth construction is used as a temporary support
during soil compaction. Formwork can range from simple to complicated
systems and you can use plywood or steel ones. Like concrete formwork
it is required to have sufficient strength, stiffness and stability to resist
pressures it is subjected to during assembly, pouring the soil mix, and
dismantling. However, unlike concrete, rammed earth formwork can be
removed after compaction, enabling much faster re-use efficient
organization of formwork is essential to efficient rammed earth
construction. Martin Rauch, has commented that typically 50% of his site
time is spent erecting, aligning, checking, stripping, cleaning, moving and
storing formwork (Boltshauser & Rauch, 2011).
15
16
- Props or stays- the (fixed or movable) vertical posts used to brace the
form.
- Wedges for adjustment of the formwork.
To dismantle the formwork the metal bolts should be removed slowly
and the formwork should slid upwards slightly before being removed
from the wall. The process had to be done slowly and gently so that earth
does not stick to the formwork and damage the surface. The wall is
advised to be covered by plastic sheets to protect it from direct sunshine
and rain.
17
Ramming
The mixed moist soil was poured in the formwork creating a uniform
level of almost 15 cm, which after ramming was compressed to 10 cm. As
soon as the first layer was rammed properly another was poured to be
rammed, and so on. Both electric and hand metal rammers were used to
ram the soil. The metal were composed of a steel rod with a flat steel
plate, the weight of the rammers and the size of the plates differs to suit
the purpose for example to ram the corners.
A layer was considered to be properly rammed as soon as an echoing
sound was heard from the rammers, an indication of the compactness of
that layer. The width of the formwork enabled users to stand inside it and
ram, an advantage that ensured that all the corners and the edges were
rammed properly.
18
19
Re-touching process
20
Shrinkage
Rammed earth as all earth building materials containing clay, swell on
contact with water and shrink on drying. Only with tests you can predict the
percentage of shrinkage. The range of acceptable shrinkage percentage
differs from one building code to another and the range is from 0.05% till 3
%. Regardless of any code requirements, the shrinkage characteristics of a
soil should be examined and incorporated into the design to satisfy the
serviceability requirement of the structure.
Color lines
Every third or fourth layer you can add a color line for decoration. One spoon
of color power is added to the mix. Add the colored layer in the edge of the
wall then pour the normal mixture on top and ram.
21
Openings
Arched and flat openings can be made by using block-out forms or using
structural lintels inserted inside the wall formwork are an effective
means of providing openings over modest spans up to 1.5 m. Lintels can
be formed from wood, concrete, steel (T or angle section) and stone.
Lintels require adequate bedding length to avoid bearing problems and
preferred spans not to exceed 3 M.
Roof support
For loadbearing rammed earth structure, lightweight timber are most
widely used for typical floor ceilings and for roofs. Also load-bearing selfsupported earth vaults and domes can be used. In the absence of a wall
plate the roof may be tied down directly to the wall with ties (usually
metallic), embedded within the wall. In this workshop we used metal
sheets as a shed to protect the upper surface of the wall.
Quality Control
The most common problem influencing quality of construction on site is
keeping the earth dry prior to, during and following construction.
Material selection is important to the finished quality of rammed earth.
Quality of in-situ rammed earth can be measured by strength (cylinder or
cube compressive strength), dry density, surface hardness and finish.
22
Fire Safety
Rammed earth can be classified as non-combustible material. A 30 cm
wall is capable of providing fire resistance of at least 90 minutes.
Codes of practice
Some countries have specific codes or standard for rammed earth
construction like in Germany. Some good literature as a references can be
used for rammed earth construction like Middleton (1992), Houben &
Guillaud (1994), Keable (1994) King (1996) and Rhlen& Ziegert (2011).
Cement stabilization
Cement can be been used but not to exceed 5% of the soil mix. Reasons
for using cement are varied, but mainly for improving durability and
strength combined with reducing risk but it is not recommended.
Costs and feasibility
According to Martin Rauch, in Europe, 1m of rammed earth cost 100
euro, that is due to the fact the labor wages are very high. Rammed earth
is more economical in developing countries in that scene.
23
24
25
Conclusion
The recent widespread use of rammed earth across the world is an
evidence to its success as a building material. Design and detailing of
these buildings has evolved and developed in recognition of the
materials low strength, relatively high drying shrinkage, poor water
resistance and low thermal resistance.
26
References
Berge, Bjrn (2009). The Ecology of Building Materials. Architectural
Press
Boltshauser, Roger & Rauch, Martin (2011). Haus Rauch: ein Modell
moderner Lehmarchitektur = The Rauch house : a model of
advanced clay architecture. Basel: Birkhuser
CRATerre, 1982. Recommendations pour la conception des
btiments du Village Terre. Plan Construction/AGRA.
Easton, D. 1996. The rammed earth house. White River Junction,
Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub. Co.
Easton, David (2007). The rammed earth house. rev. ed. White River
Junction, Vt.: Chelsea Green Pub. Co
Houben, Hugo & Guillaud, Hubert (1994). Earth construction:
comprehensive guide. Londonb Intermediate Technology:
Kapfinger, Otto & Rauch, Martin (2001). Martin Rauch: rammed
earth = Lehm und Architektur. Basel: Birkhuser
Keable, Julian (2011). Rammed Earth Structures ; a code of Practice.
Warwickshire: Practical Action Pub
Rhlen, Ulrich & Ziegert, Christof. (2011). Earth building practice:
planning, design, building. 1. ed. Berlin: Beuth
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