PRE HISTORY Clay houses are found all across the whole world in every continent with tropical climates, very common with hunter and gatheres also permanent farming cultures. Ceramic houses are buildings made of an earth mixture which is high in clay, and fired to become ceramic. The process of building and firing such houses was developed as early as 15 000BC just before the dawn of farming. This way of construction souly includes huts with thathed roofing being extremely common.
The common clay hut house tends to also be a roundavel, in the construction of clay huts the base of the foundation what would become the floor and also lower walls of the hut roundavale is normally dug to create a sunken structure of a roundavale so it would be easier to build a large wood and clay dorm shaped furnace over it.
The benefits of building a clay hut is common due to the need of not having to worry about frequent maintenance of the hut versus a typical mud hut which needs frequent maintenance over a period of time. Clay huts became favoured due to their durability to last longer than mud huts made from dagga and wooden poles.
As mentioned in the introduction clay huts can be found to go back as early as 15 000 BC in what is today Tanzania by what seems from archeologist to be from a group of hunter gatherus that settled the area what is the southern highlands in Tanzania. Clay houses seem to be very common in hilly areas mainly because if you check huts which are constructed in mountainous hilly areas they normally have a sancken floor the main purpose for this is hest insulation since higher the elevation the colder it gets. Construction of clay huts was seen as durable and long lasting versus pole and daga hut.
In the modern world today around the common earth used for building ceramic houses is essentially a type of adobe with a higher clay content and fewer impurities. The earth and water are mixed until the substance has "the consistency of bread dough" [1] The clay/earth mixture is worked into forms, and the blocks dry over a period of one to two weeks. A mortar is made with a "flux" (glass, soda, or colemanite) to help fuse it.
The adobe blocks are laid so that the joints are staggered. There is no mortar in the vertical joints to allow for expansion and contraction during firing. Rammed Earth and Mud Pile can also be fired, but must be fired from both sides because of the thickness of the walls. Building with stiff wet mud, like a potter, allows for thinner walls, and the possibility of incorporating flue systems into the walls. Arches can be formed by stacking non mortared blocks as form work, and removing them after firing.
The firing system used is based on the availability of fuel and local know how. In Iran, village kilns used oil for fuel, so a simple, gravity flow oil burner could be used to fire each room. Flues are created (either integrated into the structural, or made for removal) and openings are closed with un-mortared brick. Joints are covered with a thin layer of mud plaster. The burner is placed at a low opening with room for air circulation, but protected from wind.
During the early stages of firing, 200–900 °C (392–1,652 °F) water vapor escapes through the flues located on the roof. Once the steam escapes, roof flues can be closed and heat will circulate the room before escaping from floor vents. This is when the room is heated to at least 1,000 °C (1,830 °F) and the adobe is baked. After the firing, only the ceiling flues are opened to allow slow cooling over at least 48 hours.
The outside walls are finished with either a mud straw plaster, fired brick, or ceramic tile. When finished with mud straw plaster, a thin layer of clay earth and straw is baked on to the structure at the end phase of firing, and a second layer of the plaster troweled on after cooling. When finished with tiles, they are mortared directly over a waterproofing layer such as tar. [2]
The primary shapes of a ceramic building, are squares and rectangles with roofs that are arches, vaults, and domes. This is in order to construct the entire structure of monolithic material (cost effectiveness) and also to achieve the tremor resistance and proven longevity of a shell membrane.
Adobe and clay can be sculpted into built-in forms and structures, such as seats and shelving, and fired with the rest of the house.
Adding oxides and different types of sand and clay can create different finishes. The most important mineral oxide in glazing is silica (which makes glass). Low fired glazes are preferable for houses. Glazing should only be done in some places to allow for a room's skin to "breathe." Glazes have even been made with recycled glass bottles. Salt glazing is another way to make an inexpensive finish. [1]
There are many potential benefits to firing an earthen house. Firing makes a clay structure water resistant. Ceramic kilns often outlive the earth constructed buildings they are close to. The materials for this type of building are accessible to those with very basic resources. Fuel for firing is the most expensive investment. The hardened membrane of a ceramic dome improves resistance to earthquakes. The structure of a ceramic house improves passive heat use through thermal mass. Added benefits involving the firing process include the opportunity to produce other ceramic goods for use or income, and, when firing an existing house, pest evacuation will occur naturally.
Experimental fired earth housing has also been constructed using the principles of an ancient Chinese anagama kiln. In the anagama kiln system, a wood fire is built at the base of a slope, and the gases are drawn by a strong draft up the slope through a tunnel. When a dome is constructed at the end of the tunnel out of clay, the hot gases bake the clay structure to ceramic hardness. [3]
Adobe is a building material made from earth and organic materials. Adobe is Spanish for mudbrick. In some English-speaking regions of Spanish heritage, such as the Southwestern United States, the term is used to refer to any kind of earthen construction, or various architectural styles like Pueblo Revival or Territorial Revival. Most adobe buildings are similar in appearance to cob and rammed earth buildings. Adobe is among the earliest building materials, and is used throughout the world.
A brick is a type of construction material used to build walls, pavements and other elements in masonry construction. Properly, the term brick denotes a unit primarily composed of clay, but is now also used informally to denote units made of other materials or other chemically cured construction blocks. Bricks can be joined using mortar, adhesives or by interlocking. Bricks are usually produced at brickworks in numerous classes, types, materials, and sizes which vary with region, and are produced in bulk quantities.
Mudbrick or mud-brick, also known as unfired brick, is an air-dried brick, made of a mixture of mud mixed with a binding material such as rice husks or straw. Mudbricks are known from 9000 BCE.
Mud is soil, loam, silt or clay mixed with water. It is usually formed after rainfall or near water sources. Ancient mud deposits hardened over geological time to form sedimentary rock such as shale or mudstone. When geological deposits of mud are formed in estuaries, the resultant layers are termed bay muds.
Plaster is a building material used for the protective or decorative coating of walls and ceilings and for moulding and casting decorative elements. In English, "plaster" usually means a material used for the interiors of buildings, while "render" commonly refers to external applications. The term stucco refers to plasterwork that is worked in some way to produce relief decoration, rather than flat surfaces.
Cob, cobb, or clom is a natural building material made from subsoil, water, fibrous organic material, and sometimes lime. The contents of subsoil vary, and if it does not contain the right mixture, it can be modified with sand or clay. Cob is fireproof, resistant to seismic activity, and uses low-cost materials, although it is very labour intensive. It can be used to create artistic and sculptural forms, and its use has been revived in recent years by the natural building and sustainability movements.
Building material is material used for construction. Many naturally occurring substances, such as clay, rocks, sand, wood, and even twigs and leaves, have been used to construct buildings. Apart from naturally occurring materials, many man-made products are in use, some more and some less synthetic. The manufacturing of building materials is an established industry in many countries and the use of these materials is typically segmented into specific specialty trades, such as carpentry, insulation, plumbing, and roofing work. They provide the make-up of habitats and structures including homes.
Earthbag construction is an inexpensive building method using mostly local soil to create structures which are both strong and can be quickly built.
Natural building is the construction of buildings using systems and materials that emphasize sustainability. This in turn implies durability and the use of minimally processed, plentiful or renewable resources, as well as those that, while recycled or salvaged, produce healthy living environments and maintain indoor air quality. Natural building tends to rely on human labor, more than technology. As Michael G. Smith observes, it depends on "local ecology, geology and climate; on the character of the particular building site, and on the needs and personalities of the builders and users."
The architecture of the California missions was influenced by several factors, those being the limitations in the construction materials that were on hand, an overall lack of skilled labor, and a desire on the part of the founding priests to emulate notable structures in their Spanish homeland. While no two mission complexes are identical, they all employed the same basic building style.
A masonry oven, colloquially known as a brick oven or stone oven, is an oven consisting of a baking chamber made of fireproof brick, concrete, stone, clay, or cob. Though traditionally wood-fired, coal-fired ovens were common in the 19th century, and modern masonry ovens are often fired with natural gas or even electricity. Modern masonry ovens are closely associated with artisan bread and pizza, but in the past they were used for any cooking task involving baking. Masonry ovens are built by masons.
An earth structure is a building or other structure made largely from soil. Since soil is a widely available material, it has been used in construction since prehistoric times. It may be combined with other materials, compressed and/or baked to add strength.
Superadobe is a form of earthbag construction that was developed by Iranian architect Nader Khalili. The technique uses layered long fabric tubes or bags filled with adobe to form a compression structure. The resulting beehive-shaped structures employ corbelled arches, corbelled domes, and vaults to create sturdy single and double-curved shells. It has received growing interest for the past two decades in the natural building and sustainability movements.
A tin can wall is a wall constructed from tin cans, which are not a common building source. The cans can be laid in concrete, stacked vertically on top of each other, and crushed or cut and flattened to be used as shingles. They can also be used for furniture.
Indian vernacular architecture the informal, functional architecture of structures, often in rural areas of India, built of local materials and designed to meet the needs of the local people. The builders of these structures are unschooled in formal architectural design and their work reflects the rich diversity of India's climate, locally available building materials, and the intricate variations in local social customs and craftsmanship. It has been estimated that worldwide close to 90% of all building is vernacular, meaning that it is for daily use for ordinary, local people and built by local craftsmen.
The history of construction traces the changes in building tools, methods, techniques and systems used in the field of construction. It explains the evolution of how humans created shelter and other structures that comprises the entire built environment. It covers several fields including structural engineering, civil engineering, city growth and population growth, which are relatives to branches of technology, science, history, and architecture. The fields allow both modern and ancient construction to be analyzed, as well as the structures, building materials, and tools used.
Bousillage is a mixture of clay and grass or other fibrous substances used as the infill (chinking) between the timbers of a half-timbered building. This material was commonly used by 18th-century French colonial settlers in the historical New France region of the United States and is similar to the material cob and adobe. In French torchis has the same meaning or the meaning of a loaf of this material.
Wattle and daub is a composite building method used for making walls and buildings, in which a woven lattice of wooden strips called wattle is daubed with a sticky material usually made of some combination of wet soil, clay, sand, animal dung and straw. Wattle and daub has been used for at least 6,000 years and is still an important construction method in many parts of the world. Many historic buildings include wattle and daub construction.
Musgum mud huts or Musgum dwelling units are traditional domestic structures built of mud by the ethnic Musgum people in the Maga sub-division, Mayo-Danay division, Far North Province in Cameroon. Referred to in Munjuk as Tolek, the dwellings are built in a variety of shapes, such as tall domed or conical dwellings or huts, some with a reverse-V shape, and others with geometric designs.
Qadad or qudad is a waterproof plaster surface, made of a lime plaster treated with slaked lime and oils and fats. The technique is over a thousand years old, with the remains of this early plaster still seen on the standing sluices of the ancient Marib Dam.