Doing what comes naturally may be the best route after all, including in home construction. You may find builders in the southwestern United States belting out with a hearty laugh at the mention of adobe as a "primitive" method of construction, since custom adobe homes now can sell for over $1,000,000 in areas like Santa Fe, New Mexico.

The oldest existing structures in the southwest are built with adobe blocks, including both homes and missions. The early settlers built with earth because it was the only plentiful building material. This dry, arid corridor of these United States did not have indigenous forests or huge quantities of rock with which to construct dwellings, so they used materials that were in plentiful supply - namely, mud.

According to the El Paso Solar Energy Association, adobe construction was viewed as the "poor man's house" with the advent of the railroad, when it became possible to transport building materials over long distances. It was at this time that the southwest began to see outside influences in home construction and architectural styles. Adobe began to be viewed as a necessity for those not able to afford the fancier building methods. Entire families participated in mixing mud in pits with their feet and then pouring the mud into wooden forms. Able to manufacture their own building materials on their own property, owner-built homes were still predominantly of the adobe variety for many people out of necessity, and not necessarily out of choice.

Fast forward to the 1990's and you may find that the flip side is true. Many now think that only the wealthy can afford an adobe home. The fact is, according to the Earth Building Foundation, and adobebuilder.com, adobe homes can be built to suit just about every budget. In New Mexico, most adobe bricks are manufactured in "Adobe Yards", with buyers fairly evenly divided between owner-builders and contractors.

Adobe is made from mud, pure and simple. Traditional adobe bricks (blocks) are 10 X 14 inches in dimension and about 4 inches thick. Made up of about 20% clay and 80% sand, the materials are mixed with water and the mud is then poured into forms to shape the blocks. As soon as the ingredients take permanent shape, the bricks are left to dry in the desert sun, turned on their sides to speed up the process, and then moved and stacked. It takes about 30 days to cure, the same time as concrete.

For those of you who think straw is an integral part of adobe construction, think again. It is used today only by those "trapped in tradition", according to experts. Early adobe builders added straw to the mix when large cracks developed on the bricks as they were drying, but it was later determined that the mix was not properly composed to begin with. The addition of straw was then eliminated and is now avoided, since it can become a food source for insects.

Some "high tech" adobe may contain asphalt emulsion in the mix to make it more waterproof. Although there is debate about the need for it, it can be most useful for exterior patio or courtyard walls. Adobe "purists" evidently cringe at the idea of adding an oil by-product to a natural building material, however.

Adobe may be one of the easiest building materials to use, since it possesses the ability to take any desired form by cutting and shaping. The mortar used to bond the bricks is also mud; not many building systems get easier than that. Purchasing adobe for a 2,000 square foot home may range in the neighborhood of $2,000 to $3,000, depending on location and composition of the adobe (traditional vs. stabilized). Compared to a concrete block, it costs a fraction of the amount of BTUs to create one adobe block, and there is the added benefit of the material be native to the area, which saves on transportation costs and adds to the local economy.

To find out more about adobe construction, visit: http://www.adobebuilder.com or email questions to: questions@adobebuilder.com.

Published: December 22, 1999

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A veteran of the real estate and homebuilding industries since 1986, Dena Kouremetis first joined Realty Times as a new homes writer in 1998. Since then, she has authored four books, written consumer columns on new homes issues for websites and newspapers all across the country, contributed to builder trade magazines, appeared as a guest expert on several radio shows and even created a ten-chapter podcast for LendingTree.com’s homebuilder website, iNest.com, now available on iTunes, entitled Uncharted Waters; Navigating the Purchase of a New Production Home. Kouremetis recently joined her local Folsom, CA Coldwell Banker office as a broker associate while continuing to write for the real estate industry. For the past three years, she has been training real estate agents for both the resale and new homes industries, putting her experience, research expertise and gift of expression to work to help others entering the business.