 | Hybrid Adobe sample Photos |
 Hybrid Adobe Sample Photo's 67 Photos, 3 comments |
 | Welcome to the Hybrid Adobe Revolution | May 15, 2006 |
Hybrid building materials and fibred adobes have created a revolution in homebuilding. Ancient adobe techniques have proven themselves with some buildings standing literally for thousands of years.
Philip Mirkin, who developed Hybrid Adobe, and dozens of earth builders like him, have combined the best of these ancient techniques and modern methods.
They’ve created a family of fibred materials that are more water and earthquake resistant than traditional adobe and mud-brick. They are also much lighter and easy to create and use.
Hybrid Adobe is a cutting-edge material with many applications including
building, landscaping, sculpture, and insulation. Thousands of our
students and many others are working together (or easily by themselves) to build low-cost, energy-efficient homes and more out of this material. You can make it yourself on site at very little cost.
The components include recyclable and reusable materials (including newspapers, magazines and other waste paper), water, plant fibers, clay, sand and a binder, such as clay or cement or fly-ash to satisfy building department requirements. The method is simple. You create a paper pulp in a mixer (similar to a large kitchen blender), blend in earth and a binder (as a strengthening, hardening and drying agent), plant fibers (including herbs such as sage) and even natural colour tint. Then you pour the adobe into forms, panels or in-situ walls to dry. The Hybrid Adobe dries in three days to three weeks and is then mortared into place with more Hybrid Adobe. It can be sheathed and plastered in hybrid or fibered adobe as well. Hybrid Adobe can also be used to create sculptures, garden walls, and furniture. It cuts easily with a saw once it is dry making sculpture and remodeling very easy.
Hybrid Adobe is non-toxic, flexible for greater earthquake resistance, and fire-proof. Compressive strength tests range anywhere from 600 to 1800 psi for this family of materials (approx. 3-8 mva), depending on the blend.
Tensile strength is extremely high due to the multi-directional nature of the paper fibers. Walls and panels can be reinforced with bamboo, supple-jack, red willow, or other fibres or with metal acting as reinforcing bar. Alternatively, smaller "bricks" or forms can be made. There is no waste as the material that falls to the ground can be remixed later. Walls can be left unsealed for maximum breathability or sealed with latex paint, milk paint, lime plasters, weatherseal or non-toxic materials such as linseed oil or prickly pear mucilage.
Since Hybrid Adobe is so easy, cheap and insulative (a 12" wall is rated at
R24-R33 depending on the blend), it is a perfect do-it-yourself material for home builders. Communities working together can easily complete a series of buildings, bush stairs and landscaping. A person working alone could build a small dome or insulated shed in a matter of weeks. Hybrid Adobe panels can also be applied to the interior or exterior of existing structures, insulating them. This gives the building a new aesthetic and improves structural strength while reducing the energy needlessly wasted on heating and cooling.
 | Whats Happening NOW | Aug 10, 2006 |
NATURAL BUILDING INTERNSHIP PROGRAMMES IN NORTH AMERICA
Our (northern hemisphere) summer internship programmes continue in the stunning Four Corners region of Southwestern Colorado, USA. Join us during the perfect cool September weather (and October color changes) for an extended hands-on... morePrevious blog entries: | ||
| Jul 4 | - | Valley Retreat are Hosting a Workshop on Vaastu Shastra |
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| Aug 10 | - | NATURAL BUILDING INTERNSHIP PROGRAMMES IN NORTH AMERICA |
| May 24 | - | Hybrid Adobe Information Sessions Dates and Times |
| May 15 | - | BUILD A LEGAL STRUCTURE WITHOUT PERMITS/CONSENTS |
 | BOOK IN FOR THE NEXT WORKSHOP | May 15, 2006 |
NEW INTERNSHIP / WORKSHOPS - JUNE 2006 !
| Start: | Jun 7, '06 8:00a |
| End: | Jun 18, '06 6:00p |
| Location: | Wellspring Retreat - Turangi (Taupo) |
Our final NZ programmes in Natural Building, Landscaping and Sculpture will take place in the Lake Taupo area.
Open dates between: 7 June – 18 June, 2006.
One-day workshop only: 11 June, 2006. $90... more
 | What Others Have Had to Say About Hybrid Adobe | May 15, 2006 |
Testimonials & Press Releases
WHAT'S BEEN SAID ABOUT THESE WORKSHOPS?(published in the Pacific Sun newspaper, Marin, California, 10 Feb., 2002)
Best Bets
"It's more fun than making mud pies. It can create charming houses and garden structures. It can be sculpted into wild... more
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| May 15 | - | Testimonials & Press Releases |
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