Rammed Earth 2 Ramming a Corner

This video shows how to ram in general. The only power tool I used to ram was a mixer for mixing the soil, cement and water. I include notes on what I did wrong and corrective action I would take next time.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• Rammed Earth
• Adobe
• CEB
• Austin

[MonkeySpecs301]

Quick question, when you move the form to the next section of wall to be rammed, how is the end of the form toward the previous section of wall secured? Do you still use the pipe clamps and just pull them out of the wall after it dries? Thanks

[UltraThinGhost]

@MonkeySpecs301 I have a corner form and a straight form. The straight form looks the same as you'd see people using to pour concrete. The walers are wider of course.

Always ram the corners first (or alternate straight walls first); then, use your straight wall form to bridge between. The plywood is oriented longwise or widthwise depending on the span. The ends of the straight form overlap with the wall already rammed. The already rammed walls will have keyways

[UltraThinGhost]

- I used pvc plastic pipe (sewer pipe) split longwise. I placed them in before I rammed the corner and removed them after I removed the form. This provided a concave space for the straight walls' dirt to be compacted. This locks them together along with the concrete bond beam poured around the top of the walls when all walls are rammed.

So yes to pipe clamps.The straight wall is made up of plywood on each side of the intended wall with holes for the pipe to pass through.

[ShaggyDudeMan]

What do you think is the maximum clay you can use? I have a lot of clay also and don't want to buy too much sand if I can help it.

[UltraThinGhost]

@ShaggyDudeMan it really depends on the soil. But most of the mix (not less than 70%) is going to be sand. If you have a quarry around, ask about their "fines". You'll probably find it works. You could try digging down below your topsoil and testing to see how that mineral soil stands up. Cob uses more clay than rammed earth; maybe try that...

[Research0digo]

neat - was your soil really that dry, or is it just hard to tell from the vid, please?

Thanks again!

[UltraThinGhost]

@Research0digo the soil is wet enough to lubricate the particles; that's quite dry. The soil should only be wet enough that when you use one hand to make a ball and then drop from waist high it bursts into smaller bits (slightly larger than individual grain size).

[vutEwa]

"daddy look!" hehe you're so lucky. wish i was a father

[harrisbrent]

Atta boy! Great job.

[6ap1956wy]

nice to see ,you can make your own design on the wall,thanks.