Learn How to Build with Mud Bricks
Mud brick construction is relatively straightforward and and techniques can be picked up by most people so long as you have some practical skills and knowhow. If you have a supply of mud, or there is one you are allowed to access, making your own bricks is easily done.
Humans have been making and using mud bricks for construction for thousands of years. Basic mud bricks are made by mixing earth with water, placing the mixture into moulds, and then drying the bricks in the open air. Straw or other fibres can be mixed or added to the bricks to prevent cracking.
Before building anything with mud bricks, it is important to be able to make quality bricks. The strength and longevity of a mud brick will be influenced by what you make it with, how you make it, and the eroding effects of rain and wind that impact on it.
This course is aimed at those who have no prior experience with mud brick construction. It describes how to make mud bricks, how to bind them together, planning construction, foundation options, laying bricks, setting out around doors and windows, and ways of finishing mud bricks.
Course Code: ASS103
Course Duration: 100 hours of self paced studies
Study this course to find out how to make mud bricks and how to use them to make secure structures from sheds and outbuildings to houses and other residences. Learn how to set out a site and prepare the foundations. Develop your bricklaying skills and see how other components like doors and windows can be tied in. Become competent in mud brick construction and gain the confidence to attempt to make different projects.
What this Course Covers
There are 10 lessons in this course:
Lesson 1. Scope of Mud Brick
- What is Mud Construction (Adobe, Pise)
- Advantages of Earth Construction (Cost savings, Self satisfaction, Aesthetics, Eco friendliness, Health benefits)
- History of earth construction
- Pise (Rammed Earth)
- Mud Brick
- Wattle and Daub
- Cob
- Cinva Ram
- Cement Stabilisation
- Bituminous stabilisation
- Mortar
- Variations in Earth Building Techniques
- Appropriate Soils for Earth Construction
- Finding Resources
Lesson 2. How to make a mud brick
- Testing and working with different soils
- Soil Tests
- Steps in making a brick
- Plasticity Soil Test
- Cake Soil Test
- Compression Tests
- Brick Size
- Brick Weights
- Moulds
- Binding Materials
- Mixing Mud
- Treating Bricks after they are Cast
- Stacking Bricks
- Troubleshooting
Lesson 3. Planning and Site Works
- Choosing Building Materials
- Timber (Characteristics, Selection)
- Adhesives
- Plastics
- Masonry, Bricks and Concrete
- Insulation Materials
- Selecting a Building Site
- Solar House Design
- General Principles of Building Design
- Impact of Buildings on Health
- Dangerous Building Materials (Awareness and factors)
Lesson 4. Legal Considerations
- Building Regulations (Variations between jurisdictions)
- What might be regulated
- Types of Permits
- Building Codes
Lesson 5. Foundations
- Strip Foundations
- Slab Foundations
- Specialist Engineering Advice
- Rock and Rubble Foundations
- Problems to Avoid
- Sealing Foundations
- Other Options (Masonry pillars, timber pylons)
- Earth Floors
Lesson 6. Laying Bricks
- Damp Proof Course
- Methods for laying bricks
- Making mud mortar
- Laying mortar
- Bonding
- Reinforcing Walls
Lesson 7. Doors, Windows and Roofs
- Roofing Options
- Thatching
- Bark (for sheds)
- Tiles
- Fibreglass sheet
- Shingles (timber or slate)
- Mud brick domes
- Steel sheet
- Hessian soaked in concrete
- Earth/sod
- Roof Pitch
- Roof Weight
- Roof Gardens
- Doors and Windows
- Lintels
- Fixing, Joinery and Plugs
- Ceilings
- Timber Finishes
- Slab Floors
- Supported Floors
- Floor Surfaces
Lesson 8. Finishes
- Wall Finishes
- Whitewash
- Bondcrete
- Dagga
- Linseed Oil
- House Paints
- Natural Loam Render
- Cement Render (Plaster)
- Latex Paint Render
- Other Options
- Floor Finishes
- Applying Paints and Renders
- Natural Healthy Paints
- Making Lime Wash Paints
- Problems with Lime Wash
- Aly’s Clay Paint
- Tallow and Lime Based Coating
- Using Commercial Paints
- Timber Treatments
Lesson 9. Services
- Electricity
- Water
- Gas
- Toilet
- Working with Earth Walls
- Plumbing
- Electricity Supply Systems (Turbines, generators, batteries, Solar Cells, etc)
- Safety with Electricity
- Electro Magnetic Radiation (Managing EMR)
- Terminology
Lesson 10. Other types of Earth Building
- Making Rammed Earth Walls
- How to Build Forms
- Tampers (Hand and air)
- Rammed Earth Construction
- Wattle and Daub
- Sod Buildings
- Cob
How do you Make Mud Bricks?
If you've thought of building a mud brick building, this course can be an excellent starting point. Its very practical, with some hands on work to get you started; helping you begin experimenting and planning ongoing projects, whether they are a modest garden wall, or more complex buildings. Learn to test soil suitability for mud building, how to make a quality brick & how to test its strength. The course takes you step by step through the building process, showing how to plan a building, sorting through permits and other legalities, doing the site works & foundations, different construction techniques, laying bricks, frames & roofs, installing services, wall finishes and more.
Learn about earth construction, for any type of building: from house to garden shed; garden wall to community hall
Mud Brick Construction aims to develop an understanding of how to approach building with mud bricks. Mud brick building is also known by the alternative name 'adobe'. There are other ways of building with mud brick apart from 'adobe'. These will be covered briefly in this course. For the novice, there is not a lot which can go wrong if you choose to build with mud brick.
How This Course Could Help You
This course is ideal for the home handyman or handywoman who wants to explore ways to make things from mud bricks. It is also useful for anyone who is contemplating a career change into construction or who perhaps has some leanings towards setting up their own business in this field - whether supplying mud bricks, making them, or in building.
This course may be studied by itself or you can include it in a self-designed qualification with other modules of your choice.
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