Southwest Solaradobe School
Early Summer Newsletter 2003
Rammed Earth Plan 1364 will be loaded onto the Adobebuilder
website on
or about June 15. In our tradition of providing
small home plans for small amounts of money, Plan 1364 offers a greenhouse-combo-direct
gain passive
solar design. The south Greenhouse/sunspace Room measures 12'0" x
27'6", the middle Living/Kitchen Room measures 12'10" x 27'6",
and the back Bedroom/Hall/Bath areas measure roughly 13'6" x 27'6".
The large measurements above are the east/west interior measurements.
All walls are 18" rammed earth, except that a 14" adobe wall
separates the Kitchen/Living from the rear portion of the home. Clerestory
windows sit atop the 18" interior rammed earth wall between the
Greenhouse and Living/Kitchen Rooms. SWSA has worked with owner Frank
Proffit to generate this design, and work on it has already begun near
Edgewood, NM. Frank's place is already off-grid, so the entire home
is both passively and actively solar-powered with both AC and DC circuits.
Frank's water well is already on a solar electric pumping system. Stay
tuned about June 15 for pictures and a floor plan sketch for 1364.
For AZ/CO/NM Compressed Earth Block enthusiasts- a free demo: Buying
a new earth block pressing machine is like buying a new car- the price
is about the same and you have a rolling, shiny, impressive piece of
equipment to show off. But best of all, you have a practical block
maker that will create the material for your home- or many houses.
Laura Tweed will conduct a free demo of AECT's Impact 2001 at the Bosque
Store, Bosque, New Mexico on June 7, a Saturday. This is a rare chance
to see this machine in action, as few are able to make the long drive
down to the Advanced Earthen Construction Technology office in San
Antonio, Texas to meet with Lawrence Jetter, who produces the Impact
2001. Laura would like to set up your appointment on June 7 via phone
(505) 463-4766, or via her email at laurafly4@msn.com You are welcome
to bring a few 5 gallon buckets of your soil to see if it is viable
for block making- or might need more sharp sand- or clay. To find out
more about AECT machines, visit their web site at http://pages.sbcglobal.net/fwehman Laura will provide you with directions to the store (about 35 miles
south of Albuquerque) once the appointment is made.
The AECT Impact 2001, with it's accompanying conveyor and
stand.
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Southwest Solar~Adobe classes began in an
uncertain international atmosphere early this spring, and
that definitely affected
attendance.
We had more cancellations in the first few classes than at
anytime in SWSA's history. Folks were uncertain about travel
and what
to do with their home plans. But by late April, things began
to even
out, and attendance was up for the Tucson, AZ and Bosque,NM classes.
By
late spring, attendance had exceeded records for equivalent
SWSA classes
in the two preceding years. SWSA is dedicated to another tropical
Earthbuilding class on Roatán Island, Honduras this fall
or spring
'04, but we wish to begin a list of interested parties now.
Those of you from
the Caribbean Basin and Latin America are encouraged to express
your interest in this class which will be taught in English/Spanish
over
a three day period. Be sure to provide an email address, with
your name, location and a few notes about your plans.
Students at this springs Tucson Class work on
an adobe wall at Old Pueblo Adobe Co., Tucson, AZ.
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The Earthbuilders' Guild surges ahead in its formation efforts. The
fledging, regional entity, known now as "TEG", has begun
to solidify, with its corporate formation almost complete. Meetings
have been held in Albuquerque, NM, and recently at the solar/adobe
home of board member and Architect/Greenbuilder, Joaquin
Karcher of Taos. In fact, members were asked to
reach for their wallets and begin paying the dues that will finance
Industry promotional and
code development efforts over the coming months- and years. While
due paying members can vote and receive business benefits, other
memberships are being defined that encourage students and non-earthbuilding
entities to join at nominal amounts.
The photo shows a portion of
the formation group at the Albuquerque meeting: L to R, Secretary Susan Jerome of Mule Creek Adobe (Mule
Creek, NM), Joe Tibbets, Information Officer, Architect Joaquin
Karcher, Board Member, Larry
Elkins of Adobe International , Inc. www.adobe-block.com (Milan,
NM), Board Member, Vice President Jim Hallock of Earth
Block, Inc. (Pagosa Springs,
CO), and President Stan Huston of Huston
Rammed Earth (Edgewood,
NM). While formation proceeds, the group has begun to plan a strategy
in respect to the convoluted regional code development situation.
The next TEG meeting will be held in El
Paso, Texas, June 28. If
you are a professional Earthbuilder or make your living largely
from Earthbuilding and related trades, your participation is encouraged.
Contact Susan Jerome at Mule Creek Adobe (505) 535-2973 for
details.
Mule Creek Adobe News: Mule Creek Adobe, Inc. began
production early this year, due to favorable weather, and adobes are
in stock in different
sizes for western NM or eastern AZ projects. Employing up to ten rural
teens and using traditional ladder
forms, the yard can produce about 1500 fully stabilized adobes a day. MCA recently
played host to the Verde Valley School of Phoenix and Meadow Hawk Erdkinder
School of Silver City for adobe building instruction, money raising
and fun overnights on the ranch. Cliff School of Cliff, New
Mexico recently began work on a sculpture garden using Mule Creek Adobe.
Area contractors were introduced to the product line at a
presentation for the Silver City Home Builders Association in April.
Technical
assistance through the small business outreach program of
Sandia Labs is helping MCA realize
its goal of a passive solar adobe asphalt emulsion storage facility
to keep
emulsion available throughout the winter. A new Case 120 MX tractor
is kept busy
nearly 12 hours a day, and new steel ladder forms are proving an excellent
technological upgrade with virtually no maintenance and easy lift off
for the bricks. Mule Creek Adobe invites any and all
to stop by and visit them
at 547 NM Hwy 78 in Mule Creek, just 5 miles from the AZ border, and
9 miles off
US Hwy 180 West, or on the web at: www.mulecreekadobe.com
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