Today is the Labor Day. Co-incidentally we had a workshop in Grampari on building walls by ramming the mud. I must say that the workshop was quite labor intensive, yet a lot informative too. It was conducted by Mr Saurabh Phalke, an architect from Pune. He is a young fellow and works in the villages for helping them in the construction activities using least possible energy.
This technique of building such walls out of earth is not a new one. Big constructions were done in ancient times using this technique.
The technique totally depends on the binding power of clay. Sand, Mud and Cement are mixed up in the ration of 6:6:1. Then they are mixed up with some amount of water. This mixture is then put into the rectangular hollow forms, one open end of it being on the ground and the other facing the sky. The construction goes layer by layer.
A layer of roughly 8-9 inches is made out of that mixture and then it is being rammed with all the possible force from the top so that the composition binds itself. This layer should be reduced to 4 inches after ramming.
And then the next layer is done. A couple of porcupines are to be inserted near the edges to strengthen the structure. This structure is to be sprinkled with water for 3 to 4 months. Saurabh says that with the time, this structure would become stronger.
Sometimes I feel that there is a lot to learn from the ancient technologies. And probably they are the answer to the new-age problems that we are facing today.
-SD
2 comments:
Hey Saurabh nice blog but i have one question......u are making these blocks in some rectangular form on the floor........how do you really use them as walls???
Wow, sounds interesting though I couldn't imagine its shape but feel that its more like a bigger brick.
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