About
Why a dirt home?
I have loved the architecture and design of adobe building for as long as I can remember. I grew up in Albuquerque New Mexico right at the base of the Sandia Mountains, and learned to love adobe from a very early age. Growing up I got to explore the adobe homes of neighbors while they were under construction and thought that there could be nothing better to live in than a house made of dirt.
Some of the oldest and most spectacular buildings in the Southwest United States (to me) were built from adobe. I have traveled the Southwest extensively and always stop to look when there is an adobe structure. It is my goal to one day live and retire in an adobe home built in the mountains of the great southwest. It would be the best thing that could happen to me, and I hope to realize that dream. I want to build a completely self sustained home that my children and their children can use long after I am gone. What better legacy could a person leave their family than a house they can always call home, a place where they can live in when times are tough or a vacation retreat they can use when times are good? Obviously life doesn’t always go as planned, I still work for a living and do not have the resources to retire to my villa in the mountains yet, but one day I hope to be in a position to change all of that.
Luckily I have been able to build with adobe in my own back yard for the last few years. I have a decent sized back yard with lots of great dirt to play with. I have learned through trial and error what makes a good adobe block. Of course I did my homework and read what the experts had to say on the subject, but there is nothing that truly compares to going out in the backyard and playing in the dirt until you get the right mix and consistency. I have built and destroyed more adobe blocks than a man should have the right to, but now I know how to make them just right. I am also lucky that we have a very high clay content in the soil where I live, it make the process a lot easier for a rookie like me. The one really big project that I have completed to date is a retaining wall that runs between my new pool and a personal dirt pile in the back part of the yard. The wall looks great to me all covered with stucco and painted. I love the width and firmness of the wall. I dug a trench for the footer and poured the footer from concrete. It probably wasn’t necessary but I wanted something solid because of it proximity to the pool and the fact that it is completely exposed.
Future projects for my backyard will include seating for around the pool, a kiva, and barbecue enclosure. In my front yard I am going to build a 3-1/2 foot wall around the front patio and match the house stucco and color. I did all of the past projects before I started this site, so I hope to make the future project into a how to and showcase for the site. Complete with 27 8×10 color glossy photos with circles and arrows and a paragraph on the back explaining what each one is. Anyone who doesn’t understand that that sentence, well what can I say I am just way to damn old. Well, not that old.