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An earth structure is a building or other structure made largely from soil. Since soil is a widely available material, it has been used in construction since prehistoric times. It may be combined with other materials, compressed and/or baked to add strength. Soil is still an economical material for many applications, and may have low environmental impact both during and after construction. Earth structure materials may be as simple as mud, or mud mixed with straw to make cob. Sturdy dwellings may be also built from sod or turf. Soil may be stabilized by the addition of lime or cement, and may be compacted into rammed earth. Construction is faster with pre-formed adobe or mudbricks, compressed earth blocks, earthbags or fired clay bricks. Types of earth structure include earth shelters, where a dwelling is wholly or partly embedded in the ground or encased in soil. Native American earth lodges are examples. Wattle and daub houses use a "wattle" of poles interwoven with sticks to provide stability for mud walls. Sod houses were built on the northwest coast of Europe, and later by European settlers on the North American prairies. Adobe or mud-brick buildings are built around the world and include houses, apartment buildings, mosques and churches. Fujian Tulous are large fortified rammed earth buildings in southeastern China that shelter as many as 80 families. Other types of earth structure include mounds and pyramids used for religious purposes, levees, mechanically stabilized earth retaining walls, forts, trenches and embankment dams. Soil Soil is created from rock that has been chemically or physically weathered, transported, deposited and precipitated. Soil particles include sand, silt and clay. Sand particles are the largest at 2 to 0.05 millimetres (0.0787 to 0.0020 in) in diameter and clay the smallest at less than 0.002 millimetres (7.9×10−5 in) in diameter. Both sand and silt are mostly inert rock particles, including quartz, calcite, feldspar and mica. Clays typically are phyllosilicate minerals with a sheet-like structure. The very small clay particles interact with each other physically and chemically. Even a small proportion of clay affects the physical properties of the soil much more than might be expected. Clays such as kaolinite do not expand or contract when wetted or dried, and are useful for brick-making. Others, such as smectites, expand or contract considerably when wet or dry, and are not suitable for building. Loam is a mix of sand, silt and clay in which none predominates. Soils are given different names depending on the relative proportions of sand, silt and clay such as "Silt Loam", "Clay Loam" and "Silty Clay". Loam construction, the subject of this article, referred to as adobe construction when it uses unfired clay bricks, is an ancient building technology. It was used in the early civilizations of the Mediterranean, Egypt and Mesopotamia, in the Indus, Ganges and Yellow river valleys, in Central and South America. As of 2005 about 1.5 billion people lived in houses built of loam. In recent years, interest in loam construction has revived in the developed world. It is seen as a way to minimize use of fossil fuels and pollution, particularly carbon dioxide, during manufacture, and to create a comfortable living environment through the high mass and high absorption of the material. The two main technologies are stamped or rammed earth, clay or loam, called pise de terre in French, and adobe, typically using sun-dried bricks made of a mud and straw mixture. Materials Earth usually requires some sort of processing for use in construction. It may be combined with water to make mud, straw may be added, some form of stabilizing material such as lime or cement may be used to harden the earth, and the earth may be compacted to increase strength. Mud Coursed mud construction is one of the oldest approaches to building walls. Moist mud is formed by hand to make the base of a wall, and allowed to dry. More mud is added and allowed to dry to form successive courses until the wall is complete. With puddled mud, a hand-made mud form is filled with wetter mud and allowed to dry. In Iran, puddled mud walls are called chine construction. Each course is about 18 to 24 inches (460 to 610 mm) thick, and about 18 to 24 inches (460 to 610 mm) high. Typically the technique is used for garden walls but not for house construction, presumably because of concern about the strength of walls made in this way. A disadvantage to the approach is that a lot of time can be spent waiting for each course to dry. Another technique, used in areas where wood is plentiful, is to build a wood-frame house and to infill it with mud, primarily to provide insulation. In parts of England a similar technique was used with cob. Cob Cob, sometimes referred to as "monolithic adobe", is a natural building material made from soil that includes clay, sand or small stones and an organic material such as straw. Cob walls are usually built up in courses, have no mortar joints and need 30% or more clay in the soil. Cob can be used as in-fill in post-and-beam buildings, but is often used for load bearing walls, and can bear up to two stories. A cob wall should be at least 16 inches (410 mm) thick, and the ratio of width to height should be no more than one to ten. It will typically be plastered inside and out with a mix of lime, soil and sand. Cob is fireproof, and its thermal mass helps stabilize indoor temperatures. Tests have shown that cob has some resistance to seismic activity. However, building codes in the developed world may not recognize cob as an approved material. Sod or turf Cut sod bricks, called terrone in Spanish, can be used to make tough and durable walls. The sod is cut from soil that has a heavy mat of grass roots, which may be found in river bottom lands. It is stood on edge to dry before being used in construction. European settlers on the North American Prairies found that the sod least likely to deteriorate due to freezing or rain came from dried sloughs. Turf was once extensively used for the walls of houses in Ireland, Scotland and Iceland, where some turf houses may still be found. A turf house may last fifty years or longer if well-maintained in a cold climate. The Icelanders find that the best quality turf is the Strengur, the top 5 centimetres (2.0 in) of the grass turf. Stabilized earth Clay is usually hard and strong when dry, but becomes very soft when it absorbs water. The dry clay helps hold an earth wall together, but if the wall is directly exposed to rain, or to water leaking down from the roof, it may become saturated. Earth may be "stabilized" to make it more weather resistant. The practice of stabilizing earth by adding burnt lime is centuries old. Portland cement or bitumen may also be added to earth intended for construction which adds strength, although the stabilized earth is not as strong as fired clay or concrete. Mixtures of cement an.... Discover the Jacob Deva Racusin popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Jacob Deva Racusin books.