# Ajijic: Rammed earth architects and construction consultants



## wanghaozhi (Nov 9, 2017)

My wife and I will be visiting the Lake Chapala area this fall on our first exploratory trip after doing a lot of armchair research. During our visit, we want to contact some real estate related professionals. 

We want to meet architects who have experience with rammed earth construction, who work well with clients, and who are not just out of the university.

We also want to meet construction consultants who could help us oversee a remodeling or new-build construction project. My wife and I would be on-site, but we have never built a house either in the US or in Mexico, so we’d like someone who can help us make sure that what the architect helps us design gets built. An example would be that the concrete mix is appropriate.

Thanks for any suggestions you can make.


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## RVGRINGO (May 16, 2007)

There is about 500 years of modern home-building experience in Meixico, and an uncertain number of millenia before that. They have things pretty well figured out. Have you considered adobe?


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

RV's suggestion is a good one: Adobe will have lots of the advantages of rammed earth, e.g. environmentally friendly, thermal properties. But a big advantage of adobe is that it will be easy to find contractors with experience in building with it, and it will not require sophisticated equipment like rammed earth. It might be difficult to find the equipment and people with experience needed for rammed earth.

I live in an old house with adobe walls half a meter thick. They damp out most of the temperature variation. The outside temperature can vary from a low of 5 C in January to a high of 38 C in May. With no source of heating or cooling the inside temperature varies from a low of 18 C to a high of 30 C. Both are bearable with appropriate clothing.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

The climate hereis mild and itis dru when hot so it is all very bearable and what works well in New Mexico or Coloradois an overkill here. We do not use A/C in the 2 "cold" month a little fire in the fireplace or some gaz is all we need..and we need little of it.


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## windwalker (Dec 21, 2009)

Rammed earth might hold up better than adobe, especially if enough cement is mixed in it. But you do need someone who knows how to do it right.


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## TundraGreen (Jul 15, 2010)

windwalker said:


> Rammed earth might hold up better than adobe, especially if enough cement is mixed in it. But you do need someone who knows how to do it right.


It probably would but there is still the problem of finding someone with experience to do it.

The adobe in my house appears to have very little clay in it. Any place where the surface layer fails, the underlying adobe seems to be mostly just loose dirt. It is not very reassuring. But the house has been here for over 100 years, so it will probably outlast me.


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## wanghaozhi (Nov 9, 2017)

*Thanks to all*

Thanks to all for your replies. It appears from replies on this forum and another one that if we go with rammed earth, we'll need to find architects and builders outside of the Lake Chapala area. 

The rammed earth, especially if reinforced with steel and a bit of cement, is quite strong, with little maintenance and good resistance to earthquakes. My wife and I also really like the look of rammed earth, in additional to its acoustic insulation properties. So far it's our favorite method.

I really appreciate your help on this question.

As a follow up question, what are the colors of the soil around Lake Chapala?


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## chicois8 (Aug 8, 2009)

MUD colored.......LOL......Seriously some areas are red (high iron content ) where bricks are made, other materials are cement mixed with pumas pressed into blocks. Another is stones ( for your own castle and a aforementioned adobe...I have built an adobe in the San Miguel area and am now building a brick house in the same climate and elevation as Chapala .............


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## joebetoblame (Jul 21, 2011)

Chicois8 do you have any updated pictures of the house finished? Your house was looking amazing!


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## [email protected] (Nov 12, 2017)

*. . . Mr. Gomez . . .*

. . . this book was suggested here on Expat Forum some months ago . . . "God and Mr. Gomez." author Jack Smith . . . I loved reading this with thoughts of my San Cristobal de Las Casas casa . . . 




wanghaozhi said:


> My wife and I will be visiting the Lake Chapala area this fall on our first exploratory trip after doing a lot of armchair research. During our visit, we want to contact some real estate related professionals.
> 
> We want to meet architects who have experience with rammed earth construction, who work well with clients, and who are not just out of the university.
> 
> ...


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

bricks re made of clay that often is not red , clay can turn a different color when fired and most clays to make bricks are from a differnt color than the finish product.
I have friends who wanted to make black jaguars and learned how to make then through the reduction and oxydation method but one day they were super excited as they found black clay and thought they had found a way to by pass the more time comsuming process.. The teacher told them that black clay would turn red when fired and sure enough it did..


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## wanghaozhi (Nov 9, 2017)

Thanks, citlali
I surely didn't know that.


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## citlali (Mar 4, 2013)

However adobe is only cooked in the sun and it takes the color of the material so un red earth area it is red and in brown or yellow earth it is brown or yellow. In Ajijic it is brown., at least the one I have seen. Adobe can only be made in the dry season and it is more expensive then brick .


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