Good afternoon I like your site, it has so much useful information. But still I would like to ask. Our house is made of adobe, it was an inheritance, it has uneven walls and we don’t know how to level them, we don’t want to work with clay, it’s not practical, and it’s already the 21st century, I know that adobe is natural material and he is only friendly with natural materials.

So my husband and I decided to line the inside walls with wood. But we were told that it is not advisable to make holes in the adobe, even small ones. Please tell me what should we do? If it is possible to sheathe it with wood, then what should be followed and what technology is available? Thank you.

Elena, Ukraine, Dnepropetrovsk.

Hello, Elena from Dnepropetrovsk!

In general, adobe houses, by and large, do not require any further finishing, both outside and inside.

Everything is done immediately during the construction stage. That is, they decided to build a house from adobe, which is usually dictated by the large availability of cheap material near the construction site (primarily clay) and they build it immediately with plastering of the walls from the same material composition as the main walls of the house.

Leveling the surface of the walls is carried out immediately at the construction stage. And in the future they only produce cosmetic repairs and whitewashing, both outside and inside the house. This traditional method developed over centuries.

And the appearance of such walls is considered a certain charm, a kind of retro style. It happens, however, that for greater importance they will add natural boulders from the inside along the surface of a couple of walls, which are walled up using the same plaster and metal fittings for better retention.

All kinds of wall coverings and finishes adobe houses on the outside, bricks, blocks and similar materials are not considered entirely the right decision for a number of reasons. As well as from the inside with the same plasterboard, not to mention hardboard, plywood and even lining.

If you absolutely want to sheathe uneven walls from the inside with wood, then most likely this should be done with clapboard according to wooden frame. /Metal profiles will not work as a frame - the lining cannot be nailed down later./

Currently time goes by controversy regarding the presence of a dew point at the border of contact of dissimilar materials (in this case, adobe walls and the wood of the frame itself or the surface of the lining).

That is, to put it simply, due to the difference in temperatures outside the house and inside it, moisture can occur in a certain place in the thickness of the walls with all the ensuing consequences. It’s good when this border is located in the thickness of the adobe walls itself. But if it falls on the inner surface of these walls or on the surface of wooden elements, then the moisture begins to settle in the form of condensation at certain moments. What is not good.

In most cases, in adobe houses, the mentioned boundary is located inside the walls and nothing inside the house is visually noticeable, but, unfortunately, this does not always happen.

In short, if your home has never previously experienced moisture in the interior walls, then everything is fine. If this happened, then when installing wood paneling there may be problems.

I hope I haven’t completely intimidated you with my excursions into thermodynamics?

And clapboard cladding is done as follows. Take a wooden cranial beam with a cross-section of about 20*40 millimeters. Apply it with the flat side (not on the edge!) to the surface of the adobe walls and level them. If necessary, in those places of the walls where there are large gaps, put pieces of plywood required thickness to eliminate these dips and deflections. To prevent a set of several pieces of plywood of different thickness from falling apart, they are fastened together with galvanized nails.

In this case, the lining can be installed in two ways.

The first is vertical. Then the cranial block is attached to the walls horizontally and in approximately four belts. The first and fourth are directly near the floor and ceiling. The other two are at a symmetrical distance along the height of the walls.

The second option is horizontal. Then the cranial block is installed horizontally with a step (the size between the bars) of about 0.6 meters.

/Around the openings of windows and doors, timber is mounted along their entire perimeter, and the slopes are then closed decorative strips or a wooden corner. Other options are possible./

Wooden surfaces are treated with antiseptic compounds. Bruskov - from all sides. Linings - only with inside, the one that will face the surface of the adobe walls. This is due to the fact that in the future you will most likely cover the surface of the lining walls with some kind of dye (Pinotex, Aquatex, Texturol, Pokroit or something else from one and a half to two dozen similar compositions). But not all of these dyes are compatible with antiseptic compounds.

In case of incompatibility, subsequent overlays will peel off or peel after some time. And if the surface of the lining facing the interior of the premises is not covered with anything, then there will be no rejections.

Fastening of the cranial bars is usually carried out using black wood screws. The bars are attached to the walls with a distance between the fasteners of about half a meter - approximately a meter. The length of self-tapping screws used in adobe walls ranges from 50 to 100 millimeters.

Self-tapping screws can be supplied with plastic dowels. It all depends on the density of the wall material and the presence of wooden elements in them. The main idea is to prevent your cranium lattice frame from falling off. And this is achieved in several ways and only experimentally and strictly individually for each home. There are no absolutely identical adobe houses, because they were built and are being built more and more “by eye”; the builders, that is, the owners, put them completely in adobe different quantities clay, fires, etc., and therefore the characteristics of the wall material are different.

So, even in walls made only of adobe, there is still wooden elements, which are located on the top (banding or edging beams), the floor is also wooden, and the cranial beam is attached to it. And there is also wood around the windows and doors. That is, in all places where there is wood, you must try to attach a cranial block. At the same time, self-tapping screws can be used here of shorter length (than 75 - 100 millimeters, which are attached to adobe walls).

In addition, in the corners of the house, the bars located along the mating walls are fastened to each other (at 90 degrees), which creates additional structural strength.

Your concerns are that there will be small holes in the adobe. Well, firstly, there are not through holes, but recesses for self-tapping screws of several centimeters. With the thickness of adobe walls, which can be several tens of centimeters, this is not fatal. And calculate the area of ​​such holes yourself compared to the total area of ​​the walls. These are ten-thousandths of a percent of everything. Theoretically, these are, of course, “cold bridges,” but practically, as mathematicians say, their magnitude is negligible and can be neglected.

To attach them to the wooden frame-sheathing, galvanized clapboard (finishing) nails 40 millimeters long are used.

There is no clear opinion on the issue of using various thermal films between adobe walls and wood. Some experts claim that they are mandatory, others say the exact opposite.

I like the second one more. Precisely in the case of adobe walls. In other variations this may not be the case.

I would consider this to be the most correct solution for you - to make one room as recommended. If everything is okay, I mean okay, then next year do everything exactly the same in all other rooms with uneven walls. Because only time shows the correctness of the decisions we make.

All. Good luck!

Other questions on the topic of adobe houses.

Building an adobe house is part of the philosophy of an environmentally friendly and economical lifestyle. There is always a good microclimate here, adobe is able to absorb from the air excess moisture and, if necessary, can give it back. This material is cheaper than other wall solutions (brick, wood, modern blocks), and you can make it yourself. The building has good thermal and sound insulation.

Owners of adobe houses are proud of the originality of their homes, the expressiveness and originality of their interiors. And this is, perhaps, the main attractiveness of adobe construction.

Rounded walls, arches, benches and couches can be made from plastic material. You can make shelves and window openings right in the walls various shapes, for example with rounded corners. Moreover, window glass can be embedded directly into the wall, without a frame.

Even children can take part in creating the interior; all you need is time and imagination. Creativity is exciting, and, having mastered the technology, some do not stop at the construction of one building: they plan to build a workshop, a garage, a house for guests or parents from adobe.

Used in finishing adobe houses natural materials(clay, lime or gypsum plaster on the walls, wood and ceramics on the floor). Stoves are often used for heating and cooking (the Kuznetsov stove, which is simple and economical to operate, is especially popular).

But there are no obstacles to equipping adobe house modern engineering equipment, supply gas to it, connect an electric or gas boiler. An effective solution, given the massiveness of heavy adobe and its ability to accumulate heat, there will be a “warm floor” system. Engineering communications easy to hide in floors and walls.

You can use completely environmentally friendly materials for finishing the latter. plasterboard sheets, acrylic plaster and paint. Well processed wooden structures modern protective impregnations. Combination ancient methods adobe construction with modern technologies increases comfort in the home.

Need for ventilation

You need to understand that adobe absorbs moisture well (much more than brick, and about the same as aerated concrete). A very wet wall may collapse unexpectedly (these are the properties of clay).

Therefore, the house must have good ventilation to prevent the walls from being saturated with water vapor. It is necessary to provide in the walls ventilation ducts. Since adobe technology allows you to wall windows directly into the wall, without a frame, but it will be impossible to open them.

Building a house is an expensive undertaking. The building materials alone for the construction of the walls will cost a significant amount, but you also need to attract craftsmen to lay and finish them. Yes, with all the costs for high-quality structural and finishing materials you still need to make sure of their environmental characteristics - you agree, today this criterion is important. Meanwhile, it is quite possible to build a full-fledged house not only with your own hands, but also from structural material created, again, independently and directly on the construction site - for production adobe brick no chemical components are required. Let's find out what adobe is, how to build a building from it and, finally, how comfortable it will be to live in such a house.

History of adobe houses

To shelter himself and his family from bad weather, a person needed a house. Several thousand years ago people developed various technologies construction, primarily dependent on the availability of the simplest building materials - stone and wood. For many peoples who inhabited the Earth around the equator before our era, wood and stone were in great short supply; they had to look for other building materials. About 6,000 years ago, a solution to the problem was found - bricks were made from wet clay mixed with straw, dried in the sun, and buildings were erected from this simple structural material.

Molded and sun-baked bricks first appeared in Ancient Egypt - for their production, Egyptian builders extracted clay from the bottom of the Nile River. Subsequently, the technology for creating clay bricks was borrowed from the Egyptians by the peoples of Ancient Persia, from where it spread throughout Asia, and then, together with the Moorish armies, penetrated into Spain. By the way, it was the Arab builders who gave clay brick the name at-tob, which centuries later was changed by the Spaniards to adobe - in Russia its Turkic name “adobe” is better known.

The oldest architectural complex in Asia, made entirely of adobe, until 2003, was the Persian “fortress of Bam” (Arg-e Bam), created around the 6th–4th centuries BC. e. Achaemenid dynasty. Unfortunately, at the end of 2003, the ancient Citadel was completely destroyed by an earthquake of magnitude 6.3, the epicenter of which fell almost on the territory of the old city. Let us note that the Iranian city of Bam suffered from the earthquake not only in the historical part, but also in the modern part - about 80% of the buildings collapsed.

The construction of buildings from mud (i.e. clay) developed independently among the peoples of the American continent. Indians from the Anasazi tribe (Pueblo) built in the southern part North America multi-storey complexes from clay and straw, however, they did not make bricks - prepared building material when wet, it was laid along the perimeter of the future building; as it hardened, a new tier was formed on top, and so on.

In the state of New Mexico (USA), buildings built from adobe about 1000 years ago still exist and are used for living.

Composition of adobe

Adobe blocks are made exclusively from natural materials without the use of any chemicals. It is a mixture of clay, sand, straw and water, which are the main substances. And additional ingredients that are added if necessary include: tyrsa, wood shavings or wood chips, sometimes fresh cow dung is used.

The walls of a house made of adobe are famous for their energy efficiency and comparative cheapness. Most owners of adobe houses appreciate the advantages of this natural building material: in the summer the house stays cool by being heated from the outside, and in the winter it stays warm by being exposed to sub-zero temperatures. Such an advantage is unlikely to be found in the properties of cinder blocks or bricks.

However, the disadvantage of an adobe house, as already mentioned, is precisely its sensitivity to water and moisture, which is why it is so important to find the right solution for reliable and at the same time environmentally friendly cladding of its walls.

There are several options for finishing the outside of adobe houses:

Siding and composite sheathing;
- covering the house with stone;
- tiling;
- plastering followed by painting facade paint;
-fur coat finish.

Lovers modern trends in the exterior decoration of adobe houses, people come to the decision to use siding coverings, often forgetting about the harmfulness of some types of plastic. Typically, siding is attractive for its practicality in operation and sealed protection from moisture and dampness of the coating. Although such cladding of an adobe house is made using ventilated facade technology, plastic heated in the sun can still emit harmful substances that eat into the walls. Most people do not consider this point to be a fact, but in any case, if you compare living natural materials and synthetic ones, the advantage in safety for human health will still be given to environmentally friendly natural building materials.

Covering an adobe house with stone is considered an environmentally acceptable way to protect such a house from moisture, but it is not affordable for everyone. Stone often means the use of the following materials: wild stone, artificial stone, shell rock, sandstone. Stone also has a natural ability to “breathe,” allowing adobe blocks to “live and breathe” as well.

Ceramic tile cladding, although more labor-intensive to work with and less durable, is also, like stone, a environmentally friendly materials. But there is one “but” - this is tile adhesive for exterior use, which can be quite toxic. Therefore, to achieve greater safety in the decoration of external adobe walls, they use cement mortars, or anchor or wire devices and fastenings.

Plastering adobe walls followed by painting is a very environmentally friendly way to cladding your home. Plastering must be done using a special plaster mesh, which must first be fixed to fragile walls. Many insulate walls using various insulation materials, such as special foam plastic. Plaster is applied on top and after it dries, the walls are painted with facade paint. The environmental friendliness and durability of this coating are guaranteed!

Decorating the outside of an adobe house “like a fur coat” is also classified as in a safe way cladding. In addition, this method is considered quite economical and affordable in terms of cost of building materials for the “fur coat”. The house is also well protected from moisture, and at the same time allows adobe material"breathe".

Thus, we see that four of the five proposed methods are the safest for lining and protecting the walls of an adobe house from moisture and other unwanted influences.

Before we begin to consider the area of ​​​​use of adobe, it is necessary to define what this material is. So, adobe is an environmentally friendly material. It is made from a mixture of straw, clay and sand. All this is diluted with water. It has long been known that buildings made of adobe are very durable and of high quality. And thanks to its many advantages, residents receive a comfortable stay, coziness and warmth. But in order to receive the long-awaited and desired result, it is worth carefully studying all the nuances when using adobe.

Every person who plans to make renovations should know that houses made of adobe, in addition to being very durable, have some other advantages. First of all, you will find indoors real comfort. Indeed, thanks to its properties, the house will be cool in the summer and very warm in the winter. Adobe accumulates solar heat and energy during the day and releases it to the room at night.

We should also not forget about the low cost of such building material. Among the entire existing range, adobe is perhaps the most budget-friendly. For residents of many countries, including Europe, this is an important factor.

Of course, for many people it is somewhat unclear how to use such a mixture to make a truly high-quality house that can serve its residents for a long time. But thanks to a few tips on using adobe, you can achieve excellent results.

Using plaster

In order for adobe walls to maintain their durability and strength, you need to carefully select the plaster. It has long been known that adobe is not very resistant to moisture. Under the influence of dampness, rain, high humidity, the walls lose their shape, swell, and with waterproof plaster you will extend the life of your home.

But be sure to remember that you should not use cement plaster. This material is vapor-tight, so the walls will not be able to “breathe”, moisture will not be able to evaporate, but will be retained inside. As a result, the liquid will begin to flow down the inner surface cement and this will adversely affect the durability of the house.

As practice shows, the most suitable binder for adobe is a solution of lime and sand. It is very easy to prepare if you know the correct consistency. The ratio of lime and sand should be 1 to 5. If you have a very thick layer of plaster, then this mixture is perfect. As finishing It is worth using the same solution of lime and sand, but in a different ratio - 1:1.

To level the walls and eliminate all imperfections and recesses, you can use a special solution, to which it is customary to add straw or sawdust. This procedure will not only eliminate unevenness in the room, but also strengthen the walls and extend the service life of the coating. Also, you will not need to use a plaster mesh.

As for using plaster indoors, you can use a gypsum-based mixture.

Preparation for plastering

To execute quality work, you need to know what actions to take for a good result.

First of all, adobe walls must be coated several times with a primer, which tends to penetrate deeply inside. This will protect the walls from microorganisms and strengthen them. And also, with the help of a primer, the plaster adheres better to the walls.

Next, it is recommended to apply shingles to the adobe walls. She is subtle wooden planks, which are nailed at a short distance from each other (approximately 5mm). In this case, the first layer of shingles should be located at an angle of 45 degrees relative to the horizontal. The second layer is nailed perpendicular to the first, at the same distance of one plank from the next one. But it is worth noting that the procedure is quite labor-intensive and not always feasible. Therefore, shingles are not always applied.

Plastering

Having carefully prepared the walls, you can begin to plaster them. Initially, a solution of sand and lime should be applied to the entire surface. We mentioned above how to do it correctly.

The next step is to apply the plaster itself. The first layer should be no thinner than 1 centimeter. In this case, the plaster should be applied as evenly as possible. To do this, it is necessary to apply building material to the wall by sketching. Next, you need to give the coating time to dry, but be sure to make sure that it is still quite soft and pliable. Then you should use a wooden object, for example a grater, to level it.

Next you need to apply a second layer of plaster of the same thickness. First, the first layer must be moistened with water and you can proceed to the second application. Depending on the result you want to get, you can even out the coating when finished. If, on the contrary, you want to maintain naturalness, natural unevenness and roughness, then you can not touch the plaster and let it harden in the form in which you applied it.

The final stage is the application of decorative plaster. It is made from sand and lime. You can add paint to this solution and give the walls the desired shade. But you should remember that you need to choose high-quality dyes that will maintain color, brightness and saturation for a long time.

Let us remind you once again why it is worth using adobe as a covering for your home. Despite the fact that you will have to spend a lot of effort and time to create a home, as a result you will get a high-quality house, made from an environmentally friendly product, for a reasonable price. low price. And it will be pleasant for you to stay in it both in winter and in summer, despite the extreme heat, frost or wind.

Adobe is environmentally friendly pure material, made from a mixture of clay, straw, sand and water. Houses built from adobe are a real masterpiece, capable of standing and providing comfort to those living in it for hundreds of years.

However, as you might guess, these buildings require a special approach to finishing, so next we will look at how and with what to plaster adobe walls.

General information

Adobe houses have a number of advantages, among which, in addition to durability, are: favorable microclimate indoors. Such a house is cool in summer and warm in winter. In addition, this construction option is perhaps the cheapest.

Therefore, adobe houses in Europe are becoming more and more popular every day. However, many people reject the idea of ​​such a building because they have no idea how to “tidy up” the walls.

In fact, there is nothing complicated about this, the main thing is to maintain the concept eco-friendly home, its main advantages and at the same time take into account some of the nuances of adobe walls.

What kind of plaster can I use?

As you know, adobe buildings do not tolerate moisture well, so the finishing must first of all be moisture resistant. However, it should immediately be said that traditional cement plaster absolutely not suitable for these purposes. The fact is that such a coating has a high heat capacity, good thermal conductivity and poor vapor permeability.

As a result, moisture seeps from inside the house through, after which it flows down. In the best case, such plaster on an adobe house will begin to crumble in a few years; in the worst case, this will lead to complete destruction of the walls, which can happen in a warm climate.

It is best to use a lime-based finish as a binder. This composition is easy to make with your own hands from lime and sand in a ratio of 1:5. It is perfect for thick, rough layers of plaster. For the mixture in a ratio of 1:1.

If the walls of the house are uneven, then to level them you can use a solution with a small admixture of straw, manure or sawdust. This will strengthen total weight, and thereby avoid the need to use plaster mesh. The fact is that the mesh is secured with long nails that destroy the walls.

Advice!
For internal plastering For an adobe house, you can use a gypsum-based mixture.

In the photo - shingles

Performing plastering

Preparation

Before plastering the adobe wall, it is necessary to prepare it:

• First of all, the walls need to be primed twice. deep penetration. This will strengthen their surface, provide protection from microorganisms, and also improve the adhesion of the plaster to the base. (See also article.)
• After this, many experts recommend covering the walls with shingles, although this procedure is not always carried out. Used for manufacturing wooden slats no more than 5 mm thick, which are stuffed at an angle of 45 degrees to the horizontal in increments of 5 mm. On top of them are attached strips located at right angles to the first layer of shingles.

Advice!
If plastering adobe walls is done using this method, then the wooden slats must be treated with an antibacterial compound before installation.

Plastering

Once the walls are prepared, you can begin applying the coating.

Instructions for performing this work are as follows:

• First of all, it is necessary to prepare a solution, in the proportions indicated above, with a creamy consistency.
• Plaster on adobe is applied by throwing. To do this, you need to stand sideways to the wall at a distance of half a meter and use a ladle to spray with force. The composition should completely cover the wall surface with a thickness of about one centimeter.
• When the first layer has dried, but is still soft enough, surface unevenness should be smoothed out using a wooden trowel.
• Then, the first layer should be moistened with water and another layer of plaster about 1 cm thick should be applied. It can also be roughly scattered with a ladle, or carefully laid with a trowel. If you want to leave a decorative bump on the walls, then the second layer of plaster is not leveled.
• After the coating has dried, you should break off the straw sticking out of the wall.
• Then apply decorative plaster adobe, which is also made independently from sand and lime in a 1:1 ratio. In this case, you should add a tint of the desired color. It is best to use mineral dyes based on metal oxides, as they are very stable and do not change their color over time.
  If the surface remains lumpy, then decorative painted plaster should be applied with a brush in three layers.