Please note this document is currently a work in progress.

Introduction

This 10 week project is a combination of social service and a comprehensive experience with natural building. The final goal of this project is to provide a refuge for homeless senior citizens within the compound of the Parras Desarollo Integral de la Familia (DIF) so that they can find shelter and companionship, as integration of the family and community is an important part of the Parras culture. DIF is a nation-wide government organization based in Mexico City. They are a social service organization providing communities with essentials such as childcare services, food drives, public education concerning etiquite, proper nutrition, child rearing, etc. while creating a community center and support network for those who need it.

The shelter is to be constructed out of adobe, a natural building material that is widely used in desert areas such as in Parras, Mexico. By doing this project we hope to raise public awareness of the benefits of using adobe. Adobe is a time-tested wonder, a building method that has low environmental impact, low overall cost and is ideal for warm climate area. This project also has provided hands on natural building education for the participants of the Parras 2006 summer program and DIF volunteers. Throughout construction, we have made efforts to recycle and reuse our materals.

General Description

Work on tense. The final construction of the adobe senior center will consist of one large room measuring 4.40 x 6 meters. The adobe walls are 30 cm thick, making the building itself 5 x 6.60 meters. Approximately 1,300 adobes are needed to complete the shelter. The adobes are made offsite where there is more area to work and then transported to DIF. The building will consist of one large community room which will be furnished with couches, tables and chairs and a TV. The DIF bathrooms and kitchen are in very close proximity to the senior center, therefore plumbing is not necessary for the building.


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Location

The shelter is to be constructed in Parras de la Fuente, a small ranch town of approximately 32,000 citizens where did you get this figure? located in the northern state of Coahuila, Mexico. It will be constructed in the Parras DIF headquarters located on calle Ramos Arizpe. At the DIF headquarters the senior center will be located in a far back right corner, behind the kitchen. The adobe bricks used to build the center were fabricated offsite from the DIF. The site provided ample storage space to allow approximately 300 adobe bricks to dry per day. This number was approximated by looking at the space, knowing the size of the adobe bricks and then by making an educated guess. It was also done by counting all the adobe bricks in a given picture and doubeling it.Just say the dimensions and how may bricks that can dry, then show the very simple calculation The number was about 167 bricks and there was still some room for more.

Proposed Materials and Budget

Quantity Materials Source Cost (pesos) Total
8 Strawbales Forrajera Parras on calle Bravo 50 400
4 Truckloads (HOW MUCH) Dirt Materiales Alcala on Carretera Parras Paila Km1 330 1420
4 Adoberas Carpiteria "El Nogal" on calle Manuel Madero 120 120
100 liters of Water Bernardo's House Free from la Presidencia Free
10 Bags Cement Materiales Ibarra on calle Calzada del Marques 110 1100
1 Truckload of Gravel Materiales Ibarra on calle Calzada del Marques 350 350
Mortar DIF site Recycled Free
Rebar DIF site Recycled Free
Lime DIF site Already on site Free
8 meters Agrigate ? ? ?
10 Bags of Cement ? ? ?
? Rocks ? 630 630
Total Cost 4020

The total cost for both the agrigate and cement was 1,200 pessos.

The only paid labor on this project is for the expertise and guidance of Martin, aka Ciro Liro. He has had over a decade of experience with making adobe bricks and construction. Martin will recieve 900 pesos paid by the municipal government of Parras. All other labor is purely volunteer.


Address topics such as plumbing, wiring, windows, doors, framing, paint , sealant, plasters, required mortar, design, , equipment, actual cost of water, rooving, foundation and construction. Itemize costs for the floor and roof.

Do and show quantity calculations for materials, such as adobe needed (for blocks, mortar, maybe plaster), concrete (foundation etc), water (for adobe etc), paint, etc.

Process: Preparing the Adobe Site


Process: Making the Adobe Mixture

Process: Making the Bricks

Process: Preparing the DIF Construction Site

Process: Making the Underground Foundation

Process: Making the Aboveground Foundation

Process: Building the Walls

Timeline

Update this timeline to match reality. Week One: The first step of the process was learning and perfecting the art of making adobes. Each day about 200 adobes were made in a three to four hour period with a group of about 15 workers. Each day the progress moved more quickly.

day one: 27 bricks
day two: 185 bricks
day three: 166 bricks
day four: 188 bricks

Week Two: With a quota of 1,300 adobes the adobe construction continued.

day five: 180
day six: Rain
day seven: 54
day eight: 174
Total 974 Bricks

[the rest will be purchased at 3.50 pesos each]

Week Three: The building site, having been neglected for some time, needed to be cleaned and prepared for construction. A dead tree was removed, an out-of-commission adobe oven was taken down, and all of the inorganic trash was taken out. The materials taken from the adobe oven were used to level the ground in the area.

Week Four: The three foot foundation of the adobe oven was removed. Before taking it down, the large rocks and sand filling it were taken out. The rocks were piled for later use in the foundation and the sand was saved to be used as mortar. Once removed, the walls were taken down with a sledge hammer.

Week Five: The sand from the foundation was sifted in order to be saved for mortar. The rocks sifted out were used for filling in holes in order to level the ground. The concrete was removed from the rebar in the foundation and saved for use on the building.

Week Six: Tying string to the old adobe wall and the DIF kitchen and office buildings as points of reference, the perimeter of the building was established. Lime was poured over the string to mark the ground where the foundation would be. The following day the perimeter was dug about 60 cm (2 feet) deep, or until firm virgin soil was reached, and about a foot wide.


Week Seven: The foundation was filled using large rocks found on site and hand-mixed cement. Oiled wooden frames were set up in order to build the above-ground portion of the foundation.

Week Eight: During the final week, the walls were built approximately 3 feet high.

Project Participants

Project Coordinators

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Adobe Construction Masters

  • Martin AKA Ciro Liro (right)

The main mentor and teacher for this project.

  • Frederico

He helped through the process of building the foundation.

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Project Participants

  • Parras 2006 Humboldt students and coordinators

Aaron, Angela, Ben, Daniel, Irene, Jeff, Juliana, Kiva, Lauren, Lonny, Mark, Tressie, Tybie

  • Parras DIF employees

Bernardo Reyes and Adrian Ortiz

  • Parras DIF volunteers

References

http://www.cahe.nmsu.edu/pubs/_g/G-521.pdf
http://www.terracruda.com/architetturadiffusione.htm
http://www.appropedia.org/index.php?title=Parras_Adobe
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/adobe.htm
http://www.adobebuilder.com/
http://www.firebudd.com/adobe/
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