Introduction

Who: Three HSU students, Hannah, Jaqui, and Heather (project leaders), a government clown, and two DIF employees, along with help from the rest of the Parras AT group.

What: In Parras, Coahuila, at the DIF, a Mexican federal social service center, a project to construct a structure for senior citizens began in 2006. Our mission: to complete it and add an extension for a small kitchen, as well as a roof and porch.

Why: The DIF wanted to construct a space for the viejitos of Parras who do not have families to be able to relax and enjoy a meal and the company of others, and enlisted the help of the HSU Parras program.

When: Five weeks, that began July 2 and ended August 5, 2007.

How: The main room, or salon, had a completed foundation and 40cm of laid adobe walls, and about 550-600 adobe bricks were left over from the previous year, about 400 of which were usable for this year. In order to complete our project we had to dig and lay a new foundation for the kitchen, make as many adobe bricks as possible, and finish laying the walls for the entire building, as well as construct the proposed additions.

Challenges: fire ants, expert availability, weather, materials, labor and time restraints

Methods/Materials/Budget

Methods

To begin we measured out the dimensions of the new kitchen and the existing walls, and also counted the number of adobe bricks already laid and those that could be salvaged from the previous year.


Dimensions

Floorplan.jpg


Item Measurement
Brick 43.5cm x 23cm x 8.5cm
Windows (2) 1m x 1.5m
Little windows (2) ? x ?
Doors (2) 1m x 2m
Kitchen 4.56m x 3.15
Salon 4.56m x 6.6m
Total project 9.75m x 4.56m x 2.7m

Proposed Process

  1. Clear site of organic and inorganic matter. Materials: ant poison and labor.
  2. Dig out foundation for kitchen. We needed a depth of approximately 70cm in order to reach desirable soil density to maintain the stability of the concrete for underground foundation. Materials: shovels, pickaxes, labor.
  3. Mix cement with aggregate (sand & stone) using water, pour into place of desired foundation. Materials: pickaxes, shovels, cement, aggregate, water, wheelbarrows, labor.
  4. Pour above ground foundation. Materials: pickaxes, shovels, cement, aggregate, water, wheelbarrows, wooden planks, level, labor.
  5. Make adobe bricks and allow to dry. Materials: adoberas (adobe molds), earth (high in clay content), straw, water, pickaxes, shovels, wheelbarrows, labor.
  6. Lay the walls. Materials: string, mortar (earth & water), dry adobe bricks, wheelbarrows, a level.
  7. Construct roof and porch.


Materials and Budget


Quantity Materials Source Cost (pesos) Total
4 Shovels DIF and Presidencia loaned 0
4 Wheelbarrows Presidencia and the bar down the street loaned 0
2 Pickaxes loaned 0 0
1 Level El Globo on Calle Ramos Arizpe 155 155
1 Tape Measure Ferretera on Ramos Arizpe 35 35
6 Meters of string Ferretera on Ramos Arizpe 2 12
2 Cucharas Ciro Liro loaned 0
3 Adoberas DIF site loaned 0
4 Metros of tierra (earth) Materiales Alcala 65 260
5 Metros of mixto (aggregate) Materiales Alcala 190 950
10 Bags of Cement Materiales Ibarra 105 1050
? Rocks DIF site recycled 0
2 Bales of straw ? 50 100
2 Packets of ant venom Ciro Liro donated 0
a lot Water DIF site free 0
Total Cost 2562


Detailed How-to (What really happened)

Week 1: We got familiar with the site, taking measurements and assessing the preliminary steps, and made a time table. We met with Ciro Liro, a clown and adobe expert, as well as two DIF employees, Bernardo and Adrián, who were in charge of procuring materials for us. At first a fire ant problem prevented us from digging out the foundation because the ant hill was located where we needed to dig. Ciro provided ant venom and after three days we were able to begin.

There was also a large amount of organic material that had grown inside the salon and needed to be removed, as well as a lot of inorganic material such as rusted rebar in the kitchen area. We wanted to ascertain the dimensions of the kitchen early, but due to scheduling conflicts with Ciro we were not able to measure it out until Sunday of the next week.

Issues: fire ants, Ciro Liro

Jaqui gets down
At last, a huge pile of dirt

Week 2: We finally measured the dimensions of the kitchen and began to dig out the foundation, which was difficult due to three days of rain that week. There were a lot of old bricks and large rocks which we had to remove by hand from the ground, which slowed the process though the rocks were useful later for the foundation. We also came up against a cement wall and various protrusions of cement from the old adobe wall we were working against, which needed to be pickaxed to make room to shovel.

We also had not yet obtained a wheelbarrow, so a huge pile of dug-up dirt amassed next to where we were working and dirt routinely fell back in the hole we were digging. This week began our long, frustrating hunt for materials; mainly earth, aggregate, and cement, as well as the necessary tools (more shovels/pickaxes, wheelbarrows, etc). For lack of materials and since Ciro Liro failed to show up nearly every day this week, we were hardly able to do anything at all.

Issues: lack of earth, aggregate, cement, tools, and Ciro Liro

Week 3: It was no longer just Hannah, Jaqui and Heather for an entire week. We were fortunate to have the help of all eight students in the program, as well as our professors Lonny and Oona, and sometimes Ciro Liro.

The volcano
  • Day 1 – We sorted adobes from the previous year into usable and unusable bricks. We broke up the unusable bricks with pickaxes to use to make new adobes, and saved half-bricks for construction of the walls. We moved dirt from digging up the foundation to the adobe-making site and made a “volcano” with the dirt and broken-up adobes by making a crater in the pile and filling it with water and wetting the whole pile for use the next day.
  • Day 2 – In the morning we got the three adoberas from the office and soaked them in water-filled barrels and Adrián managed to buy a bale of straw. Then we re-wet the volcano and began “cutting” away piles of earth/re-used adobe and soaking it with watter and adding straw. The mix was then put in a wheelbarrow and transported to where a few of us began to use the adoberas to make adobe bricks. (how-to pictures). We made 102 adobes, most of which survived the rain that came down as we were finishing. A smaller volcano was made of the remaining earth/adobe mix.
  • Day 3 – In frustration after still not having received earth, aggregate, or cement, Heather convinced Bernardo to drive her to the material suppliers to inquire in person and show the invoices of materials that were donated by the presidente (the mayor of Parras, Nacho Segura). Lonny had to give us money for the earth, which the presidente had not donated, but the earth and aggregate finally arrived and we transported the earth to the adobe-making site in wheelbarrows. We made 109 adobe bricks and made a massive new volcano with the new earth. String was also purchased for the construction of the walls.
  • Day 4 – We had a full day, from 10am to 5pm of all the students and teachers. We moved the aggregate close to the salon under some tree cover to protect it from rain, and some students made more adobe bricks while others began to build up the corners of the walls of the salon, using a mix of earth and water for mortar. Lonny had to purchase another bale of straw when we ran out of the first one, and at the end of the day the first adobe bricks that were made on Day 2 were turned upright on their sides, accordion-style, to allow them to finish drying. (pictures of using string and level)
  • Day 5 – Another full day of adobe-making and corner-building, and a heap of frustration about still not receiving cement. Another day of rain, but again most of the adobes survived.

Issues: rain, late arrival of earth and aggregate, non-arrival of cement

Week 4: On Monday the long-awaited cement finally arrived a full two weeks after it was promised, and along with continuing to build up the corners and walls of the salon we mixed and laid the underground concrete foundation. To do this we used shovels and made a pile of eight or nine wheelbarrows of aggregate and made a shallow, oblong “dish”, inside which we placed two bags worth of cement. We added water and thoroughly mixed with our shovels and pickaxes, then placed the mixed concrete in a wheelbarrow and dumped it into the foundation hole until the level of concrete was just underneath the top of the hole.

Issues: rain, Ciro Liro, lack of planks to do above-ground foundation, theft of tools (tape measure, level, pickaxe, and shovel)

What we would do differently

Analysis

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