Driving through the southwestern United States, it is evident how much of an impact the use of adobe has had on modern-day southwestern architecture. Benefits of building with adobe include:
Energy Savings: Adobe’s high thermal mass slows heat flow, keeping the heat out of the house in the summer well into the evenings sometimes. If you help as a homeowner closing windows during the day and opening them at night in the summers and vice versa in the winters, it can make a huge difference in your home energy costs. Although adobe does not have high insulation qualities, with passive cooling and solar heating, an adobe house can remain at a fair temperature.
Green Material: Adobe is one of the greenest building materials due to its makeup of clay, sand, silt, and sometimes straw. Because of this, it is readily available around the world.
Less Cement: Adobe utilizes less cement than concrete walls, so it has less impact on the environment, and burnt adobe walls can pass California Title 24 Energy Code requirements without the use of any insulation products.
Fire-Resistant: Adobe is 100% fire-proof. Our family home was destroyed by the 2003 Cedar Fire but the adobe walls survived and were fired harder.
Strength: Burnt adobe is a more durable form of adobe brick, and we love the feel and look of a burnt adobe home.
Although San Diego County residents have had difficulty getting permits with traditional adobe bricks, Hubbell & Hubbell has been successful permitting a new residence in 2018 using Burnt Adobe, which is an adobe brick that has also been fired in a kiln. The photos are of a Hubbell & Hubbell adobe restoration project.
Want to learn more? Check out our green building design section. Along with adobe restoration, we have several other green building techniques that have been implemented all over San Diego County and beyond. H&H has overcome milestones that have not been previously achieved in the local area, such as the very first straw bale structure in San Diego County to be permitted and the first insulated composite concrete form blocks permitted in the city of San Diego. Contact us if you’re a homeowner with a dream to build something that implements green building techniques.
Photos by Lori Brooks.