A brief history of adobe:
Adobe is one of man's first building materials. Building with some form of dirt has origins all over the world. For thousands of years adobe houses have represented the practical wisdom of people who learned how to use the materials at hand to build homes that fitted the climate and landscape in which they lived. When the Spaniards came to Mexico they found the Indians using adobe, wood, and stone construction to house themselves. The Indians did not make bricks, but "puddled" the mud allowing each layer to dry before adding more. The Spanish made moveable sun-baked bricks, utilizing the craft from home of forming the mud into blocks in wooden molds, a craft which is still used today. "Adobe" is a Spanish word derived from the Arabic "atob," which literally means sun-dried brick. Today's bricks have a small bit of asphalt mixed in to stabilize them. After the mud is poured into mud forms, a board is drawn across the top of the forms to take away excess mud and make the surface flat. After the bricks are dried they are taken from the forms and stacked.

Adobe is the ideal thermic material for building in a climate which has drastic temperature shifts. The mass of the adobe walls will absorb heat and radiate it back out into the house at night. The converse is also true. Thus the swing in temperature inside the house is very mild. In addition adobe construction offers non-toxicity to people who are sensitive to toxic substances such as the formaldehyde used in preparing chipboard.

Adobe is the construction material of choice for Architect Urquiza, warm in winter and cool in summer. He manufactures all of his own adobe on a large site outside of San Miguel. The adobe, weatherproofed and stabilized to American standards is also for sale. If you would like to order adobe please click here.

The process of making adobe bricks for construction: