It's A Pump House

I first learned of rammed earth in my youth. I read an article about it and was loving the idea. Somewhere I still have the copy of the original article made all those years ago.

Recently I, at last, had the opportunity to build a structure using rammed earth. It was a fun learning experience.

The pump house on my property had become rather dilapidated and in need of replacement. We opted to go with rammed earth since I had always wanted to do it. It is said to do a small project when first learning an earthen building process. This was the perfect one for us.

 The process is pretty simple. Get some dirt and ram it into forms to create solid walls. 😊 After doing a little research we learned we needed a mix of approximately 70% sand to 30% clay. Both of those are in abundance here on my property. We added a little cement and lime to the mix as a stabilizer. The forms were sheets of plywood four feet wide by eight feet long. They were a bit deep but manageable to work with. It took two years of two people working one or two days a month to get the walls done, weather permitting, but it was worth it. A larger crew could have completed it in much less time.

Though it looks rough we are pleased with the result. There is still some finish work to be done on it. It is a solid building that will be put to a variety of uses, not just housing the well.