does anyone here live in an Adobe house?
 

in high school, my friend's dad built one. cool modern features but the thick walls. hay bales and mud? they have to be super efficient right? you arizona guys living in one? i was just thinking about what it would be like to build one here in the bay area. maybe the seismic activity is a deal breaker.

I lived in one in Tucson for a few years. 24 inch walls, cool-coated roof, low, stone floor, sprawled floorplan, and a swamp cooler.

It was good. Small, high windows meant it was relatively dark inside, but it stayed cool. There was a wood stove for heating in the winter, 1 small load in there would cook the entire house.

I lived in Taos, NM a few months in one. Didn't need a swamp cooler at 8000 ft.
I didn't think adobe would hold up in a humid climate.
Jim

Would that be called an Adobe Abode?

The bay area is too seismically active for adobe, also too much moisture in the air

Try it here, and you'd shortly have a compost pile...

Probably hard if not impossible to finance a house like that or a straw bale house. The lenders want to see comps of like kind.

Yeah, and one would have to be concerned about the Big Bad Wolf.

I own three (two authentic turn-of-the-century and one "phony adobe" made of framing/stucco).

Humidity/rain and seismic activity would make it impossible for a real adobe.

It is never-ending work to keep them from cracking or getting wet (if the roof fails, the walls melt like sugar-cubes). Fortunately, we only have 9" of rain here a year.

I imagine you could get away with a hay bale home, though...they seem to be a little "flexible" depending on how you sheath them.

You can contact "CASBA" (California Straw Building Association) for details: http://www.strawbuilding.org/

Not true. As most of the adobes here have been standing for more than 100 yrs., I believe the lenders aren't too worried. I have traditional financing on my two "real" adobes. Didn't even require a home inspection.

There are a few adobes around here that are >150 years old so the seismic durability is apparently as good as or better than "modern" construction. I visited one of them recently and was surprised at how cool it was inside -- 18" walls and large eaves/overhang.

I will agree that they are durable & under the right conditions will last a LONG time.
Take a look at any 3rd world country that has just had a 4 or 5 earthquake, the village is destroyed - all adobe.
The modern building codes won't allow unreinforced masonry construction in a seismic zone.
You could build with conventional framing & use an abobe veneer, but you would be better off building with ICF (insulated concrete form) if you are looking for high R-value & it is suitable for any seismic zone.

I was raised in a "Post adobe" my father built. It sits squarely on the San Andreas fault. Beautiful house. Never a crack despite several good sized quakes. Cool as a wine cellar in 100 degree summers. The house didn't have A/C. Never needed it.

My dad made the interior walls out of adobe as well. That house was SOUNDPROOF.

To my eye, nothing matches the natural beauty of a real adobe house.

In seismic zones, you want a "Post" adobe. Basically a timber frame with abobe walls between the timbers. Solid as a rock. Not coming apart in an earthquake.

In seismic zones, you want a "Post" adobe. Basically a timber frame with adobe walls between the timbers. Solid as a rock. Not coming apart in an earthquake.

I live in a PhotoShop house, is that close enough?

I agree, but that's not a true adobe, it's a timber framed structure w/ adobe infill.
The frame is absorbing the seismic stresses, not the adobe.

Don't get me wrong, they are VERY energy efficient in that they are cool in the summer & warm in the winter, just not that suitable as a stand alone building material.

Yes I have a photoshop living room, a reader bathroom, an in design kitchen, an in motion bedroom...you know the rest of the layout.