Building with Adobe Brick: Techniques & Best Practice

What Is Adobe Brick Construction?

Adobe is one of the world’s oldest and most proven building methods. It uses a simple mixture of clay, straw, and water, formed into bricks and dried in the sun. The bricks are laid with earth mortar, creating solid walls that are solid, breathable, and timelessly beautiful.
In New Zealand, adobe has been used since the mid-1800s, from early settler cottages to contemporary high-performance homes. It remains a reliable, low-energy construction method when detailed correctly for our seismic and climatic conditions.

Advantages of Adobe Brick Construction

• Thermal Comfort – Balance of thermal mass and insulation moderates indoor temperatures passively
• Healthy Living – Raw earth is vapour-open and non-toxic, naturally balancing humidity and eliminating condensation.
• Durable & Low-Maintenance – With correct design and detailing, adobe walls can last centuries.
• Fire-Resistant & Quiet – Dense walls offer excellent acoustic and fire performance.
• Aesthetic Quality – Earth walls provide depth, texture, and a timeless connection to natural materials.

Design & Detailing Considerations

Earth buildings are strong and durable when designed with care. Key considerations include:

• Passive Solar Orientation – Earth walls are not insulating on their own; orienting for direct winter sun is essential.
• Moisture Management – Generous eaves, raised foundations, good drainage, and breathable plasters are critical to protect the walls.
• Structural Detailing – Bond beams, tie-downs, and integrated reinforcement improve seismic resilience.

Modern Variants & Structural Light Adobe (SLA)

While traditional adobe remains an excellent material, Structural Light Adobe (SLA) represents the next step in earth wall innovation. Developed and tested in New Zealand, SLA blends raw earth with higher fibre content and natural lightweight aggregates to improve thermal performance while remaining fully loadbearing and vapour-open.

SLA walls achieve significantly higher insulation values than conventional adobe and since 2020 are recognised within the NZ Earth Building Standards. Using SLA can create exceptionally comfortable, low-energy homes that meet or exceed Clause H1 requirements.

Performance, Testing & Standards

Adobe construction in New Zealand is supported by the Earth Building Standards:

• NZS 4297:2024 – Engineering Design of Earth Buildings
• NZS 4298:2024 – Materials and Construction of Earth Buildings
• NZS 4299:2024 – Earth Buildings Not Requiring Specific Engineering Design

These documents outline the testing, design, and performance requirements for adobe, pressed earth brick, rammed earth, and poured earth systems.

Solid Earth’s adobe and SLA products have been independently tested for structural strength, durability, and thermal performance, and they exceed the benchmark requirements set out in NZS 4298.

Risks & Limitations

Like any natural building system, adobe requires suitable site and detailing:

• Heavy buidings require good soil bearing capacity and are ideal for flat sites
• Avoid flood-prone sites
• Protect walls with sound roof overhangs and breathable finishes.
• Only single-storey earthen buildings are covered by code. A second storey in timber is permissible.
• Never coat with cement renders or other non-breathable wall-finishes.

With correct design and care, adobe walls will perform reliably for generations.

Our Services

Solid Earth provides a complete range of adobe services, from brick manufacture to full wall construction:

• Supply of adobe and Structural Light Adobe bricks
• Earth mortars and natural plasters matched to our bricks
• Design input and consultation for passive solar and structural detailing
• Full wall construction or supervised builds
• Training and workshops for owner-builders and professionals

We’re happy to discuss your plans, provide quotes, or tailor training for your project.

OLID EARTH LTD take pride in manually producing high quality adobe bricks since 1998.