Rammed earth is building technique that has been in existence for many century and is used for erection of walls using locally available materials of earth such as sand soil, clay soil, Maram and stone dust. Sources like Wikipedia added that the structure can be made using material such as chalk lime and gravel altogether the sufficient availability of materials such as chalk lime is questionable in some part of the world.
Although this is an ancient building method, it has seen a revival in recent years in many part of the world such as western Africa countries, North Europe and China despite the fact that Tratraditionally, rammed earth buildings are found on every continent except Antarctica.
The increasing demand for rammed earth building is due to the fact that people are now seeking for more sustainable building materials and natural building methods.
Rammed earth walls are simple to construct, good temperature regulator, resistant to danger of earth quirk due to the fact it does not have joints as in brick wall and eco-friendly although it can labor-intensive to construct without machinery and if improperly protected or maintained are susceptible to water damage.
Rammed earth technique of building is seen as environmentally friendly due to the fact that the technology uses locally available materials, that typically generates nearly no waste. Rammed earth buildings reduce the need for lumber because the formwork used is removable and can be continually reused thus conserving environment.
Rammed earth housing has also resolve problems with homelessness caused by otherwise high building costs for local community around the world, as well as to help address the organic predicament of deforestation and toxic building materials associated with conservative construction methods.
Since the techniques uses little material and the structures made from this techniques tends to last longer. Indeed, properly built rammed earth can withstand loads for several thousands of years, as many still-standing ancient rammed earth structures around the world attest.
Rammed earth using re-bar, wood or bamboo reinforcement can prevent failure caused by earthquakes or heavy storms. Mixing cement with the soil mixture can also increase the structure's load bearing capacity but can only be used in clay-poor mixtures thus community of all categories can sustainably afford to raise a structure as a shelter from this technology.
when finished and without paint, the walls have the color and texture of natural earth with Blemishes of various soil color to induce creative look to the structure thus eliminating the cost of painting with impairing the creative beauty of the building.
This is because it can absorb heat during the day and releases it at night. This can even out daily temperature variations and reduce the need for air conditioning and heating.
The thickness and density of rammed earth walls, typically 30cm thick, lends itself naturally to soundproofing. Rammed earth walls are also termite-resistant, non-toxic, inherently fireproof and ultimately biodegradable.