Solid Earth Adobe Buildings Ltd

Call Directions Website

Solid Earth Adobe Buildings Ltd We share our extensive knowledge online to empower people the world over to build healthy living spaces with natural materials.

Join our group "Earthbuilding School"

What is your favourite natural building technique for solid walls?Is it Adobe, cob, rammed earth, or even h**pcrete? Wha...
18/10/2026

What is your favourite natural building technique for solid walls?
Is it Adobe, cob, rammed earth, or even h**pcrete? What are the reasons you prefer one technique over another?
We are genuinely interested and welcome robust and respectful debate.
As producers of ADOBE bricks, you could think we are biased. And, well yes, we are. We don't prefer Adobe because we sell bricks, however. After 20 years of making bricks, we can genuinely say we love this technique because it is simple, versatile, and adaptable to different climates. We also love that it is very low embodied carbon, or even carbon sequestering and that it is covered by the NZ Earth Building Standards.
We also love COB, and use it mostly in our historic restoration projects. The drying times of cob often aren't as commercially viable for us as a building contractor, but we love teaching this technique and seeing some of our students build beautiful cob structures.
We love the aesthetics and scale of RAMMED EARTH, but don't build or teach this technique, because we are not interested in the amount of shuttering and gear required, and we generally prefer a quiet building site. This decision was also influenced by the types of soil we work with, which are generally clay-rich and creamy. If we had a more rocky and lean local geology, we'd definitely consider RE.
We will only get into HEMPCRETE if we can make clay work as a binder. We work with lime for plasters, and that is quite enough... As much as we love h**p and lime, the thought of working with a caustic material day in, and day out having to wear PPE, and the higher embodied carbon of the binder makes this technique less appealing for now.
Our students often come with a preconceived idea of the
"ideal" natural building technique. We teach them to choose the technique that makes the most sense for their individual situation. Solid earth walls are often the simplest solution if building skills such as carpentry are limited, and if the building doesn't have to be transportable.

Comment
"CLAY" and I'I send you the link.

Did you know that flooring (or even just floor finishing) often costs thousands of dollars and depending on the product,...
17/10/2026

Did you know that flooring (or even just floor finishing) often costs thousands of dollars and depending on the product, can be unhealthy?
When I studied building biology one thing became clear:
Never again did I want to live on carpet if I have the choice. It is kind of gross. It's a great place for dust mites to hang out and new carpet can off-gas some pretty toxic substances. Shame, because I do like the fluffy feeling underfoot.
Wooden and cork flooring is great, if the products are sourced ethically, but can come with a hefty price tag. You have to get the substrate nice and even, lay the floor, sand the surface, finish it with some product.
Earthen floors by comparison are EASY and CHEAP. You need to get the mixes right and make sure the substrate structure is built up properly, and there is some cost involved in the finishing (with oil and wax), but all in all we feel it is a great flooring solution even for conventional buildings, that unfortunately isn't utilized often enough.
If you are interested in poured earthen floors the book by Sukita Crimmel is a wonderful resource.
We do both poured earth and Adobe tile floors. The Adobe tiles have the advantage that you can use the earthen material as is, and deal with shrinkage before you lay the floor. We love the rustic surface and feel underfoot, but understand the desire for a flatter and more homogenous surface. Both techniques are covered in our online program. Floors are a little more advanced, but absolutely feasible for a novice with some expert guidance.

Comment
"CLAY" and I'l send you the link.

It is important to us that you as our cherished followers know where we stand with earth building.There are many techniq...
16/10/2026

It is important to us that you as our cherished followers know where we stand with earth building.
There are many techniques, and with our work, we inhabit a niche. This doesn't mean we judge anyone for stabilizing earthen materials with cement, lime or bitumen; it simply isn't our approach. We celebrate you in your choices for natural building, and are open to conversations.
Here we share a few reasons why we like to keep things 100% EARTH. In our upcoming online natural building program Earth Building Academy, we uphold this, and work together with guest speakers that share the same approach, based on decades of professional experience.
What are your thoughts on this?

Comment
"CLAY" and I'll send you the link.

Building is a complex processthat can definitely be overwhelming and expensive. We care about supporting students to fin...
15/10/2026

Building is a complex process
that can definitely be overwhelming and expensive. We care about supporting students to find the solutions that best suit their circumstances and resources, while building skills and confidence.
So, now might just be the right moment to join Earth Building Academy if you are interested in learning about natural building, even if you haven't got a project (yet).

Comment
"CLAY" and I'll send you the link.

Natural plasters are our specialty.We have been plastering with earth and lime for over 30 years, and still get a rush o...
14/10/2026

Natural plasters are our specialty.
We have been plastering with earth and lime for over 30 years, and still get a rush of excitement every time we touch a trowel (who here can relate?)
We make out plasters from scratch, as it is difficult for us to source affordable ready-made natural plasters in Aotearoa NZ. This means that we constantly get to practice plaster mixology, using local clays and sands, and experimenting with different fibers and other natural additives.
We cover both earthen and lime plasters in detail in our 3-month online natural building program, which currently is open for enrolments. Through our work with students online we have had the joy of working out clays, sands and fibers from around the world, without ever touching them.
A new kind of excitement for sure!
Keen to know more? Keen to know more? Comment CLAY and I will send you the free Clay to Code class.

04/10/2026

People picture something dim and basic, small windows, no proper kitchen, a step back to roughing it, and understandably that is not the life most people are after. An earth home is only different in the walls. Everything else is an ordinary, modern house. Adobe and cob walls take wiring and plumbing like any other, you can put in big windows and glass doors for light, run underfloor heating beneath an earthen floor, and fit out a completely normal kitchen and bathroom, with tadelakt doing the wet areas beautifully. What you gain on top is the quiet, the even temperature, and the feel of the materials, added to the comforts you already expect rather than traded for them. You get both, the modern house and the earth. Designing an earth building that lives like a modern home is exactly the kind of thing we work on with students.
Comment CLAY and I will send you the free Clay to Code class.

03/10/2026

For most of human history people shaped their own shelter out of what was around them, and earth was the material they reached for more than any other. Then building became a profession with its own language and licences and price tags, and the rest of us slowly came to believe that making a home with our own hands was beyond us. I do not think that is true, and I have watched it not be true for thirty years. Earth is the most forgiving material there is to learn on, because a mistake can be wet back and redone, and you do not need fine tools or a trade background to begin, you need your hands and the right order to work in. Plenty of people who had never built anything have plastered a wall or laid an earthen floor with me and surprised themselves completely. The idea that building is only for other people is one of the saddest and least true things we pass around. We exist to hand that skill back to anyone who wants it.
Comment CLAY and I will send you the free Clay to Code class.

02/10/2026

It looks like a specialist craft, and it is a real skill, but it is also one you can learn with good guidance and a bit of patience. That is the whole reason we made our tadelakt class affordable and built for people who have never done it before, rather than something only tradespeople could justify. You come away able to make a waterproof lime surface with your own hands, for a basin, a splashback, or a whole shower. Beautiful, water-resistant plaster should not be a secret kept by a few.
Comment TADELAKT and I will send you the details of our tadelakt class.

Aotearoa's annual gathering of natural builders, designers, and enthusiasts — with talks, workshops, and visits to some ...
01/10/2026

Aotearoa's annual gathering of natural builders, designers, and enthusiasts — with talks, workshops, and visits to some truly inspiring homes.

With special guest Kyle Holzhueter from Japan.

If you want more details, comment CONFERENCE and we'll send it to you via DMs.

01/10/2026

It looks like heavy work from the outside, all that mud and lifting, and if you imagine doing a whole house alone then of course it seems beyond you. That is not how it is done. Earth building has always been work for many hands, so the load spreads across a group, and a lot of the heavy part, the mixing, is done these days with a machine. You work at your own pace, you sit down to do the detailed plaster and finishing, and you stop when you are tired, because almost nothing in this work is a race. Some of the most capable people I have taught took it up well past the age most of us think of as building age. Fitness helps, as it does with anything, but it is not the gate people assume it is. Helping people find the parts of a build that suit their body is part of how we teach.
Comment CLAY and I will send you the free Clay to Code class.

Address

4 Kanuka Rise
Nelson
7071

Telephone

0064 3 545 0240

Website

,

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Solid Earth Adobe Buildings Ltd posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Shortcuts

Share

Category