Rammed earth doesn't
have a British Standard or Eurocode yet. But it does have a well
researched Guideline which has begun to act a a de-facto standard.
Published in 2004 the
Rammed
Earth Design and Construction Guideline covers most of the aspects
of design, testing and practical aspects needed to get a rammed earth
structure through planning and building regs in the U.K. The Guideline
has three technical sections: for testing,
appendix A, for specifying,
appendix B and for engineering design,
appendix C
In the UK materials
like rammed earth with no national standard has to be underwritten by
an engineers design. This is the usual route to Building Regs.
acceptance where the recognised regulators don't have a standard to
follow. The engineers rely on material test results to understand the
strength of a particular material and the Guideline appendix C to
understand the specifics of designing for the material.
Likewise contractors
not familiar with handling soil on site for earth building rely on the
Guideline, for advice on material extraction, storage, mixing and
placing. Appendix B also has a very useful specification which can be
used and adapted for particular circumstances. Some expert consultation
will help in this process but it is by no means unthinkable that an
experienced builder could use rammed earth simply following the
guideline.
Architects are not
routinely trained to think about materials like
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