Long Term Existence of Cement Stabilized Rammed Earth Walls

It is known that researchers have valued the properties of rammed earth walls in terms of natural comfort, durability, affordability and ecofriendliness. Variety of developments has been introduced continually by them for adoption in building construction. As a result, cement stabilized rammed earth (CSRE) and cement stabilized earth bricks (CSEB) are being used today for constructing load bearing walls of houses in many parts of the world. CSRE has been practiced in Sri Lanka from 2004 and a few housing projects have been successfully completed with minimal cost. CSRE walls in randomly selected housing units in a project were investigated after a period of 13 years and found that these walls are in good condition with the protection of surface coating and little maintenance. CSEB wall junctions, soil erosion near the base of walls especially at the external gable walls are identified as defects of CSRE walls. Defects at CSEB wall junctions have been solved in recent research. Good cooling effect in these houses is highly recognized by the users. High level of supervision is required when constructing CSRE to keep its durability, strength, and especially to gain acceptability from the users.