how do you make cement from dirt?

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How can you make a form of cement from dirt? It is just going to be used to hold together dirt blocks...I am buidling a model castle of of dirt and just wanted to know if there is a way to make the dirt hold better...

Jon

-- jon (roland_of_giland@excite.com), January 09, 2001

Answers

You can mix animal blood or egg white into it as a bonding agent. I have been experimenting with cardboard and dirt bricks for garden walkways.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), January 09, 2001.

Soil cement is one part portland and anywhere from 4 to 12 parts soil depending on how strong you want it and what you're local soil is like.

If the soil is mostly clay and what you want is bricks, small bricks can be fired in a campfire for a few hours.

==>paul

-- paul (p@ledgewood-consulting.com), January 09, 2001.


Jon: I have clay soil so I mixed soil, sand, straw, and some portland cement into a wood block mold. Let them sit in the sun for 3 months and mortered them together for a cheap pump house. 8 years later it still looks great. Check your library for adobe blocks if this is what you need....Kirk

-- Kirk Davis (kirkay@yahoo.com), January 09, 2001.

You may want to do a search under "cob". Houses built from cob have been standing 500+ years. It is sand, clay and water. You can throw in some straw if you want to. Dirt bricks/mortar

-- Laura (LauraLeekis@home.com), January 10, 2001.

Jon, first cement is the "glue", not the finished product, which is concrete. Portland cement is what you are refering to as the binder, I suspect. Following all of the above good advice, I will add a caveat: avoid any organic material, as this will impede the chemical reaction. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), January 16, 2001.


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