Block Making Begins

The earth block press making 7" x 14" x 4" blocks.


This machine blends the site soil with 6% Portland cement and adds a small amount of moisture as the mix passes along the outfeed auger.



Pallets of 10" x 14" x 4" earth blocks. The blocks are wrapped to retain moisture while the Portland cement cures. The blocks will be ready for use after about 2 weeks. We will wait a month before using ours.


We had originally planned on using sun dried adobe bricks from New Mexico for the wall structure of our house but the possibility of using the soil excavated from the site to make blocks was an intriguing option. Jim Hallock and Rich Gillespie of Earth Blocks Inc. http://www.earthblockinc.com/overview.htm made some test blocks from the site soil and determined that it would make great blocks. They set up their block press and started cranking out blocks on June 19th. Earth blocks are made by blending about 6% Portland cement with the soil and a little moisture which is then compressed in a form with a hydraulic ram. The press is capable of making over 250 10" x 14" x 4" blocks per hour. After about a week of block making, we have close to 8,000 blocks on site which is a little over half of what we will need for our walls.