This richly illustrated guide is acknowledged as the best source for expert, field-tested information on the care and maintenance of historic adobe buildings--from small vernacular structures to the great Spanish Colonial missions. As a true how-to manual, it presents a user-friendly and straightforward approach to the assessment, maintenance, preservation and restoration of earthen buildings based on time-tested techniques. Subjects include: architectural styles and materials; tools and equipment; materials and supplies; emergency shoring; moisture testing in adobe walls; material selection, mixing and testing; making adobe bricks; repairing and rebuilding adobe walls; repairing cracks in adobe walls; mud and lime plastering; earthen and lime finishes; removing contra paredes; repairing corbels; inspecting vigas and corbels; splicing vigas; compliance with State and Federal cultural resource protection legislation; glossary of terms; and bibliography. Cornerstones Community Partnerships in Santa Fe, New Mexico is devoted to the preservation of the architectural heritage and community traditions in New Mexico and the American Southwest. Through its nationally honored technical assistance, applied learning and traditional building skills programs, Cornerstones has assisted more than 300 rural Hispanic and Native American communities with the preservation of historic and culturally significant earthen buildings. Cornerstones has developed and utilized the techniques in this book throughout the American Southwest since 1986.

A non-profit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico has, for two decades, educated and trained citizens (especially young people) in the American Southwest and nearby Mexican communities in traditional methods of restoring and maintaining adobe structures. This highly-illustrated guide offers the expertise developed over those 20 years, much of it gained from the recent six-year project to restore the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception mission church in Socorro, Texas. Instructions cover how to assess a building's needs, build adobe bricks, remove damaging concrete additions, repair erosion, plaster with mud and lime, install a subsurface drainage system, and install metal or earthen roofs. Additional material primes the reader in history, terminology, materials, and tools. This guide includes a glossary but no index.
Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

A non-profit organization based in Santa Fe, New Mexico has, for two decades, educated and trained citizens (especially young people) in the American Southwest and nearby Mexican communities in traditional methods of restoring and maintaining adobe structures. This highly-illustrated guide offers the expertise developed over those 20 years, much of it gained from the recent six-year project to restore the Our Lady of Immaculate Conception mission church in Socorro, Texas. Instructions cover how to assess a building's needs, build adobe bricks, remove damaging concrete additions, repair erosion, plaster with mud and lime, install a subsurface drainage system, and install metal or earthen roofs. Additional material primes the reader in history, terminology, materials, and tools. This guide includes a glossary but no index. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)