Before you can build a house or other kind of building you need to know what kind of soil is at your site. Engineers consider all aspects of the soil before they start to dig a building's foundation. Also, in some places people use soil as a building material; they use sod, mud-brick, adobe and other combinations of soil and natural materials. Check out the links below to learn more!

Engineering Return to the top

Laura Ingalls Wilder, Ingalls Claim Sod House, DeSmet, South Dakota URL: http://hoover.archives.gov/LIW/DeSmet/desmet_ingallsclaim-soddy.htmlSource: National Archives and Records Administration, Herbert Hoover Presidential Library Inside a Dutch Sod House URL: http://www.pellatuliptime.com/lessons/straw/strwinside.html Source: Pella Historical Society, Pella Historical Village More Straw House Reading Suggested Internet Sites URL: http://www.newton.dep.anl.gov/natbltn/600-699/nb620.htm Source: Argonne National Laboratory, Division of Educational Programs, Newton BBS, Forest Preserve District of Cook County (Illinois), Nature Bulletins Pioneer Life (How to Build a Sod House) URL: http://www.scs.sk.ca/aug/grassroots/shirley/miranda/PIONEER_LIFE.html Source: Pioneers How to Build a Sod House URL: http://members.tripod.com/~LilyK/d_Sod.html tripod.com Sod House Museum URL: http://www.ok-history.mus.ok.us/mus-sites/masnum27.htm Source: Oklahoma Historical Society, Sites and Museums Preservation of Historic Adobe Buildings URL: http://209.164.8.65/notebook/npsbriefs/brief05.shtm Source: Old House Journal Online Adobe...A timeless solution URL: http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln47/mchenry.html Source: University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Office of Arid Land Studies, Arid Lands Newsletter, Paul G. McHenry Bosque Farms houses (adobe) URL: http://ag.arizona.edu/OALS/ALN/aln47/mchenry1.html Source: University of Arizona, College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Office of Arid Land Studies, Arid Lands Newsletter, Paul G. McHenry Rebuilding Poplar Cottage (wattle-and-daub) URL: http://www.wealddown.co.uk/poplar-cottage-construction-thatch-wattle-and-daub.htm Source: Weald and Downland Open Air Museum The History of Cob URL: http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/history.html Source: NetWorks: The Art of Natural Building Building an Horno: the Adobe Bread Oven URL: http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/oven.html Source: NetWorks: The Art of Natural Building Return to the top