Alt. Build Blog: April 2012

Monday, April 30, 2012

I ended the last post, which was on small homes in Mulege, Baja California Sur,

with the above photo and now let's see how to build the shed.

With the small house movement getting so much well deserved interest,

I thought it would be interesting to show some examples

we saw in Mulege, B.C.S. at

that were built for Canadian and American retirees.

This is the last post on San Ignacio, B.C.S.

and this time we will look at old adobe houses, mostly in ruins.

The previous post shows some adobes still being used:

Sadly, I saw no current building with adobe,

having been supplanted first by fired clay bricks

and now almost all new construction is cement block.

As I mentioned in the last post,

if one had the choice of spending a hot summer in a cool adobe

or a hot cement block house,

it seems the choice would be obvious. Hmmm?

In the above well built wall,

the coursing shows the bricks are laid crosswise for a wider wall.

One of the more interesting towns in Baja California Sur

is the date palm oasis of San Ignacio,

which lies near the center of Baja both north-south and east-west.

Because it is on neither the Pacific or the Sea of Cortez,

it has missed some of the tourist development that has centered along the coasts.

The springs that provide the water in this small valley have created a lush environment

and an obvious place to locate a town in the otherwise harsh desert.

The large building in the center of the above photo is the mission

which I covered in the previous three posts:

In this third post on the Mission Church of San Ignacio de Loyola

in San Ignacio, B.C.S. we take a look at the windows and doors.

To see the front door of the church go to the first post on the mission:

and for another look at the exterior along the nave: