Foundation
The rammed earth wall is supported on a pier and beam foundation of reinforced concrete. This method differs from the typical spread footing characteristic of most rammed earth construction, which results in the use of a considerable amount of concrete and steel below grade given the thickness of rammed earth wall sections. In contrast to the continuous footing, we designed twelve-inch diameter posts of reinforced concrete approximately six feet apart directly under the wall. The posts have flared bottoms to distribute the weight of the wall and rest on undisturbed soil below the frost line. These posts are connected with a 9-inch thick continuous beam of reinforced concrete, the bottom of which is elevated several inches above the grade, to eliminate the danger of heaving due to frost. This approach saved over eighty percent of the concrete that would be used in a conventional spread footing. The layers of earth were then rammed on top of the continuous beam.