El tapial en Porreres, Mallorca.

The tapial technique or wall It is not very well known in Mallorca despite the fact that it has been widely used in the construction of houses since the Muslim era.onsists The idea is to build walls with damp clay soil, compacted by pounding with a “tamper”, using a wooden formwork to form it. In Mallorca, rammed earth constructions often go unnoticed as they are often covered with lime mortar, making it difficult to recognise them. However, in towns such as Sineu or Porreres This type of construction can be clearly seen since many of these houses do not have cladding.

Rammed earth wall in Porreres, Mallorca.
It is recognized by the horizontal marks that the formwork leaves in each tongada.

The rammed earth walls were necessarily built on a stone base to prevent rising water. In some cases the stone wall could reach quite a height, so it is not unusual to find houses where stone was used on the first floor and rammed earth on the first floor. I do not rule out that this was done for economic reasons; it was always more expensive to bring stones from a quarry than to use the earth that undoubtedly surrounded the house.

Stone at the base, wall at the top of the house.
Porreres, Majorca.

Cut rammed earth wall, Santa María, Mallorca.

This mud wall was recently sectioned with a disc machine.
Leaving aside the barbarity of this, it allows us to better understand how rammed earth walls were built. In the photo you can clearly see the different layers, not too high; the wall is covered with lime mortar.

Detail of the wear and tear of a mud wall.

The wear on the surface of the wall allows us to see the materials used in the composition: pebbles of different sizes and clay soil.

House built in rammed earth, Porreres, Mallorca.
The lower parts of the wall have been “patched” with cement.

rammed earth house in Porreres, Mallorca.

adobe house in Porreres.

It is possible to restore a house built of rammed earth respecting the techniques and materials used in its origin, returning it to its splendor and beauty. In fact, Can Monroig It is a good example of this since it is mostly built using this technique.