Adobe is the oldest building material in the world, found throughout the Middle East, Asia, North Africa, South America, Europe and, of course, the Southwestern United States.
Adobe often requires replastering, which explains how adobe structures often change over time. Taos Pueblo, for instance, is one of the oldest continuously inhabited places in the nation, but the buildings one sees today are different from those first glimpsed by Spanish conquistadors.
In the 1960s when it was thought a hard cement stucco might mitigate the need for an annual replastering at the world-famous San Francisco de Asis Church in Ranchos de Taos. That effort famously failed when it was discovered water had seeped under the stucco and caused serious deterioration.
The historic Hacienda de los Martínez is now facing a slow-moving disaster that, if not addressed soon, could rob Taos of one of…
Read full article originally published on naturalbuildingblog.com