What Does tapial Mean
Tapial is a concept with several uses. It can be the wall that is built with kneaded earth or the mold that allows one of these walls to develop, also known as walls .
The mud walls are walls formed with clay soil that is compacted through the system known as formwork . With wooden planks or metal plates arranged in parallel, earth is introduced between them. The earth is compacted with the help of a tool known as a tamper. Then the position of the formwork is changed until the wall is formed.
Once the process is completed, the mud is dried in the sun. Finally, the windows and doors are developed using a chisel (an instrument used to carve various materials).
The rammed earth is characterized by its ability to conserve heat or cold as it is an effective insulator. It also offers good acoustic insulation. Among the negative points of mud walls, it should be noted that they tend to crack over time .
It is possible to find buildings with mud walls in various countries, such as Spain , Argentina , Brazil , Paraguay , Morocco and Iran . Since their construction does not require advanced technology , mud walls are quite inexpensive.
It is worth mentioning that mud is one of the preferred options of those who pursue sustainable construction , that is, the one that reduces the environmental impact caused by the building, use and demolition processes. The reasons that make the mud so convenient are several; First, it can be built from a variety of materials, all of which are inexpensive and readily available. On the other hand, it does not require machines to complete the process, since it could be considered artisanal.
Despite not being the most suitable method for large constructions, the mud wall offers enough resistance for a building with about three floors; This is due to the fact that the walls can be manufactured with a considerable thickness and fortified with certain additives, among which is straw (which serves to make it more stable), small stones, sticks or reeds (which increase its resistance and, in in the case of reeds, the elasticity of the wall without adding too much weight).
Water is one of the main enemies of mud, since this type of wall absorbs it very easily . For this reason, one of the most common tips to combat degradation is to place the wall on a stone base; in this way it is possible to extend the stability of the structure.
In addition to insulation against cold, heat and noise, rammed earth has other advantages worth mentioning: it is not flammable; it is very resistant to impact; it isolates high-frequency electromagnetic radiation and, consequently, protects living beings from its negative effects; avoid excess humidity inside the construction .
With regard to the etymology of the word tapial, which leads us to tapia, it is very interesting to discover that some scholars point to an onomatopoeia; The word that we use today as a synonym for a wall built to contain a piece of land may have a pre-Roman origin and may have arisen from the word “tap!”, which imitated the sound that is produced when kneading materials during their manufacture. The oldest evidence of the term wall in a document dates from the year 1109.
It should be noted that Tapiales is the name of a town that is located in the Argentine province of Buenos Aires . Belonging to the La Matanza Party , it was founded in 1902 and currently has more than 15,000 inhabitants . Among the famous people from Tapia are the soccer coach and former player Ricardo Gareca , the tennis player Guillermo Cañas , the cyclist Walter Pérez and the singer “Pato” Fontanet .