The reason this page was created is best explained here. (On an associates website.)

However, several California Adobe homeowners have contacted us, asking how they can add on or build an additional adobe structure.  If there’s building permits involved, you will likely need to use modern materials and construction methods, then apply an Adobe-like facade.  This can be done using Eldorado Stone, (it’s a So. Cal. locally manufactured product) or by finding a good stucco artist.  Below are examples. And you can still use 4″ X 4″ X 16″ real Adobe bricks as a facade over modern construction, but there’s only one local supplier.  

This is a covered outdoor kitchen, added on to the side on an Adobe Home in Escondido.  The back wall doubles as a retaining wall, so it’s cement cinder block. The archway around the cooking area is wood framed, then cement plastered, then the Eldorado Stone facade was applied.  The neat thing about the Eldorado Stone is that it looks irregular, like Adobe, and it’s hard to find a brick pattern that repeats itself.

   

 Here’s a garden shed, wood framed, faced with the same Eldorado Stone.

Another one of our Adobe homeowners in Escondido added a garage and workshop in 2017.  The structure was built out of pre-engineered structural panels.  Neat stuff!  A scratch coat of sprayed on concrete stucco was applied inside and out, over the panels.  Then a concrete stucco color coat was applied and skimmed with a 4′ long float, then the scribe lines were added to replicate brick mortar joints.  (The Stucco crew did such a good job that from 20′ away you would say; that’s real adobe.)  Then the whole structure was fog coated.

Above is a picture of a room addition on an Adobe home in Escondido, using real Adobe bricks as a facade to match the original solid brick structure.  Added on in 1974, the facade bricks were used for economic purposes (as compared to building solid Adobe brick walls, which were still allowed at the time).  The bricks are 4″ X 4″ X 16″, the structure underneath is conventional wood framing.  (The house and addition has a whitewash finish, if you were wondering about the color of the bricks.)

The Adobe facade front wall of the Poway post office.  The lighter color of the bricks suggests they came from the Hans Sumpf brickyard in Fresno, CA.

The webmaster’s Adobe home has a low garden wall. It was demoed and rebuilt circa 2002.  With moisture behind it for over 30 years, the original wall had melted from the inside out, a common problem with Adobe garden walls.  Adobe bricks in California were still inexpensive in 2002 (the rebuilt wall shown has all Hans Sumpf bricks from Fresno); so it was the practical solution at the time.  (No building permit was needed for this.)  But now, a cinder block wall faced with Eldorado Stone would be a good looking, long lasting option.  Slump block is an option too, but looks less Adobe-like. 

Don’t be afraid to contact us for references about rebuilding, remodeling, or adding on to your Adobe structure, as we know this is a challenge in California and we’re here to keep interest in these homes alive.