Looking to the future, borrowing from the past

From Silver City to Ruidoso – there is a new demand for abode brick building due to its fire-resistant nature.

The adobe brick business has started to boom for Rohan Stites, owner of Adobe Techniques in Silver City as demand for an age-old technique of creating fire resistant building material has increased.

But Stites started small. He created his business, Adobe Techniques, in 1999 in Silver City.

“When we first started it was real small…and we were just building more projects where we were trying to be inventive.” he said. 

And while he started with “just a wheelbarrow, a shovel and a trowel,” his business has grown over the last 26 years.

But this last year Stites said he has been busier. Due to the Salt and Southfork fires in Ruidoso in June 2024, Sites has gotten more requests because the brick provides a more fireproof way to build a home. Stites said Adobe Techniques is helping with "numerous" projects. 

“We have been shipping out tons of blocks and doing lots of construction there,” Stites said. 

This style of building is not new. Some of the oldest adobe structures in the region come from Pueblo culture and go back over 5,000 years. Hlauuma (which means North House) and Hlaukwima (which means South House), both in Taos Pueblo, have been occupied for over 1,000 years.

With around 1,400 structures burned down in Ruidoso in the 2024 fires, a lot of rebuilding has been underway. 

“It’s definitely sad to see the devastation,” Sites said. “But it’s a positive to see a lot rebuilt with masonry and a product that will not be getting compromised and with a product that is more sustainable as well.” 

One of those people that is building a compressed earth home is Eric Powell. Powell first started building his home in Ruidoso of adobe brick because he was interested in its breathability. Plus, his wife lost a home in the past to a fire.

“I'm just driving around here and I just see all of the slabs. Like man, just go brick. What do you see left standing? You see the ones that were brick and the chimneys.” Powell said. “With the wildfires going on, why wouldn't you want to build with brick?”

Adobe Techniques Owner Rohan Stites says he’s busier than ever due to the fires in Ruidoso last year.

Courtesy photo

Powell explained that he learned how to build a home out of compressed earth bricks from a man named Ryan Runge in San Antonio, TX. To showcase how tough these types of homes are, Runge posts videos of the bricks stopping bullets and even one where he sits inside a small adobe brick structure while a fire burns all around him.

In addition to being nearly fireproof, adobe homes have a much lower chance of getting mold and are more energy efficient, Powell said. While the dirt, water and binding material mix is not a great insulator alone, the sheer mass of the adobe walls provides great insulation.

“I believe that it is a more healthy way of living,” Powell said. “Nowadays people want to seal up their home air-tight which causes potential for bacteria and mold buildup whereas an adobe wall is breathable.”  

Reconstruction is still underway in Ruidoso but the town says on its website that over $100 million has been spent in bringing the village back after the fire.