One of the most recognizable symbols of a fortress in anyone's mind is the wall. Massive, impenetrable blockades that keep any unwanted visitors from wrecking their havoc.

Often times, however, a standard concrete wall proves too pricey for a prospective builder to pay for.

Rammed Earth building is an ancient building technique, used in everything from huts in Africa to the Great Wall of China. It is more eco-friendly, just as tough as concrete, and cheap enough to be available to a wider variety of users.

The principle of this method is to create a form, place soil in it, and tamp it to compact it to the density of a rock. Needless to say, this method involves a large amount of physical labor, but may also be one of the cheapest available.

However, it would also be beneficial to have a backhoe here, along with a motorized tamper, both of which would immensely cut down labor and increase effectiveness. Tampers have been spotted online for as low as $25, and though they require a little work, the price cannot be beat. Research on-line has shown the cheapest of bulldozers to cost around $500 - $1000 at cheapest for a backhoe. The best bet, if you have the contacts, is to borrow one. If you can't, then a backhoe would come in handy on Z-Day anyways.



For the Process:

We'll assume, for starters, that you are working with a flat piece of land - no elevation issues, no issues with digging (i.e. gas lines, water lines, etc), and no necessary building permits.


The first step is to dig. I would recommend a trench of at least five feet deep, shown here, where the outer side slopes down easier than the inner side. The depth of the hole here is 5 feet, while it extends outward 20 feet for a good slope. The inner side only extends 10 feet back, but is not going to be there for long.

The flat base that you will be building from, here, is 8 foot across, for a 4 foot wall.

The dirt taken from the trench will be stacked on the inner side of the wall, for easier replacement later.


The next step is to lay a gravel foundation at the bottom of the trench, over the location on which you'll be constructing your wall. The gravel will have to be tamped itself, and as solid as possible. A very strong frame needs to be built, in order to hold the dirt in place; the strength is necessary in order to take the pressure of the tamping process. It cannot flex or bow, or this will either A) not allow the dirt to compact, B) make your wall an odd shape, or C) cause a weakness in the frame itself, leading to a collapse.

Dirt should be added into the frame layer by layer, and each layer should be tamped down as much as possible. Wikipedia lists as such that the dirt much be tamped to half of its original height. (I would take this as a reference, and not a fact)

*The frame here is NOT in ANY WAY an appropriate example of what is needed. It is simply a basic to help one visualize.*


Bit by bit, and section by section, build the wall up, and down the line, until you end up with something resembling:


Once the wall itself is mostly complete, move on back to the dirt. Back fill the area on the inner side of the wall, with a slight slope away from the wall, in order to keep water from pooling. The same should go for the lower side of the wall as well.


For the finished product, grass seed must be planted, same as above, to prevent erosion, strengthen the ground its built on, absorb runoff, etc. The wall itself can be coated in order to preserve it even further against the elements. Tar can be used, same as above, in the preservation, but in this case, paint is a just as viable as an alternative.



Paint may prove more pricey, but is also longer term, and would most likely end up looking a lot nicer as well. If you are building before the apocalypse, then a nicer looking wall may prove slightly more worthwhile with any neighbors or onlookers. Paint, when searched for and bought in off colors, or with some other company defect in coloration, should be cheaper than buying any other old paint. I do not know about industrial sized orders, but it is something worth looking into. In this scenario, a paint sprayer is another very, very helpful piece of equipment.

Before painting, it is possible to mix all of your paints together in a larger container to get a more even, balanced coloring, most likely resulting in a gray or brown shape. Perhaps not the most attractive ever, but come on: Your wall is made of dirt. What do you want?!




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Towers and Bunkers

When designing or discussing the building of a fortress, most people would tend to include multiple towers into the design of their structure, for keeping a watch on their surroundings, and to have an elevated firing position should they come under attack. Sometimes, however, they are disregarded, as the tower often leaves the occupants exposed, requires too much work, or simply does not provide much benefit.

When constructing a Rammed Earth wall, I believe it would be possible to create a bunker in the corner of your fortress, that would give any occupant a slightly advantageous firing position, while easily covering them from sight and enemy fire, and also the elements, on hot summer days and cold winter nights. A few theories on these structures will be discussed below.

The Earth Tower


This two-story structure focuses on archer-slits for protecting its occupants and still providing good fields of fire for anyone inside. With archer slits, at close distance you can easily lose the ability to shoot at a target, due to the narrowing firing lane. However, with two stories, these lanes overlap from one level to the next here, allowing each person to cover an area the person below them cannot shoot. Each tower will also be equipped to cover each of its neighboring towers from extremely close-range attackers.


The corner tower solves several problems posed in other types of corner towers: the arrow-slots provide serious protection for the occupants; two stories give the occupants a better field of vision; overlapping viewpoints allow freer lines of sight.

The second floor would bring about a lot more work, compared to a single story structure. However, as stated, it is necessary in the design to provide adequate coverage of the outer field.

Below, the blue cones represent the fields of view from the top floor, leaving the red to be the bottom floor. It is easy to see that in theory, the fields of view overlap about 15 feet away from the structure. Without these overlaps, in this design, the lanes would actually grow apart, and always leave a blind spot.


It would also be possible to, instead of just putting a roof on top of the second floor, place a third level on top, and either leave the top open, or place a roof on top of the third level. The idea behind the third level would be a lookout. Because of the situation on the inside of the lower two levels, it would be harder to have a 360* view. With a lookout on top, its possible to sacrifice a little protection for a better view. If the tower does get involved at combat, the lookout can simply climb down, quickly, to the second level, for a better position.


The post as seen below is not overly protective. It will not shelter one from the weather. However, it would be relatively simple to build. After your main tower is complete, you simply need to stack the bricks (or build another Rammed Earth section) on top of what you already have.


The Corner Bunker


As seen above, this structure is rather simple and even bare. It doesn't have to be exceedingly large, however, as the guards would not be spending their entire day in it. The inner-side wall to the right has been cut away here, as well as the roof, for a better view inside.

The door is smaller in width in order to keep out the elements. The windows, facing outward, are elevated for a better view, and to see out, a simple earthen step can be created from the left over dirt from the original making of the wall itself.

Other aspects to include could be an elevated stool for the lookout to sit in, or, especially, a wood-burning stove, to keep the occupants warm in the cold, or to heat up a drink or small meal. The doorway can be covered with either a thin door, or a hanging tarp, to block the wind. It would be possible to hang material for hunting blinds in the outer windows, in order to both cut down on the elements and to mask the movement and such of the guards from outside eyes.


Above is a similar view to the first; however, here you can see how the structure would look with both walls intact, as well as the roof of it in place.