Santa Fe style homes - What can you tell me about them?

[chaparrito]

As I said earlier, there is true adobe in AZ, but it's not as common as NM. Here's one builder working out of Prescott but a lot of his jobs are in Wickenburg.
Culhane Contracting LLC Joe Culhane, Projects
My home, while not typically "Santa Fe" style, is a southwestern adobe. The walls are 16 inch thick adobe with an additional inch to inch and a half of stucco on the exterior. From street level the roof appears flat, but there is a parapet wall around the top that disguises the roof pitch. It slopes towards the north and drains very well out of canales that pierce the north parapet. When I built the house 27 years ago I used a torch down butyl rubber roof which lasted well until last year when it began to leak in spots. I had painted it every two-three years with white elastomeric paint. I replaced it with a nice thick foam roof without tearing the old roof off and it's topped with a very thick sprayed-on elastomeric layer that the roofer recommends re-doing in 5-7 years. The new roof extends up the inside and over the top of the parapet wall. The cost was very low and took a day and a half to complete. We immediately noticed better interior temperature moderation.

[WilmaWildcat]

Here's a topic from the Tucson forum about flat roofs. I included Rosie Romero's column with a link to the original in it.

https://www.city-data.com/forum/tucso...flat-roof.html

[ScottsdaleMark]

Just an FYI, if you have a roof that was not explicitly built to be a terrace/patio/etc., don't try to make it one...many flat roofs are not designed to bear much weight at all and you actually have to be really careful walking on them so you don't damage/crack/break the membranes, etc. Or so I've been told, since I've been scared out of walking on them.

Same goes for tile, it cracks easily so be careful if you have to go up on a tile roof. Now shingle roofs, you can climb up there any time you want to take pictures of sunsets and sunrises and generally be that weird neighbor who's up on his roof. What's he doing? Is he looking into my backyard?

[Dangerous Dave]

The "Santa Fe" style actually don't have a true flat roof. They are angled for run-off, and they'll generally have drains in the sides of the house near the top for the water to get out of. You can't see the angle because the sides are built up to make it appear flat. I've actually seen some with a pretty good pitch, but again the sides are built up so you can't see the pitch, all you see are the drains on the side.


Depending on what part of Arizona you are looking at, it's not all completely dry and there are places that get a lot of rain in a short time span... and depending on where you are in the desert, the sand doesn't absorb the water very quickly and neither does the pavement.


The state is very diverse, and the weather patterns vary with location and elevation. When I lived in Yuma, we actually went a span of about 18 months with zero rain. Yet at the same time, Phoenix was getting dumped on. Another thing to remember, Phoenix is one of the highest elevation large cities in America, and the second highest state capitol (after Denver).

[MGS4EVER]

You are looking for a "Territorial" style home. My friend has one and the only difference from her house and the one across the street is the elevation or outside look. On the inside it's the same house.

I love the look. We bought our house because it has a basement and that is rare in the Phoenix area because of the ground is so hard.

[fluffythewondercat]

Is there any chance of finding an affordable rammed-earth house in the Valley?

The only ones I've seen have been multiple millions of dollars.

[jamies]

Originally Posted by fluffythewondercat

Is there any chance of finding an affordable rammed-earth house in the Valley?

The only ones I've seen have been multiple millions of dollars.

Doubtful. High labor costs. Usually they are built by individuals over time, or by groups of friends, volunteers, or as a class project of some sort. In the time it would take to pack 50 tires I'd have a structure up and dried in, with one third the crew.

[BigEinAz]

Rammed earth doesn't use tires. You DO need a special soil mix and formwork is equivalent to what you'd need for poured concrete. Very labor intensive and building departments are usually a hard-sell when building an unconventional structure, not to mention getting a bank to finance one.