WestcliffeDan, one of our readers, left a comment suggesting a “Survivor” style reality show that drops the winners with minimal tools and basic supplies somewhere and have them implement their designs. I instantly lit up and laughed, and think the idea is worth pursuing. It could be used to prototype the winning designs from the … Read more
There’s a wide range of earthbag building systems and some are obviously better than others. Let’s summarize the leading V.G.E.W. contenders. Links are included to make it easier to research the details. – Eternally Solar’s earthbag walls filled with sand. Engineering tests show they exceed building code requirements – Eternally Solar’s earthbags can be filled … Read more
Danielle Acres is finishing up her cob house and moving in. I highly recommend taking a look at her blog. It’s totally packed with quality color photos and building ideas. Plus, she’s a real sweetie. (I can say that and not get slapped around because I’m old enough to be her great granddad.) One of … Read more
From Patti Stouter: The cardiologist with the Haiti Christian Development Project who helped get the Bois Marchand earthbag house built near Gonaives, Haiti sent a link to some photos- 2 are the new earthbag buildings at a small village called Bognol. I helped to design the site and these buildings. Earthbag houses bring great excitement … Read more
Patti Stouter sent me this news about raschel mesh from a supplier in Canada that works perfectly for the narrow rubble walls in her Totally Tubular design. She builds hyper-wattle — tubes of lightweight insulation — on top of the narrow rubble walls. “The 18″ wide raschel got here last night and I tried it … Read more
[Update: The jurors in the $300 House design competition have resolved the problem described below to my satisfaction. This came as a big surprise actually, and I’m so happy they took the appropriate action. The guilty person’s project was driven down to #87 last I checked, and my designs jumped back up to #7, 10 … Read more