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 with various materials for optimum performance. For instance, 1. insulation in outer tube, 2. clayey subsoil in the center, 3. sand in the inside tube for thermal mass.
– Another variation (one of many) for Eternally Solar’s earthbags to build insulated houses: 1. scoria, pumice or perlite in outer tube, 2. clayey subsoil mixed with scoria, pumice or perlite in the center, 3. sand in the inside tube for thermal mass.
– Hyperadobe: mesh tubes (or bags if tubes aren’t available) filled with subsoil, road base or other suitable material.
– Polypropylene bags or tubes filled with subsoil, road base or other suitable material.
– Poly bags filled with insulation such as scoria or pumice, as pioneered by Kelly Hart, to build superinsulated earthbag houses in cold climates.
– Hyper-wattle tubes filled with lightweight insulating materials as pioneered by Patti Stouter. Narrow walls like this use fewer materials and take up less space.
– Earthbags stabilized with lime, cement, caliche, gypsum, Alker Technology, PolyPavement or the equipvalent, MICP
– Geopolymer as pioneered by Professor Joseph Davidovits turns simple natural materials to stone
– Reinforced earthbags as pioneered by Precision Structural Engineering, Inc. This system meets all building codes in seismic and non-seismic areas.
That’s a good idea, unfortunately it would take an enormous amount of time for one person or even 2 people to sew 2-3 thousand bags. What I was hoping for was a bag tubing manufacturer who could seam the channels with heat as the rolls were being spooled. Then any bag supplier who cuts and sews their own bags could produce them with the channeled material.
Yes, now if we can only find someone to provide these bags or tubing in the US! I contacted a few distributors about having the bags sewn into 3 chambers. Most said they would have to be sewn individually$$$. I was hoping to find a company that would sew some 18 to 24 inch wide mesh tubing into 3 chambers. Then make the tubing into bags or offer it in rolls. People could cut their bags to size. Anyway we could call it super duper hyper adobe. :=)
You may find a seamstress who needs the work. I’m talking about people who work from home and don’t advertise. Give them enough time during the slow season (winter, etc.) and they should be able to do it.
It really starts out to become a flavor for everybody and every climate.
I love it.
Yes, being able to adjust techniques, fine tune the materials and improve performance and comfort will help earthbag become more popular. There are lots of options available. For instance, some systems are suitable for working alone and some systems are geared for building by teams.