New FAQ’s at Earthbagbuilding.com

The Frequently Asked Questions section of www.earthbagbuilding.com has been accumulating pertinent questions and answers for over a decade. These had been categorized into only about a half dozen pages, which had become overly long and cumbersome for finding specific information.  I finally decided to organize them in such a way that it is now much … Read more

Three Ways Building Codes Escalate Construction Costs


Do you think building codes are fair and set up primarily for society’s protection? Guess again. In reality, building codes were written by the timber, steel, brick and concrete industries, in collaboration with banks and insurance companies to maximize profits for themselves. This creates barriers to entry that make it difficult to build with alternative materials.

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How the Law Caught Up With a Marin County Visionary

View more videos at: http://nbcbayarea.com.

“David Hoffman is not your typical outlaw. For one, every conversation veers toward the inevitable topics of conservation and sustainability. He can’t understand why people need things like septic tanks – or why they use perfectly good drinking water to wash their cars.

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Earthen Building Techniques used for DIY Eco-dwellings in Portland

A brief rant by local Natural Builder, Scott Howard, discussing social justice, natural building, permaculture, cob, and the building codes.
A brief rant by local Natural Builder, Scott Howard, discussing social justice, natural building, permaculture, cob, and the building codes.

“Probably a lot of Portlanders, myself included, are wondering if they will ever be able to buy a house in Portland. Or if they buy one, will they be able to afford to keep it. Well I would like to offer once again a simple solution which is to build your house yourself, with help from your community. If you help me build my house, I will help you build yours. Doesn’t that sound like a good deal for everyone? Rather than go into the details of exactly how one could build a very advanced and efficient dwelling with little more than sand and clay from the building site, here I will stick to general comments about what I see going on now.

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Permitted Earthbag Dome Home in Florida

Florida earthbag dome gains building permit
Florida earthbag dome gains building permit

Breaking news: an engineer in Florida has just gained approval for the first permitted earthbag dome in Florida. They charged only $800 and are eager to do more green building in the future. They modified my Enviro Dome design to meet Florida state building codes.

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April Magill Interview: Architect Willing to Stamp Natural Building Plans


April Magill, a licensed architect in South Carolina, is willing to stamp construction plans for natural buildings as well as for conventional buildings. I believe April is the first architect to offer this service – to stamp plans for multiple types of natural buildings, not just one or two types. Imagine the changes that would happen if someone did this for each state. This one act of courage and love by April Magill could usher in profound changes very quickly. With this realization, I immediately wrote her and asked for an interview.

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