This week is the 3rd anniversary of Earthbag Building Blog. A lot has happened this past year, and our blog continues to grow in content and readership. There are now 335 posts and well over 1,000 comments. Thanks for your support. We love hearing about your earthbag projects and hope you will continue sharing information … Read more
I came across this great article at Mother Earth News magazine and just had to share it. Merle Alix describes his family’s experiences of living in an underground house for the last decade. They love the energy savings, low maintenance, quietness and privacy. The biggest downside is the difficulty of obtaining financing for underground houses. … Read more
For those who don’t know, earthbag structures are constructed with bags of moist soil or other suitable materials, stacked in courses like masonry and then tamped solid. As they dry, they turn into incredibly strong walls. Although very popular for a number of compelling reasons, this building method has struggled to reach its full potential … Read more
Patti Stouter has published another earthbag technical report. It is a summary of the state of testing to date, and also covers some of the codes related to earthbag. The following information is quoted from this report. According to the new international earthen building standards, if earthbag walls with some reinforcing have shear strength equal … Read more
I just posted the recent news about gaining engineering approval for earthbag construction through PSE, Nabil Taha’s engineering firm in Oregon. He is licensed in 27 states and has developed an earthbag building system to meet international building codes. This is a major step forward for gaining widespread acceptance of earthbag building and we are … Read more
We’re very happy to announce what is perhaps the greatest news ever for earthbag building. Nabil Taha, Ph.D., P.E., has developed an earthbag building design to meet building codes. This is a huge step forward for earthbag building and we feel very honored to have Nabil’s support. Nabil Taha is the President of Precision Structural … Read more