The subject of sun tubes or solar tube skylights keeps coming up in email exchanges with readers, because they’re often more efficient than conventional skylights. There are numerous competing brands and designs, but the basic concept is a skylight that directs light through a mirrored tube. Some designs like the Solatube skylight pictured above bend … Read more
Compressed earth blocks (CEBs) have countless uses and come in dozens of shapes (many more than shown here). They are commonly used for residential and commercial structures, earthquake resistant structures, privacy walls, columns, bond beams, pavers, planters, stairs, etc. For instance, you could make CEB columns on your house and privacy walls and stack earthbags … Read more
Sometimes special hardware can really come in handy for speeding construction. That’s probably why there are hundreds of different anchors and straps available – they really do make buildings stronger and easier to build. The anchors pictured above are used to build hogans, an octagonal shaped structure favored by the Navajo and others living in … Read more
Here’s a great, low cost way to build floors with compressed earth blocks. This Instructable is by Velacreations. Visit their website for more great ideas. When considering what material to use for a floor, few people look beyond a concrete slab, with something like tile or carpet as a finish. For us, however, there were … Read more
I’ve been reading about TerraZyme® for a number of years, but Scott Howard of Earthen Hand prompted me to comment on this soil stabilizer. It seems to be an enzyme fermented from fruit, so here’s another safe, low tech way to stabilize earthbags. Text below is from their website. TerraZyme® soil stabilizer is a safe, … Read more
If you’ve been watching our videos, you’ve seen us making various earthen blocks. This one here is the best one so far. It has clay and rice hulls. Another very good block was the clay with vetiver grass. So I had the idea to combine the best – the rice hulls and the vetiver. That’s … Read more