A reader asked if perlite is a good choice for building earthbag roundhouses. Perlite should work if you make some adaptations. It has excellent R-value and so, in my opinion, is well worth a little extra effort. In fact, it’s a top choice because of its R-value of 2.7 per inch. So 15″ would give … Read more
In July, 2009 Guiding Star Creations co-created this 9 day workshop with hosts Eric and Nancy. This dome was built as a WWOOFer’s (farm stay) cottage for Eric and Nancy’s 14 acre organic farm. The dome has a 3m(10ft) interior diameter and the walls are 30cm(1ft) thick. This dome was fitted with features to adapt … Read more
The Enviro Dome plans have been tweaked over and over and the final version posted to my Earthbag House Plans site. This plan has always been one of my most popular designs. An ideal starter home, this plan is easy to extend or even create large dome clusters. Compact, but highly livable, the Enviro Dome … Read more
Knowledge is power, as they say. Serious natural builders will want to draw from the best pool of knowledge available. You see, earthbag is just one part of natural building. There are design and site issues to learn about, how to best use sustainably harvested wood, how-to information on roofs, plastering, and so on. It’s … Read more
The most recent issue of The Last Straw journal (#60) has my article about earthbag/stone foundations. The following information is just a short excerpt. You can buy the full length article from The Last Straw. The design outlined here can be used with load-bearing and non load-bearing straw bale walls, earthbag walls, cob, adobe, cordwood … Read more
Geosynthetics Magazine is a valuable go-to source for technical earthbag articles. This is a great, free resource for serious earthbag builders, especially commercial builders. They have a new article about natural green facades on earthbag highway retaining walls. It’s surprisingly simple and effective. The retaining wall is not only strong, it also looks good because … Read more