Building an Earthbag and Stone Rainwater Storage Cellar

I decided to build a simple recessed cellar in my yard that would serve a variety of functions, including rainwater storage, root cellar and space for vermiculture (worm bins). All of these require relatively cool but not freezing conditions, so digging into the ground was a good way to accomplish this. It seemed like the easiest approach would be to build this primarily with earthbags.

First I calculated how large it needed to be in order to hold the two large (275 gallon) water tanks I intended to buy, as well as provide enough space for produce and worms. It was a tricky business to fit all of this in the space available, especially because I had to work between existing underground irrigation pipes.

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Earthbag Eco Home in Morocco

Four bedroom earthbag eco home in Morocco
Four bedroom earthbag eco home in Morocco

“Eco-dome Morocco is an ambition that draws both in the basic design of the American-Iranian architect Nader Khalili and the rich Moroccan heritage in earth-based construction. This perfect combination is our main source of inspiration to give our buildings a new architectural and structural sense: buildings that respect the environment, adapt to the environment but mostly emanate from the environment; And because it is believed that human comfort lies in its return to nature, Eco-dôme Maroc is there to ensure this first step.”

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Earthbag Water Tanks in Vanuatu Update

Dozens of earthbag Water tanks have been built in Vanuatu since I was there
Dozens of earthbag Water tanks have been built in Vanuatu since I was there

“Cyclone Pam hit Port Vila as a category 5 cyclone in March 2015. Many water tanks were destroyed, pierced by debris, and houses lost. For the first two weeks the only clean water available on half road Erakor was coming from the earthbag tanks [at the earthbag Women’s Center.] Suddenly everyone understood what the women had been trying to do.

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More Earthbag Houses in Malawi

We’ve published several blog posts about earthbag houses in Malawai over the years. The big news in this most recent story is an NGO has created a fund for ongoing construction of earthbag houses in flood prone areas. They’ve realized a certain number of houses built of light weight materials are destroyed every year by floods, so now they have created a fund to rebuild some of them with earthbags.

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