“PLEASE RSVP BY April 11th 2014 email us at unitedearthbuilders@gmail.com for info!
Come join United Earth Builders in Joshua Tree, CA for a 3-day project course focusing on earthbag/superadobe basics and plaster work. From foundation to finish participants will construct two 16’ long x 4’ high lounge/bench and retaining wall work alongside our well trained and field experienced earthbuilders.
Within the same alternative community as Ted’s ruins (see the previous post) is Sean’s Adobe House, also featured in my Sampler of Alternative Homes video. Sean Sands built this house about 20 years ago for less than $1,000. He used the native soil, which is an almost perfect adobe mix of about 25% clay and 75% sand. All he would do is moist the soil where he wanted to harvest adobe the night before he planned to dig it. Then he placed the damp soil in a hydraulic ram press to make compressed earth blocks. He would let these cure in the sun for a few days before building with them. Part of the walls of the house were made with old tires packed with soil.
“This earthbag house is environment friendly, very cheap to build. Operational energy is almost nil.”
Update on Kerry’s roundhouse in Turkey that withstood an earthquake. The interior is looking real nice.
“This Vanuatu build was started with a little experience in what can go wrong and it made all the difference. Seven Australians aged 14 to 63 and four local men worked together with the wife and four daughters of a Ni-van waiter to build these two rooms in 14 days.
As many readers know, my passion is promoting very low cost housing that virtually anyone can afford. Earthbag is a natural option for housing the poor, however the thick walls take up a disproportionate amount of space on tiny urban lots such as in slums, and the hard work deters some. Thin walls have a lot of advantages. That’s one reason Dr. Anderton’s E-khaya housing system with narrow earthbag tubes caught my eye. I’m now considering how to adapt this basic method for wider use.