Martin Cubak Earthbag Roundhouse

Martin Cubak’s earthbag roundhouse
Martin Cubak’s earthbag roundhouse

“This is my earthbag, still under contruction, but I live there with my family for 2 yr. It’s been great, very good insulation with my amish cook stove, in hot summer stays cool. I build it very cheap… I did lime, cement plaster, stucco this yr. And painted it the way they do in europe, throw it on. I did 3 coats, 3rd coat was finish, no cracks! I tried cob plaster , but I did not like it. This feels much more strong…

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Confined Earthbag Construction

Confined earthbag construction
Confined earthbag construction

Confined masonry is one of the most common building systems in the world, with millions of structures built this way. The first confined earthbag house is now under construction in Ecuador.

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Final Vanuatu Drawings

Earthbag house design for Vanuatu
Earthbag house design for Vanuatu

The project in Vanuatu is moving along. Here are the final drawings. We modified my $300 Earthbag House design to meet the needs of locals in Vanuatu. The houses are clustered, two rooms have been added in each house, the porch enclosed and a common outdoor work area included.

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Storm Safety Shelter

Earthbag storm safety shelters for hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters
Earthbag storm safety shelters for hurricanes, tornadoes and other natural disasters

“This was designed for safety in mind. We have had many requests in natural disaster areas (Oklahoma, Colorado, California) that we decided to make a universal plan that meets the international standard for storm shelter safety with an environmentally sound method. The Storm Safety Shelter is designed in accordance with the 2009 IBC and the 2008 ICC/NSSA Standard for the Design and Construction of Storm Shelters (ICC-500.)”

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Industrial Earthbag Projects

Industrial earthbag projects include massive projects such as highway retaining walls.
Industrial earthbag projects include massive projects such as highway retaining walls.

Our focus here is on low cost, owner-built homes. From time to time it’s interesting to explore related ideas to see what’s available or going on. As we’ve reported before, there’s a whole industry that specializes in industrial earthbag projects using geotextiles or geosynthetics. Their primary journal is called Geosynthetics Magazine.

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