An Australian couple have been chronicling the development of their homestead, which includes building a strawbale house and an innovative approach to creating raised garden beds. They have resorted to sewing up strips of old sheets to make long bags, which they then fill with stabilized soil to create the beds. Once cured, the beds … Read more
My earlier post about Earthbag Building in Cold Climates on January 17, 2009 piqued some interest. Since energy performance on most buildings can be improved with insulation, including those made of earth — adobe, earthbag, etc. — I decided to pursue this idea further. So here’s another method for insulating earthbag buildings using tube sandbags, … Read more
Most earth structures such as adobe are located in hot, dry climates. But what if you live in a cold climate and want the benefits of low-cost earth building techniques? Earthbag building has the unique advantage of providing either thermal mass or insulation, and therefore can be adapted for cold climates with an insulated fill … Read more
Kelly and I try to track everything about earthbags and sandbags. Here’s a suggestion I came across on a January 4, 2009 post at SurvivalBlog.com. It’s another example of the amazing versatility of building with bags. “We came across a small discovery here on our ranch. We feed many animals and four dogs. So we … Read more
Looking for the perfect furniture for your new earthbag home? Everyone’s familiar with bean bag furniture, but most brands use polystyrene fill, a possible carcinogenic. Consider making your own furniture filled with rice hulls as an all natural fill. Rice hulls are surprisingly comfortable. I discovered this by accident about six months ago when I … Read more
Each year the Society for Environmental Graphic Design sponsors a contest to recognize the best in environmental graphic design. This year’s Juror’s Award went to Norman Lee and Charles Houser for their Billboard Earthbag Project. The designers say: “Because most conventional sandbags are fabricated from polypropylene, they are very vulnerable to UV rays and quickly … Read more