Here’s our third earthbag bench. I love these small projects. They’re so simple and practical. This one was made almost entirely with surplus materials: a few extra bags filled with gravel, cement plaster and scrap tile. It was built during the construction of our earthbag roundhouse so all the tools, materials, etc. were all in … Read more
We’re experimenting with rice hulls and clay to make lightweight building blocks. We’re using 25% rice hulls on our first test block. This is our first test block with a rice hull/clay mixture. This is not the most efficient way to mix it, of course, but we’re just doing small samples. Normally you’d use a … Read more
The following text and video is from Daniel Geery’s article at OpEdNews. I can really relate to what this guy is saying about sustainable housing. Most of the technology was well known decades ago, as you can see in his video below. His house shows just how simple living off grid can be. “My family … Read more
The earthbag clinic and school buildings in Leogane have unfortunately experienced cost overruns. Obviously this is a very important topic, and doubly so when building in developing countries where budgets are very tight. One problem has been the unusually high cost of materials, which can be much higher than in the US. The main expense … Read more
This Instructable describes an innovative way to build walls using bamboo or wood saplings and bags of insulation. We’ll be using bamboo for this Instructable since it is rapidly renewable, low cost and readily available in many parts of the world. Let’s start with some background information to better understand what is involved. People often … Read more
I’m real happy with how the sample vetiver/clay block and earthbag turned out. This follow-up report summarizes some of the pros and cons. You can read the first report here. The block dried in a few days, but the mix in the bag was slow drying (it took about 2-3 times longer to dry) and … Read more