Perhaps workshop fees and travel expenses are not affordable, or maybe you’re busy doing other things and can’t make it to an earthbag workshop. That’s okay because we provide almost everything you need for free on our websites. You could get started without a workshop by following my step-by-step videos, www.youtube.com/user/naturalhouses, reading our websites and … Read more
Building your own low-cost natural house out of earthbags, locally harvested wood and clay, etc. for cash means you won’t be strapped for 20-30 years paying a mortgage. So, you’ll have thousands of extra hours to spend as you wish. Now that’s a nice thought, isn’t it? Hmm. Save money. Less stress. Simpler living. More … Read more
We used pre-made panels of thatch to roof our roundhouse. Thatching is usually very slow and laborious, but we thatched our roundhouse in just one day and for only $100. That’s why I love thatch panels – they’re very inexpensive and all the tedious work has already been done. And they work great on round … Read more
The current newsletter from CalEarth describes how they have been designing an earthbag shelter/home prototype for use in Haiti. This structure, consisting of a 10 ft. main dome surrounded by 3 apses (a 7 ft. sleeping apse, a 5 ft. fire cooking apse with storage below, and a 5 ft. apse that can be used … Read more
Using earthbags for interior walls would take up too much space and so they’re generally not recommended for this purpose. Thinner interior walls are more efficient. The easiest solution is to frame interior walls with 2x4s or, for plumbing walls, 2x6s. But there are more sustainable alternatives. On some of my plans I use adobe, … Read more
Many people want to know the lowest cost way of building. Here’s a short comparison of costs to build an earthbag house using ‘free’ options versus buying the building materials: hand dig soil on site = free versus deliver soil $200 gather materials and make thatch panels = free versus buy thatch panels $100 hand … Read more