Earthbag building requires very few tools. You mostly need sturdy, basic tools such as shovels, buckets and tampers. Buy the best quality you can afford. This may mean buying from yard sales or Craigslist to get older, higher quality tools. A lot of new stuff is junk that will fall apart in a few days … Read more
Over the years Kelly and I have built up a great deal of free online content to help those looking for low-cost, sustainable building options. The amount of information has grown so vast that I now refer to these sites as “our family of websites”. If you’re looking for dirt cheap, DIY, sustainable building information … Read more
Wooden shakes are a sustainable roofing material because they can be made by hand using a froe and locally available wood. You can make shakes from many kinds of wood, but the best shakes come from old trees with tight growth rings. Install shakes over roofing felt, and fasten with galvanized roofing nails. Steep roofs … Read more
So far very little has been written about earthbag basements. Earthbags are suitable for basements and other underground applications such as cisterns and rootcellars. Round or curved designs are inherently stronger than long, straight walls, which require reinforcing columns or buttresses. General guidelines for earthbag basements: – 24″ wide poly bags (measured when empty) – … Read more
Jorge Dominguez has been building earthbag houses in Hawaii for some time, and he recently emailed me some of his thoughts about this way of building as it relates to durability, financing, and insurance. I think that he has touched on some very important issues that I would like to share with you. “I was … Read more
One of the most frequent questions people ask is how much do earthbag houses cost? It’s a little difficult to answer because there are many factors that affect the total cost. A lot depends on what features you want to add, whether or not you have building codes, how much work is done by the … Read more