Emergency Shelter

Can-Do Attitude Needed Part 3

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Part 1 dealt with the physical side of building. Part 2 covered the young lady who’s helping hundreds of children in Nepal. This blog post points out ways to reduce housing costs. The common theme here is looking for workable solutions despite the challenges you’re up against such as lack of money, skills, tools, sufficient … Read more

You Can’t Stop a Good Idea Whose Time Has Come

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My Stone Dome rating keeps goes up and down. It’s been in the top 10 lately. There’s still time to vote if you haven’t already. But the larger picture is far more important. I think geopolymer is a million dollar idea. Most houses fall apart in a few decades, need constant maintenance and are made … Read more

Making Cast Stone Earthbags with Sodium Carbonate

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I consider yesterday’s blog post about making cast stone earthbags one of the most exciting developments in earthbag building. This newer, simpler geopolymer process sure seems like it will become popular. It sounds like a million dollar idea to me. I imagine millions of people would love to live in an all natural, affordable stone … Read more

Earthbag Building May be Thousands of Years Old

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Major Breaking News. Tim, one of our readers, sent me some information the other day that explained how Bill McNulty has patented the process of making cast stone using natron salt (sodium carbonate) mixed with powdered granite, limestone, basalt, schist or sandstone mixed with water. This is a slightly different method than proposed by Professor … Read more

Integrating Shelter, Food, Water and Sense of Place

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The $300 House design competition has about 300 affordable housing projects to study and learn from. I found Kevin Songer’s Integrated Shelter project, and even though it’s borderline genius, it’s way down the list. He entered the contest shortly before the deadline and so most people haven’t seen it. Quick summary and then I’ll let … Read more

Hyper-Wattle on Rubble Bags

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Here’s Patti Stouter’s entry for the $300 House design competition. Rubble bags on lower walls provide a solid, flood resistant wall. Hyper-wattle provides lightweight insulating upper walls made of mesh tubes. Thin walls conserve space and materials, and take less labor. Her design is one of only a few in this competition that could actually … Read more