Patti Stouter has been experimenting with tag attachers to more rapidly close earthbags. She realizes this isn’t for everyone, but may be helpful for those in certain countries. Patti sent the following text. “I bought an Avery Dennison Mark 3 with 1/2 inch tags. This is a very lightweight inexpensive one, made for putting tags … 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
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
Today’s post is from a group in Pakistan who’s building flood resistant houses. “Sir, the size of the structure is 20 feet by 12 feet. We have given a buttress on the back wall. We dug an 18 inch trench and put gravel till 6 inches. After doing so we tampered the gravel so that … Read more
“Three long months… 2,000 sandbags, 4,000 nails for closing the bags, 90 cubic yards of lava rock, 4 miles of barbed wire, -40 lbs. of combined weight-loss & 37 cans of Cattle Drive Chili… we have completed construction of our dome home.” Halcyon Times blog Note: They used scoria (lava rock) as fill material.
I found this system on the Internet yesterday. It doesn’t apply to most earthbag builders, but I’m including it here since we try to cover everything related to building with bags. It is a little interesting and could be a springboard to making something similar. The following text is from the DT1 website. “Weighing only … Read more