My focus has always been on low cost, low tech housing solutions. But people are starting to plan large earthbag projects, and it’s only natural to look for ways to reduce costs and labor. One option is to modify the pneumatic tampers used for rammed earth by adding a wider base. It would take some … Read more
Today’s post is about another low cost housing project in Haiti. Lower walls are ‘earth logs’ made with soil-filled filter fabric. Fabric is placed inside wood forms, filled with local soil and pinned closed. Earthbags are stacked on top. “The Foundation of St. Peter has started building houses out of the rubble in Haiti. We … Read more
By now you’re probably getting excited like I am about using open weave mesh bags and tubes. I came up with this $10 solution for filling bags and tubes. It has a 3-gallon metal bucket chute with the bottom cut out and a heavy duty leather shoulder strap riveted on with three pop rivets per … Read more
Continuing with Owen’s assessment of the Hyperadobe method of building earthbag walls, I have had some further thoughts. This innovation comes to us from Fernando Pacheco, a Brazilian engineer, and it has been used there for at least two years. I have prepared a detailed page at www.earthbagbuilding.com that is a step-by step guide to … Read more
I was able to find some fruit and vegetable bags that seem to match what is being used in Brazil by Fernando Pacheco, the developer of the Hiperadobe earthbag system. What I’ve located is an open weave synthetic fabric, 5 x 10mm weave with 2 x 8mm openings. It has vertical threads and horizontal strips … Read more
We have a new complete project page up at www.earthbagbuilding.com: the Amirta – Divine Nectar Retreat Cabin in the high desert of southeastern Arizona. To do this retreat Venerable Lobsang Gyelse had to build a space to do it in, which is a small circular meditation space with an offset sleeping nook. In addition there … Read more