Earthbag Foundations for Soggy Seismic Areas
By Kerry Bingham
As far as I know, mine was the second earthbag structure to be built in Turkey, and it was met with widespread skepticism. With frequent earthquakes, severe flash-flooding on the south coast during the winter months and rising damp, many thought the house would either ‘melt’, slide or be shaken to the ground.
Structural aspects
Log Bridges and More
Cliff, a long-time reader and frequent contributor from NZ, sent this tip to me. The same basic building process could be used to make roof trusses and other structural components and buildings such as free standing domes. Source: The Rainbow Bridge
Building a Light Clay Straw (Straw-Clay) House
“This is an introduction to light clay straw construction (a.k.a. “straw-clay”). In the summer of 2010, I started construction on my first house (20 ft. x 12 ft.). It was stud framed with light clay straw infill. I had helped with other natural building projects and had some conventional experience. This article is the product of all of my mistakes (and few successes) so that you, my fellow builder, do not have to walk the road that I have. Fortunately for y’all I built a chicken coop in 2011, and that helped me to learn more about building correctly with light clay straw. (One mistake being I should have done the coop first, but at least my chickens are happy.)
Hyperadobe with EarthenHand
This is one of the best videos I’ve seen in illustrating how to go about building a project. In just a few short minutes it manages to show the construction process from foundation to roof, using lots of animated portions to speed it up. There are several particularly worthwhile aspects of this 800 square foot … Read more
Bajareque Wall
Here’s a low cost, 100% all natural wall building method. Homes built with this traditional Guatemalan building method can last up to 500 years and endure earthquakes.
Post and Beam Knee Braces
Perhaps the simplest to build post and beam frame, and the one easiest to get code approval for, is the one described in a previous blog post about Post and Beam Hardware. The standardized hardware used in this method takes all the guesswork out of the process and ensures a strong structure. However, that system is not suitable for every situation. Some people prefer the beauty of traditional post and beam where the frame is exposed. Traditional post and beam construction is much slower and requires much more skill and tools than joining the frame with standard hardware, but the results can be worth it.