Earth Block and Earthbag Testing

Full text of the video is available on my Naturalhouse’s YouTube channel. This blog post will focus on summarizing the test results. Please note that even though half the samples were earthen blocks, you can do these same tests on earthbags to help develop a good soil mix. A link to additional tests can be … Read more

Wind Testing of Earthbag Wall

Breaking news. This just in from Brandon Ross, P.E. whose team has just completed an earthbag wind test in Florida. Text is from his preliminary report. Final results are expected to be published in a few months. “The University of Florida chapter of Engineers Without Borders has completed wind testing of an earthbag wall. The … Read more

Impact Testing Earthco Megablocks with Blackpowder Cannon

“We fired fence posts and bricks from a blackpowder cannon into an EarthCo Megablock wall made from local earth and water. These walls were produced from highly shrinking-swelling clay subsoil which produces a very low quality wall, however our goal was to show that even a low quality EarthCo Megablock wall has the structural integrity … Read more

Experiments with Light Clay Insulation

Patti Stouter has been running a series of very interesting, even surprising, experiments with various materials that might be used to insulate earthbag walls. She has focused her attention on light-weight natural or recycled materials that can be bound together with a clay slip. She devised a test apparatus to measure how well the materials … Read more

List of Needs to Expedite Earthbag Growth

Bit by bit, word of earthbag building is spreading. Even though no large industry or organization has thrown their might behind the effort, earthbag continues its grassroots growth. Occasionally we stop and ponder, in a focused way, what can be done to facilitate this growth. With that in mind, here’s a partial list of needs … Read more

Earthbag Building Blog 3rd Anniversary

This week is the 3rd anniversary of Earthbag Building Blog. A lot has happened this past year, and our blog continues to grow in content and readership. There are now 335 posts and well over 1,000 comments. Thanks for your support. We love hearing about your earthbag projects and hope you will continue sharing information … Read more