“The label “natural building” can refer to a wide variety of construction methods and materials. The natural buildings that we build at Earth Home are made from wood, clay, sand, rice husks, straw and water. Some cement is used in the foundation of the buildings. Since roofs are the most expensive element in the entire construction, corrugated roof sheets made from aluminum or cement are used when the more expensive wooden, bamboo and straw (thatch) roofs are not affordable.
If you are interested, we will teach you all it takes to create a beautiful building out of mud, from foundations to orientation, roofs to wall structures. When you come for a Natural Building workshop, you will gain hands-on practical experience throughout the workshop.”
More at the source: Earth Home Thailand
Hope to connect with people who have experience building earth bag homes. I’m in the middle of building one in the Philippines, very prone to earthquakes and powerful storms. We’re trying a squarish-shaped design, not a dome like a previous one we did. I suddenly have pangs of doubt about its structural integrity. What do I need to do to make sure this is robust? I can send pics. Many thanks. – Hao wei
Rectangular earthbag homes can be very robust when shaken by nature, as was proved in Nepal a couple of years ago during their severe earthquakes. Most of the earthbag structures there are rectangular, for cultural reasons. The secret to success is to follow all of the basic guidelines in terms of placement of buttresses, vertical pinning, bond beams roof design, etc. You can find out more about all of this at http://www.earthbagbuilding.com