Earthbag Building Guide: Vertical Walls Step-by-Step
By Owen Geiger
Much has been learned about earthbag building over the last few decades through research, trial and error, and sharing of information. It is becoming increasingly clear what works best and why. And now with engineer-approved methods for building in code-enforced areas, it is time to pull the most practical ideas together and take this movement to the next level.
This builder’s guide does that by providing simple, clear explanations of each step of construction, from earthbag foundations that don’t require concrete, to complete information on tools and supplies, as well as tips, tricks and advanced earthbag techniques.
All major aspects of building earthbag houses are covered: Planning; $10/sq. ft. dirt cheap building techniques; Building code issues; Electrical and Plumbing; Cost estimating; How to build insulated earthbag houses; How to make earthbag benches, and privacy and retaining walls for next to nothing. It is profusely illustrated with about 185 color photos and detail drawings.
This new book by Owen Geiger is now available as a PDF download for $20. The ebook is available for free with all new house plan orders through Earthbag House Plans and DreamGreenHomes.com.
Ordering:
Orders are going through, but please be patient. The Earthbag Building Guide is a large 13.3 MB file. It’s full of high res pics. Plus allow time for PayPal confirmation. Use a high speed connection if possible.
You will need a recent version of Adobe Reader for the book to display properly. http://get.adobe.com/reader/
Can I get a hard copy of this book? Can you offer it though a print-on-demand service like Cafe Press?
http://www.cafepress.com/cp/info/sell/books.aspx
The best way is to print from a high quality printer. That’s what I did and it looks great. I used thicker paper and higher res for the cover and it looks just like a regular book.
I’m a tad bit confused. Is your “guide” engineer approved and if so, is it one particular floorplan (such as the round). Or are you saying that the little round house up above is engineered approved. (engineers stamp of approval for our county permit place). if we buy the plans.
Precision Structural Engineering, Inc. likes my designs and has agreed to work with me, but you have to hire them to get final approval in your county.
http://www.structure1.com
Good Job Owen
Read the book front to back. It will become the main reference for earthbag building.
Thanks, Milton.
Wish I could afford this right now! looks to be a great read, can’t wait to buy it.
Hi Owen,
Congratulations in finishing the book!
I’ll probably get it after I move and I’m ready to get my hands dirty to build my house in Brazil!
It may happen soon… ;-)
You should submit to to Apple for distribution on the iBookstore:
https://itunesconnect.apple.com/WebObjects/iTunesConnect.woa/wa/apply
Is there a special format or will any PDF work?
kia ora Owen,
I have been following you for a few years now and appreciate all the great work you’ve done. Thank you so much for putting it in pdf form. This way it can move throughout the world far more quickly and easier. Blessings to you.
Thanks Justine. I agree, this should help spread the information more quickly.
Owen,
Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you. Now that all this is organized in one place I can clean up my Westcliffe project notes. This will help my partner in crime understand the challenges and choices we have. She will love all the pictures.
Dan
Thanks. Everything has been distilled and organized like you say.
Just downloaded it. Good job.
Thanks, glad to hear you like it.
Hello im Davi, from Brasil, and im very interested about this theme… Recently i contructed a small house with earthbags in a city near of Recife, and i would like to know more about this knowledge… Sorry my bad english :/ how can i get one of this guide ?
abraço, Davi Falcão
davilfs@gmail.com
Just click on the link and you can buy the ebook.
Really excited to check this book out, I can’t wait to downlad!
Worked now for me. Successfully downloaded.
Congratulations. There is obviously a huge amount of work that has gone into this. Even a quick read now tells me that this is an invaluable piece of work. It will take many hours of reading to digest it all.
Congratulations again. I hope to see this in print form as well.
Glad to hear it, Jason. It’s a huge relief to have it finished, believe me.
I’m having a difficult time getting the download to start. It’s been nearly 10 minutes, and still at 0% downloaded. This is my first attempt at downloading the file, eager to see it.
I’m sorry to hear that. I don’t know what else to say. It should work fine.
Paul, orders are going through smoothly, so the problem is probably on your end. Please make sure you have the latest version of Adobe Acrobat:
http://get.adobe.com/reader
My first attempt at a download did the same thing and never seemed to get started – the second went smoothly, though.
Doug
Downloading it now! Let me say Thanks in advance, you’re an inspiration to us all. Can’t wait to read it and more importantly…. Get even more inspired.
Thanks. I think you’ll like it a lot.
This is great news! Do you have plans for a print edition, or is the intent to publish electronically only?
Doug
Yes, I’ll probably do a print version at some point in the future. That’s another whole process though of editing code to meet Amazon requirements. Please contact me if you have expertise in this area.
Unfortunately, I don’t – I’d certainly be early in the line to buy one though. I love having the convenience of a PDF (especially now that I have a Kindle, and can take my PDFs with me), but I also like having ink-and-paper books on the shelf.
As for the book, I downloaded it this morning and am reading through it in off moments today – so far it looks great, but it begs the question: when will the design guide be out? Not that we’re impatient or anything. :-)
Doug
Glad you like it. No idea when the design guide will be ready. I’m still trying to recover from finishing this book.