Check out my new how-to article at Instructables.com on building earthbag water tanks. I pulled together content from previous blog posts, added a drawing and edited everything into one concise article. Let me know what you think. Instructables.com is a major site that’s been very effective in promoting my natural building projects.
You can use crusher fines (the residue from washed sand and gravel) instead of crushed limestone. It’s considered a waste product and so it’s super cheap. Check your local gravel quarry or batch cement plant.
Thanks for sharing your water tank design! Congratulations on getting so many views.
We are in the process of drilling a hole through to retro fit one at the women’s centre. It will probably be PVC or brass and fixed in place with cement and BondCrete.
You can ‘drill’ a hole by pounding through the plaster and earthbags with a piece of scrap rebar. Best to drill a few small holes in a circle about 1″ deep to reduce busting up the plaster too bad.
The tank needs an overflow pipe and the overflow pipe needs to be covered in mesh to stop mosquitoes. The tank costs at least $450 in materials to build.
The tank needs an overflow pipe at the top and the overflow pipe needs a mesh cover to stop mosquitoes flying down to breed. The cost is $450 but it is much stronger than the plastic alternative.
Excellent suggestion about the overflow pipe, thanks. How did you make the overflow pipe? What materials?
I like this post, thanks i’ll building in my house
Be sure to check out my other Instructables on the same site in case you haven’t already. There are Instructables for step-by-step earthbag building, building earthbag roundhouses, domes and more. The articles can be downloaded as PDFs and printed.
Just overnight 410 people have viewed the water tank Instructable. Amazing. This one could get hundreds of thousands of hits like some of my others. (Over 2 million total views.) This is important because they help reach a wider audience for natural building.