Here’s a great, low cost way to build floors with compressed earth blocks. This Instructable is by Velacreations. Visit their website for more great ideas. When considering what material to use for a floor, few people look beyond a concrete slab, with something like tile or carpet as a finish. For us, however, there were … Read more
All of our earthbag projects have been built using the same road base material. It has worked exceedingly well. After tamping, the earthbags are solid and turn into very hard earthen blocks. Here I am testing the hardness of bags on our roundhouse. But from time to time I would see areas with less than … Read more
I’ve been reading about TerraZyme® for a number of years, but Scott Howard of Earthen Hand prompted me to comment on this soil stabilizer. It seems to be an enzyme fermented from fruit, so here’s another safe, low tech way to stabilize earthbags. Text below is from their website. TerraZyme® soil stabilizer is a safe, … Read more
The difference in quality between consumer grade tools the public typically buys and contractor tools is astounding. The tools I’ve bought from contractor supply outlets have stood up to daily use for many years. Some never break or experience any problems. On the other hand, ordinary tools from building supply centers can break or wear … Read more
If you’ve been watching our videos, you’ve seen us making various earthen blocks. This one here is the best one so far. It has clay and rice hulls. Another very good block was the clay with vetiver grass. So I had the idea to combine the best – the rice hulls and the vetiver. That’s … Read more
The cost of energy keeps going up every year. This means the cost of producing and transporting goods keeps increasing. At some point there’s going to be a tipping point where modern building materials are not affordable. I don’t know when this will happen, but it could happen at any time since fossil fuels are … Read more