Pisco Sin Fronteras in Pisco, Peru has been working with earthbags for some time and their last project, just completed, is a community center. They have detailed how they went about building this at their website and we have assembled this information on a project page about it at www.earthbagbuilding.com. You can also see a … Read more
We have a guest post today by Owen Ingley of Plenitud Iniciativas, who has been experimenting with fibers in plaster. “Greetings from Puerto Rico. I just wanted to give you a quick update on something that we’ve tried recently. The last emails we sent to each other I was asking you about fibers for plasters … Read more
While Owen and I often point out the problems associated with dealing with codes and the officials who administer them, the flip side of this is that establishing a good relationship with the building authorities can make projects possible that would otherwise be denied. Building codes do generally allow alternatives to the common methods of … Read more
Here’s a response I made to a reader over on the Mother Earth News Blog who said “This type of building for people is not going to readily take off.” Owen: It’s all a matter of perspective, because over 1/3 (some estimate ½) of the houses in the world fall into this category! This includes … Read more
From time to time we answer reader’s questions. Josh: Do earthbag homes overheat in hot, humid climates such as Haiti? My friend toured some domes in California and they were like ovens. And how does earthbag compare to cinderblock (concrete block) homes? Owen: Domes are exposed and vulnerable to the elements, and often have insufficient … Read more
Paul Coleman’s and Konomi Kikuchi’s blog covers their building projects in Patagonia. Their earthbag house is coming along nicely. They recently built an interesting composting toilet with earthbags. Best view ever. You can read the article here.