My favorite tamper is pictured here. It is quite heavy, which means that even though it takes work to lift it, you don’t have to put as much muscle into the down-stroke. Also, the base of this tamper is about as wide as the bag is, so one tamp will cover the entire width of … Read more
Tampers for earthbag walls come in many different types and sizes. Some prefer casting the base out of concrete. Some prefer all steel. I even tried a big clunky one made entirely of wood. (It looked like a primitive tool recovered from an archeological site.) Or you could buy one from Home Depot. So here’s … Read more
The Father of Earthbag Building, Nader Khalili, died peacefully, surrounded by his family, a couple of days ago. He was 71 years old. Here is part of a letter sent out by his family to former students: “The flames that ignited him in life and the quest that brought each of you to Cal-Earth to … Read more
It’s easy to be distracted and even wowed by glitzy features in a new house – a built-in entertainment unit, hot tub, walk-in closets, custom cabinets, and more. But the next time you’re in a stick frame house, really stop to think about what the house itself is made of. It’s actually just a thin … Read more
I recently got an email from Steve Cameron with the sketch shown below that he had drawn of a concept for filling and forming earthbag tubing into a uniform rectangular form on the wall being built. Steve asked for any comments that I might have about this idea, so I wrote: This is certainly an … Read more
Owen and I have collaborated on a new article posted at earthbagbuilding.com that describes how to use earthbags filled with various natural insulating materials to insulate ceilings or roofs. There seems to be a general lack of interesting ceiling options using sustainable building materials. For instance, when touring otherwise beautiful straw bale homes one often … Read more