There’s growing interest in living roofs or green roofs. The difficulty is deciding on the waterproof membrane. Rubber pond liner (EPDM) is the most waterproof and durable material, and the most common choice due to proven performance, but it’s also very expensive and made from nasty petro chemicals. I think a number of less toxic, … Read more
We’ve been explaining how you can build a sustainable earthbag home for around $10/square foot. To build in this price range requires extra time and effort, but it is possible. Unfortunately, if you look on the Internet, you’ll find people making outrageous claims about various building systems and how you can build for much less … Read more
It seems many readers are hesitant to plunge in and start building an earthbag house. That’s understandable. Building any home is a major undertaking and it makes sense to plan accordingly. The best advice for those just getting started (after doing the prerequisite background research) is to build something small like a storage shed or … Read more
Poly bag prices have been going up lately and I’m sure readers are looking for the best deals. This seems like a good time to start tracking the lowest cost bag suppliers, so I encourage readers to leave a comment below with your recommendations. For clarity’s sake, I suggest posting: – Company name – Website … Read more
Our earthbag projects have confirmed what I’ve known for a long time – that building at $10/sq.ft. (materials only) is possible. Other aspects of earthbag building — strength, durability, sustainability, etc. — are all important. But perhaps the most important point is affordability, because building at $10/sq. ft. makes housing affordable to virtually everyone on … Read more
Our roundhouse is nearly finished and so I wanted to share some results. The main impression is one of incredible fortresslike strength — massive walls with no sway. Our roundhouse and dome are probably the two strongest buildings I’ve ever worked on. Our earthbag dome, for instance, never budged as about 15 truckloads of soil … Read more