Kate and Scott Ryan-Taylor recently built Western Australia’s first Shire-approved Earthbag dome home. “For us it had two different appeals: cost and environmental,” Kate said. “The overall price came to $41,600, which includes the construction, permits, rain tanks and other elements. We’re now mostly off-grid and semi self-sufficient.”
While the couple will still need to pay the mortgage on their property, Mrs Ryan-Taylor said it was “a hell of a lot less” than the mortgage on a house and could be paid off with five years of hard work.
The idea to use earthbags first came to the couple around four years ago. It took two years to get the necessary building permits and another 18 months to construct the home with the help of volunteers from Australia and abroad. “We did run workshops for people to learn about it but the two of us did 95 per cent of the build ourselves,” Kate said. “Using volunteers was not necessarily something that sped up the build, it was more of a pay it forward. Some of the volunteers have gone on to work on their own projects.”
Its interior is well lit with natural light and contains a bedroom, guestroom, kitchen and pantry that could fit its own “king-size bed and desk” with room to spare. Kate said the next step was to add some vegetable gardens, a backyard patio and to paint the structure in a terracotta color. “It’s been quite tiring setting it up but it’s worth it in the end,” she said. “It does look ugly as you build it but I reckon it looks absolutely gorgeous now.”
You can read the original article at gsweekender.com.au
Hi, I’m building an earthbag dome home in Queensland. I would appreciate any help you could give with how to go about the council approval. Thanking you so much.
If you do a search on “Australia” at http://earthbagbuilding.com/search.htm you might find some leads for more information.
Hi Donna,
I am Kate in the article.
Feel free to email me at kate AT ryantaylorpartners.com.au and I can share our building documentation to get you started.
Kind Regards, Kate
Hi Donna,
Hope you’re well.
Did you find how to go about the council approval?
Regards
Hi, Kate an Scott nice job, well done, how come the architect an engineer was not mention they also did their job on checking the built, cheers,
There was no architect.
We did mention the engineer sign off in our discussions, however we do not control how much became a part of the article.
Hello earth bag builders .
Not building one myself but l am excavating a basement and have free to good home ( pun intended ) fine sand , l am in the Chelsie area of Melbourne and can deliver about two square metres at a time .
This sand is a mix of a packing type sand and that hyperbolic grey black sand so perfect for vertical walls and fill before crushed rock or even in trenches in driveways to save on rock .
Would like to deliver close to a fifty km max .
I’ve linked comments to email if anyone replies .
Cheers Brian
HI Kate And Scott
I think it looks fantastic great job
any chance on seeing the house now
2021 thanks Smiley
I didn’t see any way of contacting them in the original article.
That is very cool. Well done;looks fab