Square corners and tunnel-like window and door openings just don’t look right to me on natural homes. Gently curved openings and corners are much more elegant. Rounded openings have numerous advantages. Around windows, they allow more light into the home and improve the view. And they add a little extra space around doors, making it easier to pass through.
This look is easy to obtain by pinning the bottom of bags. Pull each corner of the bag to the center and pin in place with a nail. Place the bottom of the bag against the rough frame. These rounded corners can be shaped for uniformity with a board, tamper or small sledge hammer before the soil dries.
I’d like to know more. This seems a great way for a man to build a simple, energy efficient home for a minimum amount of money. It seems likely one could even build such a home in any configuration he wanted to.
Thanks for any help you can give me,
Steve
Exactly. Look at my Earthbag House Plans website. There’s every size and shape home almost.
http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/
But you don’t have to buy my plans. You could take your favorite plan and just make the walls wider (usually about 18″ wide with plaster).
this looks exelent and resonably easy with some effort.
the question i have is it very difficult to get building permit in ontario canada. or is it a fight and the time to educat the planers and building code people in your areas
I’ve been recommending for people to move to rural areas so they can build however they want at lower cost. But this advice only goes so far, because most people want to live and work in cities. The new earthbag system by Precision Structural Engineering at Structure1.com is a game changer. Now you can gain code approval virtually anywhere. They have an international network of engineers that they work with. I imagine you could go through them to get permitted in Canada. Email them and see.
Note: I just found out their services are very affordable. (At least on the current project I’m doing.)