“Earthbag construction is a type of rammed earth construction where durable bags, usually polypropylene or burlap, are filled with local earth or other materials, laid in courses and tamped down into place to form walls. The greatest advantage is that it is one of the cheapest and easiest ways to construct a green home which with some hard work can be done by the homeowner.
earth house
Video: Canadian Earthbag House
Here’s one of the bigger houses built using the earthbag method.
Gurunsi Earth Houses of Burkina Faso
“The small country of Burkina Faso near the border to Ghana may not have many resources or economic wealth, but with the plentiful raw materials available the Kassena people make some of the most culturally rich and architecturally beautiful villages, such as this one in tiébélé, built using traditional gurunsi vernacular. The dwellings occupy a community of just over one hectare in area, and are made of a sun-dried mix of clay, soil, straw and cow droppings moistened to a perfect mortar, mixed by foot to create strong pottery-like structures.
BetterBuildingBags
“We want to create earth building awareness by running a campaign on Kickstarter.com. To do this we need a line of products. We want to represent the culture to the best of our ability by asking you first, what would you like to see?
Rapidobe Walls
From Abe: “We really like this method of building. We put a 35 feet wall up in two days with three people, excluding the stucco and plaster. It was also very cheap. We do not yet know the durability of this method, as we are the first that we know of to have used it. Time will tell, but it certainly seems very sturdy and has not shifted at all in the six months it has been standing.
Brandon Roger’s Earthbag House in Ghana
Brandon Rogers on Earth Bag Building in Ghana from Rosie Peppy Parke on Vimeo. Previous blog post: Earthbag Home in Ghana