For ease of getting a permit for earthbag houses, buy rural land with few or no building restrictions. Ask building officials about building restrictions before buying land! Some will let you build with alternative materials (earthbag, strawbale, adobe, etc.), some won’t. Although alternative materials are allowed by code, some counties make the process so difficult … Read more
I’ve just unveiled my first zero energy house — Zero Energy One — at Earthbag House Plans. Unlike most zero energy houses that cost a small fortune (around $250,000), Zero Energy One earthbag house can be built for about $10/sq. ft. exclusive of the energy systems. This design minimizes net energy use, embodied energy in … Read more
Earthbag building requires very few tools. You mostly need sturdy, basic tools such as shovels, buckets and tampers. Buy the best quality you can afford. This may mean buying from yard sales or Craigslist to get older, higher quality tools. A lot of new stuff is junk that will fall apart in a few days … Read more
We’re happy to announce the 2nd anniversary of Earthbag Building Blog. Thank you everyone for your support. We love hearing about your earthbag projects and sharing information with others. Keep those project submissions rolling in. In the spirit of celebration, here are some of our most popular posts: Low-cost Multipurpose Minibuilding Cost of Earthbag Houses … Read more
One of the most frequent questions people ask is how much do earthbag houses cost? It’s a little difficult to answer because there are many factors that affect the total cost. A lot depends on what features you want to add, whether or not you have building codes, how much work is done by the … Read more
Why earthbag building is one of the best building methods. Sometimes we delve into esoteric aspects of earthbag building. For those new to building with bags, here is a summary of advantages. • Low cost (if you build simply and do most of the work yourself) • Durable (rammed earth structures such as earthbag can … Read more