Ward-Karet wanted to gain some real world experience in the earthbag construction method while building in a manner that was in keeping with the surroundings. With a budget of $1,000, she designed and built the Helixa Shelter using earthbags, adobe, sunbrella fabric, and scraps from the architecture school. Read more at Inhabitat: Helical Earthbag Shelter … Read more
I’ve created a page at Instructables.com: Step-by-Step Earthbag Building. They have lots of good information there on many different topics. My Instructable is based on my previous article at EarthbagBuilding.com called Step-by-Step Earthbag Construction. But I changed things around a bit. See what you think. I’m always looking for ways to simplify and clarify the … Read more
As you may well know, the recent floods in Pakistan destroyed or damaged 2 million homes, affecting 20 million people. PAKSBAB, an NGO building strawbale houses in Pakistan, uses gravel-filled earthbag foundations to protect their houses from water damage. To date, 22 houses have been built. In addition to providing flood protection, PAKSBAB uses earthbag … Read more
Working in teams of three to build earthbag structures is often the most efficient. You could use fewer or more workers per team, but three seems like the most efficient in most cases. Worker #1: Filling buckets, moistening and mixing soil Worker #2: Carrying buckets of soil from worker #1 to worker #3 Worker #3: … Read more
Here’s a new project I just found. Full text is below. This is all I know at this time. Their website doesn’t provide any more info. Please let us know if you hear of more details. Since January 2010 Happier International has been focusing on the current housing issues in Haiti. Our goal is not … Read more
Long time readers know about our Articles page at EarthbagBuilding.com (the companion site to this blog). Virtually everything that’s published about building with bags is archived on that page. Two new articles have just been added. A Man’s Fort Is His Castle: College Student’s ‘Ultimate Fort’ Could Help Provide Sustainable Third World Housing. Design of … Read more