“MILO, Maine — An unusual home is being raised in a Milo neighborhood populated with average suburban homes. Teacher and mother of one Kara Taheny is using polypropylene earthbags to create a bio-benign, passive home that’s made with bags filled with dirt from her land.
earthbag house
Feedback on Building with Rice Hull Bags
Numerous structures have been built with rice hulls over the years. We’ve previous reported on the Rice Hull B&B and Paul’s Rice Hull Earthbag House. Up till now we’ve had little to no feedback on their effectiveness over time, particularly when it comes to moisture damage. Richard Gingris who’s been reporting on projects at New Life Foundation forwarded me the following email discussion with Maggi at Chiang Dao Roundhouses B&B. With this positive feedback from Maggi, Richard will be recommending building with rice hull bags at New Life in the future.
Larry’s Earthbag House
“Across the hill from my cabin live Larry and Lea Van Arsdale. They are building a BIG earthbag house thirty feet in diameter and thirty feet high! They started a year ago and are still working on it, but they’ve been living in it since last fall. So far it’s two stories high and they plan on building the third story next summer. Right now they are scrambling to “cobb” the rest of the exterior before winter. That means applying the cob, (earth plaster) or adobe, to the bags which make up the wall.
Building with Earthbags and Adobe/Cob
“As a little girl, and a young woman, I always dreamed of building my own house someday but I never had a specific desire for it. I knew that the right house would come along at the right time and with the right partner, and we’d build something that fit our needs, together.
Ferrocement Rainscreen for Earthbag Domes
Domes evolved in deserts, so we recommend extra protection for snowy/wet climates. There are two main approaches: 1. Build a roofed dome. Search our Projects pages at Earthbag Building.com to see several examples. 2. Build a ferrocement rainscreen on the exterior of the dome. The rainscreen is basically an outer cement shell that’s built on top of the dome with about 1″ space between that allows any water that gets through to escape.
Problems with Earthbags from China?
Reader question: “Has anyone determined the safety of bags manufactured in China, vs the US? I have read reports of bag failure even after the bags were kept covered. Is it known if the bag failures are from the manufacturing materials or the percentage of UV protection the covering material provides?