If you’ve been reading our blogs and websites, you’ll often see reference to scoria. Scoria, also known as lava rock, has numerous properties which make it a great building material. The key breakthrough for earthbag building was Kelly Hart’s house made with bags of scoria. His house stays comfortable year round in a very cold … Read more
From time to time we answer reader’s questions. “Can you discuss how to transform a buttress into a later addition to the home?” The drawing above shows one possible solution for connecting buttresses and additions. (This is one of our proposed house designs for Haiti.) The buttresses are located where future walls will go. Put … Read more
This article launches my new blogging gig at Mother Earth News, the leading US publication on sustainable living. Recently, I had an epiphany in a building supply center while looking at the thousands of products used to construct modern buildings. Even though I’ve been in the building trades for over 35 years and made countless … Read more
Patti Stouter has published another earthbag technical report. It is a summary of the state of testing to date, and also covers some of the codes related to earthbag. The following information is quoted from this report. According to the new international earthen building standards, if earthbag walls with some reinforcing have shear strength equal … Read more
I just posted the recent news about gaining engineering approval for earthbag construction through PSE, Nabil Taha’s engineering firm in Oregon. He is licensed in 27 states and has developed an earthbag building system to meet international building codes. This is a major step forward for gaining widespread acceptance of earthbag building and we are … Read more
We’re very happy to announce what is perhaps the greatest news ever for earthbag building. Nabil Taha, Ph.D., P.E., has developed an earthbag building design to meet building codes. This is a huge step forward for earthbag building and we feel very honored to have Nabil’s support. Nabil Taha is the President of Precision Structural … Read more