Ekopedia, an online encyclopedia of environmentally friendly alternative techniques, has a very good summary of earthbag building. I’ve quoted a few passages below. More and more people seem convinced that earthbag combines the best of the past and the future. Earthbag is a hybrid earthen masonry material. It combines one of the most basic building … Read more
This is another major announcement courtesy of Structure1.com. Instead of building buttresses, which tend to be time consuming and difficult to design correctly for earthquake zones, they recommend using the same specifications we reported earlier for reinforced earthbag walls in seismic regions. The comments below are from the latest email exchange with Structure1.com. Refer to: … Read more
We’re starting a new feature today, where we post new photos we find on the Internet. Many earthbag photos we come across have little or no information, but are beautiful, interesting and worth sharing. As many of you know, the best projects are eventually profiled on our Projects page. But that requires having a certain … Read more
I have a new 2-bedroom version of my spiral house design. This version includes a large grow bed, exposed timber ceiling and living roof. Ample light is provided by the window wall next to the grow bed, window and door glazing, and suntubes. Distinguishing features include two bedrooms, masonry two-way fireplace, covered porch and cool … Read more
The specifications for reinforced earthbag walls in seismic regions from Structure1.com describe how to attach shear walls to earthbag walls. Properly built shear walls add a great deal of strength to earthbag structures, but are seldom discussed. I thought a detailed drawing of this feature would be helpful. The drawing below illustrates the key concepts. … Read more
A few BIG issues in everyone’s lives today are rising fuel costs (which is connected to peak oil and gas production), wars to secure limited resources, and global warming – all a consequence of our overconsumption and dependence on non-renewable energy. These problems are not going away any time soon. The seriousness and scope of … Read more