I’m been saying for quite a while the easiest, fastest shape to build with earthbags is a roundhouse. Build one roundhouse and then add on later if you want to avoid debt. Adding a connecting space – two straight joining walls as shown above — is a simple solution for joining roundhouses. This simplifies roof construction since standard trusses can be used. Other options include reciprocal roofs, pole frame, etc. Using the connecting space as a greenhouse is ideal so you have at least some organic home-based food production nearly year-round.
earthbag
New FAQ’s at Earthbagbuilding.com
The Frequently Asked Questions section of www.earthbagbuilding.com has been accumulating pertinent questions and answers for over a decade. These had been categorized into only about a half dozen pages, which had become overly long and cumbersome for finding specific information. I finally decided to organize them in such a way that it is now much … Read more
Plumbing and Electrical Summary for Earthbag Houses
These topics have already been covered in various posts on our blog, but I’m pulling everything together here for easy reference. Our blog now has 1,460 blog posts and it’s getting more difficult to find things. For those building an earthbag home, the bottom line is plumbing and electrical is 99% the same as conventional construction. The few differences are shown here. Everything else you need to know can be learned from library books or pocket guides. I prefer simple electrical and plumbing pocket guides because they show only what you need.
A Practice Earthbag Building Project
“If you are considering the cheapest simplest way of building your own home with natural materials, earthbag construction could be the best way to go. For the most part you will be filling bags with dirt and stacking them. In the August/September 2009 Mother Earth News, they ran an article on this small earthbag project which needs no building permit and would be great practice in the earthbag technique or even cob, rammed earth with tires or adobe.
Update on Canadian Dirtbags Earthbag Home
“Well, the updates continue to be slow to come and sparse on detail but that’s because we are still working away. I had hoped we’d be in by now, with only floors and ceiling to complete before we could start moving stuff over. Who knew floors and ceiling would be so challenging in round(ish) rooms? We were going to go with a natural feel to the floors, a lime finish, but changed our minds at last minute. Partly for the convenience of cleaning and in part for the extra buffer from the cold we decided on a dark laminate flooring (I know, I know- not very ‘natural’ but gorgeous) and it turns out I suck at cutting laminate floor boards, much as I love the power tools.
The Evolution of a Canadian Earthbag Dome House
From Sierra in Canada: Here is my Youtube video on the earthbag structure I have been working on for the last 3 years. It is almost complete…just needs some windows and doors installed and some finishing touches inside and out. I thought you might be interested to see the progress.