Two Roundhouses with Greenhouse

This is my second plan that’s designed specifically for building roundhouses in stages. As I stated in a previous blog post, I think building roundhouses like this is the simplest, easiest way to build an earthbag home: build in stages, one roundhouse at a time so you can pay with cash and move in right … Read more

Sand Bag Fish Pond

The pond is lined with black plastic but the pond is supposed to look like a natural jungle pond (ideally a peaceful zen-like pond) which you might stumble upon while hiking in the jungle so the black plastic needs to be hidden. We found out after we had all the rocks in place that one … Read more

Sandbag House in Jeffrey’s Bay

“This blog is about sharing our story of building an eco(ish) friendly house for our mother. We have never done this before and thought it may be useful to document lessons learnt along the way – so that others can learn from our experience. We hope that this journey inspires and motivates others to participate … Read more

Wood Pole Lintels

One of the easiest and least expensive ways to build lintels over doors and windows is with small diameter wood poles. Poles are typically gathered inexpensively from local forests, sometimes with a firewood permit. In comparison, milled timbers, dimension lumber, and concrete and steel timbers are more expensive than pole lintels. Pole lintels are fast … Read more

Crosswaters Ecolodge

Simon Velez’s bamboo ecolodge design in China is truly stunning. I think combining bamboo with earthen construction such as earthbags is one of the most sustainable of all building methods. “Crosswaters Ecolodge, Guangdong Province, S. China. Hitesh was the Planning and Design team leader that planned, designed and supervised the construction of the first ecolodge … Read more