Strawbale houses were first built shortly after the invention of the baling machine. Settlers in western Nebraska who had access to this machine were quick to realize the potential of large, insulated building blocks. And the rest of the story, as they say, is history. This same potential now exists for earthbag building. The benefits … Read more
Readers are asking about two bag filling devices on the Internet — EZBagger and GoBagger. They scoop and funnel sand directly into bags. My preference for a bag filler was explained in my post titled Bucket Chutes (December 16, 2008). I explained how you can modify a standard $1 bucket in couple of minutes for … Read more
Originally published by Owner Builder Magazine, this excellent article by Rob Wainwright of Permaforest Trust comes complete with many useful building details, as well as quite a few beautiful photos. Rob explains how they built their four meter dome step-by-step clearly enough that others could build one similar. This project is now featured on our … Read more
Looking for the perfect furniture for your new earthbag home? Everyone’s familiar with bean bag furniture, but most brands use polystyrene fill, a possible carcinogenic. Consider making your own furniture filled with rice hulls as an all natural fill. Rice hulls are surprisingly comfortable. I discovered this by accident about six months ago when I … Read more
In an effort to track down the history of earthbag building, I’ve been reading up on the history of burlap bags – the forerunner to polypropylene bags. This post is based on information at NYP Corporation, a wholesaler of burlap bags. (See “Jute to Burlap.”) For centuries, the people of India used jute, the plant … Read more
There is an ongoing debate over the origins of earthbag building — who ‘invented’ it and when. It is an important point that gets into sticky questions about patent rights of building with earthbags. Some accounts of military sandbag structures go back over 100 years. I haven’t seen pictures of these, but a recent Google … Read more