An engineer of note gave us some suggestions on how to improve earthbag corners in seismic areas. The engineer is concerned the barbed wire could shift in a quake. He felt that wire mesh anchors (4- 5 with 1″ long teeth, bent so it stands up nicely) would better secure barbed wire at corners. He … Read more
The Love & Haiti Project provides a curriculum for sustainable living solutions to Haiti. In May 2011, we will be certifying Haitian students in Permaculture and training locals in Superadobe while building community structures with this technique around the island. The Love & Haiti Project’s mission is to provide the people of Haiti a safe, … Read more
Yesterday’s post was about the earthquake resistance of earthbags. Today’s post illustrates what an earthquake resistant gravel bag foundation looks like and explains why this design is so effective. Gravel is an ideal material for this application because it’s durable, reasonably inexpensive, readily available in most areas, has high bearing strength and prevents wicking of … Read more
Anyone watching the news can’t help but notice the large number of devastating natural disasters that have been going on. One of the greatest needs in the world is disaster-resistant housing – houses that can hold up against hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, flooding and other natural disasters. Alex Klein, author of Introduction to Container Homes and … Read more
Building with earth requires low energy input in processing and handling soil – only about 1% of the energy required to manufacture and process the same volume of cement concrete. This aspect was investigated by the Desert Architecture Unit which has discovered that the energy needed to manufacture and process one cubic metre of soil … Read more
I’ve pulled together the recent posts on rubble bag houses, expanded and edited the info, and published a new blog post at Mother Earth News. It includes details on how to build and reinforce rubble walls. Concrete rubble from collapsed buildings is a huge problem in Haiti. It is blocking roads and hindering reconstruction. Instead … Read more