Most often lintels are built separately from bond beams. See Wood Pole Lintels as an example. But what if you want maximum strength for a multiple story earthbag structure (see Rainwater Towers Apartments) or if you have lots of window and door openings? Integrating the bond beam and lintels as shown in the drawing above … Read more
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
I hope you’re enjoying these posts about Eternally Solar’s earthbag method. Dr. Johnny Anderton of Eternally Solar / EarthBagBuild has kindly supplied more details about their lintel and bond beam system. This is very practical information. “The attached sequence will show how it goes, with bag layer, then concrete fill in channel, then rebar and … Read more