“For most of human history, people have lived in durable, comfortable buildings made from natural materials such as soil, sand, rocks and fiber. All over the globe, these ancient traditions persist; a quarter to a third of the world’s population today lives in houses built partially or entirely of earth. Conventional Western building techniques using industrial materials may save time and create efficiencies, but these perceived savings come at considerable financial and environmental cost.
“Very useful video to learn vault building… useful even if you dont speak Spanish.”
Good, clear straw/clay tutorial. Put those kids to work!
“An instructional video by Cedar Ridge Farm.
Light straw clay, also known as slip straw, is a healthy and simple material for filling interior (and exterior) walls. The process of packing the straw-clay mixture into the walls requires only simple tools and labor.
In my formative teen years I was reading books such as Bradford Angier’s One Acre & Security about how to live simply off the land. These books set the direction for my life. I won’t recap what the book is about – follow the link if you’re interested – I mostly wanted to know what readers would do if they had a small piece of land in the country. What type of house would you build? Would you build a barn? A shop? Dig a pond? Grow a garden? Start a home-based business? What would you do?
We’ve previously reported on Barbara Kerr’s solar wall ovens for home use. They’ve been a favorite of mine for over a decade. Yesterday I just came across a larger version of this concept – a commercial size solar wall oven by Gregor Schaper over at Inhabitat.com.
“This earthbag house is environment friendly, very cheap to build. Operational energy is almost nil.”