“When Dan Price returned to his home state of Oregon in 1990 he was determined to avoid mortgages or rent (he and his family had just finished caretaking a mansion with a heating bill of $500/month). He found an unused meadow in Joseph, Oregon and began renting it from his neighbors for $100/year (in exchange … Read more
Unprecedented growth in earthbag building is being fueled by Nepal’s huge need for affordable housing and schools.
This is a new house design that I just thought up yesterday. Basically, it’s a dome shape that’s cut off at the 8’ height level with a roof on top. The main benefit is to replace the harder to build top portion of the dome with a faster, easier to construct roof that will protect the earthbag walls. This is a good design for earthquake regions like Nepal that get a lot of rain. Lightweight roofs are preferable to heavy roofs in seismic areas, plus domes will have moisture problems and mold in rainy climates. Metal roofing would be a good choice for this design.
“I built this tiled roof hut in the bush using only primitive tools and materials. The tools I used have been made in my previous videos. It should be pointed out that I do not live in the wild and that this is just a hobby. It should be obvious to most that this is not a survival shelter but an experiment in primitive building technology.”
The greatest need for housing in Nepal is in poor rural villages. Not only can they not afford cement and steel, it’s not practical to carry these heavy materials 1-2 days over mountain passes. We need to identify the most practical low cost earthbag building methods and create a document showing best practices.
A highlight of my trip to Nepal has been the traditional Newari brick. Beautiful examples of this architectural terra cotta clay brick abound in Kathmandu. Terra cotta brick and tiles are very affordable because they’re made with low fired clay.