Sandbag House in Jeffrey’s Bay

“This blog is about sharing our story of building an eco(ish) friendly house for our mother. We have never done this before and thought it may be useful to document lessons learnt along the way – so that others can learn from our experience. We hope that this journey inspires and motivates others to participate … Read more

Earthbag Houses in Parova, Pakistan

We’re very happy to hear of a project in Pakistan for 100 earthbag houses. The text below has been pieced together from the Pakwheels forum. Parova is 30 km from Dera Ismial Khan, badly effected from recent flood & now we are building the latest & economic free cost houses for them with the support … Read more

Mortgage Mess Was Avoidable

Thousands of families who have built affordable homes, cash up front, made of earthbags, straw bales, cordwood, cob and rammed tires are not in danger of losing their homes in the current mortgage crisis. And if you include affordable adobe, bamboo and thatch homes built worldwide, over a third of the world’s houses have avoided … Read more

Transforming Buttresses into Walls

From time to time we answer reader’s questions. “Can you discuss how to transform a buttress into a later addition to the home?” The drawing above shows one possible solution for connecting buttresses and additions. (This is one of our proposed house designs for Haiti.) The buttresses are located where future walls will go. Put … Read more

The Most Bang for the Buck? Part 2

Part 1 discussed the most efficient, cost-effective ways to build with earthbags. This post discusses a few related items. Building site: Follow these steps and you’ll save lots of time preparing the site and reduce the risk of problems in the future. Choose a building site that’s clear of obstacles and naturally higher than the … Read more

Imitation Stone Walls and Fake Rocks

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zR7MhJ5h_c8 You can make textured walls, benches and other objects that look just like stone. This video and the article below show you the basics. I prefer the beauty of natural stone, but this is an option worth considering for special situations. Here’s one example. You could plaster your walls to simulate the color and … Read more