Here’s an overview of how we plastered the interior of our roundhouse with earthen plaster. After reviewing the various recipes and techniques, we decided to keep things as simple as possible. No doubt some of the extra plaster additives like manure and wheat paste can be helpful, but we wanted to see the results of … Read more
You can still see adobe ruins scattered across the southwest. Even though the roofs have long since rotted away, the walls are still standing after decades or even 100 years or more of neglect. Clearly, adobe is pretty tough stuff, in part because clay platelets closely align themselves and bond together. It’s fairly straightforward to … Read more
Most of the AutoCAD drawings for my 30 most popular plans are nearly complete, and so now I’ve started adding SketchUp perspective drawings to show what the completed houses will look like. My goal is to add one perspective drawing every 10 days to 2 weeks and finish in about one year. I have several … Read more
Here’s a brief summary of the cement plastering process we used on the exterior of our earthbag roundhouse: Step 1: Put cement between the bags in the gaps. Step 2: Add thin coat of cement over bags. Step 3: Add more cement. Step 4: Add more cement. Step 5: Trowel the plaster smooth and use … Read more
We just finished installing light fixtures in our earthbag roundhouse. This step has taken a lot longer than anticipated. The porch light by the front door was easy to find since it is conventional looking. But we wanted something special inside for our three wall sconces because they’re more prominent. Two sconces, one on each … Read more
Do not zigzag barbed wire between courses of bags, because this will lessen its tensile strength. A load (stress) on the structure, such as a hurricane, earthquake or differential settling, would tend to pull the structure apart as the slack is taken out of the wire. Zigzagging the barbed wire would provide more attachment points, … Read more