Why earthbag building is one of the best building methods. Sometimes we delve into esoteric aspects of earthbag building. For those new to building with bags, here is a summary of advantages. • Low cost (if you build simply and do most of the work yourself) • Durable (rammed earth structures such as earthbag can … Read more
I found another great way to build gable and vaulted roofs — with pallets: Pallet Pavilions The site referenced above shows how pallets can be used for walls and roofs. This is exciting because free pallets are usually quite easy to get in most countries and they’re very strong. Many are made of hardwood such … Read more
One of the most practical structures on a small farmstead is a multi-purpose garden structure that can serve as a storage shed or cool pantry above ground, or as a root cellar or storm shelter below ground. You can build this multipurpose structure for about $300 using earthbag construction (bags filled with earth and stacked … Read more
Here’s a real nice earthbag/ferrocement rootcellar plan from Karl in the Missouri Ozarks. It is 8’ across, has 2’ of soil on top and beautiful stonework in front. Great job Karl! Karl describes his rootcellar in more detail: The U-shape on the top of the bags is a row of cement beam block that will … Read more
Earthbag building (sometimes called sandbag building) started about one hundred years ago providing safe, bulletproof and bomb resistant shelters for the military. They proved to be fast, simple to construct and durable. The same qualities that make earthbags useful for military and flood control purposes apply to building houses. Now people all over the world … Read more
Embedding bottles in a wall creates a really stunning effect, especially when sunlight shines through bottles of different colors. However, many bottle walls are thin walls. Here are some suggestions for using bottles in wide earthbag walls: – Buy a bottle cutter or rent a wet tile cutter to remove the ends. Join bottles of … Read more