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
I’m obviously a huge fan of blogs as you can tell. Today I’d like to encourage you to take a look at what others in the earthbag community are up to. Please let us know if we’ve missed any blogs. (Note: Haiti earthbag blogs are listed under Earthbag Projects in Haiti.) Canadian Dirtbags All you … Read more
What does it take to build truly sustainable houses – the kind people really want and can afford – and not some greenwashing hype? Most contractor-built houses are not affordable to the masses, so obviously something is amiss. And because buildings account for the largest share of energy use and cause devastating effects to our … Read more
Earthbag structures are sustainable because they are safe (fire and mold resistant, structurally sound, nontoxic), durable, code approved, easy to maintain by homeowners, low cost ($10/sq.ft. is possible with small, simple designs), site specific, maximize solar gain, resistant to natural disasters such as floods, low embodied energy materials, use locally available resources, reduce energy consumption … Read more
Our earthbag design team is busy creating home and shelter designs, as well as innovative building ideas for the reconstruction effort in Haiti. (See Kelly Hart’s Alternative Bond Beam and Lintel system, for one example.) As you’re probably aware, conventional bond beams and foundations are made with reinforced concrete, but these are costly, labor intensive … Read more
A hybrid earthbag and pallet building would provide excellent protection from the weather and would be virtually free to build with debris and discarded shipping pallets. The addition of rain water collection, humanure composting, and simple solar oven(s) would provide fresh water and help keep human waste safely out of the way. Any additional materials … Read more