An earthbag training center for teachers in Nepal from Eco-Logis on Vimeo.
“A short video presenting First Step Himalaya, NGO who is building a training center for teachers in rural Nepal (Sindhupalchok district). They decided to build with earthbags: an economical, ecological & quick technique.
Eco-Logis is a world tour project. During two and half years we meet architects, self builders and citizens who come up with ecological building methods that can be easily reproduced. The final result of our work will be the realisation of a web-documentary which may be used by each and every one (individuals, professionals of the building trade, teachers, sustainable development stakeholders) to design and promote more economical and sustainable way of living.”
Vimeo
The earthbag walls are now done. More coming soon.
First Step Himalaya
Well it was a fun experience to volunteer and visit to Nepal but you are correct was COLD
Not sure they are taking your advice for the insulation but they are doing mud on the interior and cement plaster on outside because of the heavy rainy season
They ended up using a different earthbag method. You can see in the video they filled 1.5m long tubes vertically, tied them closed and tilted them into position. The typical way is to fill tubes continuously so you don’t have to tie so many ends of bags, plus you don’t need the metal sliders. The tube is aligned with the wall as it’s filled. But it worked out okay. The walls only took about two weeks.
Well Owen, we tried the long bag method but was just not giving us a good quality thickness and to say the lest ..a pain in the ….
I only had experience with the rice sack method and Durga had none at all ..so we went with the
Semi long method and gave us a very thick bag with less Rows..
But if the professional guy would of showed up maybe we could of done the long method ..
Humm who could that of been?
Tying was not a problem because had a bunch of college girls that would rather do it instead of the
Hard dirt work!,
You actually invented a new technique that worked quite well.
But for other readers, my earthbag book and some videos online show the proper tube filling method that is faster.
If building in Nepal make sure you use a lot of straw, rice husks, or whatever as just earth is going to be far too damp to live in during the rainy season.
It wouldn’t be damp unless the plaster or roof leaks. It would be cold inside though without insulation. Ideally they’d have natural insulating materials available such as rice hulls or lava rock but I don’t think they do. The next best thing is to add insulation board on the exterior. Also, add lots of roof insulation.