Jeffrey Bousquet is the winner of our earthbag building contest that sought new building ideas. The intent was to gather and share the best original earthbag building ideas for my upcoming earthbag book, which should be finished in one month. This included creative building ideas that simplify, save labor, speed construction, reduce costs, and improve the quality and durability of earthbag structures. Jeffrey wins a free PDF copy of the book and a free house plan of his choice from my Earthbag House Plans site. The runner up was Jamie Marin, who wins a free PDF copy of the book. Thanks to both for their cooperation.
Jeffrey’s suggestions:
Zip ties are a great tool for attaching chicken wire, barbed wire, and even conduit to bags. You can just slide the zip ties through the weave of the poly bags and attach whatever you need to quickly.
Create a site layout plan denoting where your piles of material will be, paths through the site, and a plan for rain. A bit of planning in the beginning will save you tons of time later.
(He also won favor by describing his method for tamping bags, but something similar was already planned for the book.)
Jamie’s suggestions:
You can eliminate sliders if you fill the bags in the correct position on the wall and tilt into position. This saves making sliders and moving them around throughout the construction process. (Ed.: Beginners should start out with sliders to refine their technique.)
thanks for the tips and suggestions to simplify earthbuilding techniques.
as we plod along, we come up w ways to simplify things.
example, i used to sew bags shut. now i just use three or four nails to fasten the bags, without having to stop and thread needles, and without minimizing the quantity of fill in the bags.
i should admit, all of my filled bags are doubled.
also, although i have a slider always available for use in awkward situations, most of the bags i fill are placed on top of the filled bag next to which i will place the bag i’m filling. the bag is filled and fastened shut. i then slide it into position (near the edge of the bag below) from where it again slides, falling exactly into place.
thanks.
s
You have so many cool designs Owen, I will have a tough time choosing ;) Thanks for all your kind words!