Discover the magic of Earthbag homes - from desert challenges to sustainable solutions. Create your dream dome with bags, dirt, and a touch of cement.
Are you looking for a DIY construction technique for building an affordable earthquake-, flood-, and bullet-resistant home? Look no further.
Over the past few years the cost to rent an apartment or home has dramatically increased while wages have remained… by brandonv111
Volunteer Opportunity for hands on experience and training Hungry Minds Educational Society is building an adult education centre in Kisowera, Mukono, about 30 km from Kampala. Construction is set to…
Earthbag homes use simple and sustainable materials with several advantages over traditional building materials.
This article describes a low cost method of building insulated basement walls without concrete, using geotextiles. Typical basement walls are expensive and use large amounts of concrete…
18 Amazing and creative plans to build your own earthbag house that is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and catastrophe proof.
Orkidstudio built a passive solar earthbag orphanage in the rural outskirts of Nakuru, Kenya.
Specifications: Three 16′ interior diameter domes with 603 sq. ft. interior, 3 sleeping lofts with 312 sq. ft., total 915 sq. ft. interior, one bedroom, one bath, Footprint: 38′ x 38…
The ''Maison Feuillette'' was built in 1921 by Feuillette, an engineer who was looking for solutions to construction problems. It has been for sale for one year. The house (still inhabited and…
Winner of the Best Safari House in Africa 2014, Leobo Lodge in the Waterberg is a new adobe-style marvel by Silvio Rech and Lesley Carstens that is redefining the fatigued bush lodge aesthetic, one extraordinary feature at a time.
We get quite a few enquires about vaults. So far we’ve always cautioned against building earthbag vaults except for small entranceways, corridors between domes and the like…
Built with earth-based materials, these colorful domes were constructed with the help of local residents looking to revive their local economy.
Earthbag dome going up at the Permaforest Trust Farm in Northern NSW The idea that you can build a structurally strong house with nothing more complicated than a bunch of bags, earth, clay and lime, p
On the other hand, we have natural homes. Sure there might be lots of dust traps, but they appeal to the human side of our soul... that side that knows we are a part of nature. Most of us find natural homes strangely appealing because they offer a sense of tranquillity that is often lacking in our hectic lives.
These are so unique and environmentally friendly.
18 Amazing and creative plans to build your own earthbag house that is inexpensive, environmentally friendly, and catastrophe proof.
“A windcatcher is a traditional Persian architectural element to create natural ventilation in buildings. Windcatchers come in various designs: uni-directional, bi-directional, and multi-directional.
I published my preferred earthbag foundation method in my new book Earthbag Building Guide. It still seems to be the strongest method because it locks 1-1/2 courses of earthbags below grade.
Description: 20' interior diameter earthbag dome = 314 sq. ft., plus 14.5’ diameter loft = 110 sq. ft., total = 424 sq. ft. interior, Footprint: 23’ DIA plus benches/planters These domes are a larger…
“In addition to the Durisol stem wall foundation, our project for the teachers’ union office includes two long sections of earthbag foundation to support the floor joist spans inside the building.
Earthbag dome home in Ecuador…
Owen Geiger over at Earthbag House Plans has been busy. He has posted the preliminary designs for about 77 plans for earthbag homes available on his newest website. An earthbag home is essentially a home made from the dirt under your feet. It’s scooped up and placed in bags like old grain bags or sandbags. They are then laid up like bricks and you can build strait walls, curved walls, and domes. It’s probably the fastest and easiest way to build walls and the best part is that it’s as cheap as dirt. To learn more about building with earthbags
Post by Travis Hughbanks (Phuleli School Project Architect) Time for me to break down and finally write my first blog post. I had intended on writing last week, but two days after returning from th…
This beautiful earth bag home contains 450 ft² of space and was built for less than $5000. Recycled or salvaged materials were used wherever it was possible (i.e. the door and flooring). The rounded shape provides great stability for the entire structure, and two rows of concrete bags reinforced with barbed wire provide a solid grounding. Here's a step by step of the build... Starting on a rubble trench foundation. Railroad ballast was used for the rubble... Covering over our sediment fabric with pea gravel... Two rows of stem wall using 80 lb sacks of concrete. 2 strands of barbed wire go between every row. The
Specifications: 1,414 sq. ft. interior including lofts, 2 bedroom, 2 bath. Center roundhouse is 24′ interior diameter. Bedroom roundhouses are 16′ interior diameter. Footprint: 31′ x 65′…
Specifications: Lodge = 800 sq. ft. interior, 19’ interior DIA master bedroom dome plus loft = 452 sq. ft., two 16’ interior DIA bedrooms plus lofts = 600 sq. ft., one 16’ interior DIA bath/mechani…
Confined masonry is one of the most common building systems in the world, with millions of structures built this way. The first confined earthbag house is now under construction in Ecuador.
Being able to set up your own shelter in the wild is important, but so is the shelter you dwell in on a daily basis. Lately my girlfriend and I have been thinking a lot about what kind of house we would build when it becomes a viable option for us. The factors that are most important to us are: building costs, heating/insulation efficiency, a passive solar design, and preferably a greenhouse. With these in mind we set about researching different methods of building houses and stumbled upon earthbag building, using sandbags filled with local natural material in place of bricks. Earthbags homes can be assembled easily and are surprisingly sturdy. The Earthbag website explains one of the many benefits of this building method: "Earthbags have the tremendous advantage of providing either thermal mass or insulation, depending on what the bags are filled with. When filled with soil they provide thermal mass, but when filled with lighter weight materials, such as crushed volcanic stone, perlite, vermiculite, or rice hulls, they provide insulation. The bags can even act as natural non-wicking, somewhat insulated foundations when they are filled with gravel." This building method seemed to satisfy all of our needs, but we expected the houses built this way would be pretty plain, box shaped, and small. We were very surprised to see some examples. http://www.structure1.com/html/earthbag.htm http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/2005-10-01/Earthbag-Construction.aspx http://www.logement-durable-afrique.info/?report-from-canada There are many different guides to DIY Earthbag building online. We came across a website with plans and schematics for different designs, some even using recycled materials for certain parts of the home.The plans were created by Own Geiger, and the website is Natural Building Blog. We even found a plan for a partially underground Earthbag building with a greenhouse. http://naturalbuildingblog.com/solar-pit-house/ http://naturalbuildingblog.com/solar-pit-house/ Most of us don't have the option to buy our own home right now, let alone build it. But it's nice to know there are low-cost high-efficiency building methods out there when the time comes, and that your own house doesn't have to look like a clone of the one next to it.
A brief overview of a few types of alternative home building techniques. Lots of photos!
