Owner/
Builder

Earthbag

Building with earthbags (sometimes called sandbags) is both old and new. Sandbags have long been used, particularly by the military for creating strong, protective barriers, or for flood control. The same reasons that make them useful for these applications carry over to creating housing: the walls are massive and substantial, they resist all kinds of severe weather (or even bullets and bombs), and they can be erected simply and quickly with readily available components. Burlap bags were traditionally used for this purpose, and they work fine until they eventually rot. Newer polypropylene bags have superior strength and durability, as long as they are kept away from too much sunlight. For permanent housing the bags should be covered with some kind of plaster for protection.

There has been a resurgence of interest in earthbag building since architect Nader Khalili, of the Cal-Earth Institute, began experimenting with bags of adobe soil as building blocks for creating domes, vaults and arches. Khalili was familiar with Middle Eastern architecture and the use of adobe bricks in building these forms, so it was natural for him to imagine building in this way. The Cal-Earth Institute has been training people with his particular techniques, and now the whole field has expanded considerably with further experimentation by his students and others.

I have taken Khalili's ideas of building with earthbags that are laid in courses with barbed wire between them, and come up with some hybrid concepts that have proven to make viable housing. Instead of filling the bags with adobe soil, I have used crushed volcanic rock. This creates a very well insulated wall (about as good as strawbale) that will never rot or be damaged by moisture. As a covering for the earthbags I used papercrete (see the papercrete page). This seems to be a very good solution to the need to seal the bags from the sun and the weather, without necessarily creating a vapor barrier...the walls remain breathable. Papercrete may not be a good choice in warm and humid climates, however, because mold could form on it.

 For a much more thorough look at every aspect of earthbag building,
you might visit my other site: 
www.earthbagbuilding.com

I am very pleased to announce that a prominent engineering firm that is licensed in 27 U.S. states is now offering engineering services for earthbag construction in both seismic and non-seismic areas around the world.

RESOURCES

SEARCH THIS SITE

MEDIA

WATCH VIDEOS

ARTICLES:
A Short History of
Earthbag Building


How to Build a Small Earthbag Dome

The Earthbag Architecture
of Akio Inoue

Building with Unbonded Pumice

Lunar and Terrestrial Sustainable Building Technology in the New Millenium: An Interview with Nader Khalili

Emergency Shelter Plan

Photogallery & Description of Our House

Construction Details of Our House

An Amazing Experiment

Creation of a Glorieta

Filling the Bags with Rice Hulls

PLANS

EXPERT ADVISE

with Kelly Hart




QUESTIONS & ANSWERS

INFORMATIVE LINKS

MEDIA

Earthbag Building Guide by Owen Geiger, 2011. Much has been learned about earthbag building over the last few decades through research, trial and error, and sharing of information. It is becoming increasingly clear what works best and why. This book pulls the most practical ideas together and will help take this movement to the next level.

This builder’s guide does that by providing simple, clear explanations of each step of construction, from earthbag foundations that don’t require concrete, to complete information on tools and supplies, as well as tips, tricks and advanced earthbag techniques.

All major aspects of building earthbag houses with vertical walls are covered: Planning; Dirt cheap building techniques; Building code issues; Electrical and Plumbing; Cost estimating; Insulation; Landscaping options. It is profusely illustrated with about 185 color photos and detail drawings. This is now available as a PDF download for $20. This e-book is also available in Spanish.

Owen Geiger and I started www.earthbagbuilding.com several years ago and share the popular associated blog. During this time we have examined most earthbag projects that have been publicized in any way and have shared and learned about successes and failures. This book combines this knowledge with lots of hands-on practical experience to provide a concise, well organized step-by-step guide.

To see the complete Table of Contents and read some reviews go to earthbagbuilding.com

Basic Earthbag Building: a Step-by-Step Guide is a comprehensive DVD created by Owen Geiger. The first part of Basic Earthbag Building provides clear, simple explanations of each step of construction, and includes full coverage of the tools and supplies needed to complete any sized project. The second part documents the construction of a cool pantry, which uses the same basic steps as most any other earthbag structure. Watching the construction of an actual project is key to understanding the whole process, and will enable you to see how all the steps and parts go together.

As a bonus, there are some extra scenes that include Building an Earthbag Dome, an animated Enviro Dome Fly-through and a tour of a Finished Earthbag Roundhouse.

You can review portions of this DVD by exploring the short clips that are shown on Owen's YouTube Channel. And you can purchase the DVD directly from the manufacturer for $28.

 
 
 
Click on image to buy from Customflix.com
 

Building with Bags: How We Made Our Experimental Earthbag/Papercrete House 1 1/2 hr. DVD produced by Kelly Hart.We wanted to build an environmentally sensitive and aesthetically pleasing home at a moderate price. We chose to create earthbag domes covered with papercrete (recycled paper combined with cement and sand). This honest DVD documents details of the construction, insights gained, and the ups and downs (literally!) of the building process. Several other earthbag homes are also shown. For more information about the house see Photogallery & Description of Our House or Construction Details of Our House . To view a streaming video intoduction to this DVD click here.

BuyDVD

 
 
 
Click on image to buy from Amazon.com
 

Earthbag Building : The Tools, Tricks and Techniques by Kaki Hunter, Donald Kiffmeyer, 2004. Earthbag Building is a comprehensive guide to all the tools, tricks, and techniques for building with bags filled with earth. Having been introduced to sandbag construction by the renowned Nader Khalili in 1993, the authors developed this "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" over the last decade. A reliable method for constructing homes, outbuildings, garden walls and much more, this enduring, tree-free architecture can also be used to create arched and domed structures of great beauty. This profusely illustrated guide first discusses the many merits of earthbag construction, and then leads the reader through the key elements of an earthbag building: Special design considerations; Foundations, walls and floors; Electrical, plumbing and shelving; Lintels, windows and door installations; Roofs, arches and domes; Exterior and interior plasters. There are also dedicated sections on costs, making your own specialized tools, and building code considerations, as well as a complete resource guide. Kaki Hunter and Donald Kiffmeyer have been involved in the construction industry for the last 20 years, specializing in affordable, low-tech, low-impact building methods that are as natural as possible. They developed the "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" of building affordably with earthbags and have taught the subject and contributed their expertise to several books and journals on natural building. For a more detailed review of this book written by Kelly Hart see this page.

Earthbag Building is available as a downloadable ebook for $29.95 from this link.

   
 
Click on image to buy from Amazon.com
 

 

Building with Earth: A Guide to Flexible-Form Earthbag Construction by Paulina Wojciechowska, 2001. This is the first book published about earthbag building, and still one of the best. Unfortunately it has gone out of print, but is still available used from various sellers at Amazon. My earthbag/papercrete house is featured on the cover, and as a case study, and images of it are sprinkled throughout the text. Paulina visited me while I was building it and helped with the construction some. She studied with Nader Khalili at CalEarth, so is grounded in his training, but is not bound by his perspective. This book touches on most of the relevant facits of earthbag building, and I give it a high recommendation.

 
 
 
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Emergency Sandbag Shelter by Nader Khalili, 2008. The book shows how to use sandbags and barbed wire, the materials of war, for peaceful purposes. Earthbags can shelter millions of people around the globe as a temporary as well as permanent housing solution. This affordable, self-help, sustainable, and disaster resistant structural system is a spin off from Khalili's presentation to NASA for habitat on the moon and Mars, which successfully passed rigorous tests for strict California earthquake building codes. This book along with a small library of films and kits can guide anyone to learn and teach how to build a home or community.
   
 
Click on image to buy from Amazon.com
 

Ceramic Houses and Earth Architecture: How to Build Your Own by Nader Khalili, 1996. This book shows how to build vaults, domes and arches with adobe blocks. It then goes on to suggest how to actually fire the structure like pottery, with a glaze. It is a fiscinating concept that has seen little use, partly because the firing process can be rather polluting. This book has been updated to discuss the SuperAdobe building method of building with earthbags.. I recommend this book to everyone who is interested in alternative building methods.

   
 
Click on image to buy from Amazon.com
 

Emergency Shelter DVD. Region 1 ( U.S. and Canada only). The works and words of architect Nader Khalili. Natural disasters are human created disasters blamed on nature. In today's world there are, according to the United Nations, over a billion people without suitable shelter. In the spirit of protecting their families, requests have come from all over the United States for instructions on how to build a safe shelter before or during an emergency. This video documents a group training at Cal-Earth Institute by constructing an 8 ft. interior diameter dome in one day. It is intended for use with materials and tools developed for instruction during the apprenticeship training at Cal-Earth.

 
 
 
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Sidewalks on the Moon
by Nader Khalili, 2002. With the moon as a metaphor, Khalili takes us from the poetic moon of the ghettos of his childhood to the scientific moon of his presentations to NASA for lunar base construction using on-site earth and ceramics. He chronicles his own transformation renouncing his successful architecture practice and voyaging into the desert, ultimately firing and glazing the first Ceramic Houses. Inspired by the mystic poetry of Rumi, and the unity of the universal elements of earth, water, air, and fire, with his technical background he presents his proposals for earth and ceramics lunar bases to NASA.

   
 
Click on image to buy from Amazon.com
 

Home Work: Handbuilt Shelter by Lloyd Kahn, 2004. I have rarely been this enthusiastic about a book, and not just because I am in it (with a two-page description of our earthbag/papercrete house)! Ever since his first publication of Shelter in 1973 (which I also contributed to), Lloyd has been collecting imagery and stories for this eventual sequel. With Home Work, Lloyd has gone beyond the glory of his earlier work in many ways. Not only does it seem more comprehensive, but it is almost entirely in color. This is a sumptuous coffee table book that will likely not spend much time on the table, since it is so intriguing you just want to pick up and browse through it. Every page is chock full of fun, unusual, lyrical, quaint, artistic, humble, elegant, practical, colorful, whimsical, well-crafted, funky, traditional, and outlandish buildings that were lovingly built by the hands of those who reside there. All of this is presented with Lloyd's casual style of layout and commentary that is reminiscent of a scrap book. Many of the photos are actually collages of several exposures spliced together to create expansive murals. Flipping through the pages of Home Work will take you back to the early days of hippie huts and forward to the cutting edge of natural building technology. The builders themselves are portrayed as lovingly as their buildings, with many profiles of fine craftsmen and women sprinkled throughout. In fact, the book begins by featuring the work of ten artisans who represent some of the best in this tradition of owner-builders. Then a whole slew of other specific homes are displayed in such a way that the lifestyle of their occupants is embedded directly within the imagery. This book depicts far more than architecture; it shows entire ways of life. For a more complete review and some images from the book click here.

 
 
 
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The House That Jill Built: A Woman's Guide to Home Building by Judy Ostrow and Karen Leffler, 2005. Millions of women are already learning the basics of do-it-yourself and getting in tune with the empowering nature of power tools. Allison Kennedy, a woman who built an earthbag house all by herself after her boyfriend left her with a concrete foundation, is one of the featured stories. The House That Jill Built is perfect for women of all skill levels, from the experienced do-it-her-selfer to the woman who doesn't know the difference between a stud finder and a palm sander, to the woman who is looking to move on to more complex or large-scale projects. Sharing women's real-life experiences in creating their own dream homes, The House that Jill Built is a groundbreaking guide to the process as well as a collection of women's real-life home-building experiences, complete with before and after photos and drawings, advice from experts, safety precautions, and a comprehensive section of how-to tips, including a tool guide. Chapters highlight success stories, such as the design and construction of one woman's desert dream house to another's tropical paradise nestled up north. After reading these personal stories, every woman will feel motivated to pick up the hammer and go for it.
TirolessaUSA Stucco Sprayer (available from Amazon.com).   This stucco sprayer is a great tool to speed up your building process and save labor! Use with a minimum 7 cfm at 90 psi compressor (not included). For the larger jets, use at least a 12 cfm at 90 psi or larger compressor. This stucco spraying tool can be used to spray mortar, plaster, stucco, small scale shotcrete, papercrete, earthen mixes and more. It can be used for traditional plastering and many alternative building methods. It can apply plaster on strawbale, earthbags, insulated panels and thin shell ferrocement, shotcrete, and structural concrete insulated panels. This stucco sprayer is for heavy applications of 1/4" to 1" thickness. Typically it is used for brown coat, scratch coat, base coat, and slip coat applications.

PLANS

Native Spirit
Owen Geiger, Designer

East Elevation

The Native Spirit house plan blends a hexagonal dwelling with a soaring tower, all built of earthbags. If one chooses, the un-bermed portion of the main house can be built with strawbales. The first floor of the tower serves as a cool pantry that keeps food cool without electricity. Other levels can be used as office space, a second bedroom or storage. The top level is an observation deck - truly a stunning feature in such an affordable home. The hollow, central column in the main structure can be built with stone or CEBs (compressed earth blocks). The stove pipe runs up through the column and the thermal mass helps stabilize indoor temperatures. Large south-facing windows create an attractive plant shelf and provide excellent solar gain. Other features include a large built-in bench, fold-out bed and home office. An airlock entry has a washer and dryer, coat closet and bench.

Specifications: 565 sf interior, plus 291 sf tower (4 levels) for a total of 856 sf; 1 bedroom (fold-out bed), 1 bath, plus cool pantry and 2 bonus rooms.

Floor Plan

For more information about this plan, and many others, visit our sister site www.dreamgreenhomes.com, where you will find a wide range of plans for sustainable homes, greenhouses, small buildings, garages, and food storage space for sale. Dream Green Homes is a consortium of outstanding architects and designers, who have pooled their talent and expertise for your benefit.

Photogallery and description of Kelly and Rosana Hart's Earthbag/Papercrete House

 
 
click on image to enlarge
Click on image to enlarge

This is our first experimental earthbag dome. The interior diameter is 14 feet and the dome stands about 16 feet high. At first we tried filling the bags with the fine sand that it is built upon, but when we were partly done, the dome fell in because the sand couldn't hold the shape. Then we filled the bags with crushed volcanic rock (scoria) that provides better insulation and holds its shape much better. The arch over the doorway was created with a wooden form that was later removed. We kept the dome tarped most of the time until we papercreted the exterior. We did this to keep the sunlight off the bags because the UV will eventually destroy the bags.

Here is the same dome as above, with joists in place for the loft and with the arch form still supporting the entrance arch. The joists are simply resting on the bags and blocked up where necessary to maintain the level. Bags are then stacked between the joists and on top of them to lock them into place. Having the loft there made the structure much more sturdy as I continued to build. Two strands of four-point barbed wire were placed between each course of bags to help hold them in place and to withstand any tendency for the dome to bulge outward with pressure from above. We also placed a piece of baling twine under each bag which would be tied around three bags eventually. This provided more structural integrity and created a positive grip for any final plaster material.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is the beginning of the large elliptical dome that became our kitchen and living room. It measures approximately 30 feet on the long axis and 20 feet on the short axis. Because we are building on sand with excellent drainage and no problem of frost upheaval, there is no foundation other than a pad of 6 to 8 inches of the crushed volcanic rock (scoria). You can see the pile of scoria in the background, and a large wagon wheel in the foreground that will be use to support a circular window opening.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

Because of the elliptical shape, this dome required a rigid pole framework to help support the second story. I would not recommend building anything but a circular dome after this experience, because otherwise the forces are just not balanced enough. You see the large arch form for the six-foot wide doorway. The house is a passive solar design, so we needed large openings to let in the sunlight. After several failures and much experimenting, we devised a double bag technique to create such a large arch. Double, side by side, bags are used for columns at every doorway in the house.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

Here I am applying a coating of papercrete to the outside of the large dome. I did this as soon as I could to protect the bags. Thermal pane glass was embedded in the papercrete on the outside over all of the circular windows.

 

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is the papercrete tow mixer that was used to mix most of the papercrete. An invention of Mike McCain, the tow mixer is an amazing machine. It is made from a car rear end, a metal stock tank, a lawnmower blade and a few other parts. To make the papercrete, water is filled to within about 6 inches of the top, sand is added if desired, dry paper of virtually any description is added, and one bag of portland cement thrown in. One slow trip driving around the block produces a thick slurry that is total mush. This is drained through a sieve to eliminate the excess water, and then applied to the building. One mixer load yields between three and four wheelbarrows full of papercrete.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

On the left is the 16 foot interior diameter bedroom dome, and on the right is part of the large dome. Between them is the connecting portion of the house under construction. The back (north) bag wall is a section of a sphere that is braced into place with the rafters for the southern roof/wall. Other braces within the attic space help hold the shape.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is the southern aspect of the house after the final papercrete stucco was applied. The section of roof between the domes is covered with metal roofing and supports an array of eight photovoltaic panels. (That's why we needed a straight surface.) Solar water heating panels will be mounted below them. Beneath this roof is a bay of windows that extends outward to create a greenhouse space.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This view from the north shows the earthbag vault entryway/mudroom with its bell tower. The mound in the foreground is a completely bermed pantry that is accessible inside, from the kitchen. On top of the large dome are two air vents and a stove pipe. There are also three inlet air vents elsewhere in the dome.



   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This view of the back of the house shows how well it fits into the landscape. The curved shapes blend in with the mountains in the far distance.



   
 
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This shows the main entrance onto a landing, with the option of going up to the loft or down to the main level. Lots of natural wood was used to finish the interior components. An old wood stove for back-up heat is visible in the foreground


   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

The flight of steps lead up to the loft over the kitchen. The lodge poles that help support the dome's shape can be seen with the final coat of lime plaster that was troweled on between them. The horizontal band of logs between each lodge pole was positioned to brace the structure rigidly when a steel cable was tightened around at the same level.




   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is a view of Kelly's office space in the loft over the kitchen. Because the walls angle in rather sharply, the standing floor space is diminished. A built-in counter around most of the wall provides desk and equipment space, with lots of storage beneath it.


   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is looking straight up from near the wood stove. You get almost a teepee feeling from the shape and the lodge poles. The two air vents are sealed with tether balls inflated to just the right size to fit snugly into the pipes. Long handles are attached to the balls to insert and remove them.


   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is the view from the landing down into the living room. One of our dogs is standing on the flagstone set into the adobe floor. The rest of the floor in the large dome is poured adobe that was scored with a rocklike pattern. This is a classic passive solar arrangement, with lots of south-facing glass and dark colored thermal mass on the floor to absorb the heat. A window seat can be seen behind the dog, under the wagon wheel window. This seat was formed during construction with earthbags.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This is looking toward the large dome from the greenhouse in the connecting space. The tomatoes are happy. The wall next to the planter is papercrete stucco that was troweled smooth. A natural vertical log supports the horizontal beam that supports the entire south side of the attic.


   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

A view of our shower stall made with natural local stone, tile and wood. This was a little tricky because of all the odd angles in the space, but it works. Eventually there will be more rockwork around a solar hot tub in the green house area, which will serve as more thermal mass that will be heated by the sun.




   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

This shows the curved stairway in the bedroom that leads to a small loft. The stairs are made of earthbags filled with sand, and covered with papercrete. The coloration of the interior space was accomplished by brushing a small amount of latex paint mixed with lots of water onto the papercrete walls. This basically stains the wall without interfering with the breathablity through the wall.

   
 
Click on image to enlarge
 

Here is the office space carved out of the attic area in the middle section. The bag wall can be seen on the left, and the wood-framed wall is on the right. Wooden braces that help secure the shape can be seen near the top of the photo.


There is a two-page spread of photos and text about this house featured in the book Home Work that can be seen at books.google.com

ASPECTS OF SUSTAINABLE ARCHITECTURE
IN KELLY & ROSANA HART'S
EARTHBAG AND PAPERCRETE HOUSE

GENERAL DESIGN
A small circular dome and a large elliptical dome connected together with a section of a sphere on the north and a planar roof and wall on the south. This requires minimal use of wood, concrete and steel for construction.

CONSTRUCTION METHOD
There is no concrete foundation; the house rests on a pad of scoria laid directly over the natural sand. Successive courses of polypropylene bags filled with sand (on the bottom few courses), and scoria (on the rest of the courses) are piled in an overlapping (brick-like) fashion to form the domes. Between each course are two strands of 4-point barbed wire. Each section of the house has a loft framed with conventional lumber. Some of the domes have poles arranged on the second story to help support the shape of the dome.

The earthbags are covered initially, both inside and out, with papercrete (recycled paper, with a small amount of Portland cement). The final layer is either a lime plaster (lime, silica sand and white Portland cement), or papercrete with sand added. In some cases the final coat of papercrete has been stained with latex paint thinned way down with water. All of the walls and roof areas remain breathable (except the central metal roof under the solar equipment). Floors are poured adobe, flagstone, tile, papercrete, wood.

(This house was built in a county that has not adopted the Uniform Building Code. The usual plumbing and electrical codes were required, and inspected for.)

HEATING
Primarily passive solar, with wood, propane and electricity as backups.

COOLING
Substantially bermed into the earth on the north side. Considerable thermal mass on the interior.

VENTING
Most windows do not open, so air tubes are employed at strategic locations to promote natural convection of air. These tubes are closed with rubber tether balls inflated to fit the tube.

NATURAL MATERIALS
Sand, adobe, flagstone, rock, lime, scoria, parts of trees.

RECYCLED MATERIALS
Glass, wagon wheels, culvert couplers, misprinted rice bags, milled lumber, paper, sink.

NEW MATERIALS
Barbed wire, Portland cement, some milled lumber, polyethylene sheeting, miscellaneous fasteners, paint, linseed oil, tile, chicken wire.

NUMBER OF BAGS USED
About 5,000 bags altogether, including for the small guest cabin.

SQUARE FOOTAGE
House, 1300 approximately; storage cabin, 150 approximately.

TIME TO BUILD
Approximately 3 years of owner/builder time at about 30 hours a week. No hired labor. Occasional friends' help.

R-VALUE OF THE WALLS
Estimated at R-40.

ELECTRICITY
Both grid power and photovoltaic power are provided. The solar operates the refrigerator/freezer, clothes washing machine, most of the lights, and misc. small appliances.

HOT WATER
Solar water heating panels (not yet installed) will provide most of the hot water for a hot tub and domestic water. Propane is used as a back-up.

GREENHOUSE
The central greenhouse provides food and heat for the house. Excess heat is vented out the hinged roof of the greenhouse.

CONSTRUCTION COSTS:

CATEGORIES
COST
COST PER
SQUARE FOOT
Sandbags
$1138
 
Scoria
$4484
 
Cement
$911
 
Lumber
$4552
 
Miscellaneous
$4632
 
Fees, permits, licenses
$465
 
Excavation
$1400
 
Plumbing
$2459
 
Electrical
$1652
 
Windows
$1539
 
BASIC HOUSE TOTAL
$23,232
$16
Solar electrical system
$8223
Major appliances
$3514
OVERALL HOUSE TOTAL
$34,969
$24
Land & site preparation
$15,000
 
GRAND TOTAL
$49,969
 

An Amazing Experiment

   
 
These are the two connected earthbag/papercrete domes.
 

I was recently given the opportunity to help demolish an earthbag house project that had been started in our community. The owner/builder had sold the property and the new owner wanted the land cleared. At first the owner wanted to have heavy excavation equipment come in and just push it all over and haul the debris away. I offered to help carefully take the structure apart so we could recycle some of the materials and learn something about how easy it might be to tear down such construction.

There were three domes to be removed, two of them connected and the third freestanding. These domes were constructed similarly to my house: polypropylene earthbags were filled with crushed volcanic rock (scoria); the courses of bags had barbed wire between them and the bags were tied to each other with poly baling twine. Papercrete was applied to both the interior and exterior surfaces. Additionally, rebar stakes had been driven through several courses of bags in many locations.

   
 
This is the freestanding dome, before demolition.
 

The freestanding dome was a rather lacy affair, almost a gazebo, with four arched openings and several circular windows. The builder had experienced difficulty in erecting this delicate building (it had collapsed several times in the process), so at my suggestion he had wrapped the columns between the arches with two-inch chicken wire mesh before applying the papercrete, in order to stiffen the building and make it stronger.

This gazebo-like dome was built on a layer of about ten inches of scoria, which I started to collect for reuse. As I was digging around the base of the structure, it occurred to me that an interesting experiment would be to dig out from under a section of the wall and see how much could be undercut before the wall began to collapse. The section of wall I chose to undermine was about 15 feet long, between two arched openings. I dug alternately from one side and then the other, completely removing the scoria from underneath the wall. Like my house, there was no other foundation to this building.

 

   
 
The foundation of this 15' section of earthbag/papercrete wall was almost completely undermined, and the wall is still completely intact!
 
After I had cleared about a yard in from both sides, with nothing happening to the building, I was rather surprised. After all, this is just bags of rock stacked on top of each other, amounting to an estimated four tons of material. There were no cracks in the plaster nor sagging of the wall.

I dashed home to get a camera to record the events, and continued undermining the wall, being careful to keep out of harm's way if it should suddenly collapse. The more I dug the more amazed I became. When the wall section was precariously balanced on about one foot of scoria in the middle of the wall, and nothing had happened except one bag had fallen out onto the ground below, I snapped the picture that can be seen here.

 



   
 
This is the same section of wall after much banging with an axe and hammer.
 

If anyone had any doubts about the strength and integrity of this system of building, this experiment should allay those concerns. Earthbag building of this sort can be STRONG! Eventually, as I continued to dig out from under the wall, it simply began to hinge downward from a point about ten feet up, above the arches. The wall itself showed no signs of falling apart. In fact when the owner tried to break it apart with an axe and a sledge hammer, he finally gave up and decided to have the backhoe tear into it! The fact that it was surrounded with the wire mesh and that he had used twice the amount of Portland cement as usual in the papercrete mix are factors contributing to the phenomenal strength.

 

 


Filling the Bags with Rice Hulls

I have recently become familiar with the use of rice hulls as a material to build with. These unasumming little bits of of debris that are often discarded have found new value as insulation in wood-framed houses and as filler for earthbag projects. They are a durable and renewable material that will not easily burn or decay. They are reported to be about R-3 per inch as insulation, and will not harbor mold or fungus because they don't retain enough moisture to do so. All of this is without any added chemicals...a totally natural product that is often given away. The states where rice mills accumulate hulls include Lousiana, Texas, Arkansa, Missouri, Mississippi, Florida, and California. The hulls only weigh about 9 pounds per cubic foot, so weight is not much of issue in transporting them. They pack into a stable shape when mildly compressed; once they settle into a wall cavity or are packed into an earthbag, they are not shape-shifters.

Don Stephens has been experimenting with rice hulls in bags. He says, "I thought you might find this photo of interest...it's the bag-walled studio I'm mentoring/assisting the owners in building here in Spokane. The bags are just filled with packed, dry rice hulls and they are load-bearing, holding up the insulated bondbeam at the top and the poured-in-ricehull-insulated roof, which will end up planted, over its salvaged-carpet covered Mel-Rol waterproofing. There's been no settlement since construction and it feels SOLID, walking on the roof. The exterior will be stuccoed with slightly-stabilized cob and the interior will be earth plastered. The subfloor is of ricehull-liteclay, for insulation, and will be topped with cob-adobe.... : ) "

The issue #47 (Fall 2004) of The Last Straw has a lengthy article. If any one is interested, my company supplied the hulls for Don Stephens project. Contact jpereiraATrice-hulls.com.

LINKS

GENERAL

earthbagbuilding.com is absolutlely the most informative site about earthbag building, created by Kelly Hart and Dr. Owen Geiger.

simpleearthstructures Patti Stouter has assemble this site that focuses on her work with earthbag concepts for inexpensive and sustainable housing.

calearth.org Nader Khalili's earthbag works.

greenlifestylemagazine.net features an introductory article about earthbag building.

superadobeserrano.blogspot.com this blog-style site is in Spanish, but you don't have to know that language to enjoy the many photos and videos of superadobe constuction in Argentina.

DISCUSSION

earthbagnetwork.com a forum where people can share information and network socially about earthbag building.

EDUCATION

naturalhomes.org lists workshops from around the world that relate to earthbags.

karacadirearthbuilding.com  offers workshops and training for building with earthbags and sustainable living practices.

brokenearth.org offers a program whereby those who have already taken a course and have helped others build a Beehive Home will get priority status in getting help to build their own Beehive Home.

nzdl.sadl.uleth.ca The basics of building with arches, vaults and cupolas

recycledrice.org offers internship programs that incorporate both earthbag building with rice hulls and their forgiveness ministry.

ENGINEERING

structure1.com Precision Engineering has embraced earthbag building and is prepared to provide structural engineering for earthbag projects.

icbo code central article outlining the chronology and results of testing done on Nader Khalili's superadobe system of building.

SPECIFIC WORKS

earthhandsandhouses.org the construction of Paulina Wojciekowska's earthbag dome project in Poland. is shown under projects/sandbags...

motherearthnews.com an extensive article by Owen Geiger about how he built a small earth-sheltered earthbag dome.

caicosdream show Doni Kiffmeyer and Kaki Hunter working on an earthbag project.

midpines.us a series of construction photos with captions about building an earthbag home in the Sierras of California.

calearth.org/Emerg This two-page PDF file outlines Nader Khalili's approach to building an emergency shelter.

archearth.com pictures and description of an earthbag "Sound Temple" in Thailand.

calearth.org links to a gallery of photos of projects by alumni of CalEarth

montelloalpacacompany.blogspot.com is a blog about building a multi-dome home in Nevada, among other things.

SUPPLIES

earthbagbuilding.com list many sources for bags and tubing material from around the world.

expressbagger.com manufactures a simple dual bag manual filling device for sandbags.

Build a strong house using suitable building cements and quality building hardwoods.

Disclaimer Of Liability And Warranty
I specifically disclaim any warranty, either expressed or implied, concerning the information on these pages. Neither I nor any of the advisor/consultants associated with this site will have liability for loss, damage, or injury, resulting from the use of any information found on this, or any other page at this site. Kelly Hart, Hartworks, Inc.

 

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