WHAT ARE EARTHBAGS AND WHY AM I BUILDING WITH THEM?
Building with earthbags is essentially building with adobe bricks without going through the lengthy process of making them. You take polypropylene sandbags, fill them with a moist mix of sand and clay, tamp them down hard and connect the layers with 4 point barbed wire. Then, you cover them over with an earthen plaster.
In reality, I didn't use polypropylene bags. Some Brasilians started a type of construction they call hyperadobe which uses mesh bags, or continuous tubing, made from the same material as the onion or potato bags in the grocery store. They don't require barbed wire, though otherwise the process is just about the same.
As I talk about in the blog posts, my design has been guided by simplicity and efficiency. More than anything, what's been most important to me is to live in a house that I myself, with no building experience whatsoever, can design, build and maintain. A natural extension of that has been the desire to live in a peaceful space. For me that means a home that's in tune with nature, thus limiting the use of imported materials for construction, in addition to those that will be needed later on, such as for heating. Please enjoy reading, ask me any questions, get inspired, and come help and learn!
Facebook
Curiosity...if someone could leave me a comment with the answer. I can see where the web traffic for this blog comes from and a lot comes from facebook. Who's facebook page has a link to my blog?
Thanks!
I link to you regularly from my FB page http://facebook.com/tinyhousedesign
ReplyDeleteLove your project!
yup. love your work and love to share it.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.facebook.com/steven007.1
I found your site through tiny house's fb posting.
ReplyDeleteThanks you guys! You have solved a mystery for me! Glad to have you following :-)
ReplyDeleteHi- We see that you have completed your house-great! We have land out by your house. We live in Wisconsin. We might consider building a structure like yours and would like to know the cost and other info on the whole process. Look forward to hearing from you!
ReplyDeleteKevin and Cheryl
Hey,
DeleteCheck out the link:
http://alysearthbaghome.blogspot.com/2011/11/so-how-much-did-it-cost.html
Read through the blog for more info about the process and ask any questions you might have. Good luck!
I found you through a search engine. I love how your house is turning out. You must be thrilled! I'd love to come up and visit sometime. We just started our homesteading experience so we are new to it all. We ended up purchasing a pre existing home, but it has always been a dream of my husband and I to have our own earthbag home. We live down in Los Lunas, NM. We're considering using earthbags to build our main chicken coop.
ReplyDelete