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!

Tuesday, April 26, 2011

April Snow Wind and Clouds

There was snow on the ground this morning. There was also snow flying at my car this afternoon. The winds are insane and I believe today is the fourth cloudy day in a row. It's been raining pretty hard. I pray that my tent is still standing and my stuff not too water damaged.

Work has kinda taken a standstill before it's even begun. The weather has made it impossible to be out there and luckily Johnny and I are staying at Jeff's toasty-warm house. The backhoe guy simply didn't show up yesterday and hasn't returned my call. Hopefully backhoe will happen tomorrow when it's supposed to be 60 degrees and sunny.

Other than that everything is fine. There are things I could be doing on cold, rainy days, but something about this weather kills motivation. Also, it seems kinda pointless to make a trip to the hardware store when I'm still waiting to get the house dug. Besides, using the internet to do small errands and write on this blog has to be done sometime, no?
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1 comment:

  1. Susan Carpenter SimsApril 26, 2011 at 4:10 PM

    I've been wondering how you're faring in all this. I can't help but think you brought the rain with you from Portland! Glad you've had somewhere warm to stay, at least.

    I feel the same about the weather; my big task lately has been turning bags inside out, but I've had NO motivation to do that in the wind and rain (and friggin' SNOW, for crying out loud). I'd have to bring them inside, and that's just not a good idea.

    I did hear that it's supposed to be "breezy" rather than "we're not in Kansas anymore" tomorrow, so that's encouraging.

    Speaking of hardware stores, I heartily recommend Randall Lumber over Ace, for a variety of reasons. Have you checked out the ReStore yet? I got the initial makings of my outdoor shower there the other day for $2.50.

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