Earthbag/Sandbag homes

[big brown horse]

I think we talked about this before on the forum, but I can't find it anywhere. DrakeMaiden and I were discussing earthbag homes recently and I did a little search. Just thought I'd share.

http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthbag.htm

What do you think Noobie?

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Me? I'm all over green building! Love love love it! Can't wait to do it


So are you thinking of doing some earthbag? I don't have the sand/dirt deposits to do it locally. Clay, got plenty of that.

It's a labor intensive project, like any of the natural buildings.

I do like the looks of the peaked roofs, they look like they belong in a Smurf village

Here's some links from my bookmarks
http://www.naturalhomes.org/learning-earthbag.htm
http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/
http://www.okokok.org/
http://www.motherearthnews.com/Do-It-Yourself/Earthbag-Building-Garden-Shed.aspx

 

[big brown horse]

Thanks! Those were some cool sites! They do look like a Smurf Village don't they?

I think this would be labor intensive, but not as bad as a straw bale structure, which was my plan for my future coop. Now off to do more researach!

(I love that the roof is also made out of the earthbags too.)

 

[freemotion]

I am saving all my feedbags and my dad is, too, and we are gonna build an earthbag root cellar in a mound of dirt and stumps at the end of my pasture that the bulldozer guy made (to save me some money, he just piled up the excess in a big mound. Didn't know it would be useful someday!)

I will cut the feed bags in half to make two earthbags each out of them. I will cover my building with sod and grow grass on it. The challenge will be getting some steel support beams for the roof. I will start looking on craigslist as spring approaches and people are cleaning out barns and sheds. I've seen them before, also big, heavy pipes that would work.....for free!

 

[TanksHill]

Free,
I can't wait to see how your project goes. I would love to have a cellar. How many bags do you thing you would need? do yo plant to stitch the bottoms after you cut them in half?

How exciting!!!

g

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Since I quit buying processed feed for the girls & went to whole grain, I only have paper bags now. Bleh. Hehehe, I need to get more animals, so I can get more feed in those bags!

I doubt the bags would be as heavy as strawbales, you're probably right. Probably depends on what you fill them with.

I just read in one of those (haven't browsed those links for a while!) that you can use rice hulls.

Made me wonder about "gin trash" as it's called around here. It's the hulls of cotton, soybean or peanut processing. As we have a soybean & cotton gin in town, I could get that for free, I bet... Worth a phone call!

 

[big brown horse]

Wow free! I need to start saving my feed bags too! That is a great idea!

Please take photos and keep us updated on your project!

 

[freemotion]

I buy my whole grains in the woven poly bags, and I throw NOTHING away (much to hubby's chagrin) so I have quite a stack of them. I plan to make them into smaller bags and I'm thinking I won't sew them shut, just fold them over and let the weight hold them shut. I will fill them with dirt from one end of the dirt mound.

I haven't taken the time yet to figure out dimensions of the bags and how many I will need....other things are more pressing right now....but I plan to frame and install two doors with insulation in between, and also use it as a cheese aging cave. I am really hoping I can keep it in the lower 50's year-round, but that may be asking too much in July and August!

 

[abifae]

*

 

[noobiechickenlady]

Found another site for this

http://calearth.org/building-designs/what-is-superadobe.html

I love the arch the all the bags piled on top, maybe 1/3 of the way down the page.