Build It Yourself - Earthbag House Plans.

[Dover]

And after you've built your own, connect to or create a group who can build these houses anywhere they are needed around the world.



Earthbag House Plans

http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/introduction/




The purpose of this non-commercial site is to network with those who are interested in earthbag building and spark a dialogue about earthbag house designs. This innovative building method is exploding in popularity and there is enormous potential to provide affordable homes for all of humanity, all without damaging our environment.

This site is about unique small house plans, small home plans, floor plans, custom plans, architecture, small house designs, building green eco-friendly homes, sustainable building, blueprints for affordable homes — all built with earthbags. All styles are included: country, cottage, bungalow, traditional, modern (contemporary), mountain, beach, cabins and other popular styles. Emergency shelter plans are free. For those not familiar with earthbag construction, please check out my companion sites EarthbagBuilding.com and Earthbag Building Blog.

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A typical 300-800 sq.ft. house made of natural building materials could be built by a DIY builder for about $3,000-$10,000 (about $10/sq.ft.) and have the following features:
- gravel-filled bags on a rubble trench foundation (with insulating fill material such as perlite or scoria in cold climates)
- earthbag walls filled with soil or insulation, such as perlite, volcanic rock or rice hulls
- earth-berming for improved energy performance
- earth, stone or recycled brick floors
- earth or lime plaster
- affordable roof options such as domes, spiral (reciprocal) roofs, green roofs, poles, pallet trusses, metal roofing for collecting rainwater, thatch, etc.
- R-45 roof insulation (cellulose, wool, cotton, rice hulls…)
- small diameter, sustainably harvested wood
- non-toxic finishes and materials for cabinets, etc.
- wood stove
- energy-efficient windows, doors and appliances, such as solar or on-demand water heating, etc.
- passive solar design
- recycled materials throughout (sinks, tubs, hardware, tile, shelving, etc.)

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Construction Information
http://courses.washington.edu/larescue/pam/7-builder.pdf


The Merits of Earth Bag Building and Material Suppliers
http://oasislabs.org/earth-bag-building-amp-construction/all-about-earth-bag-buidling

Coil It With Tubular Bags:


Besides regular bag sizes there are now long propylene tubes to fill that are coiled like a snake. SuperAdobe is a type of 'earth bag' construction that uses continuous tubing as used for sandbags and agricultural packaging. This tubing is filled with a mostly dry mixture of earth and cement stabilizer and coiled up on a cement-filled coil, rammed earth footing, or concrete slab in the manner of coiled pottery to form structures with arches, vaults, and domes. The coils are filled with earth and laid out in a continuous process. Conventional barbed wire is placed between each course of tubing to help keep it from slipping. Window and door frames are formed by wrapping the coils around wooden frame forms which are later removed for window and door fitting. Once the coiled-up forms of the structure are complete it is covered with a thick adobe plaster covering which protect the material from the tubing from deterioration by UV exposure.
More here: http://calearth.org/

[csziggy]

1. Interesting - a note about supplies

The rice bags being used look as though they are woven polypropylene. If that is a good material, then people interested should think about contacting horse and livestock people. Our Purina horse feed comes in woven polypropylene bags. I have been trying to think of ways to reuse them, but so far have not come up with anything that I can personally use them for. They seem a bit larger than the rice bags shown on the web site, but that could be a good thing. Unlike the rice bags, they are brightly printed. A lot of the Purina feeds and chows (bird chow, for instance) come in these bags.

If I knew someone could use them, I would save the bags for them. I hate to send them to the landfill.

[Dover]

2. Great idea! You might go to the blog at the first link and find out if the feed bags

are something that would be valuable for this purpose. And if so, I'm sure you'll connect with some grateful takers. The folks at Cal Earth might be another good group to check with.

[TheMadMonk]

3. Bags for livestock feed are often recycled by the smaller (one farm) mills.

But we're talking 75/100lb (lucern/oat) for that. Smaller bags? DIY retaining walls seems like one good application if you don't want to live in a beehive.

Watching the recent floods here (in Aust) Both my brother and I (at opposite ends of the country) wondered why this continuous extrusion process hasn't been applied to "sandbagging" properties threatened by rising waters.

[Dover]

4. They don't have to look like beehives. That first link has all kinds of plans, like this one:

http://earthbagplans.wordpress.com/2010/09/19/double-wide-farmhouse-2/

[Sherman A1]

5. This is really cool

I like some of the plans cited.

[corpseratemedia]

6. great

:thumbsup: :thumbsup:

[txlibdem]

7. One more example that we're doing everything wrong

If most people lived in one of these we'd cut our energy use by a lot.

Compare that to a 2x4 stick built box with a million gaps and either no or far too little insulation like what most people live in.

I remember when I was younger the apt we rented was so drafty it could put out a candle. Wasteful and irresponsible.

[Kolesar]

8. Dang, that looks homey!

Wanna come back to my place?

[txlibdem]

10. Check out all the different home plans they can do with it too

I was pleasantly surprised that they could make a "normal" looking home with that system. That may enable them to reach a broader range of people (some people just don't like living in a round home).

I think I might actually prefer the round building style. We get a tornadoes here in TX and the rounded shape should survive a twister better than conventional box shapes.

[felix_numinous]

9. K+R Cob homes are also cool (and warm)

http://www.cobworks.com/