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I recently ordered and watched a couple of "documentary" videos about earthbag building from:
http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthbag.htm
and
http://www.calearth.org/EcoDome.htm
The calearth.org people use regular earth but the greenhomebuilding.com guy is using scoria (a volcanic rock with properties similar to our local cinder).I'm interested in your thoughts about obtaining a building permit for this type of building material.The calearth.org report these buildings have obtained permits in earthquake country (Hesperia, CA). Does anyone know of a superadobe house on the island?
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Check the topic; earth home in Nanawale.
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Interesting. Not sure why he is choosing blue rock and cement in his mixture. Also he is using framework which is not called for in the calearth video. Is this house visible from the road? I'd like to meet the builder.
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Wow - I got the video and a book by Nader Khalili about ceramic houses several years ago, and wondered at the time if you could substitute cinders for earth in the bags. Very interesting!
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If these could pass, why wouldn't well constructed container structures?
Catchment will be a challenge, and the concrete necessary to hold it together here would be expensive.
Gordon J Tilley
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Wonder how it is going to hold up in an earthquake? There doesn't seem to be much rebar in the structure. How is concrete more green than timber? You can grow more trees.
I think my next structure will be made of eucalyptus robusta cut about ten miles from here. Of course, the tin roof will have been made from somewhere far away as well as the nails, but I suppose it could be pegged together with eucalyptus dowels then the only non-green would be the tin roof.
If one wants a concrete house, why not make forms and line them with cinder and then tilt the walls up? Then you'd have a house which wouldn't need paint and would blend in with it's surroundings. You could make patterns of red and black cinder at the bottom of the form, put in some rebar and welded wire mesh, pour concrete on top then tilt the walls up into place. You would then have a house with flat walls where things would fit easily inside. Doors, windows would fit, plumbing and electrical wiring would be easy, too.
"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson
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The guy building the house in Nanawale is going against the grain in using cement in the bags. The calearth.org video calls for using only earth inside the bags and a thin cement plaster coating on the outside of the bags. So little cement is used (if built by Calearth specifications) that it could be considered both inexpensive and green. Also wouldn't a cement and earth structure outlast a wooden structure with metal roof thus further improving its green status?
The calearth spec calls for no rebar. That is a concern to me also. The thing is held together with 4 point barbed wire between (not through) each layer of earthbag. FWIW Calearth reports their buildings have survived a 7.0 richter earthquake.
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My guess is they are using cement with the cinders because it won't bond together like soil or clay, stays loose and crumbly. I wonder how using stucco as a roof is going to work out in the Puna rain.
