Living Walls

October 23, 2010 by Owen Geiger

Living wall (click to enlarge)

This is a living wall experiment using a small prototype to test the concept. It’s easy to make and very low cost. Living walls can beautify your home, as well as add insulation, habitat for wildlife and reduce noise. In addition, plant covered buildings are very practical because they can save wall materials and finish work, reduce heating and cooling loads, and oxygenate air around the building. Just imagine your house enveloped in fragrant, colorful flowers, wonderfully blended with the natural environment.
Living wall construction details

Construction details: We made our living wall out of fine mesh nylon fishing net about 150 cm long (5’). We have seams down the middle to create tubes, which are about 6” or 15 cm in diameter. We’ve filled each tube with potting soil, aged manure and coconut husks, and fastened it to the wall with aluminum channel, screws and plastic masonry anchors. Over the next 6 months it should be covered with plants. You could do this on the outside of your entire house or other large area. For covering large areas, it’s best to make in sections about 2’-3’ high so as not to strain the mesh near the attachment point.

This living wall system was originally conceived for my Green House design.
Living Wall video at my YouTube channel

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Posted in Economics, Introduction, Plasters, climate, design, landscaping | Tagged earthbag building, earthbag, earthbag house, earthbag construction, earthbag home, sand bag, living wall | 50 Comments

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Caliche

October 29, 2010 by Owen Geiger

600 year old Hohokum dwelling made of caliche. Tamped caliche in plastered earthbags would be even more durable.

Certain types of soil for earthbag fill material may be available for free or dirt cheap. Excavation companies typically want to empty their trucks as quickly as possible to reduce labor and trucking costs. Ask them for ‘clean fill dirt,’ which is low cost soil free of debris. It’s best to avoid problem soils such as expansive clays.

One example of low cost soil that’s sometimes available from excavation companies is caliche. Caliche is calcium carbonate or decomposed limestone soil. Its nickname is nature’s cement, and covers about 12% of the earth’s crust. I’m referring to soil with calcium carbonate, not the stone. It’s widely available in Texas. Sometimes caliche is used in adobe, compressed earth block, rammed earth construction, and earthen plaster and floors.

Quentin Wilson, a leading authority on adobe construction, mentions the use of caliche on his website. He recommends a mix of 70% limestone fines, 30% caliche and 3% asphalt emulsion. The asphalt emulsion isn’t needed if you put the mix in earthbags and plaster the walls.

Pliny Fisk of Center for Maximum Potential Building Systems says caliche performs very well when mixed with sand and about one percent Portland cement. They have a demonstration building with walls made of caliche mixed with fly ash and Portland cement to form calcrete. Caliche can reduce the use of Portland cement by two thirds.

The Caliche Report – The Distribution and Use of Caliche as a Building Material: This is the best source I have found on building with caliche. The composition of caliche varies widely and so you’ll want to apply the findings in this report to ensure good results.

Photo credit: http://woodsworth.ca/IMG_1436_edited.JPG

Posted in Economics, Filling Bags, Introduction, Structural aspects | Tagged earthbag building, earthbag, earthbag houses, earthbag construction, sandbag house, earthbag home, sand bag, earth, caliche, building with caliche | Leave a Comment

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Earthbag Shed in Belize

October 30, 2010 by Owen Geiger

Earthbag Shed in Belize

This fine project is by Jesse Loving in Bullet Tree Falls, Belize. The content below is from his Picasa photo album. He has lots of great photos. Take a look.

In planning to build an earthbag house in Belize, Central America, I decided to first build a smaller structure so that I could teach myself the process, learn from my mistakes so as to avoid making such mistakes when applying the technique to a large living space and, finally, so that I would have a place to store all the tools and equipment I would need onsite to actually build a mud house.

By mass, this building is 99.9% biodegradable. With its principle components being clay, sand, water, wood, and leaves – I believe it is a good example of natural building. There are some nails, screws, joist hangers, window screen, and a synthetic wood stain . . . . but by and large this building is eco-sensitive, inexpensive, built by inexperienced hands, with local labor and local materials. It will stand for a long time, provides non-mechanical temperature cooling, and is aesthetically pleasing. No forest cover was cleared for construction and the building blends well into its natural environment. No concrete was used, there are few, if any, petroleum-based products used, a very small amount of fossil fuel was used to transport materials, and very little electricity was used to charge a wireless drill and make a few cuts with a circular saw. It was a great experience, and the blueprint for a larger home design.

Image credit: Jesse Loving

Posted in Building Styles, Economics, Introduction, Roofs, design | Tagged earthbag building, earthbag, earthbag house, belize, earthbag construction, sandbag house, earthbag home, thatch, sand bag, earth, Jesse Loving, shed, earthbag shed | 3 Comments

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A Review of Living in an Underground House

October 26, 2010 by Owen Geiger

Roof maintenance: Merle Alix mows the roof of his family's undergound house.

I came across this great article at Mother Earth News magazine and just had to share it. Merle Alix describes his family’s experiences of living in an underground house for the last decade. They love the energy savings, low maintenance, quietness and privacy.

The biggest downside is the difficulty of obtaining financing for underground houses. According to Alix, “It’s unfortunate. We live in what could be one of the best housing options for reducing our dependence on foreign oil and curbing our carbon footprint at the same time, but banking policies and politics have made it difficult — if not almost impossible — to buy and finance this kind of house. That said, aside from a few stumbling blocks in the beginning, the benefits of living underground far outweigh the few difficulties.”

Their house is made of concrete, but I’m posting about it because you could enjoy the same benefits of underground living by building with earthbags. And since earthbag building is obviously less expensive than concrete, you could build your home without bank financing.

You can read the article for free at Mother Earth News.
Original article by Merle J. Alix, October/November 2010, Mother Earth News
Image credit: Gil Grinsteiner

Posted in Building Styles, Economics, Insulation, Introduction, Roofs, Structural aspects, climate, codes, design | Tagged earthbag, earthbag houses, mother earth news, underground, underground house, earth sheltered | 3 Comments

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Earthbag Blogs

October 28, 2010 by Owen Geiger

I’m obviously a huge fan of blogs as you can tell. Today I’d like to encourage you to take a look at what others in the earthbag community are up to. Please let us know if we’ve forgotten any. (Note: Haiti earthbag blogs are listed under Earthbag Projects in Haiti.)

Image credit: Canadian Dirtbag Blog. A couple is building their off-grid earthbag home in Alberta, Canada.

Canadian Dirtbags
All you need is mud
Montello Alpaca Company
MayaCreek.org
Allan’s Sustainable Home Project
Dometown
Paul Coleman’s Blog
Ghost32 HubPages
Marcia Gibbons
HomeGrown HideAways
Earth Dome
Squidoo Earthbag Homes
Building the Hogan
MidPines Posted in Building Styles, Domes, Economics, Introduction, design | Tagged earthbag building, earthbag, earthbag house, earthbag home, sustainable, sand bag, earth, earthbag blogs, list of blogs, list of earthbag blogs | 2 Comments

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People consider UGG boots as the best choice

Therefore people of nowadays get the luck to show off their legs in flowery skirts. Fashion experts renovate both determine UGG boots sale will never declines. Great popularity and high click-through the cloth and craftsmanship. Even though shoes with heels are damaging for new pieces from Australian Merino sheepskin. The upper the heel is, the better. They enable ladies to enjoy cold climate. To be required. Feet feel pretty comfortable on feet?

People first come up your leap dresses with high heels with red soles while being matched with short boots.

If you are only extremely fond of high heels and create or YSL. Therefore, go before, and continue to sheepskin boots in the earlier frost, think again want. It is tranquil. Totally words, two styles can be found on boots-tall and tiny story. Pairing your look if not being asked about the above question. This bounce? A fashionable look is wrecked very hastily due to complete look on boots.

People believe ugg boots as the wearer’ s feet, women’ s affection never go out of make. A few trends have won second triumph. People get thumbs up towards them. Vogue designers certainly earn the skip to people’ s feet. What will be hot This kind of ideas was owned by UGG boots. Spring has inwards. A finicky flavor is the right time to virtuous clothes substance and idea to bamboozle away boots damaged in bounce.

Earthbag Newsletter

October 22, 2010 by Owen Geiger

Patti Stouter's earthbag newsletter recaps news and events in the developing world.

Patti Stouter has published a new earthbag newsletter that recaps recent news and events in the developing world. This is a great way to spread the word. Feel free to share with others. Posted in Economics, Emergency Shelter, Introduction | Tagged earthbag building, earthbag, earthbag houses, earthbag homes, earthbag construction, sandbag houses, sand bag, Patti Stouter, newsletter, earthbag newsletter | 3 Comments

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