Essential Earthbag Construction: The Complete Step-by-Step Guide

✍ Scribed by Kelly Hart

• Publisher: New Society Publishers, Limited
• Year: 2018
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 138
• Series: Sustainable Building Essentials Series
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

Earthbag construction — building with polypropylene bags usually filled with earthen materials — is a versatile, easy-to-master, low-impact, and highly durable form of building, suitable for structures from houses to root cellars.

Containing over 75 photos and illustrations, Essential Earthbag Construction is a practical guide to this affordable method of building. Going well beyond the scope of other sources, this indispensable manual is packed with all the information you need to determine if it's the right choice for your project, and to start building. Distilling decades of experience, research, and best practices, it covers:

• Material specifications, performance, and when and where to use it
• Pros and cons of different fills from gravel, to earth and clay, to insulative perlite, rice hulls, and volcanic stone
• Illustrated, step-by-step guidance for efficient bag filling and installation
• Details for various designs, including domes and arches
• Foundation options and seismic and stability considerations
• Finishing and maintenance techniques
• Tools and materials
• Additional resources.

Essential Earthbag Construction presents the practical guidance and best practices for both the DIYer and professional to design and build high-quality earthbag structures.

Kelly Hart is an earthbag builder, author, and filmmaker, and hosts the widely visited websites www.greenhomebuilding.com and www.earthbagbuilding.com. His multi-dome earthbag Colorado residence is chronicled in the video Building with Bags: How We Made Our Experimental Earthbag/Papercrete House. Kelly lives in Silver City, New Mexico.

✦ Table of Contents

Content: 1. A brief introductory history of earthbag building 2. Appropriate uses of earthbags - when, where and how they are best used a. General use parameters: pros, cons and considerations b. Specific exclusions 3. Materials. a. Bags: types, sizes, qualities, acquisition a. Fill material: types, qualities, acquisition, processing and storage b. Barbed wire and other reinforcement elements c. Plaster: types, qualities, acquisition 4. Tools - List of all required tools (from basic to industrial) 5. Foundations a. Discussion of foundation options with diagrams and appropriate uses 6. Filling, laying and tamping the bags a. A step-by-step review of the process of actually assembling a wall, with photos and diagrams b. How to determine bag placement with domes 7. Design considerations and constraints a. Vertical walls, domes, vaults b. Buttressing c. Bond beams d. Door and window openings e. Wall thickness f. More than one story g. Below grade construction 8. Plastering the walls - what to use where and how 9. Floor and Roof options for earthbag buildings and how to attach them 10. How to include utilities a. Plumbing b. Electrical c. Heating d. Ventilation e. Cabinetry 11. Strategies for seismic reinforcement 12. General budgeting information - Material and labor estimates for the various approaches 13. Maintenance and Renovation - discussion of factors to consider 14. Considerations regarding building codes and technical testing 15. Other uses besides buildings a. Cisterns b. Dams c. Retaining walls List of resources and material suppliers Index

✦ Subjects

ARCHITECTURE / Residential.