Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series (8))
The only comprehensive, illustrated, step-by-step guide to building with earthbags.
Over seventy percent of Americans cannot afford to own a code-enforced, contractor-built home. This has led to widespread interest in using natural materials-straw, cob, and earth-for building homes and other buildings that are inexpensive, and that rely largely on labor rather than expensive and often environmentally-damaging outsourced materials.
Earthbag Building is the first comprehensive guide to all the tools, tricks, and techniques for building with bags filled with earth-or earthbags. Having been introduced to sandbag construction by the renowned Nader Khalili in 1993, the authors developed this "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" over the last decade. A reliable method for constructing homes, outbuildings, garden walls and much more, this enduring, tree-free architecture can also be used to create arched and domed structures of great beauty-in any region, and at home, in developing countries, or in emergency relief work.
This profusely illustrated guide first discusses the many merits of earthbag construction, and then leads the reader through the key elements of an earthbag building:
- Special design considerations
- Foundations, walls, and floors
- Electrical, plumbing, and shelving
- Lintels, windows and door installations
- Roofs, arches and domes
- Exterior and interior plasters.
With dedicated sections on costs, making your own specialized tools, and building code considerations, as well as a complete resources guide, Earthbag Building is the long-awaited, definitive guide to this uniquely pleasing construction style.
Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series
Reviews (192)
Experience Earthbag builder here. I've used this book. It's one of the best.
I was introduced to earthbag building in 2009 while working for a local NGO in Honduras, where adobe building is one of the most common methods besides using cement blocks. I was focused on building homes in the very poor rural areas of Honduras and wanted to low cost, high strength building system that would survive hurricanes and other natural disasters that are prevalent in Central America. A good friend of mine gifted me the book and it changed my outlook completely. A few years later I became friends with a local Honduran (who owned a construction company) that had a similar perspective as me. He has built hundreds of homes and was very interested in earthbag building. I showed him the book and he said "let's try building something small on one of my properties." So that's what we did in 2012. I built another home there with him in 2016. Since then, I have been buying any book that I can find on earthbag building, which there are actually quite a few out of print books from as far back as the late 70s. I have them all. This book is the best of them all. I have bought this book 4 times and given all of the copies away. Today I bought another copy. There are a few techniques that are outlined in other earthbag building books, specifically in the usage of cement and other materials to help better stabilize the earthbags in wetter climates, but it all boils down to your specific needs for your structure. As with anything, you have to dig a bit deeper to find information about some philosophies of earthbag building and what's "correct". Each author, you'll find, has a different perspective. For me, and the 11 years that I have been gathering information about earthbag building, this is hands down the best foundational book on the topic, and I wouldn't start another earthbag project without this book on hand.
Ok - more of a reference than tell all...
Good book on the fundamentals of using earth bag structures with good tips. Not four or five stars because I was expecting better detailed information on actual design instructions , electrical and plumbing considerations as well as climate considerations. Not a waste of money because it will give you a good base to learn from but certainly not what other reviewers tout it to be. They are probably happy and nostalgic about taking a step to learn about earth bag construction but never plan on actually doing it, lol.
What are the best books on Earth building I've come across so far
I've been looking heavily at super Adobe. Kal-El Earth books are great but their workshops are pretty pricey. I think I got a lot of tips out of this book that I would have gotten out of one of Cal Earth's workshops. As much of this area in fact that you're sending it is a very dense read with lots of tips and illustrations it is very easy to read
I really like this concept
I really like this concept and this book explains it all in detail with a host of great pictures. How ever, don't try this in California until I write my own book on how to build an earth bag home according to title 24. Ha ha... This type of house can be build almost anywhere except California due to the overbearing earth quake restrictions. I have no doubt if constructed as explained this is a very strong structure, but the narrow minded building inspectors we have here just can't get past some things. Over all this is a very nice book with lots of pictures to help explain how to throw up a building using one of the fastest building methods around. I would highly suggest it to any builders library even if you build something else.
Cheap Sustainable Earth Friendly Housing
If you have ever considered building your own home Earthbag Building is a DIY dream come true. Years ago the California based architect Nader Khalili of the Cal-Earth Institute in Hesperia felt the need for people to be able to build homes using materials found on site. Kaki Hunter and Don Kiffmeyer have expanded on Khalili's technique to produce modern homes that are works of art. More important in our environmentally conscious era, they are green, Eco-Friendly sustainable structures anyone will be proud to own. This is a comprehensive guide suited to the novice or the experienced DIY person. The bibliography alone is worth the price of the book. With hundreds of black and white photos, a full color section of Alison Kennedy's Moab, Utah earthbag house and line drawings that are clear and complete, it's as inspirational as it is practical. Many people today are looking for ways to live lives in harmony with the environment. Here is one option worth considering that uses less forest material, lends itself to recycling lumber, wire, telephone poles and much more. It's a flexible, adaptive approach that allows for what works best for you. Even the book itself is earth friendly. It's printed by New Society Publishers on acid free paper that is 100% old growth forest-free (100% post-consumer recycled) processed chlorine free, and printed with vegetable based inks. So it's a step toward ending global deforestation and climate change. I think you'll like it.
Excellent, thorough
Excellent, thorough, technical book on Earthbag building. This is a great book for someone who is really looking to experiment with earthbag building. I bought another book on Amazon that is way thinner/fewer pages and far less technical. The other book was _nice_ as an easy to read intro book on earthbag building, but this book is very thorough! I recommend this book for those looking into earthbag building! :)
A Complete and Valuable Guide to Earthbag Building.
A superb book! Complete and detailed with every possible question addressed and thoroughly explained. Drawings, picture and diagrams are used to enhance the text perfectly. Links to other resources are abundant and current (there are too many books with dead links) and those links supply valuable add-on information that will be needed when I can start getting dirty. I am unable to build an earthbag house at the moment, but I continue to read the book in preparation for the day I can put the book to a full use.
Comprehensive, well written, encouraging and fun
Decided on a semi-whim to go for it and build a small studio out back with earthbags. This book has most of what we've needed to get going on the job. Supplementary info is on the web and in other books, with different approaches that all seem to work, at least for the users. This book could maybe use a little more depth in a few areas, like plumbing and door installation, but I guess the authors assume anyone tackling a job like this is fairly confident, knows some things and knows how to find the rest--which is true enough in this virtual age. Comprehensive and well written, gives you plenty of details to think about as you approach your own project. A touch too much focus on domes, IMO, but that's because I don't intend to make any. If you do, you've definitely got the resources here to get you moving quickly and easily toward your domed domicile.
Best intro to earthbag building.
If you want to learn about and how to build a house out of earthbags then you found the right book. I have a piece of property in the north woods of Wisconsin, and I was looking into building a cabin. I looked at all the traditional ways to do it. By accident I was looking at my fav site and it featured a how to on earthbag building. I was intrigued. It was a great intro but it didn't really answer my questions. So while browsing my other fav site (amazon) I found this book. After reading it cover to cover, it opened my eyes to the possibilities of building my dream cabin without spending a ton of money nor would I have to worry about chopping a bunch of trees to make a log cabin. If you plan on doing this, make a lot of friends and invite them over to help. Trust me it will cut down on the costs that way too. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to do this. The pro is also a con with this book. It gives you a lot of info on how to do this, but it leaves it open in a way that invites you to experiment with the designs. If you are looking for a way to build with out hurting the world around you, and you want something that can withstand an earthquake, blizzard, and most anything else mother nature can throw at you. This is the book that can help you build it.
Highly Recommended
As an earth-builder enthusiast, I can assure you that there is no better resource of information on the subject to be found in one place. Everything from the writing, the pictures and the drawings are all easily understandable and high quality. If you seriously intend to go out there and do this thing, you would be wise to arm yourself with this book.
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