Earthbag Building Resources

In this post I would like to share a list of the resources we have used for building the earthbag house. I’ll update this page as we continue the project, so check back later or sign up for my newsletter at the end of the post to be notified when I add something new!

1.  Books

Keith’s “Earthbag Bible” has been the book, Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques.  He read the book in while we were in Ecuador before beginning and has referred to it often throughout the project.  The book covers many aspects of earthbag building in detail and with lots of illustrations, including:

• Special design considerations
• Foundations, walls and floors
• Electrical, plumbing and shelving
• Lintels, windows and door installations
• Roofs, arches and domes
• Exterior and interior plasters
• Costs
• Making your own specialized tools
• Building code considerations
• A complete resources guide

If you’re thinking of building anything out of earthbags, we highly recommend investing in this excellent resource guide.  CLICK HERE to get it on Amazon.

2.  Websites

The internet is the first place we turn to these days to find information on anything.  With the increasing popularity of natural building techniques, there are more and more sites dedicated to earthbag and other alternative building methods.  Here are some sites Keith has referred to for our project:

• earthbagbuilding.com – A comprehensive site with project photos, an exhaustive resources page, links to articles, links to plans you can buy, and more.
• greenhomebuilding.com/earthbag.htm – A web page put together by the same person who built the earthbagbuilding.com site.  More resources and information on earthbag building.
• makepapercrete.com – A comprehensive resource on making papercrete, including how to make it, what you can use it for, and how to build a mixer.

3.  YouTube & Videos

There is a wealth of information on anything building-related on YouTube–videos posted by others who are engaged in the process of building earthbag structures of their own.  Do a search for topics you want to learn more about.  Of course not everyone uploading videos is highly experienced and knows what they are doing, so it pays to do a bit of research before just jumping in and doing something because someone on YouTube is doing it.

Check back in the future for specific video recommendations from YouTube and elsewhere.

4. Materials

Here are the links to some of the building materials and tools we have purchased:

For Making and Applying Papercrete

mortarsprayer.com – Where we got the mortar sprayer that we use for applying papercrete to the walls.

For the Rainwater Cistern

polyfabrics.com – This is the site where we bought our custom made rainwater cistern liner

The pump we bought to extract water from the cistern:  CS Series CS10-165/5 – 3/4HP 115V Well Pump

The pressure tank to help maintain an even flow of water:  WaterWorker HT-20B Vertical Pressure Well Tank, 20-Gallon Capacity

The whole-house filter (multiple components) to remove particles from the water as it comes out of the tank:

• Pentek 150237 #10 Big Blue Filter Housing, 1″ Female NPT Inlet/Outlet 
• Pentek S1-BB Pleated Filter (9-3/4″ x 4-1/2″), 20 Micron
• Pentek 150296 SW-3 Wrench for #10 Big Blue Housings
• Pentek, Pentair Water 151122 Big Blue O-Ring Buna-N ORing

The UV light that kills any living organisms, to make the water safe to drink:  Watts 270154 8-GPM 3/4-Inch 110-Volt UV Disinfection System

The Rain Harvesting Wireless Rain Water Tank Gauge helps us monitor the level of the water in the tank.

(Note: An under-sink filter will be added in the kitchen for drinking water to filter out any other metals, chemicals, etc. that the above filters might have missed.  Also, there will be filters for the dust and debris in the rainwater going into the tank once the roof is on.  We’ll put the links here once we have reached that stage in our building process.)

5.  Other Resources

Natural Building Extravaganza in Asheville, North Carolina

NBX was a week-long workshop and huge source of information and hands-on learning for Keith.  Definitely recommended for anyone wanting to go into natural building.  thepermacultureschool.org/natural-building-workshop/

 

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