earthbag building using bags of qwikrete

Has anybody tried this?  My thought is that every layer or two you soak down.  It then cures an makes perfectly shaped concrete bricks that are custom fit against each other.

It seems like an expensive way of building.
40x20x20cm (40cm=17" approx) concrete blocks are less than a euro here.

yeah, use soil-crete, adobe/lime, or something like that for cost. If you need/want concrete, use slip forms, much faster.

they have been used for retaining wall structures

kvr28 wrote:
they have been used for retaining wall structures

This is a perfect structure that drewmsmith want to build. The idea is very nice, by building this type of walls we can save the trees, but after few years this wall cracked due to rout of the trees. Does any one has idea to save trees with protect the walls?

Concrete blocks will make a fine retaining wall for less money.  The trick is to dry stack the blocks-no mortar.  The trees will continue to grow.  As they do, the blocks will shift, but can be restacked.  Consider promoting more trees and shrubbery for the retaining wall.  When the trees and shrubbery are sufficient to serve as the retaining wall, the blocks can be removed for use elsewhere.

Hi,
So what costs are we considering?  If you consider environmental costs as well as monetary I'd say skip the concrete all-together.

You can easily re-purpose polypro or mesh bags from the waste stream of society, then fill them will a gravel/earth based mixture to do exactly the same thing.  It won't wash away, but you may want to protect your bags from UV somehow.  Also, you'll need to fill the bottom courses with a higher gravel content.  These aren't that different from gabions, and that's another no-concrete way to accomplish this.  Maybe someone even has some old galv fence you could use for that.

The mesh bag technique is really new and very promising for durability and low monetary cost.  look up 'hyperadobe' on google.

Cheers,

Oh, one last thing.  I think that with the new mesh bag method, it may be quite competitive or even less money than concrete block.  I'll post calculations when I have them if anyone is interested.