Morgan Hatfield

If I built a small, rainwater collection system that fed directly into a batch heater that might sit full of rainwater for a few days before taking a shower, being heated by the sun, can anyone think of problems with pathogens that might grow? I read the thread on Legionnaires disease and still am not clear on wheter it is in rain water. Any help? Thanks, Morgan.

Hey brother. If you don't make a deck, make sure your floor is built up and tamped down enough. We built ours up with gravel but didn't tamp it so, as time went on, ruts formed at our walking paths. In the near monsoon type rains we experienced last year, these ruts became in inlet for water, especially where there was a seem, sealed with waterproof tape, in the poly. Make sure your poly is wide enough to cover the entire floor in one piece and come at least a couple of inches up your lattice.

Sunforger marine canvas seems to be the best thing for walls. We made a "stemwall" out of poly that was doubled up (there's probably something better for this). We put outdoor carpet over the poly in the floor - an idea we got from the $50 underground house book.

Talk to you soon, M.

In terms of pleasantness of use, cob is like a friendly, shaggy dog, obedient and attentive and cement is a cyborg killing machine, quick and merciless.

You could do a test and paint a piece of PT wood with the linseed oil and put it where you know the termites will find it and see what happens. I've heard that termites can't handle borax (http://www.ehow.com/about_5127467_borax-termite-treatment.html) so you could ad some to your wall plaster (we did) to keep 'em away and then paint or plaster it with lime (which is extremely alkaline - don't know if they'd like it). Again, I'd try a test batch to see what works before you commit to anything. I feel for you, that sounds like a friggin headache!

Serenity, here's a thread on earthbag structures - https://permies.com/permaculture-forums/3277_40/alternative-building/dirt-bag-structures

It seems to me that what would attract termites would be an abundance of wood or cellulose such as in straw bales, etc - I don't think earth bags, on their own, would be very appetizing to them. I would make sure to use pressure treated wood in the structural parts that would come in contact with the earth and paint ALL wood used with boiled linseed oil - I think that would slow them down though those Korean termites sound like quite the pain in the ass.

Wow - great update on that project. I've found it very interesting since I first heard about it. If one was going to use hulls, a post and beam structure (perhaps like a strawbale yurt) seems like it would do the trick.

The sliding glass doors we got were from Habitat for Humanity and ran about $25 a set. I don't think either is tinted or glazed but that is an important consideration in terms of solar gain.

If anyone hasn't looked at this page you should check it out: http://www.greenhomebuilding.com/earthbag.htm
It goes into the possibility of using volcanic rock (scoria) and rice hulls in the bags.

From what I've heard, cob is anything but quick. In the southeast where we live, the relative humidity may be too high to pull off straw bale (because of potential mold issues), unless perhaps you really make it water resistant as outlined in "Building Green" - they put tyvek wrap around the bottom bale and a high stemwall would be definitely recommended. My better half and I build an earthbag home and I think it's one of the best bets for our area. A thread discussing the ins and outs: https://permies.com/permaculture-forums/3277_0/alternative-building/dirt-bag-structures - read it!

On our website (www.asustainablelife.info), we have pictures of the earthbag cabin that we built. The walls went up quick (4 months or so w/ mostly only 2 people working). The bags also provide mechanical support that cob lacks - there's a story in "Earthbag Building" about their earthbag "honey house" flooding and it only making the bags stronger. Still - you probably don't want to build in a flood plane (just my thought on the matter).

Some insulation on the outside would also be helpful. Putting the bags sideways and putting some recycled styrofoam at the ends would give you alot of thermal mass w/ 2' thick walls and the insulation would help keep you warm (or at least ambient earth temperature) in the winter. Our walls are 1' thick and it was a challenge keeping our place warm through the cold, dark winter. We're thinking of making a perlite or vermiculite plaster to help insulate the outside, at least on the colder northern side that doesn't get any sunlight in the winter months. Also, without insulation, condensation becomes an issue and we've had some issues with it. When the walls are cold and meet the hot, moist inside air, condensation takes place and has lead to some mold growth on our lime painted walls. A coat of vinegar mixed with baking soda seems to have put a stop to it (we think it can't grow on the salt).

The optimal property would be on a gradual, south facing slope. An earth house that doesn't get lots of sun would probably be a cold, cold (did I mention cold?) place. Also you can install some big double or triple paned windows to get lots of solar gain. Thick, insulated curtains would be good for when there is too much or too little sun.

I call this design the easy yurt. I read "Mongolian Cloud Houses" and "The Complete Yurt Handbook" and knew there was no way that I was going to stitch hundreds of feet of fabric together. The main modification I would make to the design is to make the wall poles tall enough that the roof poles could lay in between them and be held in place with a loop of rope, ala the yurt handbook.

My girlfriend and I have been using the humanure system for a year and it works perfectly. I almost guarantee anyone who reads the Humanure handbook that it will make a convert of them.

We don't always piss in the system - we usually pee outside or, this past winter, we had a piss bucket inside that I threw into the woods to return to the nutrient cycle.

This looks like it could be a promising book on the subject: http://www.amazon.com/Liquid-Gold-Logic-Using-Plants/dp/0966678311/ref=sr_1_3?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1271118527&sr=1-3