Our earthbag earthship

Good question! The outward curve of a round wall is extremely strong against pressure outside. We also reinforce our walls with rebar. A straight wall or inward curve wouldn't be nearly as strong.

Where is the best place to buy small quantities of earth bags?

@Morgan - What an awesome build!  The switch from rammed-earth tires to earth bags seems to me a very smart choice. Thanks for posting so many video updates.  It is wonderful to watch your progress from step to step, and I must say that you are making great progress.  Is your floor plan posted anywhere?  I would love to examine more closely how you designed this space.

Also, since your first updates are from after your scratch coat of plaster was applied, I was unable to guess how you tied your plaster to the wall.  In my own experience (straw bale), it isn't really a problem, as the plaster keys very well directly onto the straw, but I am guessing that you must have used a lathe or other substrate of some type on which to hang your base coat?

Melissa White wrote:Where is the best place to buy small quantities of earth bags?

I usually buy 1000 14" x 26" at a time off of Ebay. You can find 100 bags for under $40 on Amazon or Ebay.

Matthew Nistico wrote:@Morgan - What an awesome build!  The switch from rammed-earth tires to earth bags seems to me a very smart choice. Thanks for posting so many video updates.  It is wonderful to watch your progress from step to step, and I must say that you are making great progress.  Is your floor plan posted anywhere?  I would love to examine more closely how you designed this space.

Hello Matthew. Yes, I agree that earthbags and some of the principles of earthship design work very well together. Here's a picture of our floor plan:

Matthew Nistico wrote:since your first updates are from after your scratch coat of plaster was applied, I was unable to guess how you tied your plaster to the wall.  In my own experience (straw bale), it isn't really a problem, as the plaster keys very well directly onto the straw, but I am guessing that you must have used a lathe or other substrate of some type on which to hang your base coat?

Earth plaster sticks to polypropylene sandbags very well and keys in between the bags nicely. No lathe or mesh is needed.

In the link it states "They can also be used to build extremely strong structures that are inherently resistant to most hazards that would readily destroy a stick-frame house."  How earthquake resistant are they for locations like here in shakey Oklahoma?
RileyG

@Morgan - I am so excited to see your progress. We are in the process of starting our Earthbag home and your posts have helped my husband get a vision of what I have planned. Excellent job documenting your process. Thank you so much!

William Grotts wrote:In the link it states "They can also be used to build extremely strong structures that are inherently resistant to most hazards that would readily destroy a stick-frame house."  How earthquake resistant are they for locations like here in shakey Oklahoma?
RileyG

Hello, I have heard that earthbag can survive 0.8 g earthquake.

Here is a link to a paper where they tested the shear strength of different kinds of earthbag walls:
https://buildsimple.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/01/estimated-shear-strengths-ce.pdf

This is an example of an eathbag build in a region with lots of seismic activity in Nepal (lots of construction pictures):
http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/projects/nepalschool.htm

Also i think modern earthbag building was pioneered by Nader Khalili in california, which as we know rests on a fault line, and his earthbag domes are actually code approved for seismic risk regions. You can probably find some useful info at his CalEarth website too.

@Morgan - Thanks for the extra info!  Wow, I didn't realize that the stuffed poly bags had enough surface texture to hold plaster.  Cool.

I know that your north walls are only bermed up half their height.  Still, are you at all worried about the structural integrity of the concave portion of wall spanning from the 2nd bedroom across the man cave?  If so, what extra precautions or relevant construction details did you incorporate into the wall to help in this regard?

Wow, thanks for sharing your experience! Such a good conversation about materials and methods. The place looks beautiful, congratulations.

Matthew Nistico wrote:I know that your north walls are only bermed up half their height.  Still, are you at all worried about the structural integrity of the concave portion of wall spanning from the 2nd bedroom across the man cave?  If so, what extra precautions or relevant construction details did you incorporate into the wall to help in this regard?

Hello Matthew - sorry, I wasn't aware of your post until now. There is a framed wall that butts up against the middle of that part of the back wall and that is tied into the roof. Also, it isn't a full berm there but less than half way up the wall. We added rebar through the EB wall for extra support. Everything seems very stable in that area but as you guessed, that would be the weakest part against pressure from the outside.

Thanks @ jess Ó hEalaighthe for sharing that info on seismic tests.

This person shares first hand experience about their EB house and earthquakes: Earthbag and earthquakes. My guess would be that a round structure would handle earthquakes better than a square or rectangular one.

We've planned our biggest workshop yet. It will offer participants hands on experience with earthbag, cob, cordwood, bottle wall, and earthen plasters and will go over many aspects of natural building. It's currently $200 off until July 15th. More info available at sustainablelifeschool.com.

I made a short trailer for the instructional video I'm working on. What do you think? I will launch a modest indiegogo campaign in the coming days for those who would like to get it at a reduced price.

I made a short video about our story:

Nice video.  Hope your workshops this fall went well.  Gotta pay for that 100-story megaplex somehow  ; )

Thanks Matthew! Yes, the megaplex is expensive but the view from the penthouse is INCREDIBLE!

For those who are curious, a picture from the inside of our house this past winter. On sunny days it's pleasant and toasty!

Thanks for sharing more photos!  Very nice.

The photo highlights another difference between your home and traditional earthships: yours does not have the front outer hallway, where earthships usually have small ponds and garden beds.  Instead, you've integrated that part of the design into your front living room and kitchen areas.  I can see how that is perhaps better use of the space, but I can also see how it sets the back rooms further away from the sunlight from the front glass wall.

How do you find that it works for you?

Matthew Nistico wrote:Thanks for sharing more photos!  Very nice.

The photo highlights another difference between your home and traditional earthships: yours does not have the front outer hallway, where earthships usually have small ponds and garden beds.  Instead, you've integrated that part of the design into your front living room and kitchen areas.  I can see how that is perhaps better use of the space, but I can also see how it sets the back rooms further away from the sunlight from the front glass wall.

How do you find that it works for you?

Oh, but now I remember that your north-facing walls are only bermed half-way up.  So that leaves you room for north-facing windows for those back rooms!

Hello Matthew. Yes, you are correct - our house isn't technically an earthship but is earthship-inspired. It uses the same basic principles of an earthship - thermal mass and passive solar - to stay comfortable. How does it do? On sunny days in the winter, we don't need to burn any wood to stay cozy. This past winter was a very cloudy one - every third or fourth day was sunny, so we had to rely on the wood stove a good bit. Overall, it's a very comfortable house so I'd say the design has worked out as expected.

Hi Morgan, congratulations on your building and community accomplishments!  

I am curious  about what, if anything, you had to do to meet local and / or International Building Code standards for the homes that you have built for yourself, and in your community.

Thank you!

Sorry Tom, I missed the notification for your post. We are in an area with many off-grid homes that is lax on code enforcement. Before I built my latest house, I consulted with carpenters and other experts to know I was making sound decisions. Other than that, I have tried to rely on common sense. Though I won't claim to be an expert carpenter, many have commented that my work looks great. As a general policy I tend to overbuild as opposed to take unnecessary chances.

We have some upcoming workshops that folks on these forums might be interested in. The cob oven and rocket stove workshops are being taught by Uncle Mud. I always enjoy reconnecting with Chris at the Mother Earth News Fairs. I got to see his rocket stove demonstration at the last one and it was chock full of useful (and crucial!) information. I will be leading the Complete Earthbag Tiny House Build. That class is already half full so, if you're interested, I suggest signing up as soon as possible. More info on all of these workshops can be found at sustainablelifeschool.com.

I love how the earthbag portion of your home looks (to my eyes, anyway) like a guitar body.  Was the design intentionally created to resemble a guitar body, or is it just a coincidence?

The back wall is two staggered half circles connected with an inward curve in the middle. Friends have commented how sensuous the curve is. I agree. I like the idea that it resembles the curve of a guitar as I am a musician and love playing.

Super-mega-short notice but here's the flyer for our earthbag root cellar workshop on July 27th and 28th! This build will be a little north of Asheville, NC. Details at sustainablelifeschool.com.

Hey Morgan, there's a Workshops Forum that you may want to post this in.

Thanks @Mike Jay.

Our next workshops. More info at Sustainable Life School.

We are offering chapters of our upcoming video, Dirt Simple: How We Built an Earthbag Tiny House for Under $1500, as an Online Earthbag Tiny House Course. Currently on sale for 40% off at sustainablelifeschool.com.

We have launched a new website and blog and are offering a PDF, Earthbag Building Basics, for free to folks who sign up for our email list. In the next month or two we'll be releasing an earthbag building course on thinkific.com.

The New Sustainable Life School Website.

Here's a blog post about building our earthship-inspired earthbag house.

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/building-our-earthship-inspired-earthbag-house/

I just wrote a blog post about the bottle walls we've built. Our largest yet was in our earthship-inspired earthbag house.

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/the-beauty-of-bottle-walls/

Morgan Caraway wrote:I just wrote a blog post about the bottle walls we've built. Our largest yet was in our earthship-inspired earthbag house.

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/the-beauty-of-bottle-walls/

Very nice!  I'm sorry I didn't get to see your house while attending last year's RMH build next door.  Maybe another time.  I'd never really appreciated bottle walls until I saw them there in person.  I suppose the prior examples I'd seen first hand were underwhelming, but now I do appreciate that a bottle wall done well can be a nice addition to the right type of structure.

Matthew Nistico wrote:Very nice!  I'm sorry I didn't get to see your house while attending last year's RMH build next door.  Maybe another time.  I'd never really appreciated bottle walls until I saw them there in person.  I suppose the prior examples I'd seen first hand were underwhelming, but now I do appreciate that a bottle wall done well can be a nice addition to the right type of structure.

Thank you Matthew. Yes, I fell in love with the bottle wall aesthetic once we built one in our first earthbag house. It's a user friendly technique and the materials are generally free!

After a year of hard work, my earthbag tiny house class is finally online! Some lessons are available as a free preview. Questions can be asked directly in each lesson. I hope to see you on there!

https://sustainablelifeschool.thinkific.com/courses/building-an-earthbag-tiny-house

Alan Loy wrote:Looks to be a good alternative to bashing those tyres!  Will you end up with similar mass and insulation to the tyres method?

I would think turning those bags 90° would get you similar thickness to a tire and thus the insulation.

Rodney Wade wrote:I would think turning those bags 90° would get you similar thickness to a tire and thus the insulation.

Hello Rodney. If you wanted thicker walls, probably the best approach would be to use the larger bags - they give you a wall about 16 to 18 inches wide. I wouldn't put the bags sideways - you'd have to seal each one. I do know of a fella who built that way but he individually sowed each bag shut. Earthbag walls on their own don't give much insulation but do have a lot of thermal mass which can help to regulate indoor temperatures.