Earthbag Maintenance

Hello,

Does anyone know what is involved in maintaining an earthbag house once finished?

Do you have to re-plaster the whole house every few years or once plastered is that it?

I am on the verge of building but would like to know how long the dwelling will last (Temperate Desert area) and how much labor and cost will need to go in the upkeep of the home in the years ahead.

Thanks for any help...

Well it really depends, what type of plaster, building design and how well it is installed.

A good lime plaster will last 100 years without maintenance, whereas a clay plaster may only go 5-10 until another coat is needed.

The home itself should last 1000 years or more. The oldest home in the US is adobe and was built around 1200.

Wonderful!

Your reply is music to my ears.

I was planning on the lime plaster, just need to find a good recipe now.

Before I begin on the house I am going to build a garden wall to get a better feel for handling the materials/plaster.

I'm fortunate to have a quarry a few blocks down the road that has an unlimited supply of scoria in all shapes and sizes at $60 a truck load.

Ideally I wanted to build with Hemp/Lime but the cost was too high, and the labor too intensive (I'm a 58 year old female). While researching the hemp house I found lots of references to Roman Concrete, and the idea stuck in my mind that if I filled the bags with Scoria/Pozzolan/Lime/Hemp Hurds, and then plastered the bags with a lime based plaster the result would be the bags may 'fossilize' over time?

Plans are starting to come into focus now, and it's getting very exciting...

Thanks for replying, it is sincerely appreciated.

this vid on Natural plastering is due out soon the art and science of nateral plaster.

also a good resource for info and like minded peoples https://www.facebook.com/groups/ilovenaturalplaster/