Our earthbag earthship

Mid year, an article about building earthbag pools should be published in Mother Earth News.

We have our next earthbag tiny house workshop planned for June 24th - 27th, 2021, near Atlantic Beach, NC. Click this link to learn more.

Click this link to see the blog post I did about our April 2021 Earthbag Tiny House Workshop.

We have planned our next workshop! It will be at the height of mountain leaf season near Marshall, NC on Oct 15th - 17th, 2021. Please click here if you'd like more info.

We're super excited about our first planned workshop of April 2022, on the Navajo reservation in New Mexico. We're going to be building an earthbag tiny house and a ceremonial hogan. It's a week long workshop and in that time we hope to get the tiny house finished, foundation to roof, and at least get a good start on the hogan. Until the end of November, the workshop is 55% off. Hope to see you there! More info at sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/

The April workshop fell through. We've listed a new one in Crestone, Colorado on June 1st - 5th. We're excited about this one as it will be the first time we have the opportunity to building with scoria, which is both lighter and more insulative than regular earthbags! More info at: https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/.

We have couple of upcoming workshops north of Asheville, NC. The first will be an earthbag tiny house workshop on October 13th - 16th. The second will be a rocket stove cob pizza oven workshop on October 28 - 29th featuring none other than the man himself - Uncle Mud! We hope to see you there! More details at https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/.

We have some upcoming workshops in October during leaf season in the Blue Ridge Mountains North of Asheville. The first will be building a large cob pizza oven. In the second we will be plastering the inside of the earthbag house we built during one of our 2022 workshops. Find more info about both at https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/.

We're going back to Crestone in September (2024)! The last workshop there was amazing. The group was fantabulous and we had the opportunity to build with scoria (volcanic rock that is half the weight of dirt). We're getting that amazing opportunity again! Details here: https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/

Apparently this site won't accept URLs anymore so cut and paste address.

I recently finished my eBook about building our first house. It's called Building an Earthbag Round House: a Step-by-Step, Illustrated Guide. It's currently on sale for 50% off.

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/product/earthbag-round-house-ebook/

"In 2009, we built an earthbag round house that went on to become one of the iconic representations of the method. Over the following years, the house went viral on social media and was shared in countless articles, some, unfortunately, with incorrect information. In this heavily illustrated PDF, we finally set the record straight and share the details of the build from foundation to roof.

This 109 page interactive PDF contains 148 full-color pictures and details the entire build of our first earthbag round house. We’ve learned a lot in the 15 years since, so we also talk about our latest building techniques."

We have planned a Cob Oven Workshop Benefit at Woodson Branch Nature School on May 4th and 5th, 2024! My son goes to Woodson Branch and it is a wonderful place. This workshop will help them financially and help us build them a pizza oven for special events/fundraisers. I would normally charge at least $200 for a workshop like this but to encourage sign ups and participation, it's being offered at $90 for both days and $50 for one day. If we have at least eight people sign up (we currently have three) this workshop will move forward.

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/

We just listed this event a few days ago! We're excited to be building another root cellar. As has been stated, earthbags are perfect for ground contact/underground building. Currently on sale at uber-deep discount. Come join us!

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops

Cool that build in Crestone is right down the road from my place... I pass it everyday!

Hello Pete! I do love the area. Wouldn't be surprised to find myself there again some day.

We've got our next big workshop planned for May 1st-4th in beautiful Spring Creek, NC! Come join us! Sustainable Life School Workshops

I'm excited to share that on April 4th - 6th, we are leading our first hyperadobe tiny house workshop near Marshall, NC. The workshop is on super deep discount currently. Come join us!
https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/

We're leading another fun hyperadobe tiny house workshop on July 12th and 13th (2025) near Marshall, NC. Come on down and check out this awesome building method!

https://sustainablelifeschool.com/workshops/

We're leading another hyperfun hyperadobe workshop on Oct 17th - 19th in beautiful Marshall, NC during the peak of leaf season. Currently on deep discount!  Join us!

Click here for more info.

 an article about building earthbag pools should be published in Mother Earth News

Do you have a link for this article?

John C Daley wrote:

 an article about building earthbag pools should be published in Mother Earth News

Do you have a link for this article?

Hey John! Sorry, I'm just now seeing your question. Yes! I will post all of the links to our Mother Earth News articles! Cheers!

Earthbag Pool Construction

Earthbag Tiny House

Earthship Inspired Earthbag House

Hello all! I am wanting to make you all aware of our upcoming April workshop in beautiful Marshall, NC!

More info at sustainablelifeschool.com

We will be leading this week-long earthbuilding masterclass in Vermont on July 26th to August 1st! We will be building an earthbag/hyperadobe tiny house from foundation to roof. We can only host 6 attendees so sign up to reserve your spot today!

Sustainable Life School Workshops

We've got another uber-cool workshop planned! During this workshop, we are going to work on plastering our host's hyperadobe tiny house AND we are going to experiment with T-Brick Adobe. As always, info at sustainablelifeschool.com!

Hope to see you there!

I’m glad I found this thread. The 20 ft roundhouse part is pretty close to the scale I’m trying to understand.

I’m starting with a raw half-acre in northwest Missouri and have been looking at earthbag / hyperadobe / SuperAdobe ideas for a small Keeper’s Quarters. In my head it wants to be round and kind of skep-like, but practical first: roof, drainage, moisture, windows, and not building something dumb because I liked the shape.

For anyone who has built or lived with earthbag in a humid/freeze-thaw place, what would you want figured out before even drawing plans? Wall height, roof style, drainage, plaster, foundation, loft weight, something else?

I’m mostly trying to learn the order of operations before I spend money in the wrong order.

Mint Hive Keeper wrote:...and not building something dumb because I liked the shape.

For anyone who has built or lived with earthbag in a humid/freeze-thaw place, what would you want figured out before even drawing plans? Wall height, roof style, drainage, plaster, foundation, loft weight, something else?

I’m mostly trying to learn the order of operations before I spend money in the wrong order.

I don't have enough experience with earthbag construction to offer meaningful answers, but as an owner-builder I can say this: you are asking the right questions!

General good advice: consider carefully the lifestyle you imagine yourself living on your half-acre, including all of the limitations that might go with it, and ask yourself "how will the intrinsic properties of the materials and the design I've selected serve my intended lifestyle?  Are there any easier, cheaper, or more practical choices I could make that would serve that lifestyle better?  Or even serve it just as well?"

And get yourself some good books, not only on earthbag buildings or on roundhouses, but on basic building skills in general.  The best book I read during my design phase was a guide for contractors trying to break into the affordable home market.  It had nothing to do with the specific natural materials I chose, nor with passive solar architecture, which is the backbone of my design.  But it did orient me (who had never built a doghouse) to some of the ways I needed to think like a builder.

BTW, what do you mean by "skep-like"?

Matthew Nistico wrote:BTW, what do you mean by "skep-like"?

I mean the shape of an old woven bee skep, the rounded basket-looking hive form.

I’m not trying to make the building behave like a skep or force the structure to match the image if that creates problems. It is more the visual direction in my head.

The practical part still has to come first: roof, drainage, foundation, moisture, windows, basic livability, and whether a loft/lookout even makes sense on a small round building.

The lifestyle question is probably the real one. This is a raw half-acre, so I’m trying not to build a fantasy first. I need something that can support land work, plants, apiary needs, and eventually a simple place to stay without creating a problem I can’t afford to fix.

The basic builder-skills point is useful too. I’ve been reading earthbag-specific stuff, but I probably need more general “how to think like a builder” before I get too attached to any one natural building method.

Mint Hive Keeper wrote:I mean the shape of an old woven bee skep, the rounded basket-looking hive form.

Oh yes.  I know what you're talking about, though I didn't know the name for it.

Mint Hive Keeper wrote:The basic builder-skills point is useful too. I’ve been reading earthbag-specific stuff, but I probably need more general “how to think like a builder” before I get too attached to any one natural building method.

I have met more than a couple would-be natural builders, all excited about their plans for roundhouses, or earthbag houses, or cordwood houses, or strawbale houses, etc.  Many could not answer the basic question "why?".  Why did you choose that particular material or technique or design?  They have answers, of course, but all boil down to the same basic fact: "I saw a YouTube video of [insert your prefered building method here] and thought it was really cool!"  That's no basis on which to start a design process.

Keep going back to the basic questions you've been asking herein.  Back to what's practical.  I think you're already on track to a better start to your design process.

In addition to finding a few good books, if at all possible find an experienced builder who can assist you or, at the least, whom you can ply with the questions as you go through the process.  The trick is, you need to find someone who is both experienced AND who understands what you are trying to do.  I don't mean that they need be an expert in earthbag - though of course that would be excellent - but someone who understands why you are trying to build an unconventional design with natural materials.  Otherwise, you couldn't trust any advice they give.

In retrospect, I could have avoided some of the pitfalls in my own build by heeding the advice of experienced conventional builders.  But I had trained myself not to heed their advice.  Why?  Becuase if I hadn't, my build would have been over before it ever started.  90% of their advice came in the form of "that's impossible, it won't work, you can't do it, don't even try."  Well, I told them, I knew it could be done, because others have done it before me.  "Yeah but it's not to code."  This retort was applied even to a few aspects of my design that WERE to code.  That was when I realized that I had done what none of these licensed professionals had ever done: read the building code cover to cover.

So, you quickly develop a thick skin and a dismissive attitude.  Yet, in the process you will undoubtedly pass up good advice along with all of the naysaying.  How to know the difference, except for after the fact?  An experienced ally in your process is the only way I can imagine around this conundrum.

Daniel Keeper wrote:I’m glad I found this thread. The 20 ft roundhouse part is pretty close to the scale I’m trying to understand.

I’m starting with a raw half-acre in northwest Missouri and have been looking at earthbag / hyperadobe / SuperAdobe ideas for a small Keeper’s Quarters. In my head it wants to be round and kind of skep-like, but practical first: roof, drainage, moisture, windows, and not building something dumb because I liked the shape.

For anyone who has built or lived with earthbag in a humid/freeze-thaw place, what would you want figured out before even drawing plans? Wall height, roof style, drainage, plaster, foundation, loft weight, something else?

I’m mostly trying to learn the order of operations before I spend money in the wrong order.

Hello Daniel! Sorry, I didn't get a notification you had posted in this thread!

Make sure you get a foundation (rubble trench, footer, slab, or bermed) below the frost depth there. Since we often build earthship style, we mostly berm (backfill) the earthbag wall portion of our houses. This saves a lot of extra excavation, gets you down into the ambient earth temperature (and away from extremes), and protects the wall base from freezing and heaving. With super storms, tornados, heatwaves, and other extreme weather phenomenon being an ever-increasing reality for most of us, it only makes sense to be as surrounded and protected by earth as possible. I build a single square shed metal roof over most of my round houses now. I have 2x10 or 2x12 beams on the front, back and center of the wall, then run 2x6 or 2x8 rafters to the ends.

There's really too much to cover in a short answer like this so I'll refer you to my website. https://sustainablelifeschool.com/

You can write me from a contact form there if you want to go deeper into all of these questions.

Good luck!

This isn't an earthbag workshop, but I wanted to list it here as I've listed all of my workshops here. I am excited about this build. We are going to be constructing the main frame of this on a trailer bed, then I will move it to where it will be set up at. I came up with this idea of the tiny house pod while sleeping on the plywood floor of a shed at a property I was working on. This would be a way you could have a great sleeping space and a nice covered area for cooking and living and also set up rainwater collection and solar power, all in one structure, at a fraction of the price of a standard tiny house! Come join us to find out how to build your own!

Tiny House Pod Workshop