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Dr. Owen Geiger's earthbag plans - anyone seen or have experience with them

 
pollinator
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I have been fascinated with earthbag construction since I came across Dr. Geiger on the internet 10-15 years ago, especially his work with rice hulls as a fill.  I see that someone onlne has rights to his plans and sells them.  (they are about $400 per plan.)   Have been thinking of a 'guest house/mother-in law' home for my parents as they get older.  I am wondering what $400 gets me; and if they are complete plans foundation to roof; or just sketches/design.

Anyone have experience or knowledge of these plans?  I would not need stampable drawings as I don't need permits in my county.  Just wondering if $400 on a hands on course would be more or less beneficial, depending on the quality of plans.
 
pollinator
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Those plans are now sold by https://sustainablelifeschool.com/product/10m-earthbag-roundhouse-plan/
And from there I have lifted this
"These plans are available as digital PDF files or AutoCAD files and were created by Dr. Owen Geiger as complete and ready to build from.
They include necessary elevations, floorplans, cross section details, and other significant construction details; they don’t show every view, every detail — just enough to build.
They do not include electrical and plumbing details.
The section views explain how everything goes together and should answer your questions about materials.
The plans are scaled and dimensioned. "
This plan is offered with a free copy of Owen’s popular Earthbag Building Guide e-book; see this page for more about this book.
All digital files will be delivered by  via email attachments to the paypal account email address within 24 hours after purchase.

In my opinion the longevity of his work and sales shows they are practical and worthwhile.
 
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I bought one of those in PDF 2 weeks ago and to be fair they are very basic. Not worth the price but they will give you an idea.
 
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Maggie Mrozowska wrote:I bought one of those in PDF 2 weeks ago and to be fair they are very basic. Not worth the price but they will give you an idea.



I was pouring through the designs and I see lots of very straight walls and no signs of buttressing. Do the plans you have address this?

Thanks in advance!
 
pollinator
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As a concept moved into very practical construction methods, his stuff is excellent, and it works.

I've only ever used them in "foundations", as I am extremely adverse to poured concrete ... but this method is great, and I've used up 100's of earthbags in all kinds of projects. The magic is in the barbed wire ... turns out I had dozens of rolls of barbed wire laying around the property, as former land owner ran cattle ... these things are strategically hanging from the trees, every so often. I'm in the process of removing all barbed-wire fencing, and replacing with my own design, but it is slow ... earthbags are reusing some of that stuff.

There are a number of authors who have brought the technology forward and built more recent homes with them, since Geiger and other early masters have written about them. The earthbag forum should have it all ... it's what makes permies.com great! I'd say do enough research to see the roots of earthbag construction all the way through to these most recent books.

Yes, if not building round (buttress-free design), Geiger recommends incorporating buttresses into your walls. I'd daresay that there isn't much you can't do with earthbags, with some design thought and planning ...

One of my goals with our 40 acres is to move into alternative construction "demo" projects, where every kind of alternative thing is built, left standing for a few years of good ol' Colorado winters (and maintenance of course), and we then see what survives and gather data ...
 
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Autumn Dawn Sutton wrote:

Maggie Mrozowska wrote:I bought one of those in PDF 2 weeks ago and to be fair they are very basic. Not worth the price but they will give you an idea.



I was pouring through the designs and I see lots of very straight walls and no signs of buttressing. Do the plans you have address this?

Thanks in advance!



I bought a round house plans so no need for buttressing. As for the other plans I can't really tell if they do, as they are really "super basic" and don't address much (I even had to add stuff on them myself so my architect would understand what I want - in my country no one knows about this type of building and we only have one house like this build ages ago in Warsaw).
 
Jt Lamb
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The earthbag forum probably already had this info in it, but newer books on earthbag construction (and their associated websites) have more info on buttressing and other methods.

Here's some examples:

 http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/faqs/buttresses.htm
 http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/articles/wallbracing/wallbracing.htm

There are rules of thumb for straight walls, wall bracing techniques, and more ...

 
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Jack Edmondson wrote:I have been fascinated with earthbag construction since I came across Dr. Geiger on the internet 10-15 years ago, especially his work with rice hulls as a fill.  I see that someone onlne has rights to his plans and sells them.  (they are about $400 per plan.)   Have been thinking of a 'guest house/mother-in law' home for my parents as they get older.  I am wondering what $400 gets me; and if they are complete plans foundation to roof; or just sketches/design.

Anyone have experience or knowledge of these plans?  I would not need stampable drawings as I don't need permits in my county.  Just wondering if $400 on a hands on course would be more or less beneficial, depending on the quality of plans.



Hi... I am Kelly Hart of www.earthbagbuilding.com , www.naturalbuildingblog.com , www.greenhomebuilding.com and dreamgreenhomes.com . Owen Geiger and were associates on these websites for many years until he sadly passed away nearly three years ago, at which point I inherited his portfolio of plans and continue to sell them, sending a portion of the revenue to his family in Thailand.

I can affirm that these plans are very basic, mostly generic plans that show little more than scaled floorplans, elevations, and possibly cross sections. The are available as either PDF or AutoCAD files (which can be altered by professional architects or engineers.) The prices vary depending on complexity from about $150 to $400 or more if you want the CAD files. All of the plans are very accurate computer generated drawings that provide most of the information that an experienced builder would need to execute. The plans also come with a free copy of Owen's "Earthbag Building Guide" in PDF format.

A hands-on course for learning the basics of earthbag building is always a good idea... and starting with a simple trial building project is also recommended.
 
Kelly Hart
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John C Daley wrote:Those plans are now sold by https://sustainablelifeschool.com/product/10m-earthbag-roundhouse-plan/
And from there I have lifted this
"These plans are available as digital PDF files or AutoCAD files and were created by Dr. Owen Geiger as complete and ready to build from.
They include necessary elevations, floorplans, cross section details, and other significant construction details; they don’t show every view, every detail — just enough to build.
They do not include electrical and plumbing details.
The section views explain how everything goes together and should answer your questions about materials.
The plans are scaled and dimensioned. "
This plan is offered with a free copy of Owen’s popular Earthbag Building Guide e-book; see this page for more about this book.
All digital files will be delivered by  via email attachments to the paypal account email address within 24 hours after purchase.

In my opinion the longevity of his work and sales shows they are practical and worthwhile.



Yes, the Sustainable Life School is an affiliate with www.dreamgreenhomes.com and does sell a few of his plans, priced the same as at my website.
 
Kelly Hart
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I was pouring through the designs and I see lots of very straight walls and no signs of buttressing. Do the plans you have address this?

Thanks in advance!

The plans generally show buttressing where necessary. Sometimes this is from internal wall buttresses.
 
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Jt Lamb wrote:
I've only ever used them in "foundations", as I am extremely adverse to poured concrete ... but this method is great, and I've used up 100's of earthbags in all kinds of projects. The magic is in the barbed wire ... turns out I had dozens of rolls of barbed wire laying around the property, as former land owner ran cattle ... these things are strategically hanging from the trees, every so often. I'm in the process of removing all barbed-wire fencing, and replacing with my own design, but it is slow ... earthbags are reusing some of that stuff....



I'm a real novice with building things, So, I don't understand what barbed wire fencing has to do with the earthbags. Please explain what you are doing a bit more. Thanks.
 
pollinator
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Denise Cares wrote:

Jt Lamb wrote:
I've only ever used them in "foundations", as I am extremely adverse to poured concrete ... but this method is great, and I've used up 100's of earthbags in all kinds of projects. The magic is in the barbed wire ... turns out I had dozens of rolls of barbed wire laying around the property, as former land owner ran cattle ... these things are strategically hanging from the trees, every so often. I'm in the process of removing all barbed-wire fencing, and replacing with my own design, but it is slow ... earthbags are reusing some of that stuff....



I'm a real novice with building things, So, I don't understand what barbed wire fencing has to do with the earthbags. Please explain what you are doing a bit more. Thanks.



You lay strands of barbed wire between the layers of earthbags to keep them from slipping around, as I understand it.  The earthbag material is a poly that is kind of slippery.
 
Denise Cares
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Trace Oswald wrote:

Denise Cares wrote:

Jt Lamb wrote:

You lay strands of barbed wire between the layers of earthbags to keep them from slipping around, as I understand it.  The earthbag material is a poly that is kind of slippery.



Oh I get it.  That makes sense now. Great idea. Thanks!

 
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