Monolithic non-domes?

I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it by searching the topics, so here goes:

I've been looking at earthbag building for over a decade, but the tornado that destroyed my west Kentucky town last December has lit a fire under my bottom about it.

We currently live in a mobile home, and we have nowhere to stay during a full construction, so we're gonna Johnny Cash it ("one piece at a time") starting with the garage and working toward bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.

Since part of the draw of earthbag domes is their strength, I thought they'd make a good shelter. But we can't really do domes in the space we need, and they'd be too small for a garage anyhow (a side room of which is the proposed storm shelter for now).

For the house proper, we were thinking of a technique I saw where square rooms of less than 20' we're slowly transitioned into domes for their roof. This isn't an option for a garage, though, and I worry about it's feasibility as a shelter without some kind of solid, non-traditional roof.

So, rambling aside, here are my questions:

* Is there a support method (steel rafters, etc.) that could be safely used to bear the weight of a semi-flat earthbag roof?

* If not, is there a safe way to integrate/pour another solid type of roof? (concrete, rammed earth, etc.)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

There is a topic on the site about Tornado proofing your home.
As a Civil Engineer in Australia I dont understand why the techniques discussed are not wide spread.

I do not know if an earthbag dome would do any better in a tornado storm, others may have that knowledge.
I would suggest you start small, anchor your foundations into the ground and anchor every part of the structure to the foundations as discussed in the topic.
Many may try and talk you out of building a tornado resistant home, but I think you need to walk past them.
Its a 'no brainer' in my mind.
I cannot appreciate the $ cost to families and communities of the extreme damage I see.

Elijah Ravenscroft wrote:I'm sure this has been asked before, but I couldn't find it by searching the topics, so here goes:

I've been looking at earthbag building for over a decade, but the tornado that destroyed my west Kentucky town last December has lit a fire under my bottom about it.

We currently live in a mobile home, and we have nowhere to stay during a full construction, so we're gonna Johnny Cash it ("one piece at a time") starting with the garage and working toward bedroom, bathroom, and kitchen.

Since part of the draw of earthbag domes is their strength, I thought they'd make a good shelter. But we can't really do domes in the space we need, and they'd be too small for a garage anyhow (a side room of which is the proposed storm shelter for now).

For the house proper, we were thinking of a technique I saw where square rooms of less than 20' we're slowly transitioned into domes for their roof. This isn't an option for a garage, though, and I worry about it's feasibility as a shelter without some kind of solid, non-traditional roof.

So, rambling aside, here are my questions:

* Is there a support method (steel rafters, etc.) that could be safely used to bear the weight of a semi-flat earthbag roof?

* If not, is there a safe way to integrate/pour another solid type of roof? (concrete, rammed earth, etc.)

Thanks in advance for any advice!

Do you have building codes to worry about there?

Dave, even if there are no codes, smarter techniques are essential in the long run I believe.

Dave Pennington wrote:Do you have building codes to worry about there?

I'm pretty sure the only thing I have to worry about, living in the county, is the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code. It mentions strawbale construction and tiny houses, but nothing on earthbag. I keep meaning to call Berea, which has the first code-approved earthbag in the state, and get some tips on the matter.

At this point in the planning stage, I'm planning a rectangular room of at least 20' square (preferably closer to 20'x24'). The things I'm most concerned with at this point are:


* Proper foundation for such that's as shallow as can be safe, in an area that sometimes collects water

* Preparing such a space (plumbing/electrical) such that it can be easily connected to additions later (and ideally serving as the input areas for those utilities)

* Roofing an area with either earthbags or concrete in such a way as to make the space more monolithic so it can withstand rough stuff.

By "rough stuff" I mean both that I live very close to a fault line and the tornado that destroyed our town was bad enough that the president flew into the airport across the street.

In this thread, specifically, the roof question is the most important to me. I'll take any answers or suggestions, though, whether or not they're on topic.

I feel like this could be of some interest, though you may have heard of it; https://www.engineeringforchange.org/news/build-earthbag-structure-seismic-zone/amp/

John C Daley wrote:Dave, even if there are no codes, smarter techniques are essential in the long run I believe.

I agree. Earth bags are never a good idea in my opinion, especially in a flat-ish roof configuration.

Elijah Ravenscroft wrote:

Dave Pennington wrote:Do you have building codes to worry about there?

I'm pretty sure the only thing I have to worry about, living in the county, is the 2018 Kentucky Residential Code. It mentions strawbale construction and tiny houses, but nothing on earthbag. I keep meaning to call Berea, which has the first code-approved earthbag in the state, and get some tips on the matter.

At this point in the planning stage, I'm planning a rectangular room of at least 20' square (preferably closer to 20'x24'). The things I'm most concerned with at this point are:


* Proper foundation for such that's as shallow as can be safe, in an area that sometimes collects water

* Preparing such a space (plumbing/electrical) such that it can be easily connected to additions later (and ideally serving as the input areas for those utilities)

* Roofing an area with either earthbags or concrete in such a way as to make the space more monolithic so it can withstand rough stuff.

By "rough stuff" I mean both that I live very close to a fault line and the tornado that destroyed our town was bad enough that the president flew into the airport across the street.

In this thread, specifically, the roof question is the most important to me. I'll take any answers or suggestions, though, whether or not they're on topic.

I would look at Steelmaster "quonset" style buildings, they can handle high winds and earthquakes better than most other approaches. They can be very well insulated using my EPIC insulation which you can learn to make for next to nothing out of EPS (Styrofoam) and paper fiber with a cement binder. Depending on the application you can also make the slab out of EPIC or aircrete.

Eilyjah, David has suggested the best solution so far.
Since you have expanded the details of tornados and fault lines, the house on wheels sounds best to myself, who does not live with those risks!!
If you look at how earthen houses are built and collapse in earthquake areas, you will see they are shaken to bits and collapse very quickly.
To slow the collapse time down, bamboo was installed in the walls as the walls went up, to see if that helped along with a reinforced concrete top beam all the way around the walls.
When tested on a shake machine, the new design still broke, but it took longer and allowed people to get out.
And it did not collapse completely as the traditional ones had, thus potentially reducing death and injury to people.

The quorn huts have the ability to stay and a complete structure.
I will look for  earthquake tests on them.

Here are some notes;
futuristic-prefab-styrofoam-building blocks

quonset-huts/disaster-resistant-buildings/earthquake/