Foundational (& code) questions.

Silly question, but if I wanted a  reinforced concrete foundation with earthbag walls, is there a simple or easy way to get the rebar through both the foundation and the first few courses of bag? I just can't wrap my head around the logistics.

Also, my dad works with building contractors daily, and has for over 30 years. He says that the biggest hurdle here will be codes, but that the county we live in would probably be more likely to accept it if an earthbag home somewhere in the US has passed BOCA code. It would give a precedent they could look to, and it's what our local code seems to be based on anyhow. Anybody know of one that has?

Elijah,

If you don't have the foundation yet then I would do for the footings: 4 #5 rebars with #3 stirrups every 16" and I would add U-shaped rebars every 32" that would anchor under 2 bottom #5 and would stick out above the footings. Then you can put/pierce bags around/through the vertical rebars and you can even make an intermediate bond beam by attaching horizontal rebars to the tops of vertical rebars and cover with bags. You could also, extend the verticals all the way up and add more reinforcement (4 #4 + stirrups would suffice) and poured bond beam that would really stabilize the entire structure.

Christobals suggestion would give you an earthquake proof house.
A simpler foundation would be trench mesh the width of the trench.
The earthbag site has good details.
Here is one site;
https://www.earthbagbuilding.com/faqs/foundation.htm
and ;
https://ncma.org/resource/concrete-masonry-foundation-wall-details