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earth bag

Earth bag pool

Abraham Palma

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Location: Málaga, Spain

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posted 1 year ago

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Hello,
do you know if I can build a pool with earth bags? Most of it would be buried, with bags holding the walls, and only couple of bags would be above ground. That's just for irrigation purposes, I don't need drainages or anything fancy.

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Matt McSpadden

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posted 1 year ago

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Hi Abraham,
I have no experience with earthbags beyond watching youtube videos. However on general principle, the water is going to be pushing out, rather than down, like a normal house. This means if it was above ground more than a little bit, you would probably need additional supports build in, which might make earth bags not the best option. If it is undeground, I don't think you would need the earth bags, just a liner probably.

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Abraham Palma

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posted 1 year ago

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We fear that without some support, the dug walls may crumble. The bags would, in theory, keep the dirt wall in place.
Then, only 30 cm of water would need to be held by the bags, not too much pressure there.

Then, it would have a liner, of course, for water proofing.

https://permies.com/t/175744/permaculture-sites/permaculture-projects/Project-Gardens-Orchard-Dignity

Matt McSpadden

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Location: Central Maine (Zone 5a)

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posted 1 year ago

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Hi Abraham,
If the pool is full, that would be plenty of pressure (I would think, I'm not an engineer) to keep the walls in place. But if you are going to drain and fill it for irrigation (I missed that the first time around), then I could totally see the bag walls... though I would still be leery of their ability to withstand sideways pressure.

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