Starting earthbag project in SE KY near TN border

Hi everyone. I've been on this site for a while researching information on natural building and rocket mass heaters and the like, as well as chickens and bees. Lol. Can you say varied interests? Anyway though, I just got the nerve to decide to put up a post asking for advice. So that's what I'm doing; I'm asking you all advice about earthbag house building as well as if anyone in the Southeast KY / Northeast TN area has suggestions on local sources for materials. Hit us with your best suggestions, we certainly appreciate any and all help.

From reading the Forums here and checking out some of the designs by Owen Geiger and reading some various other sources ideas, we have decided finally on earthbag over strawbale since cost is so diff't for us btwn the two, plus raising chickens we already have quite a few stored up. We are seriously looking for the best CHEAP way to get things done. We are looking to make a less than 1000 sq. ft. home for us and our kiddos (two small boys and one bun in the oven, due any day now). We figured two bedrooms at this point with the design geared toward adding a "pod" or addition at a later point for the bun (since bun is a girl unless we get surprised). We aren't sure if a standard square or rounded corner square design would be most cost-effective over a more free-form or domed-type design. Suggestions?

We figured out costs for concrete slab and ditched that idea for a tamped earth floor. We figured costs for a traditional trussed gable roof and think we need to find some better idea, since that cost alone comes to almost half of what we have budgeted for the entire project. The roof design is where we are stuck at the moment. We can source some lumber from local mills that sell rough cut and cut our costs by quite a bit, but we really want efficiency to be good too and are not sure that some more organic designed home with a dome roof or such may be a better option than traditional timber construction roof atop our earthbag base on our tamped earth foundation. Suggestions? We are really trying to get out of the frame of mind of traditional building techniques since we are talking about a non-traditional home and they may not mesh well together from our mindset. Our other big issue is electrical. Neither of us have any experience with it and know that we cannot afford to hire a professional. Any suggestions on where we can learn or find someone with experience that may help on the cheap?

Right now, its all research, research, research- trying to find the best fit for our tiny budget and our needs. We are blessed to live in a county that has no zoning restrictions, so that's one giant plus we have in our favor. The electrical inspection is about the only thing we really have to worry about passing inspection. That's the one area neither of us have experience with but we are certainly eager to learn.

Are there others here in our area of SE KY/ NE TN that have already built earthbag homes and would be willing to allow us to come check it out? We wanna learn all that we can before we start our endeavor. Thanks everyone! Looking forward to hearing from you all! Have a good day!!!

Any ideas or thoughts anyone?

Find a source for bags. Someone that goes through thousands of bags of chicken or dog food or rice or

If you have to buy bags, the project gets expensive fast.

For that size house, a simple shed roof with metal is probably the cheapest. Easy to gutter for water collection, too.

You can find basic wiring books in any library or online. You will need to use conduit and boxes to run it in outside walls.

I have some experience with earthbags and can offer my .02 based upon what I've learned while building a 14' radius/15'ish tall dome. Mind you, I built this in tropical Honduras, so my needs were a little different.

As for a universal lesson, I would say that building a dome is probably much more difficult to construct than a square/round house. The curvature of the form needs to be measured very accurately and be very precise. Any errors in this department and you run the risk of the dome collapsing. For your first construction, I would stick to a round or square design.

I have been working with an architect to design small homes for upcoming projects in Honduras and he is an advocate for a square design, while I like a cylinder. With his CAD drawings, he's been able to show me a lot of dead space that is created in a round house due to things like beds, furniture, etc all being square. On the flipside, a round house doesn't need buttressing around the walls and as a structure is much stronger than rectangle or square.

If cost is going to be a restriction in this project and you're trying to maximize usable space within the structure, I don't know that I would recommend a free form design. It will require more labor/time intensive founding digging and most likely more materials.

Justina,

CHEAP ADVICE ON BEING CHEAP:

Get a dedicated notebook for ideas costs to-do lists etc.
List of materials with retail prices, then check craigslist restore scrap yards etc.

Obtain materials first, then you know that if, for ex., you can score 12' lengths of metal roofing real cheap then work in those measurements. Or, if you get a slew of straight timbers on a trade... then go viga rafters. Or if you get pdr Windows then frame Rough Openings for them.

Library YouTube and an hour of licenced consultation for utilities.

Round encompasses the most footage per wall amount. More easily usable with straight walls. Freeform may be the most aesthetic. Hexagons tesselate or stack tightly and still get big spaces per wall if you can do angles. You'd most likely be best with a rectangle. Southern Windows, good west and north overhangs for porch/carport.

Maybe start with a big shed or small garage that y'all can cut your teeth on, live in and store your stuff out of the weather.

Kids and jobs huh? Not much time to waste. Is Your soil good enough for tractor cob, simple mechanized rammed earth.?? You got a close redimix with cheap eco/mafia blocks? All in perspective, Bags are cheap, I found .07$, barbwire free. Its time we are talking because time is money.

Any buildings nearby need demolished? Run an ad? Maybe call a demolition company if they are running a monopoly. Get creative on material acquisition, cause a lot meshes.
Look around at what is local available unused tradeable or just ready to be reused.

I'm surprised bales got nixed for the price. I bet $1,000 gets enough bales for your project maybe even delivered. Stacks in a long day. Then your thermal mass can go where it's most effective--inside your house. Eb internal walls...


Throw work parties or find a volunteer.

There is someone in KY who has done an earthship home. They have a Facebook page and I'm sure would be quite helpful. They are in the Lexington area, from their FB page.

Good luck with it! Beautiful area of the country.

I'm really interested in earth bag homes. I wondered if you ever got your home built?  And what county are you in?   I am looking for a place to start my own homestead and having a county without a lot of building restrictions would be great.  Thanks

Interested to know if this project ever got rolling.  If so, I'd love to see the results.  We're in NE KY and are mapping an earthbag project to begin as soon as spring breaks this year.  Our design is for several small, connected cylindrical pods with conical reciprocal roofs.

Would like to connect with anyone else in the region who has worked on similar projects.

John

I live in Northern KY and as far as I have been able to tell there is only one Earthbag home in KY. It is near Berea KY.  IF anyone know of others can you let me know? Thanks!

I live in Western KY, and I want to build earthbag, but I'm more concerned about legalities in building code than cost, but I'm bringing this thread back from the dead to keep up with ideas and concepts here in the Bluegrass.

Lyda Eagle wrote:I live in Northern KY and as far as I have been able to tell there is only one Earthbag home in KY. It is near Berea KY.  IF anyone know of others can you let me know? Thanks!

Would that be at Egret's Cove, next to the Owsley Reservoir, I wonder?  

Hi everyone, I’m going to join the list of people who want to build an earth bag home in Ky. Has anyone had any success? If so where and what challenges did you face with building codes? Thanks!

Currently in the process of buying land in northern KY.  Would like to be starting earthbag build by early summer. After the deed is in hand I will be meeting with county to figure out building codes. Update soon!

been clearing land NE ky. and thought about earthbag. i looked into bags found a place in ohio sells bags cheap and are misprinted bags avail. or mess up bags. you use feed bags. so look for cheapest feed bags it will lead you to a place in ohio.
BUT not against earth bag. BUT the time to fill each bag pack each bag ect. its something to research. want a suggestion ? go with CORDWOOD easiest to build and low cost. the amount spent on earth bags spend in some cement or mortar and do a cordwood house mixed with log timeberframe board batten is what im going to do. all the resources are on my land minus the mortar. which at 3$ a bag for 60lb bag is not that much in long run. footer foundation in all cases is going to cost almost the same other then a earthbag. you have to do the whole area of walls with 8in min thick footers with cement. not mortar. which gets costly. other building you can do piers or footers that spread load ect. just things to think about for over all cost. ill be glad to help how ever.

look into cord wood and loghome type builds using green wood. as if you need wanna start building soon then green can happen just keep treating wood with borax and water as go along. helps keep insects away and helps keep the wood staying clean. my main thought has been cordwood. easiest to prep to build and to build and like a earthbag it needs a good footer around where walls sit. i also was thinking to plaster my outside walls of the cordwood like a earthbag to help that much more wind block and to keep elements out. to keep humidity down. and with having lime in it i would think help the wood stay dry and protected from rot ?
earth bag is not that expensive if you find good feed bags cheap. which is not hard i think i found em 50c a bag. cause what i have found but still testing is it seems kentucky clay does not make good cob. it is fragile and crumbles. so i am doing different mix test i might end up going with a soilcrete mixfor mortar on my cordwood. cause its like 10 to 1 mix with soil crete. so im thinking ill do a 8 to 1 mix for strength ect. or a 5 to 1. which is 1 mix cement to 5 soil. so it x5 the amount of cement using to stretch the cost farther. i am looking to start my cabin soon for the farm and homestead. been lot work so far lots to go still. but for me being old and having lyme disease a cordwood home be easier for me to build then other types. i been wanting to do a timberframe/loghome. but its just me so moving logs wont be fun lol.

I just bought land north of Knoxville, do you think my clay will be to “crumbly” for cob too? I originally wanted to do an earth bag house, but I figured a cop house would be easier for me to do on my own in the beginning. Super random sidenote, have you ever tried bee sting therapy for your Lyme disease?

Any of these projects ever get off the ground? I’m in Western Ky and I hope to be starting my build within the next year or 2. I’d love to visit or even help on other projects to gain more practical knowledge. I’ve purchased my earthbags because I chanced across a really good deal on marketplace that was local. 2000 18x30 for $400. My build will be a hybrid and likely be oval with a large overhanging metal roof for rainwater catchment. I plan to have mostly windows on the south facing for my indoor gardenbed. The north wall will be strawbale for insulation. East and west will be the rounded walls of earthbag. I’ll likely have lots of leftovers for other projects. And I will be making some smaller projects first before the actual house build. I need to be sure that I’m ready for a large project before I dive into the deep end! Anyways, feel free to contact me! I’d love to connect with others on the same path! Many hands make light work! ❤️

This is all great! We are in southern/mid TN. We are thinking of a hyper Adobe house. The permitting process will be overwhelming. They go by the international standards...that don’t have hyper Adobe write. Into them. How does anyone get an architect to sign off on it?  I am also concerned about moisture diffusion and water diversion. There is so much water in the air here. I am wondering how that will affect the Adobe?