Earthbag Building Guide by Owen Geiger: Web links from the book…
[More information about the Earthbag Building Guide and how to order it is at EarthbagBuilding.com.]
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Precision Structural Engineering, Inc.
EcoOca – Brazil; Joseph F. Kennedy,
The Life and Times of a Renaissance Ronin
Earth Hands and Houses; Sunny Cai
PHOTO CREDITS
Cover photo generously donated by photographer Goldmund Lukic, see his portfolio here.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
GRISB Sustainable Building Blog.
Page 1 More information on that project can be found here.
Page 8 Earthbag House Plans website.
Precision Structural Engineering
Page 9 Earthbag Tools at the Naturalhouses YouTube channel.
Page 10 Video: Cement Buckets
Page 11 Video: Bucket Chute
Video: Sliders
Page 13 Video: Tampers
Natural Building Colloquium of Texas
Page 14 Mortar Sprayer.com.
Page 15 Video: Earthbag Supplies
Page 18 Check the Earthbag Building.com resource list or look on the Earthbag Building Blog
Page 20 Video: Bag Size
Page 22 Videos: Soil Preparation, Clay/ Aggregate Ratio of Soil, Adjusting the Moisture Content
Page 23 Earthbag tests at a university laboratory by Bryce Daigle proved earthbags to be this strong.
Page 24 Video: Rice Hulls
1 Quote about solid weave bag strength from NYP Corporation.
2 Free Soils for Earthbag booklet online
3 Information about gypsum adobe construction and a report.
4 Gernot Minke, Building with Earth, Birkhauser, Basel, Switzerland: 2006, page 42
5 Discussion of scoria and paper-crete as insulation at Earthbag Building website.
Page 27 Step-by-Step Earthbag Building: Introduction.
Video: How to Make Square Corners
Page 29 Video: Foundation Height
Page 31 Video: Use the Same Number of Buckets
Video: Double Bags, 1st Foundation Bag, 2nd, 3rd,4th, 5th Foundation Bag
Page 32 Video: Tilting Bags Together, Tamping Foundation Bags, Check Level
Video: Barbed Wire, Cutting Barbed Wire
Page 35 Step-by-Step Earthbag Building: Introduction.
Video: Use the Same Number of Buckets, Turning Bags, First Earth Filled Bag, Tamping First Earth Filled Bag
Page 36 Videos: Stitching Bags Closed, Sewing Bags Closed, Pinning Corners of Bags with One Stitch
Page 37 Video: Tilting Bags Together, Overlap Bags, Protruding Corners
Page 38 Video: Custom Bags
Video: Tamping First Course of Earth-filled Bags
Page 38 Video: Barbed Wire, Cutting Barbed Wire
Page 39 Video: Corner Guides
Video: 2nd Course of Foundation, Tamp and Level Each Course
Page 41 Video: Smashing Protruding Corners
Page 42 Video: Hyperadobe, More Hyperadobe Videos
(like Cal-Earth’s Superadobe technique)
Page 49 Videos: Pinning Bags, Pinning Corners of Bags with One Stitch
Page 57 Guidelines for Earthquake Resistant Non-Engineered Construction, IAEE, Tokyo, Japan and NICEE, Kanpur, India: 2004, pages 12 and 14
Page 58 Check a geology website
Page 59 Videos: Vetiver Clay Earthbags, Vetiver Clay Results, Rice Hull Clay, Termite Resistance of Vetiver Clay
Page 64 Video: Insulated Bamboo Walls
Page 68 Video: Roundwood Trusses
Video: Thatch Panels
More information online about pallet trusses
See Small Diameter Roundwood Trusses for details.
Page 77 Video: Hardness Test, Cement Plastering
Page 79 The technique that is summarized below was perfected by Frank Meyer, and may be the best method for making earthen floors.
Bill Steen’s 30 page Earthen Floors booklet is also very helpful.
Page 83 Horizontal layers of geo- mesh reinforcement in the slope, a deeper footing or soil bermed against the base of the wall increase stability.
Videos of my living wall systems are on Youtube at Living Wall and Living Wall 2.
APPENDIX: Resources
VIDEOS
Building with Bags: How We Made Our Experimental Earthbag/Papercrete House 1 1/2 hr. DVD produced by Kelly Hart. He wanted to build an environmentally sensitive and aesthetically pleasing home at a moderate price, and chose earthbag domes covered with papercrete (recycled paper combined with cement and sand). This honest DVD documents details of the construction, insights gained, and the ups and downs (literally!) of the building process. Several other earthbag homes are also shown. For more information about the house see Photogallery of Our House or Construction Details of Our House. For a streaming video introduction to this DVD click here.
Earthbag Building Video, written, directed and produced by Owen Geiger.
Natural Houses YouTube Earthbag Channel
BOOKS
Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques by Kaki Hunter, Donald Kiffmeyer, 2004. Earthbag Building is a comprehensive guide to all the tools, tricks, and techniques for building with bags filled with earth.
Building with Earth: A Guide to Flexible-Form Earthbag Construction by Paulina Wojciechowska,
2001. This is the first book published about earthbag building, and still one of the best. Unfortunately it has gone out of print, but is still available used from various sellers at Amazon.
We hope to have the Earthbag Design Guide available later this year to answer further questions about how to plan earthbag buildings for strength and sustainability. After August 2011, check the website at http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/resources.htm for availability.
ARTICLES
How to Build an Eco-friendly Earthbag Roundhouse
Insulated Earthbag Houses
Soil Tests for Earthbag
Patti Stouter has expanded and updated her soil testing guide with simple low-tech tests for many types of soil. Using the right soil is very important. After all, earthbag building uses soil as the primary
building material, and so you want soil that is strong and stable.
WEBSITES
EARTHBAG WEBSITES
EarthbagBuilding.com and Earthbag Building Blog have the latest and most up-to-date information. Earthbag House Plans and Dream Green Homes Earthbag Plans have many sustainable earthbag plans. EarthbagStructures.com focuses on aid work for the developing world.
Earthbag supplies and resources can be found at http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/resources.htm
Kelly Hart’s Earthbag FAQ provides answers to all the most common questions about earthbag building for free. Kelly has compiled about 10 years of questions and answers in one convenient location.
VARIOUS SUSTAINABILITY AND GREEN BUILDING SITES
Really small houses: Michael Janzen’s Tiny House Design site.
Fitting architectural quality into small houses: Sarah Susanka’s books and articles. Greywater and rainwater harvesting information: Art Ludwig’s Oasis Design Developing world design information from Engineering Ministries International.
Some appropriate technology and some free earthbag plans at Patti Stouter’s Simple Earth Structures. Building blocks of trash at Harvey Lacey’s Recycled Plastic Houses.
Building with shipping containers at Container Home Consultants by Alex Klein.
Information on sustainable architectural techniques at Green Home Building by Kelly and Rosana Hart. Cob and urbanite construction at Earthen Acres by Danielle Acres.
Mother Earth News Magazine.
The Owner Builder Magazine.
Earthbag House Plans 
Congratulations on the blog!
I would have published my site here in this space of the earthbag spread worldwide.
Thanks and eco-greetings from Brazil!
Tell me,
Gabriel Raia
Eco-designer
http://www.gabrielraia.com.br