House Type: Earth Bag - Rammed Dirt & Cobb Style

[Loje]

Maybe not a "dream" home but, if the immediate need is modest housing, and a lot of it...

 

This ancient building method/material is gaining popularity in "off the grid" regions.  Adobe style  "earth bag" homes built by filling sandbags with dirt already on the land, arranging the bags, tamping them, adding windows, door, electric & plumbing.  Saves timber, while the forests are regrowing, requires minimal skills to build, very low carbon footprint...

 

They are said to be unusually long lasting & durable, sustainable, "dirt cheap" and very easy to build.  They don't need to be finished in concrete.  Average cost in this system is ridiculously low, from $1,500 to $10,000.

 

Reminds me of the ancient "mud brick" homes of the Israelite's. 

 

*** it-1 p. 1154 House ***
The ruins of one mud-brick house excavated by archaeologists had stonework to a height of over 0.5 m (1.5 ft); in another the stone construction rose to a height of about 1 m (3 ft). The walls of some houses were about 1 m (3 ft) thick. Often a kind of whitewash was applied to the exterior walls (Eze 13:11, 15), and mud-brick walls on the street side were sometimes faced with pebbles to protect their surface.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Many styles

 

Straightforward construction

 

And similar "rammed earth" housing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dages]

I like these 

Quote

 

 

It looks so soft.