Check out the Earthbag Home just completed in the Austin, Tx. area.

[Dover]

http://www.earthbaghouse.com/indexthankyou.html



During construction:





This is a followup to this earlier post on building an earthbag home:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=268&topic_id=4072&mesg_id=4072

[tabatha]

1. Different material, same concept

[MineralMan]

2. Just for folks who don't click the link,

that's not a photo of the completed house. It's still not quite finished, but there are other photos on the link that show the plastering, etc., that goes into the completed house. When actually finished, it looks a lot different.

[Dover]

3. Good point. I'll add a pic of the finished house to the OP...n/t

[MineralMan]

5. Cool! I was just letting people know that there were more photos

at the link, so they wouldn't think the house ended up looking like the original photo. This is cool technology. I really like it.

[Dover]

6. The house location is in the downtown Austin area, and I love that the building codes

approved this home. A lot of people have worked tirelessly over many, many years on city codes and other issues to smooth the way for projects like this.

"Keeping Austin Weird" is not just a popular local mantra, it's representative of Austin's commitment to grassroots entrepreneurial and creative exploration. Not an easy dance to do given economic pressures, business interests and a pretty conservative state government.

[tabatha]

4. deleted

[felix_numinous]

7. K&R!!

[Terry in Austin]

8. Cool! (but just "Austin" will be fine, thanks)

I think people know that Austin is located in Texas -- they just can't believe it. Actually "located in" is not the case so much as "surrounded by."

Quite a bit of alt.construction hereabouts -- strawbale, foam, rammed earth, etc. This one definitely rocks!

[Dover]

9. Ha! Otherwise known as "The Republic of Austin" by conservatives...n/t

[martymar64]

11. That's the PEOPLE'S Republic of Austin

Signed,
A proud resident of Austin, Surrounded by Texas.

[Dover]

12. lol! I stand corrected! n/t

[Terry in Austin]

15. Right on, y'all!

:hi:

[Dover]

10. dupe/delete

[jwirr]

13. Will it work in a northern MN climate and how do they avoid bugs and

snakes that used to be a big trouble in sod huts.

[Dover]

14. If you'd like to ask them, go to the link given in the OP and use their contact info.

It looks like they are going to be providing a lot of information about their process and
experiences and will even be doing some teaching, so I'm sure they'd be happy to talk to you
about your concerns.

[tinrobot]

16. Here's one that looks more traditional

Personally, I don't like the 'Hobbit house' look a lot of the earthbag homes have. I like the construction technique, though.

Article:

http://www.motherearthnews.com/Green-Homes/2005-10-01/Earthbag-Construction.aspx

[Dover]

17. Nice! And love the roof pattern design.

The second link in the OP shows some house plans that are more traditional like this one.
Personally I like them all but do enjoy dome ceilings.