Earthbag Building

Over seventy percent of Americans cannot afford to own a code-enforced contractor-built home. This has led to widespread interest in using natural materials -- straw cob and earth -- for building homes and other buildings that are inexpensive and that rely largely on labor rather than expensive and often environmentally-damaging outsourced materials.Earthbag Building is the first comprehensive guide to all the tools tricks and techniques for building with bags filled with earth - or earthbags. Having been introduced to sandbag construction by the renowned Nader Khalili in 1993 the authors developed this "Flexible Form Rammed Earth Technique" over the last decade. A reliable method for constructing homes outbuildings garden walls and much more this enduring tree-free architecture can also be used to create arched and domed structures of great beauty -- in any region and at home in developing countries or in emergency relief work.This profusely illustrated guide first discusses the many merits of earthbag construction and then leads the reader through the key elements of an earthbag building: * Special design considerations * Foundations walls and floors * Electrical plumbing and shelving * Lintels windows and door installations * Roofs arches and domes * Exterior and interior plasters.With dedicated sections on costs making your own specialized tools and building code considerations as well as a complete resources guide Earthbag Building is the long-awaited definitive guide to this uniquely pleasing construction style.