Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series, 8)

Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques (Mother Earth News Wiser Living Series, 8)

<p><strong> The only comprehensive, illustrated, step-by-step guide to building with earthbags. </strong></p><p> 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. </p><p><i> Earthbag Building </i> 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. </p><p> 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: </p><ul><li> Special design considerations </li><li> Foundations, walls, and floors </li><li> Electrical, plumbing, and shelving </li><li> Lintels, windows and door installations </li><li> Roofs, arches and domes </li><li> Exterior and interior plasters. </li></ul><p> With dedicated sections on costs, making your own specialized tools, and building code considerations, as well as a complete resources guide, <i> Earthbag Building </i> is the long-awaited, definitive guide to this uniquely pleasing construction style. </p><p><b><i> Mother Earth News </i> Wiser Living Series </b></p>