Building with Earth - an overview of the options

[jraabe]

This is an introductory article (and a bit lightweight):

http://architecture.about.com/cs/greenarchitecture/a/eartharch.htm?nl=1

One of the more complete articles in the above link is on "compressed earth block" construction (this example from Mexico):

[Amanda_931]

I'm considering earthen building.

There's a company who makes the machines for doing the compressed earth blocks (CEB) not far away.  But I don't quite understand the company.

when I asked how much they blocks weighed, the woman in charge of those machines, said--let me get back to you, I'll have to go outside and weigh one.  This may not be a company I want to deal with. :-/  BTW an 8" x 12" x 4" block weighed 27 pounds.  Presumably at full dryness, no clue if they're really ten pounds more because they've just been sitting outside in the rain for four years (if so, I'd guess they've held up well!).

Gernot Minke wrote a short pamphlet on designing for earthen buildings in seismic areas--it's now unavailable, but I could send one--it's digital.  It's useful for more than just that--siting a house on a slope, for instance.

I also have a translation of Minke's book on earthen building which I'm reading right now.  It really does suffer from being a translation--in fact a translation by someone (or some machine) who doesn't know &^^%**! about the subject, at least in American English (and I think I've read enough British stuff to think not that either), but....

A couple of years ago Natural Home (or in any case the magazine that has now changed its name) did a feature on his house.  Without any of the information we really all wanted to know--were the sinks really made of sand/clay/silt?  How long had they been in use?  Were they really in use?  How about a bathtub?  How old was his house?  Had he really turned his students loose on designing it, or was this his taste?  Etc.  Some of the answers are in the book.  (Mid-eighties or earlier for the sinks--although they probably have--take your pick of any or all--concrete, asphalt emulsion, "double-boiled linseed oil.")

And somewhere there's another book. up in storage, I expect.

Cob may actually be more forgiving as to mixture than the CEBs.  But good grief it can be slow.

Earthbags might accidently be the best of the lot.  Part of Minke's house is made of something like them.

[lodestar]

Have you read any of the dirt bag information from Kaki Hunter and Donnie Kiffmeyer?  We visited them in Moab a number of years ago...fountains of information.

(By the way, she was in the movies "Porky's" and "Roadie"...)

[jwv]

Amanda,

The Steens (CaneloProject) have had good luck in wet areas using lime in the earthen mix then finishing with olive oil soap.

Here's a link to see a shower  http://caneloproject.com/pages/currrent%20projects/sb%20studio.html
I'm trying to decide how to finish the walls in our walk-in shower area-maybe one side (the bale wall) with corrugated and a lime mix on the others-or just slate tile.

Good luck

Judy

[Amanda_931]

Cob bathtubs seem to be the thing that everybody dreams of being able to do.  Bathroom sinks and showers are not quite as impressive.  A kitchen sink might be.

Showers for sure can be done with lime/clay plaster onto cob.  Good drainage, walls not all the way to the ceiling, design not needing a shower curtain, will eliminate most of the problems with mold and such (Not to mention the lime).  According to someone on another list who has one that he's lived in for a few years now.  I can't remember what his floor is made with.

The Canelo project truly has a lovely web-site.  

It's so hard to pry myself out of here to go to workshops--even the fairly local ones if they do want you overnight.  A handful of cats and dogs--some mostly indoors--will do that to one.

I've seen the Hunter/Diffmeyer book.  It looks good.  And their corners and windows look great.

[glenn-k]

Our cob front porch floor with 4 coats of linseed oil - thinned 50% with thinner to start, and finished with acrylic concrete sealer seems to be 100% waterproof -even to the point that before we had a front door on the porch water stood on it for several days without damage.