Earth dome diary

[oceanali3]

great video! love it!

[JustAnotherViewpoint]

I live in Australia and have been considering building a shed using this method, Can anyone reply to tell me is it costly at all.

[oceanali3]

@JustAnotherViewpoint hi we live in SE QLD and bought our bags from Bundaberg Bag Co. We got 750 bags delivered for about $375

youll need more bags though i would imagine... this is using the individual bag method. cheers!

[omarnomade]

im in a caribbean island ,can i fill the bags with a salty mud from here?

[tamalayne]

great job! where do you get the long tubes? = )

[YUTOOBJUNKE]

how much do they cost.

[rushin2]

I'm glad to see projects like this one being completed. Inspiring... This is what moved us to start and complete our project on our Earth Lodge...

[stitchimage]

i am moving to hawaii , and looking to use lava cinder- do i use concrete or morter

[earthboar]

Hello stitchimage - whatever material you have available must be made into a mix that has the right consistency. The simplest test you can do is to grab a hanfull of mix and squeeze it - you want it to retain it's shape when you release your grip and not be tto wet. This means you have to add water, cement, lime aggregate, clay or whatever other add-mix you need to achieve a "stable", workable filler. I've got no experience of using lava cinder - try different mixes, experiment.

[chloewolsey]

Hello all -

a triple-dome super-adobe build has just begun in Hounslow, London. Taking volunteers NOW!!! Super team, with Julian Faulkner, Lajos Mascar

& Janos (the guys who built the 57 dome Pegasus orphanage in Nepal and the

Belgian demonstration Eco-Dome.) Come join us!! . 'Earth-bag... build, London' on Facebook. June, July, August 2010

[chloewolsey]

Hello all -

a triple-dome super-adobe build has just begun in Hounslow, London. Taking volunteers NOW!!! Super team, with Julian Faulkner, Lajos Mascar

& Janos (the guys who built the 57 dome Pegasus orphanage in Nepal and the

Belgian demonstration Eco-Dome.) Come join us!! . 'Earth-bag... build, London' on Facebook. June, July, August 2010

[niamh2739]

A QUESTION: Once the domes are finished and covered with the soil and clay mixture how does that hold up in humid or rainy weather? I live in florida and would love to build one but iam not sure how well it would hold up. What is the best material to use on the exterior ? Cement ? Stucco? and how easy would it be to put some form of plumbing?

[earthboar]

Clay is good and provided that you work with care it will give you a sound water tight finish that will last a considerable time. Sand and cement render with an integral waterproofer in the final coat is ok is only appropriate when the bags have been filled with a lime or cement mix. We're building in the uk shortly and we'll be using a double coil construction with a waterproof membrane sandwiched between the inner and outer coils. The outside will then be covered in soil/turf and be planted.

[earthboar]

It's really easy to 1st fix all services once the dome is built. You can chase out channels for ductwork and fix back boxes for electrical fittings etc prior to plastering - same for all the plumbing. I'll sort out and post a vid showing this sort of work and you can also check out Lisa & Paul Major's Ardometv on youtube for fixing electrical boxes.

[agentkungeh]

@niamh2739 its like mud brick, it should hold up like a weaker concrete.

[chloewolsey]

Totally, totally beautiful. Love the whole school. We watched your progress & wish to do similar on our land in Tasmania. Building school. Kudos!

[geridg]

very cool.....best of luck to all involved in this inovative building! Wonderful.

[WizzleThump]

What size rolls did you get? How does it look now? How many meters of bags did you use?

VERY NICE!

Thanks!

Subscribed!

[earthboar]

Most rolls we buy are 500m long. Here we used a double layer of 17" for the lower levels reduced in width incrementally as we came up changing to a single layer of 17" at about 3metres height and again reducing the width incrementally to the apex. The narrowest roll was 12". Generally the domes seem fine but there is an issue with condensation. The vents at the bottom have got mesh inside to prevent snakes/rodents getting in but I think they might possibly have got blocked up.

[earthboar]

@WizzleThump At a guess we used about 65k to build about 55 domes. The most recent Cal-earth newsletter has more on the number of metres of tube used in relation to dome dia. The only dome where I've tried to evaluate materials used worked out about 780m and 18m3 earth for a 3.2m dome with buttressing, raised beds and serpentine seating.

[JohnProkos]

I live in Nepal and we are ready to build and eartbag home but can't find the bag material. Not in rolls at least. Would you please share your source for the material. Was it local or imported?

[earthboar]

Hello John We used Hool Traders to supply our tube - it took a little while to get it sourced but eventually they got it in from India for us. I can't remember the cost. They were good for barbed wire too. Their details are: Hool Traders Putali Sadak Dhobidhara Kathmandu Tel: 4423177 Fax: 977-1-4413153 GPO Box 12345 Mobile for Min Nath Neupane (proprietor) 9851027245 Their depot is NW of Pashupatinath - I've just had a look on google earth and I think it's 27 42' 50.23N and 85 20' 42.00E

[borry28]

thank you very much for the interesting video. I've been checking out eco building techniques (earthship, earthbag building) for a while now and would like to learn to build this way myself. Most of all I would like to combine charity/volutary work with the learning of these building techniques, like for example this pegasus project. Could you tell me something more about upcoming projects or sites that can give me some more info?

Thanks very much!!!

[ArdomeTV]

good looking work!

Majors Dome - asi asi tv

[fwirl102]

@earthboar:

How did your skilled builders learn all the info they needed to supervise/build the domes? From what I've seen, you've built a system of domes that is quite complex. Much more so than anything I've seen anyway. I'm very interested in learning how you were able to build domes that were so precise and uniform.

[earthboar]

The best place to learn is Cal Earth in Hesperia California. Once you have acquired the technique then you could develop your skill working on the various projects going on worldwide. Although the essential geometry of the construction technique remains constant there are a huge number of arrangements and configurations possible within the application of that technique. The best way to access that knowledge is by actually working on real buildings, either your own or with experienced builders.

[fwirl102]

It seems, as with most processes, that experience is key. I'm actually heading up to Hesperia this weekend. Also, apparently our project may have a senior intern from the Cal-Earth Institute join on as lead designer and as head of the construction team, which will be truly remarkable to observe.

Thank you very much for the advice. You and your team are doing a fantastic job of displaying how those who are able should, and are, helping less fortunate individuals all over the world.

[iznogood21]

Congratulations for this project! Hope you the best.

[earthboar]

Thanks iznogood21

[wrightylaaad]

what about material cost, manhours, total time to build and all cost?

[earthboar]

Bag quality varies along with cost - Good quality 350mm for about £1 per m, 400mm £1.15 It's not necessarily a labour intensive build although many hands make light work. 3 people x 10 days = 3m dia. dome, 10 people x 10 days = 5m dia dome. A huge amount of fill material is used and consideration must be given to importing earth in favour of exhausting precious local soil that could be more valuable for crops. I think £10k for the shell of a 3 bed home plus labour or enrol volunteer help.

[earthboar]

@earthboar I don't know what I was thinking when I said the bag was £1 per metre - it's about a quarter of that. The last lot I bought was 23p per metre for 14 inch bag and 28p per metre for 17 inch

[wrightylaaad]

are parts of the domes built into the hillside? at 0.33 i noticed the earth level on the right hand side is higher - does this affect the strength of the dome shape?

[earthboar]

Most of the domes are built into the terrace risers. This enabled us to use the hillside as a buttress and therefore just a single coil on that side. Where there's no hill or other supporting structure ( ie. another dome) then we used larger bag and doubled up the coil.

As the dome gets higher you can use a progressively smaller bag and move from a double coil to a single. In order to maintain the dome's strength and integrity you must buttress the base and hillsides are really good for this.

[wrightylaaad]

they look really well made , inspiring stuff to watch. i want one!!

[jorgedominguez2007]

This is a variation from Mark's job. If you notice on this project they are not burning the bags

[wrightylaaad]

i think its great what the pegasus project are doing , ive been watching your videos on here for a while now , keep posting , more people need to see these buildigs and the potential they offer