@theShice I haven't actually contacted any earthship folks, although I'm very aware of them. I originally wanted to build an earthship, but at the time it didn't look like something I could do by myself. I've since changed my thinking on that though. Cost of an earthship also seemed prohibitive, but I've observed some revelations in earthship building that would defray costs by quite a bit - I think anyway. I do have some questions for Mr. Reynolds - in the future I might pose them.
@doctordirtbag That would be wonderful. More interconnection among pioneers can never do harm.
And I agree that Earthships look a bit costly, compared to other alternative building practices. That doesn't mean that elements of them can't be incorporated in cheaper building types, though. Anyway, keep up the good work! Can't wait till I build my own hobbit hole :D
@theShice I haven't actually contacted any earthship folks, although I'm very aware of them. I originally wanted to build an earthship, but at the time it didn't look like something I could do by myself. I've since changed my thinking on that though. Cost of an earthship also seemed prohibitive, but I've observed some revelations in earthship building that would defray costs by quite a bit - I think anyway. I do have some questions for Mr. Reynolds - in the future I might pose them.
I've seen other buildings with earthbags (circular buildings) that seem pretty resistant to eartquakes. Would this kind of building resist an earthquake? thanks
nice home. I dont know too much about new mexico but it seems like you are lacking some way of binding each earthbag to one another for shear strength between each bag. Would love to hear back from you about your design @ surfingstudentadam@hotmail.com
Beautiful video, I admire this very much. Just watched a related video using plastic bottles sometimes filled with earth, sometimes empty. The use of layers of empty but sealed plastic bottles could provide tremendous R-value if you lined the inside and/or outside of exterior walls with them. Don't think earth bags alone have much R-value, do they?
@exclamation3mark several reasons why, but to make it short, the windows use a wider opening, the windows are heavy commercial jobbies, and the larger bucks tend to shift when compacting bags around them. Anchoring the bucks to the concrete solved that. Door bucks were easier to keep in one place for me. I could go on, but I'll add that much of it was a learning process as I went. All three doors on the next section of the house use concrete sills as well.
@SuperOrbitron curved walls are possible with earthbags. Not so with traditional rammed earth walls - unless you have lots of money for complex forms. I consider earthbag construction a type of 'free form' rammed earth. Hope that answers your question, and thanks for watching.
@EcospunRecords Poly Prop or Poly Earth Bags. 18x30". The reason I go through these guys is the price is decent and it includes shipping. Talk to Jeremy Hilt.
@Schnookable I highly recommend round. It's the simplest and the strongest shape to build. Some have an aversion to the "smurfness" of them, but I certainly don't. There is a limit to how large you should make them - considering roof type, but otherwise, round is good. Further explanation of why I didn't go round would incriminate my better half, whom I highly suspect is anti-smurfite. : ) (well, there were other reasons too, but they would require more space than allotted)
@craigbarnes85 Not sure what hyper adobe is... is it the same as super adobe? I've seen the mesh bags - they look pretty cool but I didn't want to switch paddles mid-stream. There's a gal in Colorado that built with them, but she doubled up the bags. I believe she put mud between courses instead of barb wire. There were some things I didn't warm to about those bags though. They're "stretchy", and I think barb wire might be less work than spreading mud, and would add tensile strength. Thanks!
This is absolutely amazing to me! I will have to do some searching to figure out how to get started. Any idea what a modest sized place would cost if built in this manner?
@elusive1003 A basic structure could be built for less than 2k. The more lumber/concrete you use - the price goes up. The more on site materials you use, the price goes down. Get windows and doors etc at salvage yard - price goes down. Buy everything new, price goes up! It all depends on what you have to spend, but a basic structure can be built for very little money. Hope that kinda helps... : )
@Gusupulus I think it's been done before. Just like poly bags, you'd need to cover them (plaster) before they disintegrate due to exposure to the elements. The advantage of poly bags is that they'll keep their structure once they are hidden from sunlight. But, on the other hand, once the bricks are cured and plastered, they really don't require the bag anymore. If you have a supply of burlap bags, I'd say use them.
@TotalPreparation they'll be consumed by the herds of rattlesnakes and tarantulas that I plan to keep in the house. (kidding) Not a concern for me at the moment, but if the problem arises, then I'll have to deal with it I guess. This stuff is very similar to adobe, which has been used forever in NM.
@SirJosephOxford I've snapped quite a few photos of chemtrails while I've been working. I can't express how angry I get when I see 'em spraying. I point them out to people every day - most don't even notice that they're there! It's bad enough to get poisoned by these bastards - now they're depriving me of electricity by blocking out the sun in one of the best areas for solar power. See- now you went and got me all riled up...!!!
@doctordirtbag Sorry man, I feel the same way you do. I have countless photos and info,and people still shake their heads at me. Have you seen the jelly yet? I live in the middle of CORN heaven. The skys look like damn chess boards of death... almost on a daily basis.
@SirJosephOxford No apology necessary - I was just making light of a heavy situation. the fact that you can point them out tells me you know what they are, which is a good thing. Haven't seen any jelly yet, and I hope I never do. Keep up the good fight, and spread the word every chance you get. (I'll do the same!)
hey scott..how are you filling the bags? Looks very consistant. Is it by hand?..do you have a machine? how much does each bag weigh? Everything looks good. will the stucco stick to the bags or will you have to mesh them out? Sorry about all the questions..but it looks like a cool way to build a house.
@brofun I use a de-bottomed 5 gal bucket and a shovel to fill the bags. Usually do about 20 or so then put them on the wall. I'll load up 4 bags into the tractor loader to carry them to the wall. The big bags weight is similar to a bag of cement - so I'd say around 90 lbs. Cover the bags with mud (I fortify the mud with a little cement), then you can put whatever you want as a final coat. I plan on using earth/lime plaster on the house, although I did use cement stucco on the dome.
@brofun Using cement stucco would require mesh on the walls, which I want to avoid. And just for the record - my name is Jon. Not sure where you got "Scott", but no biggie. There are a few shots of the jig I used for laying these bags - probably in the dome video - to make the bags more uniform.
yes..."Schott Solar".... and guess what????......they're in new mexico....wwwweee.......hey.!!!!! while you got that backhoe..... you ought to dig a whole and drop a cargo container in it... it may provide an air chiller chamber for you..plus whatever you can think of to do with it..
@doctordirtbag sorry...... on the smaller first house......boy you replied back quick.......i do metal roofs.. im 42 and started when i was 17........are you in utah or something?... was the land cheap? ..... are you homesteading?
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt I thought maybe you were referring to the first vid of the dome. Yeah, I had planned on doing the whole thing with bags, but I knew the house wouldn't be a dome, so I wanted to get some practice with the ferrocement method, so that's what I did. A metal roof was one of my first choices for the house, but I didn't want to use so much lumber, and I wanted nice high ceilings, so a cement barrel vault is what I'm going with - hopefully it'll work out. Thanks for the comments!
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt oh, and I'm in the middle of the NM desert, the land was inexpensive - but that's with no well (yet anyway) and about a mile from electric. We still own and live in a house in town, but will be selling soon (I hope), and will rough it until the house is somewhat functional. I do have access to water out there, but it needs to be brought on site with my truck tank. Our roof will catch water and feed cisterns I plan on building on the north side of the house.
@doctordirtbag your situation sounds like mine. moving out to the country from town. but here in west memphis the humidity is so damn miserable with the added misquitos, life sucks outside until spring and fall. but those era's are short. man you're gonna need some wind mills and solar panels for power. i commend you. go for it. but be patient.
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt I'm waiting for a sponsor to shower me with solar panels and wind turbines. Know anyone? : ) It's the perfect spot for both. We've got our share of flying critters also. Not so much mosquitoes, but mentally challenged flying kamikaze bugs. (no idea what they are!)
You know something? Your vids make you look like an alright guy for a dirtbag! :-p No but seriously good stuff, I subbed and looking forward to the completion.
Since you're in New Mexico, are you in contact with the Earthship people? Love your house, btw :)
theShice 5 days ago
@theShice I haven't actually contacted any earthship folks, although I'm very aware of them. I originally wanted to build an earthship, but at the time it didn't look like something I could do by myself. I've since changed my thinking on that though. Cost of an earthship also seemed prohibitive, but I've observed some revelations in earthship building that would defray costs by quite a bit - I think anyway. I do have some questions for Mr. Reynolds - in the future I might pose them.
doctordirtbag 5 days ago
@doctordirtbag That would be wonderful. More interconnection among pioneers can never do harm.
And I agree that Earthships look a bit costly, compared to other alternative building practices. That doesn't mean that elements of them can't be incorporated in cheaper building types, though. Anyway, keep up the good work! Can't wait till I build my own hobbit hole :D
theShice 3 days ago
@theShice I haven't actually contacted any earthship folks, although I'm very aware of them. I originally wanted to build an earthship, but at the time it didn't look like something I could do by myself. I've since changed my thinking on that though. Cost of an earthship also seemed prohibitive, but I've observed some revelations in earthship building that would defray costs by quite a bit - I think anyway. I do have some questions for Mr. Reynolds - in the future I might pose them.
doctordirtbag 5 days ago
I've seen other buildings with earthbags (circular buildings) that seem pretty resistant to eartquakes. Would this kind of building resist an earthquake? thanks
lopezcarlton 6 days ago
Love the song selection! Who might this be?
TheOregonPrepper 1 week ago
@TheOregonPrepper -Michael Landau - guitarist extraordinaire
doctordirtbag 1 week ago
This has been flagged as spam show
nice home. I dont know too much about new mexico but it seems like you are lacking some way of binding each earthbag to one another for shear strength between each bag. Would love to hear back from you about your design @ surfingstudentadam@hotmail.com
king9185 2 weeks ago
Beautiful video, I admire this very much. Just watched a related video using plastic bottles sometimes filled with earth, sometimes empty. The use of layers of empty but sealed plastic bottles could provide tremendous R-value if you lined the inside and/or outside of exterior walls with them. Don't think earth bags alone have much R-value, do they?
MrAntonLucas 2 weeks ago
Nice job!
How much is land going for (out away from the beaten path, like your house is located)?
Good choice of music.
SororThothma 2 weeks ago
@SororThothma Thanks. Smallest parcels out here are 20 acres and are going for $15-$20k. We got ours from a private seller for quite a bit less.
doctordirtbag 2 weeks ago
Why do windows get sills but not doors?
exclamation3mark 1 month ago
@exclamation3mark several reasons why, but to make it short, the windows use a wider opening, the windows are heavy commercial jobbies, and the larger bucks tend to shift when compacting bags around them. Anchoring the bucks to the concrete solved that. Door bucks were easier to keep in one place for me. I could go on, but I'll add that much of it was a learning process as I went. All three doors on the next section of the house use concrete sills as well.
doctordirtbag 1 month ago
why use bags instead of rammed earth construction?
SuperOrbitron 1 month ago
@SuperOrbitron curved walls are possible with earthbags. Not so with traditional rammed earth walls - unless you have lots of money for complex forms. I consider earthbag construction a type of 'free form' rammed earth. Hope that answers your question, and thanks for watching.
doctordirtbag 1 month ago 2
how many earth bags did it take to build the whole home?
Ladyhawkwright 1 month ago
incredible!
what's the name of the song??!
askjfl 2 months ago
where in NM?
RiloKiley77 2 months ago
hello nice house, could you tel me the mane of the music,title, and band,
and whee is the place you do this house
thanks
thdierry 3 months ago
@thdierry the name of the song is Me/5 Storks by Michael Landau. House is in New Mexico
doctordirtbag 3 months ago
digging the landau soundtrack
liesuntold 4 months ago
I went to central bag company and got confused! Which types of bags do i ask for? Great house by the way! : ) Fabulous!
EcospunRecords 5 months ago
@EcospunRecords Poly Prop or Poly Earth Bags. 18x30". The reason I go through these guys is the price is decent and it includes shipping. Talk to Jeremy Hilt.
doctordirtbag 5 months ago
How much was your overall cost?
WorstxKasexScenario 5 months ago
Can I ask why you decided against going round? Would a round house have been a less labor intensive build?
Schnookable 5 months ago
@Schnookable I highly recommend round. It's the simplest and the strongest shape to build. Some have an aversion to the "smurfness" of them, but I certainly don't. There is a limit to how large you should make them - considering roof type, but otherwise, round is good. Further explanation of why I didn't go round would incriminate my better half, whom I highly suspect is anti-smurfite. : ) (well, there were other reasons too, but they would require more space than allotted)
doctordirtbag 5 months ago
where do you get your poly bags from
soggieshorts1 5 months ago
@soggieshorts1 central bag company dot com
doctordirtbag 5 months ago
Awesome videos. It must be an incredible feeling to do a project like this alone.
I'm interested to hear your opinions on "Hyper Adobe" construction. Apparently using mesh poly bags removes the need for barbed wire.
craigbarnes85 8 months ago
@craigbarnes85 Not sure what hyper adobe is... is it the same as super adobe? I've seen the mesh bags - they look pretty cool but I didn't want to switch paddles mid-stream. There's a gal in Colorado that built with them, but she doubled up the bags. I believe she put mud between courses instead of barb wire. There were some things I didn't warm to about those bags though. They're "stretchy", and I think barb wire might be less work than spreading mud, and would add tensile strength. Thanks!
doctordirtbag 8 months ago
This is absolutely amazing to me! I will have to do some searching to figure out how to get started. Any idea what a modest sized place would cost if built in this manner?
elusive1003 10 months ago
@elusive1003 A basic structure could be built for less than 2k. The more lumber/concrete you use - the price goes up. The more on site materials you use, the price goes down. Get windows and doors etc at salvage yard - price goes down. Buy everything new, price goes up! It all depends on what you have to spend, but a basic structure can be built for very little money. Hope that kinda helps... : )
doctordirtbag 10 months ago
@Gusupulus I think it's been done before. Just like poly bags, you'd need to cover them (plaster) before they disintegrate due to exposure to the elements. The advantage of poly bags is that they'll keep their structure once they are hidden from sunlight. But, on the other hand, once the bricks are cured and plastered, they really don't require the bag anymore. If you have a supply of burlap bags, I'd say use them.
doctordirtbag 11 months ago
what about insects? white ants etc?
TotalPreparation 11 months ago
@TotalPreparation they'll be consumed by the herds of rattlesnakes and tarantulas that I plan to keep in the house. (kidding) Not a concern for me at the moment, but if the problem arises, then I'll have to deal with it I guess. This stuff is very similar to adobe, which has been used forever in NM.
doctordirtbag 11 months ago
@doctordirtbag Ok I appreciate your reply.
cant wiate for the vid of your completed house.
You have been very inspiring TY for taking the time posting
TotalPreparation 11 months ago
Chemtrails @ 0:33
SirJosephOxford 1 year ago
@SirJosephOxford I've snapped quite a few photos of chemtrails while I've been working. I can't express how angry I get when I see 'em spraying. I point them out to people every day - most don't even notice that they're there! It's bad enough to get poisoned by these bastards - now they're depriving me of electricity by blocking out the sun in one of the best areas for solar power. See- now you went and got me all riled up...!!!
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
@doctordirtbag Sorry man, I feel the same way you do. I have countless photos and info,and people still shake their heads at me. Have you seen the jelly yet? I live in the middle of CORN heaven. The skys look like damn chess boards of death... almost on a daily basis.
SirJosephOxford 1 year ago
@SirJosephOxford No apology necessary - I was just making light of a heavy situation. the fact that you can point them out tells me you know what they are, which is a good thing. Haven't seen any jelly yet, and I hope I never do. Keep up the good fight, and spread the word every chance you get. (I'll do the same!)
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
hey scott..how are you filling the bags? Looks very consistant. Is it by hand?..do you have a machine? how much does each bag weigh? Everything looks good. will the stucco stick to the bags or will you have to mesh them out? Sorry about all the questions..but it looks like a cool way to build a house.
brofun 1 year ago
@brofun I use a de-bottomed 5 gal bucket and a shovel to fill the bags. Usually do about 20 or so then put them on the wall. I'll load up 4 bags into the tractor loader to carry them to the wall. The big bags weight is similar to a bag of cement - so I'd say around 90 lbs. Cover the bags with mud (I fortify the mud with a little cement), then you can put whatever you want as a final coat. I plan on using earth/lime plaster on the house, although I did use cement stucco on the dome.
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
@brofun Using cement stucco would require mesh on the walls, which I want to avoid. And just for the record - my name is Jon. Not sure where you got "Scott", but no biggie. There are a few shots of the jig I used for laying these bags - probably in the dome video - to make the bags more uniform.
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
SCHOTT Solar CSP, Inc.
5201 Hawking Drive, SE
Albuquerque, NM 87106
here is the exact location.
and....888 457 6527 505 212 85 85
....phone and fax.
tyhnbgtyhnbgt 1 year ago
yes..."Schott Solar".... and guess what????......they're in new mexico....wwwweee.......hey.!!!!! while you got that backhoe..... you ought to dig a whole and drop a cargo container in it... it may provide an air chiller chamber for you..plus whatever you can think of to do with it..
tyhnbgtyhnbgt 1 year ago
cool music, whats the artist name if you don't mind
ctech14367 1 year ago
@ctech14367 Mike Landau Group
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
i think you should've kept the bags going all the way to the top for insulating properties. but very good job though.
tyhnbgtyhnbgt 1 year ago
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt all the way to the top? Top of what? Do you mean continue the bags for the roof?
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
@doctordirtbag sorry...... on the smaller first house......boy you replied back quick.......i do metal roofs.. im 42 and started when i was 17........are you in utah or something?... was the land cheap? ..... are you homesteading?
tyhnbgtyhnbgt 1 year ago
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt I thought maybe you were referring to the first vid of the dome. Yeah, I had planned on doing the whole thing with bags, but I knew the house wouldn't be a dome, so I wanted to get some practice with the ferrocement method, so that's what I did. A metal roof was one of my first choices for the house, but I didn't want to use so much lumber, and I wanted nice high ceilings, so a cement barrel vault is what I'm going with - hopefully it'll work out. Thanks for the comments!
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt oh, and I'm in the middle of the NM desert, the land was inexpensive - but that's with no well (yet anyway) and about a mile from electric. We still own and live in a house in town, but will be selling soon (I hope), and will rough it until the house is somewhat functional. I do have access to water out there, but it needs to be brought on site with my truck tank. Our roof will catch water and feed cisterns I plan on building on the north side of the house.
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
@doctordirtbag your situation sounds like mine. moving out to the country from town. but here in west memphis the humidity is so damn miserable with the added misquitos, life sucks outside until spring and fall. but those era's are short. man you're gonna need some wind mills and solar panels for power. i commend you. go for it. but be patient.
tyhnbgtyhnbgt 1 year ago
@tyhnbgtyhnbgt I'm waiting for a sponsor to shower me with solar panels and wind turbines. Know anyone? : ) It's the perfect spot for both. We've got our share of flying critters also. Not so much mosquitoes, but mentally challenged flying kamikaze bugs. (no idea what they are!)
doctordirtbag 1 year ago
Wow you da man! I found how much work this is and need to break away. I hope to get back to mine in a while. Keep it up.
Delas1 1 year ago
You know something? Your vids make you look like an alright guy for a dirtbag! :-p No but seriously good stuff, I subbed and looking forward to the completion.
thehilitereel 1 year ago
Absolutely awesome!
WizzleThump 1 year ago