Beyond 90 Degrees with Earthbags

A slide show by Nelly Higginbotham which exhibits the art of building a home with earth bags, earth plaster for the exterior and interior walls, and milk paints for the drywall all with an imagination for detail. A four year, artistic project completed by one woman along with the wonderful help of others here and there.

Category:

Howto & Style

Tags:

• earthbag homes
• 'earthbag
• construction
• alternative building
• natural building
• sustainable living
• solar
• earth plaster
• Paonia
• software

[peacemaker32able]

Hello, Nelly! I finished first coat on exterior and interior walls. But second coat is very challenging. Partly I tried on the exterior wall. I experienced cracks. How did you get through the problem of cracks? You bathroom looks very creative! Did you use bricks for walls partly? At 6:26, how did you make different colors of walls? And I would like to hear more about your work at 6:46 and making shower booth at 7:07, and so on. With warm greetings from Korea!

[cbmst1]

@peacemaker32able

I messaged you.

[peacemaker32able]

@cbmst1 Thank you, Nelly! Now is wintertime. So it is cold and freezing. Earth work became more difficult. I plan to start second coat after making warm inside of house.

Do it yourself is very challenging. At 7:05 you put the tiles by

yourself. Is it possible? In case of some walls of bathroom. you did not

put the tiles. How did you finish this walls? I would like to hear more about the procedure of making shower booth area. Your advice became very helpful last year. Happy new year!

[cbmst1]

I taught myself to tile, so you can too! Tools you need:tile saw w/good blade, bag of spacers, lg. sponge, 5 gal bucket for water, toothed trowel. Watch "How to tile" videos. Map pattern according to area before starting which takes some math/layout design on floor if that helps. As for west wall in this shower, I'm afraid I improvised so much I don't have exact recipe. I did use concrete in mix w/LOTS of silica sand to make it like flagstone where it dries quickly after getting wet.Good Luck!

[peacemaker32able]

@cbmst1 Thank you, Nelly! Now I am studying how to tile. I watched "how to tile" videos. I also went to tile stores to find out tiles we want. Did you tile some walls with mosaic tiles? How did you tile the kitchen area? Last week I started to plaster inside walls. I think we need good quality of straw to make good effect on the wall. How did you break the straw? How was the size of the straw you cut?

[cbmst1]

I used individual mosaic tiles for trimming out edges (6:31 btm of yellow & purple walls & 6:44 where tile meets wall) & for top of partition (6:46) in master bathroom. I like look & feel of these glass tiles, but thin so did not use where I needed toughness. Only single row of tiles as back splash in kitchen (7:56), otherwise no other tile. Dry straw important. Used chipper shredder (2:40) set to fine cut, 3/4"-1 1/2" (2:14) & screen out "knuckles", seed hulls. Good luck plastering!

[Achbar]

I hope building this lovely home was not too expensive

[rawmark]

@cbmst1 This sounds great but I may be forced to build a monolithic dome or rammed earth home to accommodate. I've got two boys, a girlfriend and her son that will be moving in with me. That's three boys. I would have to build several pods or find another option to build an entire second floor. I'm going to do an internship with calearth next year so we'll see what they recommend. :)

[cbmst1]

Will look into commentary with this video as I know there are photos which could use some explanation. Re: the creative process, if I couldn't have been inventive/creative along the way, I'd have lost the spirit because of manual labor involved. I enjoy shape/beauty/color & tried every effort to design these elements in my living space. I also like to recycle when possible which the tiles in 5:54 are, sandstone tiles from India found at a used building supply store, a great place to go.

[cbmst1]

Loft is approx. 16 X 8 & closet approx 36 sq. ft. It's my 6'4" son's bedroom. He loves it! Back of closet is for storage. Highly recommend a loft! Bags for second story were filled w/scoria only (no earth/sand mix) to keep load bearing weight down. Works as more insulative than mass. Had to use curtains (hemmed at an angle) on a rod for door/privacy which has been fine. Stairs to loft were a challenge to figure out, but very happy w/spiral stairs though not to "code", a little tighter angle.