Step outside. You could be standing on the building materials for your next home. Earthbag homes—the concept is as simple as it sounds.

Earthbag Homes With Sandbags

The sandbags are filled on-site and arranged in layers or as compressed coils. Stabilizers such as cement, lime, or sodium carbonate may be added to an ideal mix of 70% sand, 30% clay. Straw may also be added. The earthbags are then plastered over with adobe. Arquitectura en Equilibrio (Architecture in Balance) (Jose Andres Vallejo / Flickr)

Earthbag construction in the Philippines. Long sandbags add stability, but using barbed wire between layers of shorter sandbags, is also fine. It takes much longer to fill the long bags than the short ones. This photograph was taken by SCDLR8899 / Flickr.

Earthbag Homes With Plastic Bags

Plastic bags recycled into earth bags—if plastic does not break down for a thousand years, this home is sure to last several lifetimes. Of course covered with adobe or plaster, so that the plastic does not offgas or degrade. Arquitectura en Equilibrio, Colombia. Photo by Jose Andres Vallejo / Flickr.

Inside an EarthBag ready for plaster. The other way to make an earthbag. A mix of native soil; clay/aggregate/sand, and/or insulating material such as lava stone, scoria, pumice, perlite or vermiculite inside polypropylene bags (which have a half life of 500 years). The plastic needs to be protected from the degradation of the sun’s rays with a plaster. More information can be found at structure1.com.

Polypropylene Sandbags For Sale

If you do not like the idea of plastic bags—then Kelly Hart and Dr. Owen Geiger of Earthbag home suggest natural porous bags (hemp, jute, flax or linen) filled with dirt, stone powder and sodium carbonate or lime (or numerous other cement capable wastes). After you lay a course of bags, sprinkle the layer with water, and after drying you will have a cement layer. Read more here: earthbaghome.wordpress.com

Earthbag Home Foundations

Foundations differ depending on your site. In a rainy locale, rocks are placed under the earthbags for drainage.



The time consuming part, filling the bags. The bags are filled in place on the wall. The CalEarth site says that three reasonably-fit persons can lay 100 linear ft of bag per day. Arquitectura en Equilibrio, Colombia. Jose Andres Vallejo / Flickr.

Tamping is a necessary step. Initially a trench is dug and then filled with gravel, cement or a sunken layer of bags. This technique makes nice benches as well. Visit ecocentro.org for additional information.

15 Striking Earthbag Homes Around the World

1) Project Seres

Project Seres, Guatemala. projectseres.org, this photo was originally found at “flickr. com/photos/projectseres/4827000210”.

2) Emergency Shelter Village

CalEarth — Emergency Shelter Village, Hesperia, California. Iranian born architect, Nader Khalili developed the long-bag Superadobe prototype in California. In 1991 he founded the California Institute of Earth Art and Architecture (Cal-Earth), a non-profit research and educational organization. Photo by James / Flickr.

Cal Earth — Emergency Shelters. This long bag/barbed wire concept was originally presented by Nader Khalili to NASA for proposed home habitats on the Moon and Mars. Photo by Ashley Muse / Flickr.

3) Visible Layers

CalEarth Let the layers show. Photo by James / Flickr. Defining the layers of your earthbag home is one of many ways to add a personal touch.

4) Farming Earthbag Homes

These two domes are on a farming residence. A great example of combining need with sustainability.

5) Something Fishy

CalEarth — this might not be totally earthbag, but like the fish face. Photo by James / Flickr.

6) Hurricane-Resistant Home

The aerodynamic forms resist hurricanes and the structures pass California’s earthquake codes. They are flood and fire resistant as well. A double eco-dome can be built (bagged) in 10 weeks. Photo by James / Flickr.

7) Textured Walls

CalEarth photo by Mike Smith (really!!) / Flickr. The textured walls accentuate the shape of this building by contrasting the smooth walls.

8) Defining The Structure

Wooden boards are used to help define and stabilize the structure before applying plaster.

9) Classic Design

Classical Arches, domes and vaults updated. The combination fireplace and wind-scoop faces prevailing winds. Photo by James / Flickr.

CalEarth — inside of the vaulted house. You can find additional information about their building at calearth.org.

10) Close-Up Of Mud Ornaments

Cal-Earth —exterior mud ornament. Photo by Ken McCrown / Flickr.

11) Earthbag Vault

CalEarth Vault under construction. Photo by Ashley Muse / Flickr.

12) Boarding School

Ninos y Jovenes boarding school in San Juan Cosala’, Mexico. Pic taken by earthbag expert Kelly Hart. see more photos of project here: flickr.com

13) Earthbag House In New York

This is the first EarthBag structure to receive proper home permits in New York State. A project of Sister Marsha Allen of Rochester, she hopes the students who helped build the structure will join her in Haiti, where she hopes to build many more.

14) Florida Earthbag Home

Gainesville, Florida. Photo by Justin Martin / Flickr.

Gainesville, Florida. Photo by Justin Martin / Flickr.

Earthbag Home under construction in Argentina. Lots more images here: superadobeserrano.blogspot.com

15) Cyclops House

This small earthbag home looks like it comes from a different world. For keeping warm during the colder months, it is important to include a chimney.

Earthbag Home Construction Timelapse Videos

This video (viewed more than 3.5 million times!) shows the construction of an earthbag home in Fairbanks, Alaska. The video shows the first bags being laid over a gravel foundation. The first three layers of bags are filled with gravel for extra drainage. The two-person construction team runs barbed wire along the bags to hold them in place. After each layer is laid, they tamp down the bags. The video shows the team putting in place a door frame, cutouts for electrical outlets, and windows. (Though they note in the video the doors and windows should have been done differently!) The final step shows them building a frame for a second floor, and has photos of them living in the half-finished home. In the description, the guy who filmed the video says they never actually finished the house! (But they’re working on it.)

This time-lapse video from Happen Films shows a team of people building a small, circular earthbag shelter. The team uses six-foot-long sandbags for the foundation, filling them with sand as they lay them down. Long sandbags can provide more stability than short bags. The bags are laid on dirt, within a pit, over a plastic tarp. Meanwhile, another group frames and windows for the shelter. As it’s a circular house, they build a circular roof, with trusses rising up from the top of the walls and meeting at a peak. The team packs mud into the gaps between the sandbags and completely covers both then interior and exterior walls. Then, they finish with a coat of adobe. They lay pre-cut plywood in the gaps formed by the roof trusses, nailing them to the trusses themselves. The roof is completed with a chimney and metal sheeting.

This is time-lapse (sort-of). The family that runs the channel “mylittlehomestead” bought a huge plot of land, and decided to build earthbag bedrooms for each of their four teenagers. The kids design the homes and their friends help with the construction (along with the rest of the family). This video—it’s 87 minutes long—shows everything from laying out the sandbags, to installing the electrical, the window frames, building the roof, all the way to setting up the solar panel array.

The Best Earthbag Home Books

Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques by Kaki Hunter and Donald Kiffmeyer.

Earthbag Architecture: Building Your Dream with Bags by Kelly Hart (Forward by Owen Geiger).

Building With Earth: A Guide to Flexible-Form Earthbag Construction by Paulina Wojciechowska

Earthbag Home Plans

See dozens of earthbag home concepts from Owen Geiger. Also check out his Natural Building Blog.

Earthbag Home Resources

Great ‘how to’ resource here: buildsimple.org/earthbag.php

Books, Supplies, Links, Lots of Info: earthbaghouse.com

Cal-Earth focuses on researching, developing and teaching the technologies of Superadobe. The prototypes have not only received California home permits but have also met the requirements of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) for emergency housing. calearth.org

Buy long bags here: calearth.org/shop

See structural notes at bottom of pdf: structure1.com

Rubble-Bag Houses – How to: motherearthnews.com

How to make papercrete: greenhomehome.com

EcoFrame & EcoBags, Israel: ecobeamhomes.com

Earthbag Home Lessons And Tourism

California and Worldwide: calearth.org

Brazil: ecocentro.org

Argentina: superadobeserrano.blogspot.com lots of home pics

Northwest US: earthenhand.com

More Earthbag Home Pictures