Prepare to Build
Step1
Sketch out a design for your home. Since construction with earthbags is less involved than building a normal home, you might not need exact blueprints. However, you need to know exactly how many walls you'll be building as well as their specific placements.
Step2
Prepare a site to build a house from earthbags. Choose a site that requires as little clearing or deforesting as possible.
Step3
Dig trenches along areas where you plan to build walls. Save all the dirt you excavate. You'll recycle all the soil when you begin to fill the earthbags.
Build Your House
Step1
Construct a durable foundation within trenches. Use stones of different sizes to build sturdy walls beneath the ground's surface. Fill in the empty spaces with gravel before you attempt to build a wall on top of the foundation.
Step2
Create a mix to fill your earthbags or sandbags. Sift through the soil you've displaced while constructing the foundation, paying careful attention to removing any rocks.
Step3
Moisten the soil with water. Allow it to soak overnight. The soil needs to be wet enough that it can be compacted tightly.
Step4
Fill the first few earthbags with small rocks and put them in place atop your foundation. Create a single, even layer of earthbags.
Step5
Lay an empty earthbag atop your rock foundation and begin to fill it with moist soil. While more advanced equipment is available for moving soil, a trusty shovel should work just fine.
Step6
Seal a filled earthbag and begin to fill another one on top of it. For the most structurally sound walls, stagger earthbags, so that their borders do not form a straight line.
Step7
Continue to stack earthbags higher and higher. You may need to use a piping system with a funnel to fill earthbags near the top of your walls.
Step8
Tuck in all corners of your earthbags as you construct the wall. Try to make the surfaces as smooth as possible. This will save you a lot of time and money when it comes time to finish your walls with plaster.
Step9
Use a tamper to compact earthbags as you build. A tamper can be constructed easily, using a pipe and a flat-metal plate.
Finish Construction
Step1
Build a dome roof to finish your new house. A dome roof can be attractive and all natural, though you'll have to build a structure to support its weight. Consider asking for advice from an experienced construction professional.
Step2
Plaster the walls as soon as you can to keep sunlight from damaging the bags. It's possible to plaster your walls as you build them. Prime the wall surfaces beforehand with an organic-adhesive mixture of boiled flower paste or glue, manure and sand.
Step3
Finish your house with all the modern amenities, such as electricity, plumbing and flooring. While it's possible to do this yourself in a minimalist, eco-conscious manner, you can also call in a professional contractor to help.
