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.
Video Rating: 4 / 5
@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.
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.
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.
Love your house but I’m wondering how big your second floor/loft is? I really want to build an earthbag home but need a second floor because of my family and specific needs for storage. Earthbags are much greener than my alternative, which would be a monolithic dome. However, I’m not sure how feasible it is to create a full second floor in an earthbag home. Any thoughts?
Hey Nelly, Would you consider posting an audio commentary version of this video, with you show piecing your handcrafted artwork around the house. Like at scenes 3:10 or the tiles at 5:54 of your movie and what inspired you to create them. Thanks again for all your contribution to like minded people.
I am looking to make a home like this with my fiance, but he doesn’t think we can or even should try to do this on our own. Do you know if there are people who would contract to do this sort of thing? I am from the US.
Great you’re building w/earth! Hang in there, always trial & error. Plaster difference at 4:55 is left side has dark umber powdered pigment in earth/sand/straw/mica mix. Right side has kaolin clay, & silica sand instead of normal sand. Make recipe depending on clay content in soil. For me, left side about 1.5p sifted earth/1p sifted sand. Right side about 1p earth/1p kaolin/1p silica sand. Also sifted straw to remove little knuckles. Hard to get smooth plaster otherwise. No lime. Good luck!
hi, nelly! I finished stacking earthbags and making roof. Now next step is plasteirn walls. Could you expain your plastering work more in detail? For instance, how and when did you use lime with earth? Could you explain more in detail at 4:55? How dou you make differnt colors of wall? I made a serious mistake in farming big window without using post in living room. Now we are revising the frame fot this window.
Last winter was very cold winter, but we stayed warm in this house. Had to keep curtains closed at windows all day when temp. did not get above 20 degrees. Easy to keep house 65 degrees indoors burning wood & using propane for in-floor heat. I’ll use more wood this winter, keep fire going throughout day, not use as much propane since expensive. No dampness. Earth construction stays very dry, but dry climate helps. Only thing I’d do differently is insulate against ground at foundation. Cheers!
hi nelly
i m the guy from europe-Greece
did u have a good and warm winter in the house?was it warm and cosy?
any damp problems?
thank you for your answer in advance
Yes, using earth bags all the way up is easier, faster and saves money. I definitely recommend doing this type of roof if the footprint is a conventional, round earth bag design where bags can safely and structurally go up to a sky dome. My design/footprint is not round and it’s bigger, so I could not use this roof type.
I enjoyed the video. I wonder why the earthbags weren’t used for the roof system?
this house is very, very nice
@cbmst1 Thank you!
Using natural citrus solvent to cut shellac 4:1 or 3:1, depending on consistency that you want. I think I used citrus solvent to cut linseed too, instead of turpentine.
Best so far has been Shellac (durable and tough) over other less effective coatings that I initially applied. Maybe Shellac after Linseed could work? I found Linseed alone doesn’t hold up long enough.
Amazing house! I have one question.What do you use to treat the earth floors? Linseed oil?
thank you so much for your video ..
this is the best lesson for everyone to lean…and apply according to individual purpose.
great video.
thank you
God bless you .
Thank you for sharing this lovely slide show of the construction of your earthbag home. I’m considering building a two level earthbag home, with basement/entertainment room for me and my family. I managed to find one guy who’s building a massive earthbag home named drdirtbag. If you haven’t seen his videos I highly recommend them. Your home is truly lovely!
The post sits on footer (yes not totally round, mine are more oblong), then it’s good to have 4″-5″ concrete surface overhang for further stability on all sides of post. Say post is roughly 10″ across at base, then the footer needs to be 18″ across, so there is 4″+ of concrete surface showing on all sides of post. Don’t know all the diameters of ADS drain pipe, but there are larger sizes. I used 15″ pipe so only had 2″-3″ surface overhang, though so far no problems, I think more is better.
Thanks for your quick answer! I have one question. What do you mean by 4-5″ exposed base on all side? Do you mean 4-5″ is the width of the post timber, which does not have two round parts of it by cutting?
After I posted above, reevaluated what I said about 24″ footer. May be overkill. Depends on post size at base. Nice to have 4-5″ exposed base on all sides, though maybe you figure that out already. 15″, which I’m sure is fine for my footers, in hindsight, would have gone a bit wider.
Thanks for comment. Timber is local aspen wood, cured 3 yrs, & placed on single wall ADS drainage pipe, 15″W X 12″ H which is filled with concrete. Would suggest to go 24″ W instead. Posts are 8″ to 12″ diameter at base & roughly 10′ tall, 3′ underground approx (make sure to treat wood against moisture & insects) & 7′ above ground, with 18″ bond beam on top of posts to make just over 8′ walls. Trimmed windows, filling any minor gaps with insulation underneath trim. Windows rest on bags, level.
I am very grateful for your amazing slide show. I really enjoyed it. I am curious how you set the posts for large windows. What kind of timber did you use? how is the size of the timber? How was the length of the posts? Especially I want to know more in detail how to make foot part of the posts. You seem to use used car tires for them. I also plan to make large window for our living room.
Thanks. My house is peaceful, my haven. Out-of-pocket expenses around $100/ft. A lot of my own labor is in the construction, so that is an undefined factor. I had a “builder” help me w/roof design & construction, but I ran the show. I got ideas from books, “Earthbag Building”, by Hunter and Kiffmeyer, & researched a lot on the internet. Some parts to building I pondered/researched for weeks, sometimes months, like stairs to loft. Always approach creatively, then think logically. You can do it.