SUSTAINABILITY FEATURE:
EARTHBAGS
Earthbag construction uses readily-available polypropolene rice or cement bags filled with dirt as primary building blocks. The bags are laid in courses, stacked like bricks, and a strip of barbed wire is used as the mortar between each course. When the walls are constructed, a layer of chicken wire is attached to the outside so that plaster can be applied. The benefits to building with earthbags are many, including: • Earthbags are environmentally-friendly, sustainable, and draw on locally-available materials, like the dirt and stone excavated from the building site. • Earthbag construction is cost-effective. The main building materials--polypropolene bags and dirt--are affordable and readily available. • Earthags are sturdy and earthquake-resistant, because they are more flexible, less rigid and better able to absorb shock than bricks and stone.
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