this is what you NEED to know about earthbag building. the dirt!

[@FalconEagleEye7]

Love your SHOW

[@malissawhite4569]

I’m planning on building my earthbag home in West Africa so I’m saving this video. THANKS this is the BEST illustration and explanation on the mixture I’ve watched! ❤

[@LuisNajera-n7s]

I love your sharing and your explanations.

[@craigbalaam9008]

Awesome content. Keep up the good work.

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

Thank you! Glad you liked it :)

[@kibromgirmay5376]

Lani knows all about it.

[@robford3211]

Great stuff guys you guys are rock stars. For the mason jar soil test it helps if you sift the soil trough strainer before putting in jar and add a teaspoon of detergent to mix. Nice work!

[@bkthomas8720]

Very thorough....love it

[@procrastinator41]

Better practical information about soil/clay than I’ve seen on any “construction” channel. Are you reinforcing the bag walls somehow?

[@tworebelsoffgrid]

Love what you guys are doing and great video! We just moved onto our off grid property here in SE Arizona and are building with earth. You’ve done a great job and we are enjoying your channel :) Cheers!

[@daval5563]

Thank you for your video. The more earthbag videos I watch the more I question myself. I'm gearing myself up to build a round root cellar/bunker. Imagine Micky mouse except the ears are on the sides of the head. That's looking down from above eh? I believe a 16ft diameter will suit me fine and design for that. The bags and barbed wire are bought and I have a three acre parcel that has two acres covered in six to ten feet of pure sand dredged from the harbor and deposited there for a few years running. It was leveled somewhat. After many years the lot is now grown up in grasses and plants galore. I refuse to call them weeds. Since I'm old, fat, and lazy, I was going to add Portland Cement to the sand "dry" and tamp down a few test bags first to see how they set up and how full to fill the bags for optimum use. There's fine clay here too. They even had brick factories back in the day in some areas. But that's just more work and I'm trying to avoid that. Anyway, if the Portland mix doesn't set up right, I'll go to a 30% clay 70% sand mix and still add some Portland. Thanks again and have a great one.

[@llothar68]

I'm also old fat and lazy and in the process to getting started with my Earthbag home. So I would be interested in hearing what your results are with sand and cement sacks.

[@AB-C1]

Brilliant video again! Your explanations are spot on! Enough information and visual examples to be fully useful/recreated and translatable into a self-build but NOT too complicated to be followed fully by a novice! I love you guys build and I love your tutorials and generosity with your knowledge, experience and expertise, following your own builds! Honestly so glad I found your channel! (THIS is what life and building is supposed to be all about!) People need to rediscover these old techniques, you only have to look at the old buildings still surviving both in England and Abroad, whether stone or earth, lime plaster and timber frame construction etc. Even thatching that used to be so prolific (although not great for fire so maybe skip that one lol 🔥) but what you guys are putting out is FANTASTIC content and knowledge! I love your ethos and generous/sharing outlook on life! Hopefully this will help if I manage to make my move to Portugal in the next year or so!? Thanks so much guys! Cheers from London 👍😎🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

[@PhoenixRisingLoL]

What are you guys doing for shelves and such? I didnt see any wood in your walls screws can be fastened to or similar so just wondering

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

For this room we are planning on only a few fitted shelves and they will be fixed, or suspended from the ceiling :)

[@trueju]

@ 4:27 are the jars in order from right to left? I’m kind of confused because the middle jar looks the closest to your mason jar illustration for suitable soil ratios. When you have a moment will you please clarify this for me. The earth on my property looks a lot like yours. Thank you both for all of your hard work shared, blessings to your household. - True Ju🌀

[@off-gridstrength]

We have white clay here in rural South Africa..is that a no-no?

[@oraaarunance]

VERY useful content. Thank you! I have about 2ft of loam soil on my property in the desert. This video gives me the ratios I need for the bags. BTW, what are the bags called & where do you get them in bulk?

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

Thank you very much!! 😁The bags from the local farming supplier shop. They use them here to store animal food. Good luck with your build! Would be interested to see your progress!!

[@kalajuaire6550]

Winters? Central Minnesota here. How warm are these or how well do they hold heat

[@lefthandedhardright8839]

Terrible for cold climate, awesome for hot dry southwest.

[@richardrandall2240]

Awesome. Great detail and very comprehensive. Going to start my project soon. Would you recommend hessian or polypropylene?

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

It doesn’t really matter in my opinion as the bags will be covered in first cob plaster and then the lime plaster finish. So they are fully protected and won’t desintegrate by uvlight or the weather

[@markthomasson5077]

Very good, but just a small point, is the term not Tamped? ie not Tampered?

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

Haha! It’s funny you should ask that, the whole time we were building we’ve been saying tampered- or even tamperer-ered becuause we also weren’t sure! But after researching for the purpose of this video we discovered it is indeed (at least according to the books) TAMPED!

[@markthomasson5077]

I wasn’t sure I should mention it. Glad you are not offended. Maybe tampered is sort of cute!

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

Of course not! we are a tri-lingual house so we often have these funny moments, language can be a fluid concept for us! 😂

[@johnevegas]

Don’t you miss seeing your own natural god given skin color?

[@Algarve_family_ecobuild]

Not at all!