Why I am building my house with sandbags

[@jermccann7425]

I built one of those sand bag houses in Viet Nam years ago. All the guys were filling up bags. They could stop a bullet. 😮😊

[@johneric3886]

Great point that you made regarding how some people stick to a mode of thinking because of a certain ideology and nothing more!!!!

[@jessedeane6036]

As an INDIGENOUS man I like CalEarth, because of self sustainability. Round design is stunning and solid. Square builds provide dead corner energy. As a Reiki Master and Chi Gong and Funshui Love round design for easy flow of inside living areas.

[@IvanhoeWolfe-zn6fc]

It's harder to put a roof that catches water on a round house then a square house.

[@Chimonger1]

@@IvanhoeWolfe-zn6fc It IS trickier. Not impossible. We put gutters under our 30’ d. yurt wall edges-2’ lengths of gutter, & lots of gutter connectors/hangars, but it worked! 1st I built a 30’ less 4”d. reinforced concrete Ring foundation, then built on a 2’ w. wood ring “bench” using 2x8 supports strapped to the concrete foundation. Covered that with exterior grade ply decking, & waterproofed it all. Yurt was on the wood ring. Most of interior was “sunken”. Once up properly, that thing stayed intact in sustained gusts clocked at about 120 mph., with the only extra supports being (2) 4x4 posts tied to the center ring. Some have used non-perforated corrugated drainage tubing, sliced lengthwise, & slotted onto edge of a pentagonal metal roof, or onto a curved-edge living roof edge.

[@fredk4136]

I always had the same question about adding concrete to soil and your explanation and logic is simple and makes sense.

[@jessedeane6036]

Adding concrete is forced on many sand bag builds due to colonizer rule. Unless your out on raw land with more INDIGENOUS people. You will be subject to their permits and engineering bs.

[@isaacsegura]

he means cement, no concrete, nobody uses concrete in sandbags

[@TexasSandyJ]

If earthbag bunkers are good enough for the military, they are good enough for me and my family. God bless 🇺🇲

[@fillhixx]

Sure they'll resist a barrage pretty good, but will they stand for history? Not too many battlefield defenses are decent for day to day living.....

[@DesertDog8989]

Thank you so very much! I've been trying to reimagine some of the same issues you've brought up and I found your video to be a breath of fresh air.

[@OffGrit]

Thank you.

[@SimpleEarthSelfReliance]

Reading through most of the Owen Geiger, etc stuff, you almost never need cement. The earthbags don't have concrete. There's a small, tiny percentage of cement added (or perhaps lime). Very few cases require this, however. The issue with those beams is that it adds to cost significantly, and takes earthbag a little further from the natural (materials on site) stuff. Good video, thanks for sharing. Been following your stuff for a while and enjoy your take on things and your doing your own research.

[@ccdj35]

The modular system seems very logical in terms of a nice squared-shaped house and no dirt or soil in the house if a wood frame is applied to the walls. However, this system might have disadvantages such as bugs or rodents in between the wall frame and soil bags, etc.

[@lkhfun6575]

I saw your interview with Jack. I like your no-nonsense approach. Thanks for explaining why this method works for you. New subscriber. 🙂

[@OffGrit]

Thank you I appreciate it

[@jaxflRealtor]

You are right about people wanting to start a company and they developed these methods to make others believe that this is the only to do things so that people buys into it and they make money from the sale of their methods.

[@OffGrit]

Yes.. it definitely annoys me. People seem to forget that the military has been building with sandbags for a long time...in fact the use goes back to at least the 1600s... These want to be "gurus" and KZbinrs didn't invent anything

[@Jarjarjar21]

I like yur thinking and explaing your rational. Basically post and beam with rubble walls. I contemplate below grade build...

[@ChrisDickey-rx5ot]

I like the beam support tech

[@AndreaMineo]

great video, so many good informations in just one video ! Thanks for doing it different, keep doing great work ! Compliments

[@destraht]

I really appreciate your thinking on this, even though I'm not going to do anything like that. This video gave me some other ideas for the North wall of a submerged greenhouse that just seemed to pop into my head once I was freed from the orthodoxy.

[@OffGrit]

thanks... it is weird to me sometimes how this algorithm works... I really didnt put any time into this video and have been surprised at how many people have seen it... but to your point this happens to me alot when I am just browsing and next thing you know some random video or post helps me solve a problem the same you describe... thanks

[@destraht]

@@OffGrit I've been searching deep for a while. It wasn't that easy to find. Your videos are pretty good because you're walking through each step and why you chose that direction. So like a martial arts kata it's easy to just take a few moves out of it for something else.

[@jessicasoss1586]

I enjoy watching all the different ways hyper Adobe is made! I'm choosing the red bags cause I'm clumsy + barbed wire =pain. LOL but also to cut that expense. Just trying to decide of I want to do square , round and if I do round if I'm gonna do a dome or regular roof. 🤔

[@OffGrit]

Hey thanks for watching. I didn't add in the video that there will be no barbed wire with this method... probably should have elaborated on this.

[@OffGrit]

As far as the roof goes, I think cal earth bags are better for the dome then the hyper adobe if I remember correctly... Well if you do a dome, you will reduce perhaps the biggest expense of building which is the roof.... With concrete like I said, I understand why it is used, I just think at a certain point the time to mix it and the extra labor makes me wonder why not just do something easier....I built with the bags and this building has been up for 2 years....no concrete added, didn't really even wet the soil... And there has been no issues with settling and it is SOLID. I use it to grow my plants now...

[@AverySunshines]

Regular roof isn't mold/termite/fire proof.

[@Arizona-Desert-Rat-Realty]

You are doing a great job on you Videos!

[@jimmywhitlow2012]

They are using the bags for the roof as well. The earth dome building style. Of course they do not look like a conventional home. And that is part of the point.

[@b5846967b]

used palette rack steel is readily available and cost effective for framing

[@OffGrit]

Yes .. I will be building an outbuilding with those in the future

[@criticalnurse-ready8705]

Hi there. My concern is the cost of the wood, since the prices of any good wood is extremely expensive, which is why i am attractive to the earthbag build. So how are you getting round the extra expense of the extremely high cost of wood to build these eco beams? Essentially, you are building in the manner of a straw-bale build. Can you expound on this issue please sir? Ive been watching your videos for sometime, and i love your very logical thinking. Sound a lot like me!! I’d love to get your feedback on this issue. Have a wonderful day.

[@OffGrit]

So to answer part of your question, the price of wood has actually went back down close to pre-pandemic levels. Also, the thing that I mentioned also in this video is that the walls themselves are just one expensive a house The roof is arguably the biggest expense of a house so unless you're doing a dome roof with earth bags then you're going to have to buy a roof regardless. What I look at after being out here for a few years is not just expense as far as financial. Financial is one dimension The second dimension is time. Time does cost money if you are looking at it as a whole. If it takes me a tremendous amount of time to build something and that time is so much longer say five times longer than it would to build it with the other material and that material is only two to three times more expensive than that method then the math gets a little trickier if your time is limited and you have many projects to do. So basically what I'm saying is is that there's a lot more to way than just the dollars of a project you also have to look at energy how much of your personal energy are you putting into a project and if it's going to suck your energy your life force your morale because you're working so hard and so many hours to build something, then it's hard to put a price tag on that so you can't just look at it from a money perspective all the time. I do however understand if you simply do not have the money to pay for a project then the decision is easily made because you don't have any other option anyways. So not sure if this answers your question but it just shows you how I think about projects like this. Since making this video I have actually decided to build a steel house anyways we are using the bags for interior walls just more for aesthetic purposes and for walls around the house. So I guess you could say that my house is probably a lot more expensive than any of these methods that we mentioned lol

[@criticalnurse-ready8705]

@@OffGrit You definitely got a point. I would be leery of the wood with the termites in AZ. But using the metal as a shell, and still filling in the spaces with the earth bags still gives that large earth mass for attempting cooler temps. Still somewhat eco friendly. Are you using salvaged metal or buying a metal barn from homedepot or other business of the same sort?

[@DesertDog8989]

@@criticalnurse-ready8705 good question

[@OffGrit]

​@@criticalnurse-ready8705 sorry I just saw this... I am using surplus steel and recycling some aspects of the build

[@Struglinbrother-]

thanks for your insite

[@KarasCyborg]

A skid steer with a bucket mixer would help blend the cement and soil if you want a stabilized soil mix. They have chutes out the bottom to fill a bag, or you could just go with pressed earth block machine and dump the mix into that and let it crank out some stabilized blocks for you.

[@OffGrit]

Yes.... but then it becomes a very expensive build...I know they are available... but not cost effective if you are doing a single build

[@karlvanderwalt293]

Thanks for this video, your automated filling is brilliant... I already have most of my roof up due to me not having a plan for the walls yet, so this would be great as it doesn't require compaction from the top like you normally would with earth bags. You said you didn't like cob plastering but never mentioned how you would plaster these walls or what cladding you'd use. Problem I forsee is the bags moving over time even though they not load bearing?

[@OffGrit]

Bags between walls can be stacked on top of barbed wire strips that can be a continuous strand or individual strains. This is how I built the last earthbag. You can use an smaller hand held tamper...or make one.... I have seen this done. As for the walls .. I would use some type of backing whether it be hardboard coated with an asphalt emulsion (I did This on a pallet shed) or felt paper. And then staple chicken wire for lath....I did this on the earthbag and the pallet shed and then I used a homemade stucco mix. Interior walls can be done the same way. Back in the day, it was common to stucco over voids just on top of lath with a backing...you could use furring strips spaced in increments and lath on top of this as well... I watched videos of a plasterer in CA that showed how he stuccoed over just lath with a backing...

[@karlvanderwalt293]

@@OffGrit ah right, so you have to to stamp the bags. Chicken wire should work. Thanks

[@OffGrit]

​@@karlvanderwalt293 you can use a baseball bat or something similar. I should have clarified... the tamping I do vs. This type of light tamping isn't the same thing... you can watch military building sandbag walls.

[@dennisf.macintyre117]

Fair argument, in my opinion. How do you plan to protect the bag walls from the sun's deterioration please? Both systems require this to be viable I believe.

[@OffGrit]

The bags are covered in tarps until they are used. Bags are set in between walls so the sun never deteriorates them this way

[@billlyell8322]

I've also seen concrete used in rammed earth construction so it's not just earthbags. Second it is a stabilizer and easier to comply with building codes. Now if you don't have to build to code then good for you but not everybody can.

[@rgarizonahomestead2729]

what works for you go for it. thanks for sharing and please have a wonderful day

[@alb2571]

Damm right boy!

[@topazdixon2089]

I'm concerned that if you don't put the bags in place soon enough, that with the heat, etc, the will be one very hard in the position they are in and it will make it harder to stabilize them in the final home. Other than that I really love your method.

[@clisig2153]

This guy makes the most sense. Plus you get a stable environmentally conscious and aesthetically pleasing building and not a floppy looking hobbit house. 🏡

[@OffGrit]

Hobbit house 😂👍

[@Juhulia76]

Interesting. Thank you. You mentioned that you don't like cob for plastering. What do you use?

[@OffGrit]

What I did was to mix my own stucco here on the property using sand that was screened. I laid a mesh underneath on top of the bags in this case chicken wire and added it to that and it's held up really well for a couple years now. Yes I think Cobb is just to prone to cracking and it's just not very durable and it's also a real pain in the neck to apply that stuff and mix it. So for me if I'm going to spend all the time doing it I don't want to have to do it again so I just went with what people already do out here which is to add stucco to the side of a building thank you

[@harryverner6218]

I want to do hyper Adobe but like an earthshipish. Do 2 rows gapped & infill & tamp so I'll hav 3 ft thick walls. Then instead of foam insulation a thin aircrete wall around anything that will b buried. Wrap the structure in that newish roofing material that u can heat weld. It's white on top blk on bottom. Can't remember name. Then I can bury & kno it'll never leak unless punctured. Dirt is cheaper than insulation. I've bn designing this in my head for a while now. Use the guys cheap geo thermo heating from growing oranges in the snow. Maybe sum mylar mirrors around hollow columns to collect more heat from Sun in winter. One of those Korean fireplace heat batteries that use all the heat before the smoke leaves the bldg with coiled line in-between the layers to heat infloor heating so even in the rare -50s I'm good without propane. Once I get the land it's on. A root cellar with thermo syphons so u can keep the temp where u want it & possibly divide into 2 rooms & 1 of them a freezer with zero electricity. If they can keep permafrost frozen we can make freezers with them. Good luck to all attempting any of these things

[@clisig2153]

Einstein said," genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.

[@pyratellamarecordingstudio1062]

This is really cool. Isn’t it more expensive because you still have to build with standard stick framing? But I suppose this method should be quicker and time = money. Maybe I’d just build a metal pole barn and fill in the walls with earth bags. I’m still debating doing a straw bale house as well,

[@OffGrit]

Hello. Yes it is definitely more expensive this way than just setting the bags in place. It is a trade off and for me it was about finding a time/money balance... So I think this helps to achieve this for me.... As far as building goes, I actually decided to do a steel building for our house as well. I bought a house worth of 3" thick close cell foam boards from a contractor that was dismantling a department store and got them for pennies on the dollar. ... I am still going to use the bags for interior walls of the house as well as exterior walls ... I have changed my mind a few times 😂

[@pyratellamarecordingstudio1062]

Right on@@OffGrit

[@lindakleckner215]

What material are the bags made of, twine? Like a burlap sack? Does water seep through the sacks? Or, I suppose they are packed quite tight to prevent moisture? That's a good idea to have a group of bags standing to shovel into...does the sifting make a difference?

[@OffGrit]

Polypropylene bags, yes water will seep through them, they would be behind walls. Sifting is important for uniformity.

[@lindakleckner215]

@@OffGrit oh yeah to pack it down uniform..I see. By the wall do you mean the stuff that's plastered on the surfaces?

[@sophiastarlight2256]

I like your idea!! That’s how I would do it. Structural beam foundational build with thermal mass infilled walls. Brilliant Thank you for sharing your experience and insights

[@KobusOtto]

Well done on doing things your way, it's really interesting to see a different viewpoint. Funny how you like square building though. Also, why don't you like Cob?

[@OffGrit]

Cob isn't very durable for our monsoons and although people use it out here, it deteriorates when blasted with rains... Just easier to use a cement based stucco

[@harryverner6218]

From wut I understand ur only adding cement if u don't have enough clay in your soil. If u hav more clay than sand & silt they would bind up pretty good from tamping. Depends on materials

[@IvanhoeWolfe-zn6fc]

Finally a real person I relate to and not some hippie fruit.. I built my house out of stick in 2015 Made a lot of mistake. Thinking about building another out of sand bags. Orginally i had plans if a basement and making adobe brick. Lol. But my first monsoon in 13 told me nothing under ground. I use the hole now as a water catch during monsoons . And like i said made mistake with my house First roof was hot tar and rock. .lol it didnt last long. Sun baked the tar. And then winds blew rock off. Then i used asphalt shingles for a few years. Having to replace whole roof at least yearly. Because winds kept blowing shingles off. I finally said. Hhhm cost more but what about corrugated metal. Ive had that for years now and able to catch water with th my roof. I only get on average 4 inches per year i can catch. And since then this is the first year that i didnt have enough for dribking water and cooking from that. But last year snd do far this year. Its in the beganing ofonsoon season. I haven got the monsoons. Ground vstch is fine for non potable water. But i also have not found a good filter method. Peope think it's easy. But we are talking about filtering at least 50,000 gallons per year. With a filter that can be cleaned and not replaced ever 100 gallons. The water is muddy. I dont know about his. But my water the fines will not settle. My ground is not clay. It's fine coral. I mean if i added heat. I have all the portland cement id ever want. Lol. The " soil' is between 4 inches to 4 feet thick. Then its layered coral for 1500 feet plus that is fractured. Meaning soilied rock that water goes through . And mixed in this is Granite rocks like 18 inches across round rocks . That i have no idea how they got here. No granite insight of 50 plus miles in any direction. And no. No human put them there. They came from four feet deep and more incased in the coral. You dont even know they are granite until you break off the coral around them. Ive yet to break one . Build out of the coral sheets? No. The fracture to about 2 to 4 inches thick and and about the same width and high. I did however put them in cages and began making a pig pen out of them before the 1st monsoon. So i have this 3 foot tall 16 foot long 3 foot wide wall. And another at 90 degrees sitting on my land. Its a pain to dig in the rock. And nit much reason to do it. But if i find a reason to do it. I will finish my pig pen. Also understand my gound water catch. I have to get the water out within an hour if a monsoon. Btw it 10' x 10' x 8' deep. Dig by pick and shovel. The soil was only 4 inches deep. If not its all gone Also its in higher ground. Now. I haven't done it yet. But i have dry beds i can use to catch water. Just put a 4 inch pipe and 1000 feet i cam fill totes when monsoons hit. Yeah its that 1000 feet of pipe but if I did. I can have ,100s of thousands of water. I also have part of about a 2 acres dry pond . But ive never checked it after a monsoon. . I do have a tiny dry pond of about 10' circle . Im sure there are more on my property ( 630 acres,) . But the one dry creek would be the best in my option. . But again the pipeing. Pvc bakes in the sun

[@OffGrit]

Hey thanks,! I am right in the middle of building right now (steel frame) and am sure I will make lots of mistakes too

[@IvanhoeWolfe-zn6fc]

@@OffGrit that's how we learn. Lol

[@nickrosati3167]

Pretty cool, but why wouldn’t you use straw bale if you’re building With beams

[@OffGrit]

Well.... I personally am not a fan of straw. We have LOTS of rodents and all types of critters that love that stuff...that is the side of straw bale that people don't see. Also moisture gets into straw it turns to mold... bales also have a cost...

[@alainvosselman9960]

Hi, great video. I think i am bumping against a language barrier... Are 'earth bags' the same type bag you find in construction where they might be called 'rubble bags' ? Like where you collect old dry wall or brick rubble with when doing reconstruction jobs ? I am Belgian and Earth Bags seems such a strange word ... If you or anyone in the comments could help me out. I have an option to build on a plot of land in Spain and construction rubble bags are quite cheep ... as opposed to 'Earth bags'.

[@OffGrit]

So here is the thing with these " earth bags " really all they are are sandbags that the military uses etc where they make bunkers and things like that now realistically you could fill these bags with anything I fill them with soil from the area in which I'm building and this is why they call them " Earth bags " here so what you're talking about would be the same concept yes You're just filling them with dirt and tamping it down to make an earth bag home.... It is mostly semantics and yes you could use bags from construction etc there's people that even use old feed bags to fill with dirt and stack them up to make structures so you are not wrong in questioning this terminology because it is more of a generalized term that we use for basically filling any kind of bag with dirt

[@alainvosselman9960]

@@OffGrit Gotcha ! Thanks for that, it had been plaguing me. I'll test some different kinds before starting the build. Enjoy your labor & more over the results !

[@AverySunshines]

Sand bags are tougher than rubble bags since rubble bags are made to break down fast. Cover your walls quickly with cob! Tamper them with proper soil mix so the contents don't spill out when bag rips.

[@MatthewSmith-cp3hu]

have you looked into haybale houses sounds like the same concept but less labor intensive

[@OffGrit]

Yes I have considered Straw bales. Although the concept is not necessarily the same. The concept with straw is R Value insulation.... thermal mass is a different concept... but ideally you want to use both insulation and thermal mass.... straw is not without labor... you also must purchase straw bales and this can cost about 4k for this size building....which is fine because you have to buy insulation anyways.... but if you want to take advantage of both thermal mass and R value insulation, this combination with straw becomes more unfeesible because then the wall thickness would be 4 ft.... so by using sandbags and close cell foam panels (3" thick which I bought used for pennies on the dollar from a building remodel) you get both good thermal mass as well as insulation. Plus straw does attract rodents although people with straw houses will swear they have none....this isn't the case....as well as mold issues if any water does penetrate it is a great vector for mold... so there are pros and cons to both I guess is my point....

[@bzmrgonz]

How are you going to build the eco beams? Did you find a machine to do the metal part in the states? Or are you importing the metal press from South Africa??

[@OffGrit]

I will have videos in the future

[@bzmrgonz]

@@OffGrit this I got to see Pal. Saw an insulated 2x6 which a company is selling in the US to avoid thermal leakage, but it’s a complicated build. If you can crack that but economical, I have a business idea for you. Build insulated framing studs by just filling the webbing with foam insulation. Let me try to find the video for you. I think you will see the same thing I saw buddy!!

[@bzmrgonz]

@@OffGrit found it!!! kzbin.info/www/bejne/aauqq5akbtd3gcksi=iVpbJpolNDg8O7LP

[@montyboyb3855]

Cost!!! Is why people add instead of only use concrete and its more friendly to the environment. To each his own❤

[@OffGrit]

Right .. but only if you don't consider time a cost.... which we do. Time amount to construct will diminish the savings you get...but some people don't think time is money...

[@eduardonieto4693]

That is usome my friend.

[@kristinecolong6929]

Im looking forward and waiting for your house to finish 😊

[@OffGrit]

You and me both 😂

[@thinkgood7412]

What about wood rot with those beams, just wondering

[@theoriginalOSOK]

Cool. Sorry to be the normal commenter and ask why this over CEB? Compressed Earth Brick has a lot of advantages... they are load bearing and easy to stack plumb, etc. I assume you are familiar with CEB - so why did you go this route instead of the CEB? I have no dog in this hunt - just interested and would like to build my next home myself and have it be super efficient like your home or any of those discussed.

[@OffGrit]

Well... I have heard of this method..in fact, I made some Adobe blocks when I first started. I guess the thing that I like about the bags is that everything is contained within the bag so if the soil did/does crack after tamping...it is still contained within the poly. The blocks can crack if your formula isn't good or if you don't cure them properly. Truthfully you could go any direction with it and probably find an equal number of pros and cons with each. Out here in AZ there are actually a lot of old houses made with adobe so it definitely works

[@robford3211]

Also try building w building hyper adobe by yourself not easy: have no special bags that are expensive also forget it

[@PeaceAMust]

Hi, does anyone know how much it would cost to build a 4 bedroom house with earth bags ??

[@icebob8555]

I’d like to hear more about the steel you’re going to put into this why not build a pole barn

[@OffGrit]

Well if you're watching any of my newer videos you'll see then I'm actually building a steel building anyways and the amount of steel I'm using in this building is far more than I'd be using in this thing The whole point of this was to add thermal mass to the walls that's what it's all about as far as the amount of steel that these webs would add to this job it's pretty small in comparison to the amount of steel that I'm using now but yeah there is some steel being used I suppose

[@lynxlecher9547]

Does this only work in dry climates?

[@OffGrit]

No I have watched countless videos of this in pretty humid places. I would say the biggest thing is when you design the roof there should be a substantial overhang

[@lynxlecher9547]

@@OffGrit Wow, thanks for the reply and the honesty. I don't know where you find those videos because all I found was buildings in really dry places.

[@gemguy6812]

Dry arid climates would be the most advantageous.

[@ridingvenus]

How do you condition bags so sun/radiation don’t cause decay?

[@OffGrit]

When not in use I cover them with tarps or under some type of shade. Once in place they are either covered with stucco or any other siding

[@eduardonieto2355]

To me that is interesting my friend.👍🙏🇺🇸

[@Ariel-hp5oq]

The point is not only for it to be structurally stable, but to withstand natural disasters. But to each their own. 🤷🏽‍♀️

[@OffGrit]

Right... but natural disasters aren't an issue out here

[@jaibharat223]

Bag material plz Can we fill bag with only desert sand to make wall?

[@OffGrit]

So with this type of structure, the bags are not load bearing since there is a rigid frame so yes you can practically fill them with anything

[@jaibharat223]

@@OffGrit will they hold the load of roof?

[@OffGrit]

@@jaibharat223 no. The load bearing points are headers and post like a normal stick frame. The bags are more of a filler for the walls to take advantage of thermal mass

[@basiaboy]

Build a trimmer for sifting

[@moosa9850]

What happens overtime when these bags deteriorates, is there a possibility of collapsing

[@gemguy6812]

I’m building one currently, a few bags have ripped near the foundation but the clay has cured and is hard as clay brick which makes the bag themselves useless.

[@mitchmarland]

It's not all about thermal mass. An Earthen home functions much more efficient and better than living in a concrete home. This is because Earth has the ability to stabilize the temperature, whereas concrete, which is a pure mass, will store whatever you give it. So in the summer it will be a molten mass scorching you, and in the winter it will be an ice block. If you want to look more at the specifics of this check out videos by a guy named Jim Hallock. He's the godfather of compressed Earth blocks.

[@OffGrit]

If your house is in the ground or partially in the ground, this will come into play... I have an earthbag building that is 3 ft in the ground that I built and have monitored temps for a couple of years. Concrete and earth blocks have similar thermal mass thermal lag etc... so not sure what you are saying the idea of having a home in the ground or earth bermed could be done with concrete or earth blocks and have very similar effects... but I am not building an in ground or earth bermed home ..

[@Joscha-f6q]

Are you also not tamping the bags?

[@OffGrit]

With this type of structure the bags aren't load bearing so tamping still should happen to mold them in place with the other bags, but it doesn't need to be done at near the level as a standard earth build

[@Joscha-f6q]

@@OffGrit Thank you!

[@JohnThomas-nw2pg]

Rammed Earth, Compressed Earth Blocks (CEB) and Adobe insulate more then concrete. They breath allowing moister in the air to soak into them creating less humidity within the building. They also absorb heat during the day and release that heat at night. A pure concrete wall wont do that. By adding Portland Cement into the mix it bonds and waterproofs the soil so it wont fall apart in the rain or if it floods but still retains the other qualities of insulation, humidity control and heat release at night. Using untreated earth when those bags eventually deteriorate will leave you with raw soil inside your walls pressing up against whatever material you chose to hide them behind potentially leading to rot..... That in a nut shell is why those people choose to take the extra step and add the cement to make a structure that will last a thousand plus years.

[@OffGrit]

🤦 sorry but you have a lot of false statements here....but I simply don't have time to write a 5 page rebuttal to not only correct you, but actually reiterate what I already said in this video... I UNDERSTAND THE WHY...

[@Dr.ArielArik]

10:10 coz of the costs? Obviously and at the very list...

[@valentinegrimaldo7428]

I think the reason to use dirt , is bc it free , all you really really need is elbow grease

[@AverySunshines]

Concrete won't stabilize them but cement will. I have some old concrete I will crush and add them since their angular shapes can make the walls stronger. I will use only clay as binder - no cement.

[@jessicasoss1586]

I guess if you have the right mix of clay and sand and water you don't need to do concrete. Some people add it because they don't have enough of one or the other for the mix... I'm adding 1 scoop of concrete to 12 soil... just cause I over do... well everything 😆 🤣 but hey if this works for you go for it!!!

[@AverySunshines]

If you don't use cement then you might want to make your roof overhang a couple feet out.

[@billlyell8322]

Oh one more thing your just doing a post and beam method that has been used in Europe for centuries. And that great, you can get some really great looking construction using that method. The filler being earthbag is really irrelevant. But I'm not seeing any structural integrity in you walls. Where is your reinforcement to stop them from toppling over sideways?

[@wotanmituns33]

Those bags are made of plastic?

[@OffGrit]

Yep polypropylene

[@lindakleckner215]

​@@OffGritoh, nevermind my one earlier question.

[@isaacsegura]

he says concrete, he means cement

[@RedskinzFan]

Concrete is NOT breathable where as concrete fines inside earth DOES breathe

[@donwimberley4772]

Cause its cheaper

[@shakeelmohideen7172]

Waste of time using those bag's..the sun and weather conditions basically the bags become biodegradable..

[@OffGrit]

I have already built with them before... you cover them with a tarp/ canvas before using. 💪

[@shakeelmohideen7172]

@@OffGrit I know those bag's m they perish in the open within a year...not feasible...rice comes in those bags... it's biodegradable.. quickly..

[@OffGrit]

@@shakeelmohideen7172 🤦

[@lindakleckner215]

​@@OffGrit On the outside.. this is what keeps moisture out is it?

[@gemguy6812]

polypropylene bags are not biodegradable but will weaken in UV light, most are treated with UV protection though. Yes, keep them covered if they are to be exposed to desert summers.

[@claire_A-T]

Blah blah blah blah blah

[@OffGrit]

hello... where is your content? I checked your channel to see if you had any videos....but it looks like you don't....nothing .... oh well.