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Re: ovens and earth bag construction
The soil needs to be a mix of clay and sand. They have all kinds of different formulas for that work. We have mostly clay soil here so we could just use what came out of the trench plus a little more we dug up down the hill. The sand came from our dry creek bed, we have about an acre of that! Our formula was 20% clay soil and 80% sand + water. The first coat of plaster was also just clay and sand with some straw added. I have heard of people using what ever type of soil they have for the bags. It is considered a "sustainable" building method, as little to no wood is used and the only cement is in the foundation. (It takes more energy and money to make cement than it is worth) My next project will be a wine cellar. All underground and round like a kiva, using the soil we dig up, what ever type that may be (probably clay). It never ends!
The soil needs to be a mix of clay and sand. They have all kinds of different formulas for that work. We have mostly clay soil here so we could just use what came out of the trench plus a little more we dug up down the hill. The sand came from our dry creek bed, we have about an acre of that! Our formula was 20% clay soil and 80% sand + water. The first coat of plaster was also just clay and sand with some straw added. I have heard of people using what ever type of soil they have for the bags. It is considered a "sustainable" building method, as little to no wood is used and the only cement is in the foundation. (It takes more energy and money to make cement than it is worth) My next project will be a wine cellar. All underground and round like a kiva, using the soil we dig up, what ever type that may be (probably clay). It never ends!
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