5 Reasons Not To Build With Earthbags or Hyperadobe.

There are pros and cons for everything. After researching building with earthbags or hyperadobe, the pros were are lot easier to find than the cons. So this video lists all the drawbacks to earthbag construction in one video.

[chip]

The real advantage to a lot of these alternative building ideas is that a small group of people can build some kind of shelter over a period of time for nearly free.

[gameosapien]

As someone with home building experience and that has heavily researched alternative building I could not disagree with you more. Do to your location you have no choice but to self build but you bought what you could afford congratulations on that. It's sounds to me like your building a shack not a home, lumber, T-1-11 siding probably no drywall as that is an incredible amount of work in it's self, etc. If that's the case in the environment you are in you're building for failure. Convince shouldn't outweigh logic. your stick home home will be an oven in the summer and a icebox in the winter and is the worst possible choice for your location and weather environment for longevity and easy of maintenance. I have been to Cal-Earth Institute, looked into Aircrete, cob etc. I settled on an adobe "Santa Fe" or "Taos" style build if you will for my upcoming retirement home. Fortunately for me I have access to inexpensive labor since I am building it on land in South America that is only a 30min drive to a good size city. Good luck.

[jamesbarros]

Thank you for this video. I’m a huge proponent of earthbag building but your points are 100% spot on. With a team of 4 fit people, they’re a challenge to build, and you will be exhausted at the end.

I can source cheaper bags (especially for wholesale quantities of hyperadobe roll) and I am comfortable working through the process of using thermal mass effectively, but just like the design of the walls to ensure they don’t collapse, it’s a significant process and requires a lot of local conditions; not just erecting a building like can be done with other materials.

While I love the method, I think so many of the failures are because people get excited without doing serious research and miss the points you explain here. Thank you for sharing these so succinctly.

[robford]

Most of your criticism is Apple and oranges .
Is building earthbag by yourself difficult of course it is : why not have a work away party, bring friends, relatives. Is being enslaved to the bank for 30-40 years better then hard for of 6 month. I know what I will choose.
How many buildings of earth bag material have you done? 100? Or zero?
Yes if you built improperly a wall can fall . So you just re built it and chalk it to expérience.
This reminds me how after a concert of piano music a few older ladies came to the performer and told him that some of his playing was not correct.
After ascertaining that they never played the piano we are stuck with the similar theme : practice what you preach otherwise it’s a a wasteland

[antonioguamil]

There is always that bloke, who think his better than

[hopelaurel]

Don't do videos that you are not educated on and passing bad info.

[jessicasoss]

We just finished a chicken coup that is 250 sqft and... 17 feet tall? Cob and plaster stick great to hyper Adobe. As for "cold in the winterr warm in the summer" is incorrect. Before the cob and plaster were put on yes, that was correct, it WAS still cooler then outside in the summer and a little warmer in the winter. However, once cob and the lime plaster was applied even when it was 20 outside it was 60 inside (no heat at all) in the summer when it was 100 it was 75ish inside. The bags were exposed for a year before cob or plaster was put on. When it rained the bags did get wet, BUT stayed hard.

Yes cleats have to be used. Yes hurricane straps have to be used. And you are 100% on the labor part . 😊

[markharmon]

You could always keep thinking about it. If it was six months ago, your dome could be done and you would be healthier and more fit.

[mariatruitt]

I agreed until the insulation part. Earth walls don't need insulation. When the weather is warm outside, inside the house is cool. When outside is cold, surprisingly inside the home is warm. Actually, in North Dakota some pioneers built tiny mud homes and it worked out pretty well

[panchopanterausa]

Good video thanks to give us the info. But I disagree with you on only on one thing.
building a house with earth it is not necessary any insolation, the earth adobe is the insolation.
I lived for many years in an adobe house in Taos New Mexico and I know that in winter it keeps the heat inside and in summer it is cool inside.
Adobe homes need no insulation.

[duanenavarre]

Most of what you say is a good reason, but the falling walls issue was solved by the native americans and others
by doing a better job of foundation. A lot of modern homes over the last 100 years in the US have foundation issues.
There are multiple companies whose total business is around foundation repair.

[garaiko]

This is not true. Super adobe is not just earth in bags. You analyze the composition of the earth of your land so that you know with how much sand you have to mix it, and then you always add 10% of either lime or cement so that when it dries it becomes really hard and solid. When you use just earth it's not so robust and it's just called adobe, not superadobe. They are different.

[karinarodriguez]

That's true, most of the people don't talk about the cons. Thanks for sharing.

[Animallovingpermie]

great video, i think you're spot on with four of the five points, but with point four, there is more options than just spray foam. I think it isn't widely spoken about because building that way is uncommon enough, but for earthbag building in the north, an outer course of bags filled with vermiculite/perlite is recommended. i don't know for sure, but a second wall might also help with the stability, if they are each slightly angled for a subtle triangle effect. most important thing to keep in mind i think is that earthbags/hyperadobe aren't silver bullets. if the design isn't well thought through, it can and will fail.

[stanpak]

Really nice and compact overview of the drawbacks of this method. I think nothing beats the speed and flexibility of the frame and stick construction. It can be sturdy clean inside, easy to install any infrastructure inside etc. Yes dirt is in place and you can build with it but all at the cost of labor, flexibility and stability.

[ager]

Thanks for posting this. I read the comments, seems like a lot of closed minded folks totally missed the point of your effort. A bunch of them are currently assembling a party armed with garden implements and lighting torches. I think you wasted your effort by encouraging them to think through their own projects before settling on a building plan. I hope I don't meet any of them on the road, probably be another road rage video with me as the victim. Good luck on your own house project.

[creepingduck]

Hi Joe! Thanks for doing the research. Another great video. In AZ I feel that concrete walls are best due to the temperatures.

[carol]

Yes it would be much easier by yourself to build a stick build!

[chrishultgren]

build a yurt if you have limited labor resources

[ТимотейГоранов]

"A lot of work" but remember that some people doing building work every day as full time job and they don't even have own house