Building a House Using Sandbags
Why Sandbag Homes Are Growing In Popularity.
Not only do these homes look good, but they are cheap to build and well insulated against heat in the summer and cold in the winter. They can be constructed for use as a complete home or can be used as a guest room, teenage zone or outdoor office in the garden of existing home. This method of construction is generating more and more interest all over the world, both in developed and developing countries.
Advantages of Sandbag Homes:
- Construction of the homes is quick and the system can involve the local community and unskilled laborers, thus instilling a sense of community pride and ownership in a poor area. The construction technique is easily learned.
- Sand is widely available and free or nearly free, depending on location which obviously makes it an economically sound choice. Empty sandbags are light and easily transported.
- Sand is environmentally friendly and needs no energy for processing. The labor would be removing stones or rocks from the sand, filling and stacking the bags.
- There is no necessity for the transport of truck loads of expensive equipment and supplies to the construction site since construction can take place virtually anywhere, even in very remote areas.
- In addition to being well insulated, the house would also have sound absorbing properties.
Different Methods of Sandbag Construction
Sandbag House Eco-Beam System
This is a construction method patented in South Africa by Engineer Mike Tremeer. Timber beams and roof trusses are used, packed with sandbags for exterior and interior walls. The use of Eco-Beams typically saves two thirds of the timber used in a classic timber frame construction. The Eco-Beam is a patented lattice beam, which is a combination of two wooden struts and a zig-zagged metal strip that joins them and provides rigidity and strength. Geo-fabric bags are filled and stacked in the space between the beams. The walls are then covered with a mesh or expanded metal mesh and plastered.
Sandbag House Construction - Eco-Dome Method
This construction method was designed and patented by US Architect Nader Khalili. The home is built from local earth-filled superadobe coils (earth stabilized with cement or lime). Designed to be a very small home or a studio apartment, the construction can be added to in the same way to form a larger home. The dome can be built by a small team and is designed with the elements in mind. Interior furniture (such as window benches and bases for beds) can be built-in using the same materials.
How to Build a Sandbag House
Eco adobe house packages can be purchased, which include construction blueprints and engineering calculations.
If building a sandbag house using the eco beam method, it would be best to have an Architect and Engineer involved to ensure that the construction is sound.
The actual building of the house is a relatively simple process. Obviously a site needs to be purchased and cleared. Any sand excavated can be used to fill the sandbags. If the sand that is going to be used to fill the bags with is dry, moisten it so that it can be tightly compacted. Once a foundation trench has been dug and filled, sandbag walls can be placed on top. Stagger the filled bags so that they do not form a straight line, in the way a brick wall would be layered. A dome roof can be built in the same way but a structure will need to be built to support its weight. When adobe house packages are purchased, all blueprints for a superadobe coil dome roof will be included.
Plaster walls as soon as possible, if care has been taken to make surfaces as smooth as possible during the stacking of the bags, a lot of money can be saved on plastering. Houses can be finished with modern amenities such as electricity, plumbing and painting in the usual way.
Adobe House Sandbag Home Construction
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Eco Beam Sandbag House Construction
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