[Cob] National Park Service earthbag construction

[mudhome at netzero.net]

At 09:04 AM 2/8/2004 -0800, Elizabeth wrote:
>Here's a link showing earthbag construction by the National Park 
>Service!  They used concrete heavily--a concrete pad foundation and 
>stemwall, a concrete bondbeam, and concrete stucco.  Still, a government 
>agency using an alternative building technique is progress.
>Elizabeth in WA
>
>http://www.nature.nps.gov/sustainabilitynews/Summer_03/Summer_03_Collaboration/SustainabilityNewsSummer2003Collaboration.htm 
>

I wonder why it doesn't say who the "two skilled earthbag builders 
contracted from Moab, Utah" are? They are Kaki Hunter and Doni Kiffmeyer 
(authors of the article Elizabeth just posted a link to, and very fun, 
energetic people) and have a website at:

http://www.ok-ok-ok.com

After their visit to CalEarth some years ago, they took Khalili's technique 
and ran with it. To be honest, I've been a lot more impressed with their 
work (in terms of details, quality, little construction tricks) than what 
I've seen of people who had spent years at CalEarth (not that there was 
anything wrong with the latter). There doesn't seem to be anything on their 
website about the "how to" manual they mention at the end of that article 
but I HOPE it is available. I have a spiral-bound draft from a few years 
ago and would highly recommend it to anyone considering using earthbags, 
even in unpolished form.

I'm sure the park service is responsible for the amount of concrete used, 
since I've never known Doni and Kaki to use any. At least they didn't add 
cement to the earth in the bags, as CalEarth appears to be doing more and 
more. That's the impression I get, anyway, from comparing the current 
pictures on their website to my memories from  when they first went online. 
Maybe soon Jilly (or someone who has already been there) will be able to 
tell us whether I am correct? Compare the masonry-style arch-building 
technique of these-

http://www.networkearth.org/naturalbuilding/honey.html
(that's the link Elizabeth posted today; my husband made that site about 
seven years ago, BTW)

http://www.potkettleblack.com/natbild/images/cnbw/15.jpg
(he made this one too - potkettleblack.com is his domain)

and this picture (which I'll bet is several years old) of Khalili-
http://www.calearth.org/naderb.jpg


to these single long bags arching over openings-

http://www.calearth.org/cvillage/DlxArch.htm
(note especially the arches that are not in the foreground and have already 
had their forms removed)

http://www.calearth.org/EcoDomeImages/EcDmFinExt.jpg

http://www.calearth.org/EcoDomeImages/EcDmFinExt1.jpg
(same building as previous picture, only finished and shown from a 
different angle)

http://www.calearth.org/cvillage/ShltGrlE.htm
(Also, can someone explain that stem-wall thing in that last picture? Since 
many people use earthbags as stem-walls and/or foundations for walls of 
cob, strawbale, etc. I'd really like to know what's going on there.)


And, as for vaults...! They seem to be starting with reinforced concrete 
vaults, but I couldn't find any explanation of why or how they are building 
them-

http://www.calearth.org/3vaults_files/VaultFormOut.jpg
or  http://www.calearth.org/3vaults_files/VaultFormOutThumb.jpg

http://www.calearth.org/3vaults_files/E1South.jpg


Sarah in New England now