It sounds wonderful and earth friendly but there are some issues with an earthbag house. Will it work for you and your family? Here are some important things to think about:

Clearly, earthbag houses can be considered part of the “green” revolution because the process results in the creation of high mass walls. High mass walls, however, only work if the home is properly oriented toward the south to capture the necessary heat from the sun. Assuming proper orientation, an earthbag house certainly can become a good source of passive heating and cooling. But, like other methods of creating high mass earthen walls (e.g., rammed earth and adobe), the problem with the earthbag house lies with the enormous amount of strenuous labor required to build one. And, as we all know, the more labor required to build a home, the more the cost.

Granted, if you plan to build an earthbag house (or rammed earth or adobe) on your own as an owner-builder the cost will certainly be less. But the labor is back-breaking and generally not something that most of us are willing to undertake. So, barring you have lots of willing strong friends, that leaves a general contractor as the only alternative. However, this is where the cost saving disappears. The earth bag house, like so many other familiar methods of creating high mass walls, now becomes much more expensive due to the excessive amount of strenuous labor necessary to build it.

There is much more to learn about earthbag homes over on Living Systems.

In the end, we love that earth houses are “green,” efficient, and economical but it seems the getting there is tougher than some may think. However, if you are physically strong and motivated, really want this lifestyle for you and your family, and have friends that share your idea and want to help, then an earthbag house could be the home for you!