Dax Dickerson wrote:I was wondering if scoria mixed in with dirt would make a good even insulative wall for an earthbag house. I'm planning to make a 112.5 sq m, two story earthbag house in central germany. I think that with this combination it would keep the solar power use down and keep me warm during the winter and keep it nice during the summer.
Also, kind of off topic, but I was wondering if it would be good to dig the earth down about a foot for the entire area of the house and fill it in with gravel, then once the house in built, I could put lime plaster over the gravel as a floor.
Thanks for any info that could point me in the right direction.
After searching other posts on this forum, I believe
the answer is 7.......Just kidding, I believe you
should fill the bags with straight scoria, the dirt is unnecessary. Insulation works best when it is less compacted and allows convection air flow to pass through all the little holes in the scoria rock. I read a post by a member in another
thread, and he said something along the lines of, The
cob walls in an earthbag house along with a heat source will keep you cozy, and the scoria insulation will make it cheaper to stay cozy.
Digging a trench around the foundation wall of the earth house is fine, you will want to add drainage pipe and geotextile fabric at the very bottom of the trench, and have it drain
water somewhere else other than under your house. You could put gravel completely over the whole/hole foundation, just remember to add drainage/weeping tile. I plan to insulate my floor with poly bags full of perlite tamped down flat and earthen floor applied over top.
Your plan to build such a large earth bag house is a bit wild. Not knowing your skill level, I still would not recommend building such a huge structure to anyone. building smaller is a lot more
energy efficient especially in a colder climate. For example my house is going to be 10 sq. m and 1 and 1/2 levels.
