Talk:Earthbag construction

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Earthbag construction article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Architecture Low‑importance

	Architecture portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Architecture, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Architecture on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.ArchitectureWikipedia:WikiProject ArchitectureTemplate:WikiProject ArchitectureArchitecture articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Civil engineering Low‑importance

	Engineering portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Civil engineering, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Civil engineering on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Civil engineeringWikipedia:WikiProject Civil engineeringTemplate:WikiProject Civil engineeringCE articles
Low	This article has been rated as Low-importance on the project's importance scale.

Technology

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Technology, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of technology on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.TechnologyWikipedia:WikiProject TechnologyTemplate:WikiProject TechnologyTechnology articles

It is requested that an image or photograph be included in this article to improve its quality. Please replace this template with a more specific media request template where possible.
The Free Image Search Tool or Openverse Creative Commons Search may be able to locate suitable images on Flickr and other web sites.

Upload

Moon ?[edit]

How useful is it to really even mention using this technique on the moon?

I would tend to agree with the above. This hasn't even been shown to even be plausible, let alone the claim that it would "seem to be an ideal solution" to the problem of building structures on the moon. This would seem to be a claim made in the complete absence of evidence on the subject (note the complete lack of references). Up until now, very specialized structures have been needed for space, made of materials that would, say, keep in an atmosphere in a vacuum. Is there any information to suggest that this building method could be adapted to do that? This would seem to be, to me, an example of someone's opinion making it into the article as something more than an opinion. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 69.248.61.9 (talk) 20:50, 21 June 2009 (UTC)[reply]

It is important to mention in relation to this topic because that is one of the first ways people were thinking of employing earthbags to build permanent structures. Matthew Ferguson (talk) 15:31, 25 February 2017 (UTC)[reply]

Nadir Kahlili of Calearth (sp?) designed the method having been contracted by NASA. The point is a structure with minimal imported materials - aluminized mylar sheets would easily solve the issue with keeping in atmosphere. It is definately plausible, lunar soil is ideal for flexible form rammed earth (moon) construction, though wetting it would be an issue. I recall that there is CaS(H2O) on the moon, we call that Gypsum and it makes plaster. This criticism ignores the basics of the construction method; fill a sack and beat it hard, earth, moon, mars... — Preceding unsigned comment added by 174.24.104.202 (talk) 07:52, 30 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Nadir did not develop the idea of building homes out of earthbags he merely popularized it. Building with earthbags has been used in warfare and flood defense applications "for at least 100 years". In trenchwarfare situations it has also been used to make roofed structures, and is not limited to retaining walls. A few others were building homes out of earthbags before Nadir got involved. See the appropedia article on earthbag building history section: [1]. He was definately the only one I have heard of who was suggesting it as a suitable solution to building on the moon.[2] Also I would add that the term "flexible form rammed earth" should not be used to describe this technique. Rammed earth almost always refers to a different natural building technique which does not use any earthbags or tubes, indeed some say the oldest human structures are rammed earth, long before plastics. I could find only one source which used this term as a synonym for earthbag building (Earthbag Building: The Tools, Tricks and Techniques. Kaki Hunter, Donald Kiffmeyer). Matthew Ferguson (talk) 09:20, 30 December 2018 (UTC)[reply]

Picture[edit]

Can we have an example picture added? I feel like it would greatly contribute to people's understanding of this technique. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 96.36.86.24 (talk) 02:17, 18 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]