Two story Earthbag house
Earthbag houses are a cheap alternative housing method that are created by filling bags with earth materials. These bags are made out of three main element earth, tubular bags and barbed wire. These are mostly done by the people planning on moving in, which unfortunately is very manually demanding. when adding a floor plan to earth bag house construction plans should be added when putting up multiple levels especially; It is not recommended to put more than two stories when building an Earthbag house they need to be carefully designed to consider the special requirements.
Despite two story Earthbag houses being discouraged it doesn’t mean they can’t be build, but the engineering required to build may be very complicated and some may require a cement foundation. Earthbags can be made up of an any type of soil but knowing the different compositions and mixtures of soil could help, curtain types of composition could provide stronger walls and may also provide more stability, builder primarily use a mix of clay and sand, the clay acts as a glue to hold the sand together while the loose and gritty particles from the sand provide stability. Coarse, jagged sand helps the other sand by giving it multiple sections to adhere to the clay. No matter the mixture, topsoil should not be used. Debris found in topsoil may decompose and weaken the structure.
Two story Earthbag houses are available on the internet ranging from about $200-$400, although those are basic floor plans as they recommend the user to seek advice from a constructer or engineer. These plans do not come with electrical wiring and plumbing setup. Looking at different two story Earthbag houses most of the blue prints for sale have a theme and give it a netter overall aesthetic, the houses have multiple levels and are fairly big; some are used as shelters when if an incident occurred e.g. tsunami and earthquakes
The bottom floor is split into section with some of walls containing thinner layers and supported by a wooden frame or a cement layer used as the plaster because of how strong cement is. The houses do not commonly have as many rooms upstairs although the space is similar, with even some houses only having bedrooms upstairs.
When constructing a two story Earthbag you may run into a few difficulties besides construction, because it is not widely known or used, dealing with building officials like banks and insurers may be difficult. Despite the integrity being tested it is not included in the building codes in most places except in the city of Hesperia and in San Bernardino County in California, thanks to architect Nader Khalili’s work with local building officials.
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