Sun, Sea and Earthbag in Costa Rica

It isn’t easy to build a house from scratch for the first time, and when you throw friends and lovers in the mix? Ooh...make or break, I reckon. So when a handsome couple from Costa Rica joined our Mud Home Facebook group in the winter, I did wonder how it would all turn out. There's a lot to learn from this project.

An ambitious project.

The Love Story and the Dream

Our story begins with Sam and Leora from California. A couple often to be seen balancing on surfboards as the sun turns pink, looking enviably tanned and healthy. The pair met three years ago and have been globetrotting ever since. Then they stumbled into Costa Rica. Here the love begins, with the land (it always starts with the land), the surf, and each other.

“After about two years of balancing travel with 'real life’, we decided it might be time for a big lifestyle change,” says Leora, who spearheaded the design of what was a very ambitious earthbag house for first-time builders.

“One night Sam was cruising the internet and discovered this 'out there’ natural building technique. We had briefly discussed, in fantasy form, our dream of leaving the U.S. to build a home and start a family. Sam and I spent the next few months daydreaming, scheming and researching Earthbag Building. We downloaded all of Owen Geigers PDFs and looked into The Cal Earth Institute that was just right down the street in Riverside, California. In many ways, we fell in love with it.”

From the outset, this project has been well-planned. Leora had studied interior architecture, so was in a good position to design her new home. “Sam and I spent the next few months concept designing every square inch of the project. We drew up site maps and floor plans and started to see our dream turn into a possible reality!” explains Leora, who is clearly not of the Atulya K Bingham seat-of-your-pants approach.

The dream took hold of them. But the only issue was, Sam and Leora didn’t own a place to realise it. No small holding. No land. So they returned to Costa Rica. After a long hunt, they finally found what they were looking for. “A raw piece of jungle, roughly three-quarters of an acre. It was perfect. We closed the land deal a month later, on my birthday,” Leora says.

Sam and Leora. But does love and earthbag mix?

The Friend

Dreams are all well and good. But to haul them out of the swampy marshlands of fantasy and into reality, you need a game plan. In most cases of construction you also need help – the right help. As I said, this house was very ambitious for first-time builders. I blinked once or twice when I saw the size of it.

The project included two sizeable earthbag round houses joined by an earthbag corridor. There were circles and straight walls, cupolas, and massive arches. It was going to be naturally plastered, too. When I first laid eyes on it, I gulped, because I knew how much work it would be. But I didn’t realise that Sam and Leora had a secret weapon.

“I met Sam on a trip to Costa Rica almost five years ago,” says Murat Dirlik, an experienced alternative builder from North Carolina (think Frank Zappa on a surfboard meets Salvador Dali with a hammer, and you’ll be riding roughly the right mental wave).

“When Sam and Leora bought the lot here in Playa Peladas, they offered me the opportunity to come be their superintendent on the job. I was already burned out on hospitality management, so I jumped at the chance to do an earthbag project with my friends,” he says.

Murat - The Man who Can.

The House Begins

The rest of us in the Facebook group have been watching this build go up since February, and from the word go it was hard not to be impressed. The design was appropriate – buttresses and adjoining walls were going in the right places, windows were well-placed, and the earthbags were looking tidier than a neurotic’s bookshelf. But most of all it was the team work that impressed me, because this project could have so easily have gone pear-shaped.

It’s really hard to maintain good communication when you are tired and stressed, with any number of limitations (time/weather/money) hanging over you. What I loved about this build is how everyone was valued and had a role. I’m

oversimplifying, because in truth there are many overlaps in duties, but Leora is chief designer and on site each day to iron out design issues, Sam usually deals with logistics, planning, supplies and workers, and Murat is head of construction, foreman of the crew, and brings the design into reality. Everyone has a say, and the team meets regularly to discuss.

How to make an arch. Watch and learn.

The Problems

From the outside this project seemed to be running so smoothly I could hardly believe there were any difficulties, but of course there’s always trouble somewhere.

“All told, I think the thing that repeatedly wore me down was negotiating the crew,” says Murat. Perhaps it is largely my own problem, because I have spent ten years running a very well-oiled crew made up of some of my best friends, so coming here for this project I had to abandon such expectations. Simply put, between the language difficulties (I speak pretty much fluent Spanish but not Guanacaste worker slang) and the cultural aspects of it all, as well as the individual personalities of the workers and their general lack of building experience, things could become pretty overwhelming.”

Yes, I hear you Murat. People are hard to manage. And the more people there are, the more trouble there is to negotiate. I’m often asked why I do so much alone. Honestly? Because half the time, even with the best intentions, 'help’ just isn’t very helpful.

People usually aren’t trained, and come with a barrel load of needs that you have to attend to.

“There was a palpable change in the stress level once we reduced our number of employees to about three people...so much easier to manage.” Wise words from Murat here. Keep your team a manageable size.

Sam and Leora had other issues, and I sympathise here too, because it is stressful when it’s your property and you are shelling out a lot of money for a build. “This has not been an easy project for us. I would say the most difficult part has been time, money and design management. This is our first project ever. We have learned a lot about stress control, remaining calm and collected during times of chaos and most importantly, how to remain a team and work together,” says Leora, very gracefully if I may say so.

Cupola.

How to do it right

As far as I’m concerned, this was one of the most successful first projects I’ve ever seen. I know it wasn't easy, but it never is. Watching from the outside, I have my own take on why it succeeded. Here’s a list of things this team did right:

1. Research

Now, I might be a bit of a pantser, but even with my Mud Home in Turkey, even when I was in a tent without power, I still did my research. I bought the books, went to trusted sources, and wrote down information. You need to do your homework.

2. Communication and kindness

This team are excellent communicators. All three of them understand the importance of praise, and of valuing everyone’s efforts. All three met weekly to discuss the plan, and all three spent time off site having fun, too. There’s a lot of good feeling between them.

3. Experience

I would never normally recommend anyone who is building for the first time to try a project this big. If Murat hadn't had a decent amount of experience...

4. Asking for advice, and mitigating the ego

I tell you, when it comes to construction people are far too slow to ask for advice from an expert. And I get it. There is a continual barrage of opinions (many pretty misinformed) coming at you when you build something, so you get sick of hearing 'advice’. But the truth is, heck, you’re building a house! Mistakes cost a lot of money. They might even bankrupt you. So just find an expert you trust and ask!

Who do I consider an expert? Experts are not people who spend all day blabbering. They are not your uncle Bob, or that guy up the road who keeps stopping by and adding his two-penneth worth. Indeed, in my experience real experts rarely give

advice unless they are asked. The right person to take advice from is someone who has already done what you are doing. That’s it.

With my Mud Home in Turkey back in the day, I went to Owen Geiger for advice about foundations, and I had a friend at the end of the phone who’d already built a string of earthbag bungalows.

With the Costa Rican team, Murat was already extremely well-versed in many kinds of alternative construction, which is why it was running smoothly. But even so, when they weren’t sure, Sam, Leora, and Murat never hesitated to ask me questions.

One of the most successful first time builds I've seen.

That’s my take. But what do Team Costa Rica think?

Here’s what Murat has to say:

“I think that through a combination of my experience and familiarity with the building process (geometric concepts, design, engineering for strength, anticipating and planning ahead, setting up a workspace, and innovating like crazy in a place with little access to certain things we often take for granted) and Leora and Sam's understanding of how they wanted the project to turn out, we had a winner from the start. They knew that they wanted something nice and elegant, and unlike a lot of clients I have worked with, they had a proper vision from the beginning. After some growing pains we have come to trust each other and not hold onto any ideas too rigidly, so the project has been able to grow on its own in a really nice way...It's natural to get frustrated with one another and butt heads on a project as big as this one, so keeping that in mind and making sure to just have fun together is a crucial aspect of it. I would be hard pressed to think of doing this project with/for people whom I did not love, so maybe at the root of it all, that is how we have managed to overcome all of the difficulties and get to where we are now.”

Here’s Sam and Leora’s perspective:

“The most important factor in our success has been our unwavering determination to finish. There has never been a moment where we’ve even considered throwing our hands up and saying 'we quit’...Through times of great stress and all-time lows, Sam and I manage to love our way through it, sometimes kicking and screaming, but at the end of the day there is always a hug and a 'we’re gonna fucking do this!’ ” A round of applause for Team Costa Rica. You did well. Very well.

Murat's amazing roof.

How to Build an Earthbag Arch

Arches are a lot like Amal Clooney: Smart, well-put together, and began life in the Levant. Some of the first arches (as far as we know) were constructed around 2000 BC in Mesopotamia, and as anyone who has wandered round an old Roman ruin will tell you, an arched doorway is often the only thing remaining after an earthquake.

Arches work because any external pressure pushing inwards or downwards on the arch stones only serves to compress them tighter. But...before you leap up in archbuilding excitement, there are a couple of points to etch onto your brain.

Before starting an earthbag arch remember...

Earthbag arch wedges need to be a bit wedge shaped, and must be jammed intightly, otherwise the arch principle doesn’t work.
As the forces of the arch push down to the ground, the arch will push outward atthe base. So, you need some decent 'abutment’ (aka a good fat earthbag wall on either side of the arch to stop it pushing outwards).

Beautiful earthbag arch created by Murat Dirlik, Sam Creveling and Leora Light in Costa Rica.

Here’s how to make an earthbag arch, step by step

You need a mould or strong arch frame to lay your bags around. In our small arch,we were incorporating part of an organic tree trunk, so the arch wasn’t perfectly round. On a small arch this won’t matter, but a larger one needs more precision.

This was our arch mould, but a larger arch needs a tidier semi-circle.

Attach a piece of string in the centre of the bottom of the arch. You use this tocheck the angle of your arch wedges.

Make a wedge mould for your earthbag 'slices'. Stick your empty earthbag in themould, fill it with clayey dirt, and tamp it firm until you have an earthbag the shape of a slice of brie.

Wedge mould to create brie-shaped earthbags.

Arrange your bag wedges around the arch. Use the string to check they're lined upcorrectly. Remember, if your bags are not wedge-shaped but straight-edged, they’re not going to compress together. As you lay the bags, weave the barbed wire in and out of the wedges (see top photo). Make sure the wedges are tightly jammed together.

Kemal using the string to check the angle of the wedges.

Once all the earthbag wedge pieces have been jammed in, time to drop thekeystone in the middle. It may end up being more of a squeeze and shove than a drop, but as long as you've jammed the keystone piece in nice and tight, it will hold.

Keystone going in.

Run a course or two of barbed wire over the top of the arch, and lay another layerof flat bags over the top of the arch to lock it all in.

You need a layer of bags over the top to lock it all in.

Extra note from the Costa Rican Earthbag Team

Our Costa Rican team made the wide and beautiful earthbag arch in the top photo. Because of the span, I asked Murat if their arch technique had differed from mine in any way. “At the core, our method was the same, but we interwound/integrated a lot more barbed wire and aimed for super symmetry just because of structural demands,” Murat said. He also drove in a bunch of rebar just to make sure the whole thing was pinned together invincibly.

How Murat Made this Earthbag Roof

If you’re only going to read one post on roofing for earthbag, make it this one. Remember our brave and successful earthbag lovers in Costa Rica? Here’s how they constructed their roof, step by step. Earthbag roofing options are plentiful, but this design is original, strong, and lovely. I’m very grateful to Murat Dirlik for sharing his methodology and photos in such detail in our Facebook group. It demonstrates perfectly how to deal with the issue of outward pressure or “splay” in earthbag roofing options.

How to make a roof for an earthbag house like a pro.

The Design

Sam and Leora are in the closing phase of their wonderful earthbag home in Costa Rica. The couple wanted a beautiful roof to cover a circular structure. With their building buddy Murat, they decided on an octagonal design. They didn't want any permanent posts inside, and wanted to include a cupola to help move all the hot air out of the space.

“Knowing these factors, splay was obviously a concern, as the roof would put a significant outward pressure on the walls... the direction in which they are weakest,” says site foreman Murat Dirlik, who has documented the build for us in superb detail.

I’m quoting Murat throughout this post, because I really love the way he has shared the details of his thought process as he goes along. It shows how good builders modify and adapt as the mental plan hits physical reality. I’ve never seen anything work in practice exactly how people plan in their minds, and for me this is the most exciting part of construction and off-grid world creation. You have to work with nature, with materials, with time, with money, with people, and with weather. This alchemy creates something wholly unique.

Murat's roof design.

Location-Dependent Factors

“We are building in Costa Rica, just to put things in context,” says Murat. “It's hot, rainy, and earthquake prone here. Because of these factors we used a lot of rebar in our walls... in a photo or two you can see little x's on the bags, which designate where we drove rebar down into the runs of bags below, roughly a meter or so. The x's are staggered and the rebar runs lower than the preceding ones, to properly integrate them all. Marking them (x is where the top of each rebar ends) was essential to us knowing where the previous ones were placed, since the following line of bags covered all evidence. Of course we used barbed wire as well.”

X marks the spot.

The Bond Beam

“We have access to a lot of local teak, so we used it for our bond beam instead of cement, which we are avoiding for countless reasons. I was unsure how well this would work, but we had enough slightly curved pieces that we were able to tie them all together in an octagon without jutting past the parameters set by the wall's thickness and its curve. These beams were pinned at opposing angles with rebar down into the walls, and into each other. This was tricky as the bags couldn't be too wet or too dry, but we pulled it off.”

I think Murat’s bond beam is superb, and is exactly how you want to create a bond beam on a circular house. Just a note: It is possible if you are building a small earthbag round house, and adding a roof where the pressure pushes completely down rather than outwards, to omit the bond beam (I did in my Mud Home in Turkey. It has survived many quakes now).

See the teak bond beam running around the top of the earthbag house.

The Pitch of the Roof

The team didn’t want the roof to be over-pitched. In the end the pitch was roughly 5/12. Because of the bond beam, rebar and general structural competence of the house, Murat was right to feel he was off to a good start. “So I got to working on the initial ring for up top,” he says. “I did a mock up on the ground to make the work easier and finished the ring (bolted at joints - perhaps unnecessary with all of the compression enacted by the rafters, but seemed like a good idea) and then did all of the rafter mortising on the ground as well. In retrospect, as much as this allowed for clean work and pretty joints, I think perhaps on this next roof I'll do that work up top just to get things moving faster.”

The inner ring of the cupola being made.

The Cupola and Rafters

So Murat and the team hoisted the ring up onto some temporary planks, up onto the tower of power, and installed the rafters.

“The rafters are bolted through the ring and down into the teak, and also rebarred down into the walls through the bond beam. You can see in one photo how we had to add little chunks of teak instead of going directly through the bond beam. This was because of the octagon of the bond beam vs the roundness of the walls, as well as the varying thicknesses of our framing. We sort of just went for it, adding stuff where needed and simply making sure that everything was well fastened together with rebar in pretty much every direction we could put it.”

Rebarring the main rafters onto the bond beam.

The Extra Tension Cable

“I also decided to put a cable around the whole thing to keep the roof snug... you can see it in the pictures. We basically drove the rebar through all of the rafters leaving about 10cm sticking out, and then ran a cable around the outside of them all, tightening with a turnbuckle, and pounded the rebar down over the cable to pin it in place. I now believe this wasn't necessary, but it is another little back up element that adds to the anti-splay needs.”

Rebar driven through rafters and cable tightened around them.

Overhangs and Counter-Balancing the Outward Force Exerted by the Roof

“Once the 8 primary rafters were up it seemed pretty stable, but certainly still moved about a bit. I pulled the planks to see what happened because sometimes I just can't help myself, and it stayed put nicely.”

Yay! I always recommend a good kick, pull or shove to check an earthbag house for structural integrity. You can immediately feel if the thing is locked in or not.

“Secondary rafters, cross ties, etc. went up next. I tried to design this roof to have almost as much weight outside as inside, to put more of a downward pressure on the walls.”

You pro Murat! Totally correct thinking. This is exactly how our carpenter in Turkey formed the massive reciprocal roof on a workshop build we did there.

“The soffits are about 120 cm... we needed big overhangs anyway because of the rains here, so they counterbalance fairly well. To add to this I put the thick ends of the teak at the bottom, where the extra weight also furthered my plan. Finally, the cross ties that carry the secondary rafters are as low down the primary rafters as possible (in terms of the acceptable span for the ceiling tablilla) to put less roof weight and material on the part of its structure that is within the walls. Any of this make sense? Hope so!”

“I would say we ended up with maybe a hopeful 35% of the roof's weight outside of the walls? So nowhere near half, but still nicely counterbalances and eliminates a decent bit of that outward push.”

Decent overhangs help counter balance the outward force exerted by this roof design.

Ceiling Boards

“Then we put down the 3/8 tongue and groove ceiling boards, the insulation, and the 2x2 nailers for the metal roofing. Notice the purlins for the metal are fastened to little 2x2 cleats instead of directly to the ceiling boards. This was to create a larger air space between the ceiling and the metal in order to move more air through the roof and out the top. With every step the roof became more and more sturdy, and once the metal went down I felt like we had totally pulled it off. It is one big monolithic hunka chunka that seems to not want to go anywhere.”

If I could say one thing about sensing intuitively whether your earthbag home is structurally sound, it would be that it should feel like one massive monolithic hunka chunka that has no intention of moving anywhere:))

“Many of the fasteners used in putting a house together are really just needed to hold things in place while you build, as once all is integrated things aren't going anywhere regardless of the fasteners," concludes Murat.

Yup. Once everything is locked in, the downward pressure of the roof, and the interlocking strength of the earthbag structure, make it incredibly strong.

The cupola going up.

Once again, many thanks to Murat Dirlik for his superb documenting of this roof construction. If you want a beautiful natural house built, you can connect with Murat on Facebook

My 4 beginners’ ground rules for getting your earthbag roof right:

Is your roof structure pushing outwards or downwards? If it’s only downwards youhave little to worry about and may, on small circular structures, get away without a bond beam. You always need a bond beam if you have straight walls.
If your roof pushes outwards as well as downwards, you need a bond beam, andpossibly buttresses/rebar. In addition you need either trusses (to pull the roof back inwards and thus exert some pressure in the opposite direction), or counter-balancing roof weight with overhangs outside of the walls (as Murat did).
Your rafters need to be firmly anchored to your roof. You can do this by drivingrebar into the bond beam (as Murat did), or by nailing the rafters to pillows and nailing or rebarring the pillows into your earthbags (as I did).
If you live in a place prone to high winds that could potentially lift off your roof(I’ve seen this happen, be warned), you can run ropes through your earthbag walls and cinch your rafters down.

Brixton Earthbag (and How to Make a Living Roof)

Time for a different earthbag build. I’m letting you in on a mud adventure that has touched my heart rather. It’s one you won’t have seen before. Deep in the urban badlands of Brixton is a mud home with spirit. It’s plucky, original, and despite its size has plenty of personality – much like the woman who built it, in fact. Welcome to Mud Hut, built by Cath Coffey and the Mud Hutters.

Mud Hut in Brixton.

For those outside the UK or who don’t know, Brixton isn’t some rural off-grid wilderness, it’s London. But while Mud Hut squats in the capital’s backyard, it harks back to somewhere else, somewhere much further south. Its roots stretch right back across Europe, over the Mediterranean, through the Sahara, and into East Africa.

Cath taking a well-earned break.

“I always loved visiting my grandparents in Kenya,” Cath told me. “They lived in mud huts in a village on the foothills of Mount Kenya. My grandfather had two wives, each with their own hut, thatched with reeds from the river. Kids, goats, chickens and wood-fired cooking smells all intermingled. The sound of Kikuyu and laughter...It felt like a free life, if a strenuous one. They grew their own food, and were mostly self-sustaining.”

And it was this Kenyan life and family that inspired Mud Hut.

Mud hutters making the rubble trench foundations and stem wall.

Mud Hut is 22 feet in diameter. It’s an earthbag house (hyperadobe) with rubble trench foundation, earth plaster, and wooden floor. The house was made with raschel mesh tubing, which Cath found from a certain Mr Jing Hou in China. “He was the only person I found who would send me a small quantity (500 metres),” explains Cath. “I still have plenty enough left for another structure or two! Mr Jing Hou loves the building...calls me Mr Cath.”

Floorboards going down in the hut.

How long did it take to build?

“The house took just over a year to build, and that includes a long break for winter. It was constructed by myself and one other helper mainly. Del McCoy was my main wingman. The rest of the family were also amazing, each in their own way. I’ll always be indebted to friends who took time from their busy lives to help. It was a very special time,” explains Cath.

How much did the house cost?

“Honestly, I don’t know and I’m scared to total it up! I know it cost a lot more than I thought...scrub that...I didn’t think about the cost. I just had a compulsion to build.”

Pallet ceiling, earth plaster with lime wash on the walls.

How to reduce the cost of your build

On the subject of cost, one thing I can say is that Cath is super smart about reducing building costs by using recycled and reclaimed materials. It makes a huge difference. I often think that with building as with travelling, you spend as much as you have. Do take note of Cath’s tips on foraging below, especially if you are in a first-world country where people shamelessly throw everything away.

How Cath made the living roof

Living roofs are always made like massive club sandwiches: there are plenty of layers. Cath really did her homework when it came to the roof. It’s designed for a cold, wet British climate.

The roof has a wooden frame (60% off from a family member who worked at alarge DIY store).
The frame was covered with free reclaimed 18 mm plywood.
Next layer was carpet from the bins at the back of Carpetland (pure wool!)

4.Then Cath added 6mm EPMD pondliner (expensive).

5. After that there’s a root barrier (root barriers are always non-organic, otherwise obviously roots will burrow and your roof will no longer be waterproof.) 6. Finally sedum modules with Leca (expanded clay balls) infill.

“I know from my sedum roof at home that the sedum will eventually migrate and colonise the Leca. The carpet, sedum and Leca all make for good insulation. There is also 150 mm insulation batting in between the roof joists. The building is both warm and cool when you need it to be. Result!”

The pitch of the roof

People sometimes get this wrong, because unlike tiles or other roof systems, living roofs don’t want too much pitch. If the roof’s too steep you’ve got erosion issues; if it’s too flat you’ve got a swimming pool. About 5 - 10 degrees is optimum (that’s 1:12 or 2:12 max).

What about the edging?

This is the trickiest part of the living roof, if you ask me. Cath’s living roof is edged with steel garden edging. The EPDM is sandwiched between two layers of edging so that excess water drips off the lower edge. She plans to build planters with waterloving plants at the drip edge to take advantage of the run-off.

This is definitely a super model for a living roof on an earthbag house in a wet climate, in my opinion.

Wingman Del on the roof.

What was the most challenging part of the build for Cath?

“The doubt,” she replies. “The 'do I know what I’m doing?’ The physical demands; earth is heavy. The protracted time period. Costs spiralling. The ups and downs of life.”

Mud Hut Today

Cath built this house for her artist sister, in fact. “She’s a compulsive maker and needed space.” And what a beautiful place for a creative to work within! It’s the ultimate she-shack.

The interior, all ready for a creative spirit.

Adding Windows and Doors into Earthbag Structures

It’s actually pretty easy to add window and door frames into earthbag buildings. The most important thing, as always with earthbag, is anchoring things to the walls. But there are a couple of potential issues, so it pays to be aware of them.

1. Making a mould

The standard way to create space for your door or window is to make a mould. Some people use tyres, some use hay bales, most build a box out of wood or ply and insert it onto the wall where they want their window.

Perfect example of a mould for an arched doorway from Sam, Leora and Murat’s earthbag build in Costa Rica.

That said, I’ve never done it this way. I’ve always stuck the window or door frame straight into the wall, and built around it. There are pros and cons to both methods, as you’ll see in a bit.

Window frame stuck directly on the wall.

2. Anchors

As you lay earthbags up to the edges of the mould or frame, it’s crucial to add anchors between the bags that you will attach your frames to. What you don’t want in any kind of construction is the frames shifting or sliding about. They need to be securely nailed into the earthbag wall. How?

You can either make your own anchors from small planks of wood and slot them between the bags like this:

An example of a wooden anchor for a door frame.

Or you can use metal brackets to do the same job (see Owen Geiger’s method).

3. Fixing anchors onto earthbags

Fix the anchor onto your earthbag by driving big fat nails (minimum 10 - 12cm) right through the anchor and into the earthbag.

Nailing the anchors. Not sure what the grimace is for, but you get the picture.

I’ve found you want one anchor, every three or four rows of earth bags. Any less and things start wobbling.

4. Barbed wire

Once your anchors are secured, you lay the barbed wire over the top of the anchors, and nail it into place. This gives the upper row of bags something to grip onto. Once you tamp the lot down, that anchor is wedged. Now you have something to screw/nail your window or door frame into.

Barbed wire nailed onto the anchor.

Issues to watch out for:

The snag with earthbag is this: The higher up you go and the more you tamp, the more pressure is exerted on the lower bags. So they will naturally squeeze inwards, pressing against your window or door frame, or indeed your mould. If you are using a mould this can make it difficult to yank out. The common recommendation is to stick wedges between the mould and the earthbag wall. Even so, most people still seem to find it hard to pull the mould out. A mould without rough edges will help your cause. Or perhaps a bit of plastic sheet between the wall and the mould would help it slide?

If you want to add window or door frames directly into the wall, your issue is this: Your frames must be tough or they will buckle under the pressure of the bags. This happened on my first house, where the window frames turned into trapeziums :)) You need to pay attention that your lower, upper and side lintels are heavy-duty, because they all bear the brunt of the pressure. We used 10 x 30 cm lintels on the build in Olympos, and they held up.

Nice fat door frames. The lintels are also attached to the wall using anchors.

Good luck folks! And remember, everything has to be anchored together in earthbag building. If it's not anchored into your wall, it's not secure and may well wobble.

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