E – 1380 Earth Home Construction Guide

One of the oldest known partially standing earth block structures with walls is the tomb of King Khasekhemwy in Egypt which dates to about 2900 BC. Remains of Syrian “Beehive” houses built of mud blocks have been dated to about 3,700 BC. Currently, earth block homes are still constructed in many parts of the world. While much of earth home construction is done in developing countries, green building accounts for some earth home construction. This course introduces the concept of applying modern principles of soil mechanics to the ancient construction methods of earth home building. Application of modern principles and simple testing methods can increase the quality and performance of earth homes and improve the efficiency of their construction.

This course is based on the publication, A Handbook for Building Homes of Earth which is used and distributed by the Peace Corps. The techniques and methodologies described in this course document may be useful to improve the efficiency and methods of earth home construction. The significance of the methods of home construction introduced here is that they are some of the oldest known methods of building permanent dwellings and are some of the most cost effective methods of construction of permanent dwellings.

Research and testing by the Texas A&M Research Foundation, at College Station, TX, was used to quantify and develop simple testing methods to improve quality and efficiency of earth home construction methods. The research included gathering information of earth home construction from a wide range climates and ages of structures from around the world. The research and improved methods were adopted by the US Peace Corps as their handbook for teaching and constructing earth homes in developing countries.

This course makes a brief citation of the history of earth homes, summarizes a broad study of current earth home construction methods and introduces recommended best practices for planning and constructing earth homes.