Does anyone here have any kind of fire shelter? I am planning on building one that is basically a hole in the ground (my land is dead flat) with sandbags stacked into a dome shape over it. It was designed to be put up fairly fast, cheaply, and with the minimum amount of materials. You can see the newer designs here https://www.calearth.org/emergshelter.htm but I think the originals would be better for the purpose, as the new ones are built flat on top of the ground, you have to bring in stuff to fill the sandbags, and you wouldn't have the temperature-modifying benefits of being partly underground. The materials & equipment you would need are a shovel or two, one roll of barbed wire, and sandbags (a couple of teenaged boys would be a real bonus!). The website above uses mile-long tubes of sandbag fabric, but they seem more expensive, labor-intensive, etc. Mine will be about 10 ft/3.3m in diameter, which would be enough for me, my animals, and possibly a few neighbors if it came to that. The originals are simply a circle scribed on the ground with two stakes & a string. Then you start digging inside the circle, filling the sandbags as you go. You lay the first filled sandbags in a circle on the outside edge of the circle, then place two rings of barbed wire on the top of the first ring. Then you set the next ring on top of the barbed wire, which prevents the bags from shifting as you build. After a few stacked rings of bags, decide when you want to start placing them slightly inward, gradually forming a dome shape. Of course, you have to leave an entrance, which will be a step-down into the hole. Half the shelter will be underground, the dome will be above it. A heavy wooden door would be a good thing, painted white, with a mortared sandbag dogleg wall in front of it. Here in our wet winters, I would either have to add an inch or so of concrete over the whole thing, or cover the basic dome with a large sheet of heavy plastic and then cover that with a foot or so of earth, then plant it with clover or something (strawberries would be nice!) I live in an older mobile home that has never been really comfortable, but it is all that I can afford. Since I live in earthquake country, I can see that a mobile home might not be livable after a good shake. These domes have survived the quakes of southern California with absolutely no problems. Sue
Straw Bale Alternative? G'day Sue, Have you considered using a rendered straw bale structure instead? Tests have been done and indicate significant fire resistance as well as suitability for seismic areas as well, so is potentially a suitable alternative for you. Cheers, Mark
Actually, I would love to build a straw-bale HOME! What I like best about the sandbag shelter is that it is partly underground, and there's a place to put the soil you remove from the hole. Actually, if I had my way, I would probably have half my acre with small experimental shelters on it.... Sue
StrawBale Shelters G'day Sue, We have long harboured desires to build in straw bale on our bit of land here in Western Australia and by sheer coincidence our block is in a shire with some 22 or so existing strawbale places. That said, we don't live there yet and our construction is some time away - my enthusiasm was flagging a little until I found out there was a lady who had built a strawbale place recently near Geraldton, where we are now. We went to visit the other day and have been re-inspired, the house is a wonderful example of the medium and very well put together by this lady and her son - I have always harboured some concerns regarding my technical skills which were not allayed by the visit as the son is very good with his hands, including doing the plumbing with some particularly appealing creativity with the copper pipe that has the plumber flummoxed! I guess the reality is that I am going to have to do it because having done the sea-change thing a couple of years back, I cannot afford to pay someone else to build us a place! Strawbales are a wonderful medium and (fortunately for me!) relatively easy to use. As for the soil, I guess you could recycle your topsoil into your gardens (via the compost heap?). What lies underneath could be used as a flooring or if there is enough clay perhaps to build yourself a cob oven or similar? We have plenty of plans but do not yet have the frequency of access or money to progress our place, but the visit opened up a whole new raft of questions for investigation in the meantime, so we won't be bored! Cheers, Mark
Mark, what some people of limited means in the U.S. do is to do the "simple" labor themselves, then they hire someone to do the technical work, like the electrical and plumbing work. Sue
Simple Work G'day Sue, The 'simple' labour is definitely to be my contribution, and as much of everything else that I can manage without needing to be licensed (e.g. electrical) to do it. So I will have to pay for engineering/design advice and electrics, but the rest will be my baby as much as possible! Cheers! Mark
Mark, try to find a book called Building a Straw Bale House: The Red Feather Construction Handbook by Nathaniel Corum. It might be useful to you. Sue
Hey snake, I am very interested in strawbale building and have a huge collection of books about it. I have others on earth building as well. Perhaps you would like to borrow some or all of them.