Compressed Earth Block House

This is a video of our family building our own home. The video is mainly a slideshow of us building our home and me narrating the build. At the end of the video I do provide a brief tour of our home and some of the unfinished projects we are planning on completing.

This is a compressed earth block home. Some may call it adobe but we did not form the blocks like traditional adobe, rather we used a machine that compressed the blocks to over 1500 pounds per square inch. This type of building material is now being published in the national build code. From the time we broke ground to moved in was approximately 18 months. This process was a pay as you go so re-purposing items was very key. We learned to swallow our pride for the accomplishment of having a debt free home.

We did most the work ourselves but did have hired work for specific projects which I explain in the video. Many thanks for my friend Michael who mentored me through this process and his service along with his family the rendered in helping our family. He would help teach us what to do and then we went and did.

These machines are made in New Mexico. I find it fascinating that they ship these machines all over the world to countries that do not have access to lumber so they can build homes for families. I no longer drive in the high desert of Arizona and think that I am on Mars but rather I now see potential of families freeing themselves from debt. This part of the country the clay and sand ratio is perfect for adobe.

I must confess that when we built our home our county had no code for this product. We contemplated whether we should go traditional or risk and build with this material without a permit. Let me clarify we did not just throw this house up. We followed a code from New Mexico that was structurally found to meet standards. The problem was in the lack of willingness of our county to adopt new building practices in our area. We felt strongly this was the path for us to go so we embarked.

What happened legally? Almost a year into the build they found my building and issued me a stop work order. I was so far along in the building process there was nothing they could do. They turned me over to the county attorney and we ended up with only getting our property marked that we had build without a permit. So what that means if we ever decide to sell we have to disclose this which may keep the buyer from getting a traditional loan. We are not planning on selling and with the total cost of the house being less than $60k and now my value being much more I have no issues with this. I share this figure not to brag, but rather to encourage other ways of securing your home without going the traditional way that enslaves one.

Over all we put this process into God's hands when we as a family prayed about this we felt this is what were supposed to do. We felt we had heaven communicate to use that all would work out fine. The 3 months of working with the county, I began to question the direction we had gone. We were reassured that all would be well. Sure enough it was and we have not been any more happier with this decision. We learned an important truth, when God speaks it does not matter what man says. It is not my intent to be proselyting here but I have to acknowledge blessings as they are. If not, I would only be deceiving myself and misleading others. I would have never went through with this project without such assurances.

I hope you enjoy the video

Видео Compressed Earth Block House канала Sustainable Living