Julian spends half of the year at Blue Lagoon Resort in Klong Prao and for several years he had the idea to build a special house but as a nature lover, he has been looking for the different ecological building ways he could use, using natural and/or recycled materials.

When Julian discovered the Earthbags houses it became for him the perfect solution for several reasons: it’s inspired by the traditional building construction, it’s very strong and durable, it’s a good way to recycled polypropylene bags, it’s cheap (except in labour), you can use directly the soil available on site and it reduces the amount a concrete needed (then the amount of sand which becomes rare and fewer trucks to transport it then less road pollution).

Earthbags houses have already been made in a lot of different countries all over the world in all type of climates, from the dry deserts of the Middle East to the frozen areas of Alaska.

What are the other benefits of earthbags buildings?

• They are effectively inexpensive.
• They are ecological,  you can fill them with soil, sand, ground,…. you avoid pollution by making concrete and transporting it to your construction site.
• The construction is strong and durable, it can resist earthquakes, cyclones, floods but they are also bullet resistant (you never know).
• Termites won’t attack the bags and you won’t need to use pesticides.
• Mould won’t start to grow on the walls.
• Your building can have the shape you want.
• The foundation is very simple.
• There is very good thermal and sound insulation.
• Building a dome will avoid the use of wood, steel or concrete.

Blue Lagoon Resort has taken part in a lot of ecological projects and they are always on the front line when it’s about nature protection and island cleaning. They of course approved the  Earthbags House project.

The house has been built to also show how it’s possible to do something with recycled bags and people who will rent it will see that you can have an ecological house without forgetting all the comfort. And hopefully, this house will give some ideas to people who will live in it.

The base slab of the house has been made of stones and gravels on a 90 cm thick layer. In this way, it’s also a natural drain for the rainwater.

The 2 first layers of bags, about 30cm high, which stand directly on the floor have also been filled with stones and gravels to block the humidity and avoid it’s absorbed by the walls.

The other bags have been filled at 95% of soil from the site. They have added coconut fibres extracted from the coconuts they had in their garden to reinforce and link the soil, water to obtain a texture close to peanut butter and 5% of cement which will accelerate the drying process of the bags.
Whitewash would be better instead of cement but the one Julian wanted wasn’t available on Koh Chang.
The main idea was to not use any sand except the one which is already inside the soil. 

After filling the bags with the mixture, they closed them like an envelope, they put them on the walls and they tamped them that the mixture inside became very compact and hard once dried.
The soil on the site contains about 25-30% of clay which was perfect for this type of construction.

Hour after hour, day after day, week after week and month after month the house started to erect from the ground.

Walls have been covered in the same way, using a mixture of soil and cement, electricity has been installed, the second floor and rood have been built...

Recycled glass bottles have been used in the bathroom wall and more bags for the bench of the patio.

After a year of hard labour, and with the help of volunteers, they succeeded in realised this beautiful house which hopefully won’t be the last one on the island.

Julian is a graphic designer, he has never built anything before as well as most of the volunteers who came to help him to realise his project.
That’s why they have done a few mistakes but it’s the best way to learn and it shows that anybody can do it.
They also got very good advice from Piak, a Thai architect who has also built at Blue Lagoon and who has a good experience in eco-building.
Three other volunteers also participated in a similar project and knew what to do.

The earthbags house is finally ready!
2 bedrooms, a bathroom, 2 WC, a relaxing area, a kitchen, 2 double-size beds, hammocks and nature all around. 6 persons can sleep in the house and if you are interested to rent it, please contact directly Blue Lagoon Resort.

The house wouldn’t be done without the help of all the volunteers. About 40 persons from different nationalities have been giving their time from one day to several weeks or even months and I couldn't end this page without thanking them.

Courtney (Freediver from Australian), Kim (Construction worker from German), Fabio (Carpenter from Switzerland), Beau (Cook from the USA), Maxim (Thai boxer from the USA), Noelia (Spain), Louise (France), Romain (France), Chloé (France), Kata, Steph, Viktor, Taraf, Stéphanie (France), Peter, Dany, Tommy (UK), Maria (Finland), Doug (USA), Kat (Germany), Manu (France), Alex (France), Delphine (France), David (France) and sorry to the others I forgot, you all did a great job!

If you are interested in this project and want to know more about it or if you just want to see this house or why not rent it, please contact directly Blue Lagoon Resort, they will be pleased to help you.

You can also follow this project on:
- Facebook: www.facebook.com/earthbagskohchang/
- Website: https://ecohousekohchang.wordpress.com