Earthbag Tipi Photo Gallery, Page 4

After the arch is covered with another course, the forms can be removed.

To remove the arch forms, the hose clamps are unscrewed, the collars come apart, and the pvc pipes can be pulled out. If you have not build your arch correctly, this can be most dangerous. With rice hulls, the danger is far less.

After the arch forms were removed, we tested the arch. It was very secure.

In honor of Kelly Hart, Jerry took the same pose Kelly took on the bottom of his earthbag tutorial page when he finished his earthbag building.

After testing in the garage, we ordered a truckload of rice hulls. We covered the delivery site with every tarp we could find, and even used some sandbags.

Rice hulls are delivered in a truck with what is called a walking floor. As the floor shuffles back and forth, the rice hulls come out the end of the truck.

For our initial research, we used new rice hulls from a rice mill. Then we found some that had been dumped in a landfill. They compact better than brand new ones and, without some use like we are doing, most of them would probably be in the landfill forever.

It was a cold fall morning when the rice hulls were delivered. With their dark color, the rice hulls pick up a lot of the sun's heat in the landfill. With their mass and insulating properties, they retain the heat. As you can see in the picture, they were still very warm coming off the truck.

The truck holds 65 cubic yards of rice hulls. We do not need that much for the tipi, but we have already used some for insulating pipes and other things around the HeartLand property.