Chile Forum

Hello AllChile forum members!

Have been following the site on and off for the past year and appreciate the usefulness of this forum and your opinions.

I am planning to build a "cabana" next summer and am curious to know if anyone has built a structure with sandbags for walls.

Basically what I am talking about is a bunker that has been mudded over and has a framed roof.

This type of structure has been shown, with the proper technique applied, to be very sound in seismically active locations. Of course it will also stop a hurled rock, teargas, a bullet, or flying rotted palta and is so much more efficient than a thin veneer of wood, without insulation, that's built on stilts.

Any info would be much appreciated!

Where are you planning on erecting this " cabaña"? In Chile, most people live in a house or apartment as we tend to find that although there is a problem with delinquency, we generally find it unnecessary to construct or protect our houses with sandbags, whether they stand up to earthquakes or not. The delinquents tend not to throw rocks, fire bullets or tear gas at houses . Maybe your bunker is more "efficient" but I can´t imagine anyone enjoying sitting on their terrace outside their bunker, enjoyinga beer on a summers day, and perhaps you could find it difficult to get the required planning consent as well. I would guess that for the bunker to be as secure as you mention, it would have to be without windows, as the inclusion of them would make it easy for those bullets, tear gas or rocks to get in and cause damage?

This is the Chile Forum, of course we have heard of that. We have heard it all.

You will definitely want to read this thread from our members Paul and Konomi down south building an earth-bag home:
topic3719.html

By the way, Paul and his wife will be happy to talk to you about the ins and outs of building one in Chile. They are big promoters of the technology involved and are in touch with some other people doing earth-bag homes in the Patagonia.

weston881 wrote:...it will also stop a hurled rock, teargas, a bullet, or flying rotted palta and is so much more efficient than a thin veneer of wood, without insulation, that's built on stilts.

PattyX's chickens coming home to roost?

The locals prefer bars on their windows, but it's not that dangerous down there...

yea, I think if I got motivated I might give it a try on one of our properties somewhere down south. The big thing for me, after talking to paul about their house, was it is definitely labor intensive. Not skilled labor so much, but still takes a lot of man hours.

What's more, in Chile you can replace the sand/earth in the bags with volcanic scoria, an get some nice R-value to boot. As far as earthquake resistance, such a house maybe less likely to come down on your head. But you gotta wonder how all that plaster is gonna hold up once the thing starts doing the Watusi.

FrankPintor wrote:

weston881 wrote:...it will also stop a hurled rock, teargas, a bullet, or flying rotted palta and is so much more efficient than a thin veneer of wood, without insulation, that's built on stilts.

PattyX's chickens coming home to roost?

The locals prefer bars on their windows, but it's not that dangerous down there...

Steel bars only on the ground floor. And that's mostly to keep the guanacos and the tijeretas out.