Earthbag / natural building

Where in Belize will you be?

flyin by the seat of my pants lol. Umm i am going to try and stay between rosas inn and barton creek in San Ig. but no set agenda really

A couple of things:

If you are referring to Barton Creek Outpost as a place to stay, it closed down and Jim Britts and family moved back to the US.

The second part is about matching your ideas with the realities of Belize.  Cayo gets about 70 inches of rain a year.  That makes a difficult environment for something like earthbags, the process which was developed for making buildings in dry Africa. 

There are a few people who have made earthbag homes in northern Belize where there isn't as much rain, but I am wondering if it would be better for you to keep an open mind about what materials are available and what holds up and what local knowledge is available for working on it with you.  There are a lot of people who can work with you on handcrafted buildings made from sustainably-harvested hard woods, there are many quarries for stone, and dig anywhere and you reach limestone in a few inches (there is a reason the Maya built everything out of limestone and wood.)

And one last piece of the puzzle is that the land you buy will really dictate what you can build -- if it's in the city limits of San ignacio, you'll need the plans approved by the city.  If the land floods any time of the year, building on stilts will be a must.  Might I suggest that you look for land first to see if is in your price range before deciding on the building design?

[ My qualifications for this advice: I have built one home in San Ignacio town limits, have another 93 acres out in Blackman Eddy, and 7 acres in Cahal Pech. ]

Thanks Prestonia for the good advice . Yeah i agree about the land speaking for itself about what route to build. I'm will definitely be keeping my eye on property that is conducive to such. I figured San Ig. was in the more mountainous reigon and that floods might not be a factor ,but not sure of that. Also the fact it rains so much could serve as a plus for rain collection. Im open to wherever best fits my build. Im very much open to do doing hybrid building too ,using whatever i can. I figured upon buying a plan from an architect/ builder who designs these.

re. about barton creek, yeah i just found that out .Im going to be down there in less than a month and i still dont have a set place to stay ,but if i have to go the hotel route then so be it. My buddy was telling me today about a low costing hostel or hotel in caye caulker?. Hostel dwelling is the route im going unless i could find a good deal on a  rental for the month of september.

Id really love to meet up with anyone i can while down there ,so if anyone is willing ,Lunch is on me ,lol   thx again

I wouldn't worry about booking a place to stay this time of year.  You mentioned Rosa's -- there are 4 or 5 hotels within a block of there with $20 a night with your own bathroom and wifi -- try searching for Hotel Mallorca Belize, which I think is the nicest in that price range.  hotelmallorcabelize.com
There is also a hostel up the hill, but I have never stayed there.

If you want the coast and cheap fun experience, head to hopkins and the lebeha drumming center lebeha.com/stay.htm

I am not back in the country until October, otherwise I would take you up on that lunch.

Not sure if you have
Earthbag building in the tropics u seen this. (earthbag building in the tropics)

Mentions how thre design would need to be altered from what you have probably seen in the US

update: sorry -- they are removing all of my links.  http://www.earthbagbuilding.com/pdf/ear … lding2.pdf

If you make it to Hopkins,give me shout..From Wolcott..

Again Thank you Prestonia for the good direction. Hopefully in the future were both down there at the same time . How long have you Had your footprint in Belize? What route did you go in the construction of your homes?

@ Rich the Builder. I will def try to get ahold of you while im there

I only have one home, just other pieces of property.

Been a property owner since 2003.  I still work in the states going down every 2 months or so.

I built out of concrete, stone and wood, but not in a conventional way.

http://kumquatcottage.com/images/KC08/d … s_wall.jpg

Prestonia....   I love the kumquat cottage      appears that we would like to know more about the cottage.   kris

Scot,
I too, will be moving to Belize ( Ambergris Caye ) and have been looking at land for about 6 months. I also know a local who has found a 1 bedroom rental for me in a safe area of Ambergris Caye,  for only $300 per month.  I would like to know about "building with earth bags" as well. I also understand that the Minnonites living in Belize build very reasonably priced homes made of natural materials . Does anyone know about this? Thanks,
Marcie

Hello

I have land purchased there already and I want to build earth bag as well. Lets chat maybe we can help each other.

I have land in Benque and want to build a home on it with sustainable materials. Are you a contractor or do you know someone reputable that I could work with? I had trouble before with contractor eating up all of my money and not getting anywhere.

Hi there.
I haven't been on here in quite a few years.. just to catch you up in a nutshell.
I bought land down there between Dangriga and Hopkins. I had any aspirations at the time with the partner I was with then to get down there and start a new life. Things changed and I'm still here in the states and my property is overgrown but I've still held on to it. I would still love to do something with it but life's been pretty crazy especially with two kids. Anyhow upon thinking of a earth bag in the particular area I bought probably wouldn't be very good because it gets pretty wet around the area. I looked on the map and I noticed you're pretty close to Guatemala outside of San Ignacio so maybe conditions are different there. I have not networked with anybody down there in quite some time and I'm not sure about any contractors. If I was down there I would be doing all the work myself. If I relied on any belizeans to do the work I'm sure that it would be very slow going. What makes the most sense to me is to have an Amish home built that's built higher off the ground or at least the shell if you're a do it yourselfer.

Hi,

Ok so I’m having a cabin built in Bullet Tree Falls.
My builder is Paul Lohr I cant recall the name of his company but I’ll hit you back and let you know. His brother Josh Lohr helped me find my property .... ceiba realty. Paul may not build in that style not sure... he may know someone who does so do reach out ***. I might want my second cabin to be along those lines as well. My name is khalid I live in New Hope Pa. my email is *** if you email me I can share photos of the build or chk my IG. ***

Just a note I read That you were robbed by a contractor, Ive found everyone will insist they are a builder if you need a builder. References are key 🔑

Talk soon,
Peace
Khalid

Make sure your property taxes are up to date, or you may not have property anymore.
No, I don't believe earth bag would be a good idea for your location. Our property is between Dangriga and Belmopan, and we would end up with just a big pile of mud. You might consider using rock, but that would not be easy.
Probably the cheapest and easiest is to have the shell of a Mennonite house  built and add to it, or finish it the way you would like. You could also get a builder to frame the structure for you, and finish it. Many houses in Belize are a "work in progress" for years.

I mistakenly told my home loan company that I had property in a different country and they wanted to know a property taxes on it and that held up the process for a few weeks which in Belize time is no time at all but here felt like forever lol. Anyhow I had them paid in 2017 for the five years that I didn't pay I think that it was $14 total. On top of paying somebody $75 to go down there and pay it for me. I don't know how long would be too long to let them go but $14 doesn't seem like too much to be worried about.

I agree that the amount seems trivial compared to the US, but the cost is not the concern. Like here, if you are delinquent and a lien against your property is issued, your property is 'fair game'. You might not end up losing it, but it will cost you way more than the property tax to reclaim it. Belize has some unusual property rights, and the court is not always partial to gringos.

This thread is a year old. You might PM him to get a response. Belize is a tropical country with a tropical climate, and a large portion of the country is a tropical rainforest, As such, the rainfall associated with a tropical climate would be detrimental to any 'earthen/earth bag' structure. If you could effectively seal it from any water penetration, you would probably be OK.  I doubt you would be able to ecologically or economically  accomplish that in this climate. Rock might be a better idea.