Build your home out of dirt with Compressed Earth Block (C.E.B.) Construction
Can you build a house dirt cheap? You bet. There are a variety of techniques to build your own home from the soil at hand, including cob construction, adobe, rammed earth, and compressed earth block (CEB) construction. In CEB construction, for example, soil can be compressed into earth bricks with the aid of a Cinva Ram.
The photo here is of Michael Gross with Terra Block Inc. in Orlando, Florida, with a Cinva Ram he built from the Cinva Ram Plan Set.
Crow-made homes a reality for reservation's residents
From the Billings Gazette, 10/25/2011
CROW AGENCY - Aaron and Martha Alden stood in the kitchen of their new home on Wednesday morning, happy to be there.
Light poured through the south-facing windows into the open, high-ceilinged room that contains the kitchen, dining and sitting areas. A doorway off the main area leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom.
The couple, both enrolled members of the Crow Tribe, moved into the 900-square-foot house on Oct. 13. The blue-and-black house sits on a hillside on the west side of Crow Agency.
"It feels great, and we were fortunate to have a home made by our own people with our own minerals," Martha said. "I'd like to thank God, our creator, and the people who helped build this house."
The energy-efficient home with a sloping roof is the first one completed in the Good Earth Lodges program. The compressed-earth blocks are made from sand and clay mined on the Crow Reservation.
The blocks are produced in a factory on the reservation, one mile south of Hardin, and the home was built by a Crow work crew.
Learn how to build your own compressed earth block (CEB) press ...aka the Cinva Ram. The photo above is a Cinva Ram manual press made from these plans by Mike Gross, President of Terra-Block Inc., Orlando, Florida.
This press was developed and engineered in third world countries for manual use. Welding of parts is recommended as part of assembly, and mechanical expertise is necessary to build these block presses.
DirtCheapBuilder.com
Light poured through the south-facing windows into the open, high-ceilinged room that contains the kitchen, dining and sitting areas. A doorway off the main area leads to two bedrooms and a bathroom. 
