Ultimate Green Virginia Home

Modern, green Virginia home is built from dirt

Dec 24, 2010 - In Washington, D.C. suburbs, most new houses qualify as McMansions, but not the "Erdhaus" -- a small, super tight, Dwell-like home built of compressed earth bricks.

It's German name, meaning "earth house," speaks to it unusual exterior building material. All 5,600 of its bricks were made from the dirt on the home's narrow sliver of a lot in Falls Church, Va.

As regular Green House readers know, I'm also building an energy-efficient home in the same town, less than a mile away, so I've visited Erdhaus a few times. Its owners, German-born Andreas Bentz and Mike Nichols, both very well versed in green building, have been quite helpful in my own journey.

Why compressed earth? {continued}