A Look Back At The History Of Sandbags

By Author: Dave Donnan
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When you watch one of those period war movies, one of the most common scenes that you will see is that of a soldier using a stack of sandbags as a shield from the enemy's shots. How exactly did this purpose of using a sandbag in military operations come about? Aside from that, what other purposes do sandbags serve? That is exactly what we will try to find out here.

The Versatility of Sandbags

First, let's have a quick definition of what sandbags are for, what they contain and how they are used. As the name implies, a sandbag is a sack filled with sand or soil. The bag itself can be made of Hessian cloth or burlap, a coarse woven fabric made from vegetable fibres - the most common of which is jute. Polypropylene is another material that the sack or bag containing the sand is made of.

The reason why sandbags have gained popularity over the years is that they offer a multitude of uses. Take a look at the following list so that you can see just how versatile sandbags really are:
-For flood control and protection.
-To protect households from flooding and other household emergencies.
-To ...
... prevent construction site contamination and other public utility work purposes.
-Reinforcement of dike structures.
-Can provide stabilizing weight for traffic or road signs.
-Used in pickup trucks or cars during winter, to provide weight required for traction.
-An ideal material for levee construction and erosion control.
-Military use of sandbags for field fortifications, and as a temporary means to protect civilian structures.
-Construction material for inexpensive, energy-friendly homes.
-Weight training.

A Short History of Sandbags

As you can see, there are a multitude of uses for sandbags. From military applications to weight training to flood control, sandbags are a versatile material which serves a wide array of purposes.

But how exactly did they come about? Actually, the idea of making walls by stacking together bags of sand or soil has been around for centuries. The original use of sandbags was for controlling floods and protecting military bunkers. For the latter, sandbags served a double purpose because not only will the bags ward off bullets, but flooding on the military camp can also be prevented.

Sandbags have been used since the 1700s, with people using spades to fill out the burlap bags with sand or soil. It was during the 1990s technology has been put to good use, with machine-filling becoming the trend to make sandbag-filling an easier, more efficient and quicker task. Another improvement in sandbags manufacturing is that instead of using traditional burlap cloth, a woven polypropylene material is used. Although burlap will last for a good number of years when subjected to sunlight, they will eventually rot when left damp and not dried. Polypropylene bags, on the other hand, are more resistant to moisture.

Over the years, more and more environmentalists are using sandbags as a primary material for eco-friendly homes.

Tips on Buying Eco-friendly Sandbags

Perhaps the only problem when using sandbags is that they are not necessarily eco-friendly. This is because it is pretty difficult to replace the sand that you will use to fill out the sandbags. In the same vein, if you don't have a sandbag-filling machine, filing sandbags is labor-intensive.

As an alternative, what you can do is take advantage of a sandless sandbag. Go online and you will see a few great product lines like this. Instead of being filled with sand, eco-friendly sandbags use alternative materials like a water-absorbing polymer resin. Once filled with water, the sandless sandbag will work just like a traditional sandbag - with the additional advantage of being eco-friendly as well as easy to stack, store, use and dispose of.

Whether you end up using the traditional or the high-tech, eco-friendly alternative, what's important is for you to know that there are a multitude of uses for sandbags. Be it your home, your office or a public construction site that you need to protect from flooding, sandbags are a great solution that is definitely worth looking into.
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Eco Sandbags manufactures environmentally friendly sandless sandbags. Check out our sandbags for your sandbag projects.