Earthships - the Perfect House

[Nathan Hale]

Yes and the labor cost of an Earthship brings it up to near conventional construction unless you want to pound dirt into 1000's of tires yourself which sounds tempting but in the real world that idea would be dripping with regret--in my case anyway.

This is only if you make your Earthship in the true Michael Reynolds fashion. They use the rammed earth tires not because they're particularly inexpensive to manufacture, but because they're "earth friendly". If you formed your retaining walls from poured concrete it's a lot cheaper.

 

[tmosley]

Did you ever build yours? I would love to see the pictures if you did!

Well, at the time I was planning on building it on the site of my current residence, but have since decided that it would be better built in a more remote location such that code enforcement won't be such a problem (it didn't help that the only sight that didn't require sacrifice of expensive facilities, gardens, or established orchards was already occupied by my current residence, meaning I would have to live in a hotel during construction). My family has some land *somewhere* where I plan on building it, starting next year (I'll be cash flowing it--don't want to give up any of my silver until the price has appreciated to an acceptable level). For now, I am building an apartment for my mother on the same land, so we have a place to go should things become unbearable in the wider world.

Someone mentioned the idea of using concrete rather than tires--you need to be certain to use a moisture barrier, or water is going to go right through it and your home will be a swampy mess if you live in anything less than high desert. Insulation is also a must (no the dirt you pile up doesn't count--that material forms a heat bridge to the ground, and you'll fine it too cold most of the time, again, unless you live in the high desert or other very warm climate) It is certainly a good idea, so long as you have access to a concrete truck. Tires are readily available in practically any environment for free. That is why they chose tires. Earthships are supposed to be very cheap to build, though you can spend as much money as you care to if you want. A good Earthship can be built for only a few grand, excluding solar power, if you take full advantage of cheap/free alternatives (especially if you have access to large sheets of glass for cheap or free). I, for example, will be roofing mine in old telephone poles that are strapped together with steel straps, with the voids between filled up with cans and covered with concrete (and then sealed for water collection) Such a roof will last for a thousand years and be able to withstand a direct hit from an F4 tornado, with the only cost being the concrete and the sealant.

 

[Mini-Me]

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

These things are kind of butt-ugly on the outside, but the insides have charm, and the concept is very cool, especially the way the power, heating/cooling, water, and waste treatment systems work out. I'm far from an econut, but the Earthship people are dead-on about the unsustainability of conventional sewage systems and the long-term sanitation problems they pose for our water. It'd be nice to have a place that contributed to the solution instead of the problem...especially considering I flush a LOT. Self-sufficiency, privacy, and low (or no) utility bills are huge perks. I might look into something like this someday, ridicule and mockery be damned. I'm not sure if Earthships will catch on in their current form anytime soon, but (whoa, deja vu...I feel like I've written this post before) I think it's only a matter of time before more conventionally constructed homes start to widely incorporate their core systems.

It's a shame their website is so unprofessional though...they have the same little evangelical eco-manifesto spiel at the bottom of practically every page (at least in the section about their systems), and the formatting, typos, etc. don't help either.

EDIT: Hah! Whaddaya know, I posted this at 4:20 on 4/20...at least according to the forum's strange time zone.

 

[Working Poor]

burp...

 

[noxagol]

Neat. Maybe in a few years I'd relocate. Always wanted to move out west where it is more open.

 

[Kelly.]

This is only if you make your Earthship in the true Michael Reynolds fashion. They use the rammed earth tires not because they're particularly inexpensive to manufacture, but because they're "earth friendly". If you formed your retaining walls from poured concrete it's a lot cheaper.

cheaper? or less labor intensive?

im trying to find the happy medium between DIY and speed.
to me the tire bales are it.
a hear someone in CO, put up the tires walls for a 4300 sq ft earthship in a weekend

 

[Old Ducker]

Its an interesting idea, I think I'll look into it further. However I woulnt want to rely exclusively on rainwater collection or solar-produced electricity but rather use them as backups to low head hydropower (to produce three phase power that can run machinery) and a well for potable water.

 

[noxagol]

YouTube - Earthship Codes, Permits, Regulations and Laws

 

[Nathan Hale]

cheaper? or less labor intensive?

im trying to find the happy medium between DIY and speed.
to me the tire bales are it.
a hear someone in CO, put up the tires walls for a 4300 sq ft earthship in a weekend

Cheaper = less labor intensive, at least as far as I think about things.

Labor hours, whether yours or hired, have a dollar value attached to them. I consider time as valuable a currency as money. When you're ramming earth into a tire, you're not doing whatever trade makes you money. You're also not sitting on a beach sipping a mai-tai. As far as I'm concerned, if you're not being either productive or pleasured you're spending your time currency. Which is why I consider something cheaper even if it might cost a little more money, so long as there is a significant time savings.

I've heard about tire bales, they might be the way to go. But back when I first heard about them, there was a factor related to their use that I found prohibitive. Perhaps they were really expensive, or only available through a few providers, something like that.

 

[Kelly.]

^^^ if you find something less labor intensive then tire bales, please let me know.

we are gonna do a 2bd/2bth home out of tire bales in the near future, (currently planning/saving)
if i can get the house build quicker/cheaper and maintain the same thermal mass so the house require little to no utilities, then im all ears

 

[tmosley]

cheaper? or less labor intensive?

im trying to find the happy medium between DIY and speed.
to me the tire bales are it.
a hear someone in CO, put up the tires walls for a 4300 sq ft earthship in a weekend

It could be done, but it would take a lot of strong backs.

I calculated that if I packed the tires myself, three a day after I got home from work, and six a day on the weekends, I would have the wall done in less than 7 months. If ten guys did 30 a day for two days, you could get it done in a weekend, though it would be a long, hard weekend. If you have 15 or 20, it would be pretty easy. Of course, if you have to pay those guys $20 an hour for their backbreaking labor, it would be pretty expensive.

 

[noxagol]

It could be done, but it would take a lot of strong backs.

I calculated that if I packed the tires myself, three a day after I got home from work, and six a day on the weekends, I would have the wall done in less than 7 months. If ten guys did 30 a day for two days, you could get it done in a weekend, though it would be a long, hard weekend. If you have 15 or 20, it would be pretty easy. Of course, if you have to pay those guys $20 an hour for their backbreaking labor, it would be pretty expensive.

Why in the world would you pay someone 20 bucks an hour to pack dirt?

 

[Nathan Hale]

^^^ if you find something less labor intensive then tire bales, please let me know.

we are gonna do a 2bd/2bth home out of tire bales in the near future, (currently planning/saving)
if i can get the house build quicker/cheaper and maintain the same thermal mass so the house require little to no utilities, then im all ears

You might want to consider a cob house. Cheaper in both time and money than rammed-earth, with similar thermal mass. Are you able to get tire bales?

Some good links:

http://naturalhomes.org/
http://www.strawbale.com/

 

[Kelly.]

Are you able to get tire bales?

tire bales are free to me, i just need to pay transportation to the building site.


might try emailing this address and see where the tire baler in your area is (if there is one) and how much they cost.
[email protected]

 

[noxagol]

You might want to consider a cob house. Cheaper in both time and money than rammed-earth, with similar thermal mass. Are you able to get tire bales?

Some good links:

http://naturalhomes.org/
http://www.strawbale.com/

A straw house with eartship design and systems seems like it would be the best to me. That is what I shall build in the future.

 

[tmosley]

Why in the world would you pay someone 20 bucks an hour to pack dirt?

A. So I don't have to do it myself.
B. Because they won't do it for less.
C. To make sure they don't walk off because its too hard.

You ever pound dirt into a tire with a sledgehammer? It's HARD WORK.

If you can get them for less, fine. That was what we call "an example"

 

[noxagol]

A. So I don't have to do it myself.
B. Because they won't do it for less.
C. To make sure they don't walk off because its too hard.

You ever pound dirt into a tire with a sledgehammer? It's HARD WORK.

If you can get them for less, fine. That was what we call "an example"

I'm sure you could find some immigrants who would do it for much less very willingly.

 

[Baptist]

I helped a guy build one of these. He did it himself over a 3-4 year period. When I helped him the place was probably 60-70% complete. It was made out of tires filled with dirt, bails of straw, and glass bottle/concrete walls. He dug into a very steep hillside so that the back wall was the earth, there was no roof, and all he had to do was cover the back wall to front ground diagonally with glass. This combined with two side walls enclosed the whole thing. He didn't cut the ground out inside perfect, though. He cut it out all weird so that in the end, after the ground/tires/hay was covered with plaster it felt like you were inside a cave.

 

[Baptist]

A. So I don't have to do it myself.
B. Because they won't do it for less.
C. To make sure they don't walk off because its too hard.

You ever pound dirt into a tire with a sledgehammer? It's HARD WORK.

If you can get them for less, fine. That was what we call "an example"

I can vouch for this. I've done lots of construction work, and packing dirt into tires is hard and takes forever. It has been so long since I did it, but I think that I only filled half a dozen tires in an entire days work. You would be surprised how much dirt one stinking tire holds lol.

The guy I helped only did a few tires a day and tried to plan the house in a way that he had other stuff do do also. In other words, he didn't bust out all the tires first, and then everything else. He planned everything so that he could do a few tires then work on other stuff. Because, let me tell you, filling tires with dirt gets old after 30 minutes.

 

[Kelly.]

i had a chance to take a look inside a few earthships (passive solar rammed tire homes) out east of colorado springs this weekend. elevation was ~ 7000 ft....

the first guy hadnt finished his homes' inside yet, but it was totally livable.
he was off the grid until his batteries died recently.
while he was off grid, he said he was using ~ 100 gallons of propane a year, and ~ 1/4-1/2 cord of wood a year.
that is his only utility bill.

the house was ~ 80* right up along the windows, but once you step ~ 5 ft back into the house the temps were ~68* . i was there (3pm-6pm) and other then pine cones falling on the roof i didnt notice anything different, comfort wise, from a 'regular' house.

he showed me the sky lights that are used to let excess heat out of the house and all the mechanical rooms. pretty cool setup, i was really impressed.


the second house was finished out in drywall on the roof and along the areas where the side walls met the tires. this really gives it a 'modern house' feel, and is alot faster then the beer can walls that are normally used.
this house was totally off the grid. 4k pv array, solar well. he also had a cistern that collected rain water.
only problem the guy mentioned was getting some sorta bug in the plants in the house, and having to deal with that. also he was experiencing some moisture that was flaking off the motor over tires along the backwall, which he said was due to no vapor barrier.

he stated that they closed the house up and let t sit for ~ 8 months at one point. the temps in the house never dropped below 58*.

i think we will be building one of these houses as soon as i can get to a place where land is alittle cheaper. both guys recommended tire bales vs ramming the tires yourself.


just thought i would give alittle feedback incase anyone finds this thread searching.....