[OKflyboy]

Took a tour of one of these things last year, now I'm hooked:

http://www.earthship.org

What is and Earthship? From Wikipedia:

An Earthship refers to a passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials. Designed and marketed by Earthship Biotecture of Taos, NM, the homes are primarily constructed to work autonomous and are generally made of earth-filled tires, utilising thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperature. They also usually have their own special natural ventilation system. Earthships are a type of off-grid home, which minimizes their reliance on public utilities and fossil fuels.

Earthships are built to utilize the available local resources, especially energy from the sun. For example, windows on the sunny side admit light and heat, and the buildings are often horseshoe-shaped to maximize southern (or northern in the southern hemisphere) sunlight and warmth in the colder months. Likewise, the thick, dense outer walls provide effective insulation against summer heat.

Internal, non-load-bearing walls are often made of a "honey comb" of recycled cans joined by concrete and are referred to as tin can walls. These walls are usually thickly plastered with adobe or stucco.





Here's a couple of pics I took on my trip last year:
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[brainchild]

Hey earthships are cool. Been looking at those for years. I saw another house building method that caught my fancy that I'm itching to try. You make a huge pile of soil with your tractor, as big as you want. You lay rebar and pour concrete on your soil dome. You then dig out all of the soil with you tractor and pile it on top of your concrete dome. Plant your garden on top of your house. Interior temp stays stable year round. The house I saw built this way was 3000 square feet and was built for less than $10,000.

[OKflyboy]

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You make a huge pile of soil with your tractor, as big as you want. You lay rebar and pour concrete on your soil dome. You then dig out all of the soil with you tractor and pile it on top of your concrete dome.

Wow, sounds wild! I'd worry about the structural integrity of something like that, but I guess that's what the rebars for...

I've been looking into earthships ever since I saw Earthship Vol. 1 in my local bookstore about three years ago, I now have all the books, and even went as far as going to Taos, (150 miles out of my way) on a trip to AZ last year so that I could tour the earthship community. I've learned that you can use cement blocks (still earth filled) for the walls instead of tires, which seems much nicer, both in terms of aesthetics and re-sale value. I like the solar heating/cooling, as well as the grey-water recycling. The solar power is cool, but I'm too much of a techie, and I think my power requirements would be more than solar cells could handle. I was thinking of using solar cells in the house but having a conventional detached garage 'on the grid' for my shop (and a HT!)

can't remember the site (I believe its linked from the main site, though) that chronicles a build from the ground up. Great read!

edit: found it, see posts below...

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The house I saw built this way was 3000 square feet and was built for less than $10,000.

That's the only real problem with earthships as I see them. They pay for themselves eventually, but dang they're expensive. With all the systems and such, you're looking at $50/square foot if you build it yourself, and at least twice that if someone builds it for you...

[brainchild]

Monolithic concrete dome is the most stable structure on Earth, nuke proof.

[OKflyboy]

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Monolithic concrete dome is the most stable structure on Earth, nuke proof

In terms of structural integrity? True, but that's the physics of a true hemispherical dome (y'know, like the greek arches, they hold themselves up, or was it Roman arches...) A dome-like but not quite structure on the other hand? who knows...

[brainchild]

Well in the show I saw they were driving bulldozers on the roof to push the earth up there.

[OKflyboy]

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Well in the show I saw they were driving bulldozers on the roof to push the earth up there

Wow, cool! That's pretty damn strong then!

[Meeper]

Is an earthsip something like this....

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[Meeper]

Um, meaning a 'house' surrounded by earth? Or is is something more specialised?

[OKflyboy]

No, they're a little more complicated than "Bag-end" from Lord of the Rings, but that's part of it. First, the traditional units have walls formed with compacted earth bricks made out of old tires. Three of the four walls are surrounded by an earth-berm. This makes a cave-like structure that taps into the earths mass for cooling in the summer. The fourth is all sloped glass and must be oriented south, to allow for solar-heating in the winter. (shades are drawn in the summer to block the light making the aformentioned 'cave')

In addition the the thermal-mass cooling and solar heating, traditional earthships incorporate many enviromentally friendly tricks. A true earthship is completely independant of all public utilities. Using the roof as a catch basin to funnel rain water into huge cisterns, the earthship has no dependance on city or county water. Using solar cells or wind generators to recharge batteries, the earthship has no dependance on the public power grid. Using a clever recycling system grey water is used to flush toilets and water houseplants rather than merely being mixed with un-reusable black water.

I could go on and on, there's a lot to these things. But I'll leave it at that. Apparently the site's down today, but they say it'll be up tomorrow.

Just for the record, I'm not a greenpeace wacko. I do care about the environment, but not to the extreme. I do, however, care a great deal about no water bill, no heating bill, no cooling bill, and no power bill!!



Heres a website by an earthship owner:

http://www.earthships.com/

[Meeper]

Ah, so you mean something along these lines...

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[Meeper]

And I AM a Greenpeace wacko.

[OKflyboy]

Close, but traditional earthships have sloped glass all along the south wall, not just a few windows and some solar cells.

Like this:

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[OKflyboy]

Here's another site, this one's great, they chronicle almost their entire build:

http://www.earthpower1.com/

and here's some links to other sites:

http://www.earthpowe...hshiplinks.html

[Meeper]

Very interesting first link. Why are the walls made from earth compacted tyres? I'm guessing it's to keep costs low, and to use as little additional building materials as needed?

Beco do wall forms that are filling with concrete, and can be used in earth covered buildings. Becoform basement

[OKflyboy]

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Very interesting first link. Why are the walls made from earth compacted tyres? I'm guessing it's to keep costs low, and to use as little additional building materials as needed?

Yes, to keep cost low, also the designer is somewhat of an environmental wacko himself. And what better way to cut down on the ever-increasing population of tires than to use them for houses. Like I was telling brainchild, there's now provisions for using poured concreate, as well as stacking earth packed cement blocks to form the walls. The principles of thermal-mass cooling and solar heating work just as well with those, you just dont' get the environmental karma of getting rid of a thousand otherwise worthless tires that way!

[lustra]

Awesome photos flyboy and meeper!

I think there was a lot of concern about the tires off gassing which led to alternatives being developed.

[Meeper]

Earth covered houses are gaining a bit more interest over here, because you can keep the looks of the surrounding 'landscape', gain more garden space, and save cash. The downside is all the planning and building regulations.

The one below is called "Mole Manor".

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[Meeper]

Still reading through the Earthpower1 site.

[OKflyboy]

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The one below is called "Mole Manor".

When my mom first saw Bag-end in The Fellowship of the Ring, the first thing she said to me was "hey Ara, there's your earthship!" Now I think of that everytime I see one...

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Still reading through the Earthpower1 site.

great read, isn't it? gives you a decent idea of the headaches involved, especially getting all the alternative design ideas to pass code...

[ScOrPiOn]

Is it just me or does Meepers first and last photo above look like something from LOTR, Hobbit style

Either way I like the new section Brain...it gives us something else to read when nobody is posting in the others

[OKflyboy]

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I think there was a lot of concern about the tires off gassing which led to alternatives being developed

Yes, there still is concern, however no proof. All the environmental studies to date say these structures are perfectly safe. However earthships have only been around for 15 or 20 years, who knows what long term studies may show?

Personally I like the concrete blocks. I think they look better (the adobe over the tire-walls is cool if you want a southwest-style interior, otherwise...) and the resale value of a home made of more traditional products has got to be higher. Also, if you're using tires, the dividing walls between each module has got to be over two feet thick, severely cutting into your usable square footage, if you're using blocks, however, the wall would be less than half that.

[Rorshach]

I'm with brain I like the monolithic domes too. Nuke resistant, tornado resistant, don't worry about termites (it's concrete afterall) fire proof, energy efficient (uses as little as 1/3 a normal stick frame for heating and cooling). Here is the site and a pic. The pic is of a very upscale dome (even has an elevator).

http://www.monolithic.com/

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[Rorshach]

Here is the main living area of the same dome. Engineering studies have determined that a monolithic dome 'should' last anywhere between 600-900 years. Oh, and there are no shingles to worry about too!

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[OKflyboy]

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I'm with brain I like the monolithic domes too

Oh, no doubt, there freakin awseome. I wasn't argueing against them at all...

BTW, been lurking around the monolithic site for years too!