Finally inbound to CO!

[kolah]

I helped build an earthship for some folks by packing tires with dirt and stacking them. Never again. Never. :)

I like straw-bale. Straw bale is much simpler and more insulating....and perfect for CO or the Southwest. I like the idea of timber framing the structure first, roofing it (to keep things dry) and THEN filling it in with bales. Anchor on some screen mesh and slop on some stucco. IMO it's a great look, super-insulating and nice and quiet. And def a DIY job.

Grass roofs may not work too well in CO.... unless maybe you water it everyday. :) You can't beat a metal roof. Do it once and done, "set it and forget it."

 

[chickenman]

I helped build an earthship for some folks by packing tires with dirt and stacking them. Never again. Never. :)

I like straw-bale. Straw bale is much simpler and more insulating....and perfect for CO or the Southwest. I like the idea of timber framing the structure first, roofing it (to keep things dry) and THEN filling it in with bales. Anchor on some screen mesh and slop on some stucco. IMO it's a great look, super-insulating and nice and quiet. And def a DIY job.

Grass roofs may not work too well in CO.... unless maybe you water it everyday. :) You can't beat a metal roof. Do it once and done, "set it and forget it."

Hey how you doing in your new digs???? Got refer?

 

[sky high]

Kind of a cool concept...this guy holds "workshops" on how to build strawbale homes on people's land who want a home. They prep the slab/foundation/systems...and then 12 or so participants ascend on the property with the instructor.....and he shows them how to do it and they construct some/all of the home during the 7 day "class".

http://www.strawbale.com/

LOL. there's a sod roof here on a commercial building.....and it's basically just a block of dried, dead grass/dirt.... 'cus yes...if you want it to grow here, you MUST water it.....no exceptions...especially shit that fries in the sun 30 ft in the air....

 

[kolah]

C-man, I am leaving for AZ next Thursday or Friday. I just traded in my Jeep for a bigass GMC 3500 1 ton Crewcab with a 390 HP 454 engine. I could tow a house with it, lol. (7-9 mpg!)

I already shipped my medicine down there. :)

The straight AZ MJ laws are horrible (even having an empty pipe is a felony) so I will probably get an AZ MMJ card.

 

[Ohiofarmer]

I just mention it because I've seen quite a few earthships/\contact earth homes on the market that were abandoned...and full of mold.(there was 80+ acres and a moldy ship for sale last Winter in S. CO) Might have been early pioneers in the approach....dunno. Either way...if it works,,,it seems to work well...and if it's fucked.....it seems it's real fucked. Even Micheal Reynolds has had to learn, through experience, the right way and the wrong way to go about it....and the earthships he builds/designs are mostly above ground. Seriously cool concept though... would love to see someone go for it.

i went the same route except substitued tires filled with dirt or tire bails for earthbags instead.....however the county just denied my permit on the basis that " no one has ever built this kind of home in the suburbs, so how do we know the ins/outs of it if we don't have previous data to fall back on"...............my response ofcourse was, well how would anyone get the data if no one allows them to be built.......i even brought them stacks of data on the load bearing walls, but all the data was collected out west so ohio building department won't except that info in ohio.........Take it easy, you can build these houses simply cheap and fairly easy as long as you dont mind hard labor, if you want to build these in the suburbs i would suggest doing what i'm in the middle of now which is get your own blue-prints then build a modern LeeD certified house then add the earthship elements to it as you please, and keep the dirt outside......it just makes sense.

 

[sky high]

A lot of folks faced the same kinda opposition out here when the concept first came on the scene, ohio. Doesn't look like they are gonna let you be the test case this time though, huh? Bummer. Shit >does< change when it goes from dream to reality and all of that required engineering comes into play. That drawin-it up and getting it stamped shit ain't cheap... Wow. I like yer thinking though. Do what you must to meet the requirements, then do as you please >later<....after everyone leaves....

good luck with yer build!

 

[fishwhistle]

I'm going to start playing with more mechanical ways to pack them tires this summer.

Thinking should be fairly easy to either:
a) Make a movable hammer, suspended with pulley/tripod, attaches to 4wd for the lift, gravity for the drop.
b) Hydraulic hammer with flat attachment on the mini-excavator (most likely, as the mini-ex is affordable and be worth it's weight in gold on a project like this).
c) Find some Mexicans :)

@SH: Usually there is some sort of venting worked into the plans. The earthships I've seen in books have the solar gain in the front, and towards the back the kitchen with roof mounted vent. Air comes in through the garden and heats/cools while humidifying, then makes its way through the house and out the kitchen vent with the kitchen smoke.

On the earth ship projects i have seen they used a large towable compressor and pneumatic rammers like these to pack the tires with, guys,one on a skidsteer dropping in dirt and one on the pneumatic rammer/hammer can do the work of a dozen people doing it manually with shovels and hammers.Flat plates attached to the hammer of a mini ex do not work because you have to be able to ram the dirt in the tires from odd/all angles.After being on alot of these type of projects i like poured in place reinforced concrete(or ICF's) or my all time favorite is strawbale,the strawbale has a warmth to it thats hard to beat.

 

[Dopegeist]

I just mention it because I've seen quite a few earthships/\contact earth homes on the market that were abandoned...and full of mold.

II hear you, if the soil weren't of the right structure, or poorly compacted/sieved (both?), it would easily lead to the leakage of water.

The earthship as seen with manpower tamping down tires isn't exactly what I'm looking at. But the concept of solar gain into a garden area, with grey water reclamation and massive thermal storage is.

A good book I have yet to finish is this.
http://www.amazon.com/dp/3764374772

Germans have some experience in building large earthen structures.

 

[Dopegeist]

i even brought them stacks of data on the load bearing walls, but all the data was collected out west so ohio building department won't except that info in ohio.........

Not always the best to bring in the lawyer when dealing with the officials, but seems that may be needed to overcome the 'prejudices' of an engineer. They take load bearing info from other sources all the time. Anytime a new 'engineered wood product' comes out on the market, it's never been tested in your county before.

Or the honey approach, see if you can get a tete-a-tete between the county engineer/inspector and one from a county that has approved earthen load bearing walls.

 

[Ohiofarmer]

A lot of folks faced the same kinda opposition out here when the concept first came on the scene, ohio. Doesn't look like they are gonna let you be the test case this time though, huh? Bummer. Shit >does< change when it goes from dream to reality and all of that required engineering comes into play. That drawin-it up and getting it stamped shit ain't cheap... Wow. I like yer thinking though. Do what you must to meet the requirements, then do as you please >later<....after everyone leaves....

good luck with yer build!

thanks man should go pretty smooth, i'll have my qoute for price on monday, already got the land, then i just gotta go over the blue-print and it should be built by october, yah the counties don't care to much how yah build it, hell they'll let yah build the suburban eco-houses they just want you to fork over the 6-14k to do it first haha......shit 14k, i've bought rental houses for that, and they generate 6k a year lol....take it easy hope theres no turbulance at 30k feet, get it, sky high,lol

 

[Ohiofarmer]

Not always the best to bring in the lawyer when dealing with the officials, but seems that may be needed to overcome the 'prejudices' of an engineer. They take load bearing info from other sources all the time. Anytime a new 'engineered wood product' comes out on the market, it's never been tested in your county before.

Or the honey approach, see if you can get a tete-a-tete between the county engineer/inspector and one from a county that has approved earthen load bearing walls.

yah the 2nd would be the way to go, really it boils down too the city and county not wantin to be the 1st in the pool, The county and city respect all the data from outwest, however the actaul individual engineer that i need to stamp it, won't except the info........which i'm not surprised considering the europeans call us land of the stupid, home of the greedy lol......6k is what engineers think their stamp is worth........if i can find an engineer to do it for less, then i'll go back to building eco-friendly...take it easy