We are in the process of planning to build an Earthship. Coined by Michael Reynolds, Earthships are a type of home that uses earth-rammed tires and passive solar design to provide a highly dense home that stays warm in the winter and cool in the summer. We have been studying these homes night and day; both online and through Michael Reynold's books. These houses are beautiful and yet provide all the needs you may have while on this Earth. The passive solar design allows the front South-facing windows to act like a greenhouse. The water in the house from showering and sinks are recycled into the garden beds. Rainwater is collected from the roof and used for drinking and bathing. It really provides everything while reusing a resource that will takes thousands of years to break down: tires.
Tires are the main material used for the walls and as a foundation. They are then covered with a mud mixture and then a homemade plaster is set over that. Bottles and can provide part of the wall materials for non-load bearing walls. It is a very low cost house to build and very low cost to maintain. We plan on having wind and solar electricity for the little needs we may have.
It may be hard to see but this is our rough draft of our house plans. Each room is shaped in a "U" which increases the stability and makes the walls able to withstand the weight of the dirt that is backfilled over the back and side walls. We are going to attempt to build this portion of the house this year- the shell mostly. The inside we will try to get done over the winter. The rest of the house will be finished, hopefully, over the following spring and summer. However, there are several hoops we have to jump through in order to begin the build.
The Department of Environmental Protection has to approve us for a permit because we are using more than 50 tires. We are actually going to be using somewhere in the range of 1500 tires. The DEP representative for Maine is quite helpful, and downright nice, and seems thoroughly excited that we are going to try to build this. Furthermore, our town office just received some information about Earthships so they can assess the house for insurance and tax purposes. Earthships have been around since the 1980's, but there seems to be another green movement happening and hopefully we can help others to build these cost effective recycled homes.
We will have to announce the building to all the abutting neighbors, in the newspaper, and in writing to the town. The initial permit is not cheap- $1329- but we will save that amount quickly because the tires we will be getting from the community will be free. I have friends and neighbors saving cans and bottles so we can use them in the walls as well.
These are some of the pictures that I have found online. They are mostly credited to Michael Reynold's Earthship Biotecture website. They are some of my favorite. I hope that ours will look even slightly this good!
If you would like to volunteer for our Earthship home building project in Northern Maine, let me know. Leave a comment or go to our Facebook page From Away Farms and message me.
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