Yes, you can just mound it up instead of digging down. It would probably be less efficient and will not be tapping in to the earth's stable 58F degrees as much, and it's just more tire pounding and backfilling around the hut or any other style of Earthship. The idea is to use the earth(dirt) as thermal mass for stabilizing the interior temperature, adding insulation just makes the system more sensitive and efficient.
This video has inspired my husband and I to create our own earthship hut in NM too!! We will definately keep you all posted. Thank you again for this amazing video!
I seen that, that's what brought me to this video. I was enthused to join the movement until I sat down and valued its pros and cons (my questions still remain uncertain).
Very nice!! I am so greatfull that you made this dokumentary and show people a little how to do this! This is the future, this is teh pressent! I love it. my dream is to build something like this in the amazonas.
I forgot to mention, they are built in every climate, it doesn't have to be built in the desert, that is just where Reynolds has lived for the last 40 yrs. What is not to like about a house that can stay 65-77 degrees no matter whether it is 120 or -30 degrees with no heating or air? if you build it close enough to a town, you could grid-tie it if you really had to have tons of power. Every design of a home has its own drawbacks (mine is a 300+ monthly power bill) it just depends on you.
7. Domes have been used for millenia and are extremely durable structures. there are no vertical walls to act as a windblock. conventional housing is wood....it burns. concrete and metal don't burn. 8. If you have asthma or respiratory ailments it would probably be a good idea, but in arid conditions there is a lot of dirt and sand in the air anyway.
For those of you interested, do a search for Garbage Warrior, a full length documentary on Michael Reynolds and the philosophy, construction, and legal hurdles of building these buildings. It will answer a lot of questions you might have.
this is the first time I have seen an earthship vid where it was all made so accessible. you actually showed how much you paid for materials and what those materials were. I can't imagine why no one else does this but wow, it really drove it home. btw, I think i might have met Amy years ago when I visited the earthships in the late 90's... was she working in the visitor's center? anyway, I hope you have more of these videos coming.
the recyclable products you speak of were not bound for recycling, they were bound for a landfill. they were pulled out of the garbage and put to a positive use. they WERE recycled, just not in the manner that you deem fit. if you want to go around digging in the trash for plastic bottles to recycle, you are more than welcome to take them to a recycling center. the cans and bottles are used to reduce the amount of concrete needed to build a structure, and the honeycomb increases strength
everyone i know with respiratory problems is eyeing moving to the desert to help with them. I live in a temperate climate in the U.S. i have allergies and asthma. my family is from the desert in NM, and i never have problems breathing in the desert, but i can't breathe half the time where i live now. If you are that sensitive to particulate matter, you should probably be living in a bubble. dust storms happen all the time there, and they can cover the whole town, pretty sure those are worse
Cement takes 6,000,000 BTUs/ton, so 70 50lb bags would have needed 1,,050,000 BTUs to make, and I would imagine a great deal more to transport it to the distribution center and then to the site. Don't take me wrong, I really like the idea, but I don't think it's somewhere you can live and took a great deal of fossil fuel to make. It's certainly better than a condo in Vegas or Florida though, that's for damn sure! I hope you enjoy your hut and I hope to hear some replies to my comments.
Bottom line is, this was to give them a place to live while they built their permanent home. with no rent or utility bills, it frees up all that money to put into their home. For me that would equate to an extra 12k a year. With no mortgage, no one can take your home away if you lose your job, and the sky is the limit as far as how far you want to go with it. check out the phoenix earthship, and do a youtube search for the documentary Garbage Warrior, it should answer a lot of questions.
Missing the vapor barrier under the concrete floor. Your interior will get radon gases and moisture that will ruin your furniture. Vapor under concrete barriers are hot mopped. That's why we cannot convert most garages. I would be very worried about moisture coming through the walls. Again hot mopping needed in the floors and the exterior walls.
few questions. 1. what do you do with all the uric acid when your roof is contaminated with birdshit? wouldn't the water supply be corrupt? 2. where is the closest source of protein? humans are omnivores, we need to supplement our diet with not only autotrophic legumes but also livestock. There are no animals to hunt in the desert (very scarce) 3. these biotectures are foundationed by ceramic. If an infant child decides to climb up and sit on the wrong part of the dome,will the hut collapse?
response to 8) You don't have to have a preceding medical history of asthma to be effected. inhaling sand and debris while building these may (most likely) give you respiratory problems. check out the cases of people returning from Iraq. they did not enlist with preexisting cases of respiratory disease, but many of them return from service with difficulties in their respiratory system
7. Can these biotectures withstand heavy thunderstorms? Deserts are very open and clear of any immediate obstruction, making the biotecture possibly the highest in elevation. Has any of these biotectures ever survived a direct hit by lightning? How durable are they? 8. When compacting the tires with dirt, isn't it a good idea to cover mouth and nose to prevent damage to the respiratory and circulatory system? I don't think inhaling dirt, sand and debris is very healthy.
So with a 6 ft radius, you end up with 113.097 square feet. Assuming the loft is based on the 6' radius (begins before the cone starts) then you get another 113.097 but you would have to remove at least 2sq feet for the latter to get up there and to be able to bring things up there, you probably would need 4 square feet removed, so a total of 222.194sq ft. Since furniture usualy isn't round, you are going to loose space behind the sofa, unless you can find a rounded sofa. Where's the barthroom?
So where do they bathe & go to the bathroom? I would think that a small addition for a shower, sink, & composting toilet would be a must. A simple solar system should be able to run one of the small pumps to provide running water. I would like to see the costs of a 20 ft dome of this type that included the grey water treatment, solar, & a bath.
4. boil it if you can't afford a filter 5. nobody said the design was in case of nuclear apocalypse. it's sustainable housing to get rid of rent and utility bills while they are building their earthship. besides, where do you think you're water comes from? 6. see no.5. hundred's of thousands of ppl live in AZ and NM, including members of my family. they're fine. With no power, there are no pumps to move water conventionally (treatment plants are above ground btw). arid means little to no water
4. another question dealing with water contamination by bird droppings. How are you so sure these water reservoirs aren't infested with parasites in larval stage or in their dormant eggs? 5. what will you do with heavy cesium contaminated waters? are there ways to prevent radioactive poisoning in the rain? 6. Arizona and New Mexico are fairly close to nuclear test sites. How are you so sure the atmosphere that you inhabit are safe drinking rain water?
I don't see how rubber tires can provide a stable base for a wall structure. The cement will crack at some point since rubber expands and contracts with temperature.
let's say that fixes that problem, but what about the radioactive cesium content found in rain water? boiling your water won't solve that problem (earthship was designed to sustain a low energy system, boiling your water each time is energy demanding). Cesium-137 has a half life of 2 years. And the nuclear reactors are still melting through the oceans as we speak.
Something I forgot. Concrete is terrible for water. Is that what the vapor thing was for? Also, with so much cement, how long will it take to fully cure? I heard that the hoover dam is STIL not fully cured. How do you dissapate the heat from the curing cement? Also, it takes A LOT of energy to make (it's heated to thousands of degrees for many hours) and transport cement (cause it's very heavy). What is the carbon payback period done (assuming you actually lived here)?
(cont) So it seems that this might make a nice vacation getaway, it's really too smal to live in and not having a bathroom is a major problem. You are also going to need some electricity, so you can put up a windmill or solar panes (depending on the conditions of the area). I assume you get water from a rain storage system. How is it working out for you?
I thought it was very interesting I was wondering about the water and what power options you may have planed to use and also what State you built it in, For my State which is Florida I am not sure it would work. Do you have any suggestions?
Earthship has built in Florida. There is one in manatee bay. There was also another that was half way done but shut down due to issues with code. However in Florida, in any county it is illegal to have your home disconnected from the grid.. very strict laws in place for that. Earthships have been built all across the world in over 25 countries. MANY different climates.
