you prolly dont give a damn but does anyone know a way to log back into an Instagram account..? I stupidly lost my login password. I appreciate any help you can offer me!
@Abram Nehemiah i really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now. Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
yeah me to beacuse of the beating each tire full of dirt I started not being so interested but the way this guy has done it I love that Ideal and to me makes more sense too
The angled front windows are not needed. Much easier. Thick curtains instead of south bdrm walls is much cheaper and practical . Love the tire bales as an easier and effective alternative to pounding dirt into individual tires . Great work my friend. ❤😂🎉
Very educational and well presented! You held our interest the whole time. I would love to hear about how the plumbing, and possibly any unorthodox water systems were used in your build.
As a general contractor with an engineering background I find these structures very interesting. Ive always desired to live in a non-conventional home, and have for many years been interested in alternative power sources. Have designed and built our own PV system to experiment with it usage here in the Tulsa area. Im convinced that an earthship inspires home is the way to go. The world around us isn’t getting any more stabilized, and having this type home would be a great shelter as the concerns with grid power, water etc continue to increase. Nice job on a very nice home. Wife and I are looking at possibly going to the Earthship 180 in Valdez NM and staying for a week or so. There are some design flaws in that particular structure, but Im sure it has all been a part of the learning curve. Still an amazing home and unique property
What a nice interior. I never liked the glass art that most earthship builders seem to like. The tiles are beautiful. I could see myself living in a house like this with a byzantine tile motief.
Mahalo, Jim. Loved all the info and I paused to look at your wife's gorgeous art installations. May you two enjoy many more pleasant years together in your absoluately beautiful home. Aloha.
Very thoughtful, well explained tutorial on earth ship building. Thanks Jim for sharing all your insights into the building of your wonderful home. We appreciate you taking us along for the ride.
One of the best explanations , its nice to meet that smart peoole from time to time, it gives a filling and hope that humanity is not tottaly doomed and dumb
I would like to thank you; this is by far the best explanation of the construction and ‘what its like to live in’ a passive solar home. I know other have commented they same thing, but its true. I have watched a bunch of TH-cam video on this subject. You have provided a great amount of detail and answered all the question that a novice, like myself, would ask. Thank you for inviting us into your amazing home.
Great informative video. I used tires to control soil erosion in my sloped yard. Unfortunately I was stopped by neighbors concerned that it would leach chemicals into their yard and cause cancer. Can you believe that? So i took my tires up to my off grid property and construct an bermed cabin based on your principals. Theres always 2 sides for debate nowadays with anything. Have a great day!
No guess work here. Refreshing to see somebody who did the home work before the video. I had questions at the beginning. But wow everything was answered by the end of the video.
I personally love what your wife did with the tile. It really make the interior feel custom and "high end" to me. Also, thank for the tip on the tire bales, I didn't know they existed.
What a great concept, and videos like yours are a big part of making earthship designs more mainstream and overcoming bureaucratic concerns. Thank you for making it.
GLAD I watched your video on your amazing build! I LOVE it, and it looks like fun to build. I have done conventional construction most of my life. Subbed and Follow on FB now. You Sir, are a CREDIT to TH-cam, and the Do It Yourself community!
Thank you for taking the time to share all of this information! It's incredibly valuable. You've save many people lots of time, money and heartache as a result. PS - Your home is BEAUTIFUL!!!
Hello Jim from South Africa. Great video, thanks. We also have an off-grid home but live off grid in a very different way. Solar power (very small system, but managed well) No water supply and no sewerage supply. It's not an "earth ship" or anything special but is just great. No utility bill's either which is the best of all. We use propane for cooking and as a backup of our solar water heater. All your reasons are just right and lastly battery backup for us is the only "pain" Lead acid batteries are soon to be replaced with a Lithium Iron unit.
Dave, This sounds great! It's nice to hear from others who have discovered that it's not that hard to manage everyday living, without releasing a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Very instructive. I like that you discussed and showed each of the steps and particularly enjoyed the comments about various sticking points with permits and building code concerns that one might encounter. A beautiful home! Thanks for the information!
Hi Noah Sabin, I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m 1 week old to the concept of this type of housing build. I was caught up by your words. I just wanted to encourage you!!! WE CAN DO IT!!!!! Now when I walk thru my front door, a sense of unhappiness just engulfs me, with the way I’m living with my family of 5. I’m great full that I have a home, but I’ve always asked if this was it? I’m from a low income family, but I won’t let that stop me. I’ve started shifting things in my life, that I’m hopeful that one day my kids will benefit from my efforts. I wish you and yours the best of luck. God Bless and take care!!!
what awesome place. yt recommended this video due to me watching tons of passive solar greenhouse/chinese greenhouse videos. now i want a new house too haha
Very nice video thank you I enjoyed it I used individual tires 1200 of them and packed each one of them by hand it took three months working alone I am off grid totally with a wind power battery backup and a view of the Columbia River that I enjoy daily and you're right about the vertical windows they can be shaded in the summer by a calculated roof overhang. I enjoy living in the Columbia River gorge land was very inexpensive on the East end of it 1000 an acre in 1999 and it is still 1,000 and acre in 2020 130 MI East from Portland metropolitan area more people should build homes in this manner as they are very energy efficient and comfortable to live in
I have a friend who pounded all his tires. He said he was in the best fitness shape of his life. Congratulations on your home. It sounds like you love it! There are about 100 earthship-style homes around here, and you never see them go up for sale. Everybody loves them!
I have been doing some research on these homes (not that I could afford to do one at this time) and this was one of the most informative presentations yet. I like how you pre-warn the viewers of certain trip-ups to expect such as insurance, coding, and financing hiccups. Great information. Thank you.
Jim you have a beautiful home, the artistic additions are wonderful. Several years ago I found myself in Northern New Mexico and remembered the Earthship installation. Arriving late in the afternoon I discovered they would rent out their homes, here was one left “Phoenix West” which was an amazing experience I’d recommend to anyone interested in Earthships or not… Ever since that time I’ve wanted an Earthship however life hasn’t cooperated with my dreams. My wife and I lived in Southern Arizona but are thinking if may be time for a change as the summers are unbearably hot. Perhaps eastern Oregon as we like the high desert lifestyle… At any rate I really like your home, looks like you have a little piece of heaven to enjoy. Not a Facebook user so that’s out, perhaps you’ll create a webpage some day.
Beautiful home. I love the floor! I wish I had poured my bond beam like you did, completely covering the tops of the tire bales, and going down the ends to the ground. My wife and I are building a tire bale greenhouse for practice, and plan to build a tire bale home within the next 10 years. Thank you so much for sharing all your experiences, you gave us some really great ideas! Guys like Mike Reynolds and Mike Shealy are the true heroes of our Nation today
I have two other close friends who have built tire bale homes. I actually helped them with their builds, in an effort to become familiar with the Ins and Outs, before starting my build. We all did things a little differently. All were Mike Shealy designs. Mike Shealy built a Reynolds design, prior to taking on the task of designing himself. You'll learn a lot from your experience with the greenhouse. That's a great idea! After we built our house, my wife and I built a chicken coop/barn, using rammed earth tires, just to see what we missed. I put up forms, and poured a bond beam, etc. I'm glad we used tire bales on the home!
@@jimgagnepain7708 Jim, thanks for your feedback (again!) and my wife and I have been talking about making an earthship for our chickens (chickenship?) but planned on using tire bales. If you ever make a video on the chicken earthship I would love to see it (I did subscribe to you so I should get notified). Pseudo-earthship... I kept trying to think of a name for our thermal mass greenhouse, "pseudo" is more descriptive of what our build are and it doesn't take away from Reynold's designs/efforts. Thumbs up. Again thanks for the great video, I am inspired all over again!!!
I'm going to buy land soon and build my own earthship and geothermal greenhouse. Thanks for such a nicely made video! Congratulations on being the change I also hope to be in the world.
Before you build a geothermal greenhouse, if you're thinking about building one with a ground to air heat exchange system, look into Chinese passive solar greenhouses. If you insulate the north wall of the greenhouse like with an earthship, and if you insulate 6 feet down the ground the perimeter round your greenhouse, you probably won't need a heat exchange system. Check out this guy's channel: th-cam.com/channels/gs_cmCc-3Nczf6_RQpqmYg.htmlvideos
What a beautiful amazing home!!! I absolutely love it!! Thank you for sharing it with us!!! Cheers P.S. it absolutely infuriates me that they are now charging for the tires!!! Originally they had to pay for an expensive process to properly dispose of them!!! You all come along and say “ we will take them off your hands for free”. Instead of them being grateful they no longer had to pay to throw them way, they decided to charge for their trash!!! 😡
Yes, I was surprised when they started charging for the bales, but it's important to understand the history. The State of Colorado was giving the tire recycling company $50 per bale for tire bales that were used in construction (to keep them out of landfills). We gave them our building permit, and they were able to use that to receive their credit. I don't think the state is still doing this.
@@jimgagnepain7708 It may also have something to do with tyres can now be recyled efficiently. Professor Veena Sahajwalla has found a way to enable global industries to use them efficiently. Love your house, a lovely way to live.
Try PSE Engineering. I recently visited one of their designs. They also provide the Engineering stamp necessary for permitting. www.structure1.com/tire-bale-home-engineering/
Thank you so very much for sharing this information. It’s by far the best explanation of constructing an eco home I found on TH-cam. I hope you will come out with more content and updates regarding repairs and overall life in an earth ship home. Thanks again.
such a lovely house to live in! thanks for this video, we'd love to build an earthship for a big family of 10, but don't know how and where to start that's why we are watching videos like yours. Kudos to both of you!
For anyone reading this comment - this suggestion is coming from an old earth builde: It's an easy matter to incorporate (completely DRY, aged is best) raw or dimension lumber horizontally into your tire walls, especially where cupboards will be hung. Same goes for any interior adobe or rammed earth walls where door hinges, circuit breaker & outlet boxes, etc will go. Plumbing and electrical chases can take advantage of the space behind those 2x or 4x horizontal runs. Need to keep the course level from exterior to interior? Do a shallow bond beam of concrete the height of the wood behind the chases. Remember, any concrete coming all the way through exterior walls will readily 'wick' in the cold, so the treated wood - besides being nailers - helps separate that dense material from your ambient air. :)
Yes, it's always a challenge to hang things on a tire bale (or rammed-earth tire) wall. I spent all day working on hanging a big-screen TV on our tire bale wall. That's a good idea to incorporate the lumber into the walls. We rely on the shotcrete, and I can usually attach lumber to that, using the blue concrete screws. Thanks for sharing!
I have a college level study of Architecture and have seen literally hundreds of presentations covering the many and varied applications of design and construction. Not only have you covered so many topics I am already knowledgeable of including the basic code criteria, but you have presented in a professional, detail manner with the images exactly referenced where needed for the narration. This is a higher education level lecture as well as a very layman understanding primer. I just sent the link of this video to a potential client as I believe after watching your video, it will give them a great understanding of basic design and construction that I now see I could not.
you have made everything so easy for many people. you have cut most difficult part of earthship, pounding tires. thank you. the possibilities are endless.
Whatever gets them seen everyday all over this land is the thing. People love these designs and are doing so many things to bring the option we all have to have shelter into the mainstream.... Someday these homes will no longer be such a hassle to get approved by 'The Suits'/government
A very inspiring and beautiful home. This is how homes should be designed: focusing on a solid envelope while thinking comprehensively about the various systems (ex. your hot water tank placed where it will absorb heat from the sun)
Hi and thank you for your wonderful video, sharing your home, and details of home. I aspire to build a home with similar ideas such as yours, earth ships, etc. My goal is to build one in the next 6 years. Only reason why I have to wait that long is because I am in college. Thank you again. You and your wife's efforts show in every detail of the home, excellent job! 💜💛💚
this house makes a ton of sense. Not slighting the hardcore off grid earthships, but this is using their best design principles while also making code. Only thing i might consider adding would be cisterns if able. Seems like a great way to keep a garden growing and also providing water in an emergency situation.
An incredible, thorough presentation. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I myself am in the family stage, that you had mentioned and I am planning for the new world we are approaching. I am a tile guy for a living and I enjoyed hearing the praise for the trades that helped you on the build. You seem like a cool guy. I would have been enthusiastic to work on your house too!
This is very interesting and inspiring. We are making our own straw bale home. Y’all did a beautiful job. I love your wife’s work. Somewhat similar to mine. ❤️🥰
A very beautiful home. A ton of work is evident in the construction of this. But for me, I would avoid tires at all costs. Too many chemicals off-gas from them and one tiny crack in the concrete or finish will allow this. I wish you well in your occupation of this picturesque Earthship.
When you go into a tire store, you can smell the tires. That is the offgassing that you're smelling. Used tires don't have the odors, because, for the most part, they are gassed-out.
Very cool, Jim, well done. Reasons #4 and #5 are attractive for me. I'll bet the indoor plants are fantastic and the total absence of forced air would be a big health benefit (dust, mold, etc are eliminated). Enjoyed the video and learned a lot.
Thank you for the great amount of detail you have given about the building of the home. I am planning on building a earthship like home and did not even know about the tire bails. This would save so much time in the building process and definitely worth looking into.
I have friends who spent 9 months pounding dirt into tires, and then filling in the voids with cobb mix. We used a lot of cobb mix filling in voids, but we had the bales stacked in one day. Our building department required a soil analysis for compaction and other stability issues. Even if not required, this is a good idea. Good luck on your build! If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If I don't have the answer, I have other friends who have built these homes.
Wow Jim what a wonderful video. Well thought out and laid out. It's easy to see it must have taken you quite some time to structure the video. One of the best summaries I've seen for an earth ship home which I have had interest in for years. Also very happy to have found your video as I believe I may have seen another one of your videos years ago talking about the tire bales vs pounding tires. I searched for years trying to find it and today I found this one instead. It may have been someone else I suppose but if I recall they were also in Colorado. Regarding insulating the floor, I think that has more to do with the climate than the design. I remember reading an engineering blog on passive solar houses that specifically referred to a Reynolds earth ship built in England. It was the first one of its kind in England. Mike had arguments with local structural engineers and contractors who told him he needed to insulate the floor, he of course disagreed. The owners have complained ever since that it doesn't function right. The floor becomes a massive heat sink during the winter and sucks the heat right out of the house instead of storing it for the owners use. I guess the ambient ground temperature is much colder in their climate then it is in your location. That's what I recall anyway. Thanks for the awesome video and for sharing your incredible home.
The frost line would be my first consideration. Idaho is around 3 feet down, where Maryland is about 18 inches down. It all starts at the foundation...
We don't seem to have the "heatsink" problem at all, and we get very cold nights in Colorado. Maybe it's because the floor absorbs heat, as thermal mass, during the day, just like every other area. Other possible reasons are that there is about a foot of small rock under the slab, and also, our water pipes (cold and hot) are under the slab.
I love this - I am a general contractor / engineer, with a passion for sustainable and efficient structures. While implementing a lot of the concepts here you can only go so far with a traditional style home. One day i plan on following your step and building one of these myself...problem is I live in CA and the codes here are not friendly to these alternate designs.
I would look around for other earthship-style homes in your county. According to Earthship Biotechture, their are Earthships in all 50 states. During a visit to our Building Permit department, I was questioned about some design aspects. I gave them the address of another Earthship in the county, and the rep. looked it up on his computer. He OK'd it, once he saw there was a precedent.
I am in Canada and have the same problem with townships, so I think we could only do it in 'unorganized' townships, but still researching. Townships and Municipalities will only 'approve' a narrow set of parameters, it seems.
im so glad i saw this video. I kept thinking on the amount of labor that’s required to pack them tires, but tire bales...could be the next best thing since slice bread.
Front Range Tire Recyclers 303-660-0090. The owner is Rick Welle. His cell is 303-500-2323. Another friend of mine built more recently, and he used a different source - American Tire Recycling (Duane Immel) 303-638-7150. Both of those are Denver area code numbers. Not sure where you're located.
Really appreciate how thorough and unbiased you were in explaining y’all’s experience! Like some others in the comments I’ve never heard of the tire bales, that’s something to look into. Also love how grounded and kind-hearted you feel, glad you guys get to live the life you want!
excellent information. Thank you. We will be building one eventually as well. I think we'll be using cinder blocks and insulate about 8 feet outside the walls (after 8' of dirt).
Does the 8' of dirt act as an insulation barrier? Haven't seen much info on this type of build. Can you share a link? One issue that is hard to manage with bermed homes is mice. Even though I sealed our house incredibly well, we still see an occasional visitor.
@@jimgagnepain7708 The 8' of dirt is for thermal mass. Ideally, there is no insulation around the cinder block wall (or whatever you are using for a wall), so if there is excess heat in the house, it will be stored in the dirt behind the cinder block wall. that dirt behind the wall does need to be insulated from the outside temperatures, however, so I would put insulation (and plastic to keep the insulation dry) outside of the dirt. Then, it will need to be covered with more dirt to protect it from the sun. Michael Reynolds shows how to do this in his earthships. There was one video that showed the insulation. i don't remember how to get to it. sorry.
I call my 24x24 6/12 pitched skillion cottage a pseudo earth ship. Will add on 2 more 24x24 sections. No tires or berm using well insulated cmu block with masonry veneer on north wall. Our frost depth is 6 feet and ground temps of 48*F in summer where I am at. And can get 6 feet of snow in a weekend. So insulating under masonry floor. I have plans for a masonry stove/white oven and masonry heater old world kitchen. Post and beam square notched timber frame. I have 70 psf snow loads. Doing a Richardsonian Romanesque style. Because proper stones are local and timbers too. Have plans to build a Broch type tower to see lake Michigan. Matt and Goldie's earth ship is similar design as too what I am doing. Using 3 vertical 16 foot columns of 4x7 windows installed horizontal per 24 foot section. 4 foot raised bed and 4 foot above windows for hvac ventilation. I am using 2 inches of concrete with slate slabs over thermal break, insulation, and limestone fines for floor. Using western Delta honey comb riprap masonry veener to get megalithic look. Like Temple of Malta. Doing solar d.c. electric like a boat or R.v.
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This is by far the best explanation and tutorial on the house that I have found yet. Thank you so much! I am forever grateful!
THE BEST!!!!
Very sorry informative….
you prolly dont give a damn but does anyone know a way to log back into an Instagram account..?
I stupidly lost my login password. I appreciate any help you can offer me!
@Sergio Ivan Instablaster =)
@Abram Nehemiah i really appreciate your reply. I found the site through google and im waiting for the hacking stuff now.
Looks like it's gonna take a while so I will get back to you later with my results.
@Abram Nehemiah It did the trick and I actually got access to my account again. I am so happy!
Thanks so much, you really help me out!
Tire bales!!! That's so smart and it saves so much Time!!!
The tire bales make SOOO much more sense than wasting a year breaking your back, literally pounding dirt 🤣
yeah me to beacuse of the beating each tire full of dirt I started not being so interested but the way this guy has done it I love that Ideal and to me makes more sense too
Yeah buts it’s the off gassing that has me worried
i’m so glad i came across your page. So much information that most wouldn’t tell, especially warranty on window installations
The angled front windows are not needed. Much easier.
Thick curtains instead of south bdrm walls is much cheaper and practical .
Love the tire bales as an easier and effective alternative to pounding dirt into individual tires . Great work my friend. ❤😂🎉
Very educational and well presented! You held our interest the whole time. I would love to hear about how the plumbing, and possibly any unorthodox water systems were used in your build.
As a general contractor with an engineering background I find these structures very interesting. Ive always desired to live in a non-conventional home, and have for many years been interested in alternative power sources. Have designed and built our own PV system to experiment with it usage here in the Tulsa area. Im convinced that an earthship inspires home is the way to go. The world around us isn’t getting any more stabilized, and having this type home would be a great shelter as the concerns with grid power, water etc continue to increase.
Nice job on a very nice home. Wife and I are looking at possibly going to the Earthship 180 in Valdez NM and staying for a week or so. There are some design flaws in that particular structure, but Im sure it has all been a part of the learning curve. Still an amazing home and unique property
Very interesting well put together commentary. As a contractor and engineer I enjoyed the straight forward method.
What a nice interior. I never liked the glass art that most earthship builders seem to like. The tiles are beautiful. I could see myself living in a house like this with a byzantine tile motief.
Mahalo, Jim. Loved all the info and I paused to look at your wife's gorgeous art installations. May you two enjoy many more pleasant years together in your absoluately beautiful home. Aloha.
I am also an engineer I enjoyed your video very informative and highly intelligent thank you
Very thoughtful, well explained tutorial on earth ship building. Thanks Jim for sharing all your insights into the building of your wonderful home. We appreciate you taking us along for the ride.
When are you going to share your experience? Yours is so majestic that you should be able to garner a lot of interest.
One of the best explanations , its nice to meet that smart peoole from time to time, it gives a filling and hope that humanity is not tottaly doomed and dumb
This was incredibly helpful. Thanks so very much!!!
I would like to thank you; this is by far the best explanation of the construction and ‘what its like to live in’ a passive solar home. I know other have commented they same thing, but its true. I have watched a bunch of TH-cam video on this subject. You have provided a great amount of detail and answered all the question that a novice, like myself, would ask. Thank you for inviting us into your amazing home.
Great informative video. I used tires to control soil erosion in my sloped yard. Unfortunately I was stopped by neighbors concerned that it would leach chemicals into their yard and cause cancer. Can you believe that? So i took my tires up to my off grid property and construct an bermed cabin based on your principals. Theres always 2 sides for debate nowadays with anything. Have a great day!
What a beautiful home❤
No guess work here. Refreshing to see somebody who did the home work before the video. I had questions at the beginning. But wow everything was answered by the end of the video.
I personally love what your wife did with the tile. It really make the interior feel custom and "high end" to me. Also, thank for the tip on the tire bales, I didn't know they existed.
Our pleasure!
What a great concept, and videos like yours are a big part of making earthship designs more mainstream and overcoming bureaucratic concerns. Thank you for making it.
Beautiful home.
Fantastic video with great information. I can't wait to get a house like yours one day.
GLAD I watched your video on your amazing build! I LOVE it, and it looks like fun to build. I have done conventional construction most of my life. Subbed and Follow on FB now. You Sir, are a CREDIT to TH-cam, and the Do It Yourself community!
Excellent presentation Jim and Vvinni.
Thank you for taking the time to share all of this information! It's incredibly valuable. You've save many people lots of time, money and heartache as a result. PS - Your home is BEAUTIFUL!!!
beautiful house.
Thank You Lieutenant! I highly recommend, if you can make it work.
Great presentation! You're living the life I've dreamed of since I was a teenager.
Dear Jim,
Thank you for taking the time to make this and for the wonderful explanation. J
Wow, you sir gave a hell of a presentation very informative and insightful, your home is beautiful I gained alot of valuable information thank you .
Beautifully Explained. From Pakistan Loved the details of everything. Stay Blessed
Hello Jim from South Africa. Great video, thanks. We also have an off-grid home but live off grid in a very different way. Solar power (very small system, but managed well) No water supply and no sewerage supply. It's not an "earth ship" or anything special but is just great. No utility bill's either which is the best of all. We use propane for cooking and as a backup of our solar water heater. All your reasons are just right and lastly battery backup for us is the only "pain" Lead acid batteries are soon to be replaced with a Lithium Iron unit.
Dave, This sounds great! It's nice to hear from others who have discovered that it's not that hard to manage everyday living, without releasing a lot of CO2 into the atmosphere.
Dave faddel, do you have pics to show us as South Africans plz?
Very instructive. I like that you discussed and showed each of the steps and particularly enjoyed the comments about various sticking points with permits and building code concerns that one might encounter. A beautiful home! Thanks for the information!
I wanna live in a house like yours, but making enough money to buy the land is such an uphill battle holy cow!
Hi Noah Sabin, I couldn’t agree with you more. I’m 1 week old to the concept of this type of housing build.
I was caught up by your words.
I just wanted to encourage you!!!
WE CAN DO IT!!!!!
Now when I walk thru my front door, a sense of unhappiness just engulfs me, with the way I’m living with my family of 5.
I’m great full that I have a home, but I’ve always asked if this was it?
I’m from a low income family, but I won’t let that stop me.
I’ve started shifting things in my life, that I’m hopeful that one day my kids will benefit from my efforts.
I wish you and yours the best of luck.
God Bless and take care!!!
Never knew about tire bales. Even aside from that, excellent video full of great info, thank you!
what awesome place. yt recommended this video due to me watching tons of passive solar greenhouse/chinese greenhouse videos. now i want a new house too haha
Very nice video thank you I enjoyed it I used individual tires 1200 of them and packed each one of them by hand it took three months working alone I am off grid totally with a wind power battery backup and a view of the Columbia River that I enjoy daily and you're right about the vertical windows they can be shaded in the summer by a calculated roof overhang. I enjoy living in the Columbia River gorge land was very inexpensive on the East end of it 1000 an acre in 1999 and it is still 1,000 and acre in 2020 130 MI East from Portland metropolitan area more people should build homes in this manner as they are very energy efficient and comfortable to live in
I have a friend who pounded all his tires. He said he was in the best fitness shape of his life. Congratulations on your home. It sounds like you love it! There are about 100 earthship-style homes around here, and you never see them go up for sale. Everybody loves them!
I have been doing some research on these homes (not that I could afford to do one at this time) and this was one of the most informative presentations yet. I like how you pre-warn the viewers of certain trip-ups to expect such as insurance, coding, and financing hiccups. Great information. Thank you.
Organized. Structured. Great project. Great little video guide.
I want to build one of these someday. I have the land now. Great video!
Jim you have a beautiful home, the artistic additions are wonderful. Several years ago I found myself in Northern New Mexico and remembered the Earthship installation. Arriving late in the afternoon I discovered they would rent out their homes, here was one left “Phoenix West” which was an amazing experience I’d recommend to anyone interested in Earthships or not…
Ever since that time I’ve wanted an Earthship however life hasn’t cooperated with my dreams. My wife and I lived in Southern Arizona but are thinking if may be time for a change as the summers are unbearably hot. Perhaps eastern Oregon as we like the high desert lifestyle…
At any rate I really like your home, looks like you have a little piece of heaven to enjoy. Not a Facebook user so that’s out, perhaps you’ll create a webpage some day.
Excellent narration!!!
Beautiful home. I love the floor! I wish I had poured my bond beam like you did, completely covering the tops of the tire bales, and going down the ends to the ground. My wife and I are building a tire bale greenhouse for practice, and plan to build a tire bale home within the next 10 years. Thank you so much for sharing all your experiences, you gave us some really great ideas! Guys like Mike Reynolds and Mike Shealy are the true heroes of our Nation today
I have two other close friends who have built tire bale homes. I actually helped them with their builds, in an effort to become familiar with the Ins and Outs, before starting my build. We all did things a little differently. All were Mike Shealy designs. Mike Shealy built a Reynolds design, prior to taking on the task of designing himself. You'll learn a lot from your experience with the greenhouse. That's a great idea! After we built our house, my wife and I built a chicken coop/barn, using rammed earth tires, just to see what we missed. I put up forms, and poured a bond beam, etc. I'm glad we used tire bales on the home!
@@jimgagnepain7708 Jim, thanks for your feedback (again!) and my wife and I have been talking about making an earthship for our chickens (chickenship?) but planned on using tire bales. If you ever make a video on the chicken earthship I would love to see it (I did subscribe to you so I should get notified). Pseudo-earthship... I kept trying to think of a name for our thermal mass greenhouse, "pseudo" is more descriptive of what our build are and it doesn't take away from Reynold's designs/efforts. Thumbs up. Again thanks for the great video, I am inspired all over again!!!
@@anesthesiadreamin I'll be posting the Chickenship video within a week.
@@anesthesiadreamin - chicken coop video is finally posted.
Sir, your logistical skills are impressive.
Thanks Jim. ... I REALLY wanna build an Earthship someday and this was the best lesson I've seen so far. ... subscribed.
This is not a “Earthship” build. They just build a home structure on top of the earth. Lol. Look it up the real meaning of “EARTHSHIP”.
You answered a lot of questions I've had about the process, especially the slanted windows. Thank you and God bless you both 🙏
Beautiful home. Thank you for sharing
Good review! Had never heard of tire bale's before. I imagine they prevent thermal bridging to the Earth so all your heat isn't sucked out.
Yes, they provide great insulation, probably about R-60. They also provide an incredible amount of thermal mass.
Fantastic, Jim! Thanks for sharing.
I'm going to buy land soon and build my own earthship and geothermal greenhouse. Thanks for such a nicely made video! Congratulations on being the change I also hope to be in the world.
Before you build a geothermal greenhouse, if you're thinking about building one with a ground to air heat exchange system, look into Chinese passive solar greenhouses. If you insulate the north wall of the greenhouse like with an earthship, and if you insulate 6 feet down the ground the perimeter round your greenhouse, you probably won't need a heat exchange system.
Check out this guy's channel: th-cam.com/channels/gs_cmCc-3Nczf6_RQpqmYg.htmlvideos
What a beautiful amazing home!!! I absolutely love it!! Thank you for sharing it with us!!!
Cheers
P.S. it absolutely infuriates me that they are now charging for the tires!!! Originally they had to pay for an expensive process to properly dispose of them!!! You all come along and say “ we will take them off your hands for free”. Instead of them being grateful they no longer had to pay to throw them way, they decided to charge for their trash!!! 😡
Yes, I was surprised when they started charging for the bales, but it's important to understand the history. The State of Colorado was giving the tire recycling company $50 per bale for tire bales that were used in construction (to keep them out of landfills). We gave them our building permit, and they were able to use that to receive their credit. I don't think the state is still doing this.
@@jimgagnepain7708 It may also have something to do with tyres can now be recyled efficiently. Professor Veena Sahajwalla has found a way to enable global industries to use them efficiently.
Love your house, a lovely way to live.
I agree! They had to pay big money to ship them to China.
Thanks for putting this together, it's packed with useful info. I'm hoping to build one of these one day.
Try PSE Engineering. I recently visited one of their designs. They also provide the Engineering stamp necessary for permitting. www.structure1.com/tire-bale-home-engineering/
Thank you so very much for sharing this information. It’s by far the best explanation of constructing an eco home I found on TH-cam. I hope you will come out with more content and updates regarding repairs and overall life in an earth ship home. Thanks again.
Great explanation and I really like the good and bad stuff that you learned from the experience
I like the way you did things better thank you for sharing
such a lovely house to live in! thanks for this video, we'd love to build an earthship for a big family of 10, but don't know how and where to start that's why we are watching videos like yours. Kudos to both of you!
For anyone reading this comment - this suggestion is coming from an old earth builde:
It's an easy matter to incorporate (completely DRY, aged is best) raw or dimension lumber horizontally into your tire walls, especially where cupboards will be hung. Same goes for any interior adobe or rammed earth walls where door hinges, circuit breaker & outlet boxes, etc will go.
Plumbing and electrical chases can take advantage of the space behind those 2x or 4x horizontal runs.
Need to keep the course level from exterior to interior? Do a shallow bond beam of concrete the height of the wood behind the chases. Remember, any concrete coming all the way through exterior walls will readily 'wick' in the cold, so the treated wood - besides being nailers - helps separate that dense material from your ambient air. :)
Yes, it's always a challenge to hang things on a tire bale (or rammed-earth tire) wall. I spent all day working on hanging a big-screen TV on our tire bale wall. That's a good idea to incorporate the lumber into the walls. We rely on the shotcrete, and I can usually attach lumber to that, using the blue concrete screws. Thanks for sharing!
Doing the same in Reno-Sparks, Nevada. My wife and I will be doing a modified compressed earth block construction. Thank you for posting!
That's great, Ron! When you post some pics or videos, either here or elsewhere, let me know. What are "compressed earth blocks"?
Earth block, isn't that another term for Adobe? Or are the ingredients used to make the block change the term??
I have a college level study of Architecture and have seen literally hundreds of presentations covering the many and varied applications of design and construction. Not only have you covered so many topics I am already knowledgeable of including the basic code criteria, but you have presented in a professional, detail manner with the images exactly referenced where needed for the narration. This is a higher education level lecture as well as a very layman understanding primer. I just sent the link of this video to a potential client as I believe after watching your video, it will give them a great understanding of basic design and construction that I now see I could not.
you have made everything so easy for many people. you have cut most difficult part of earthship, pounding tires. thank you. the possibilities are endless.
Superb explanation with clarity of design purpose for real life living experience! Well done and thank you 🙏
Whatever gets them seen everyday all over this land is the thing.
People love these designs and are doing so many things to bring the option we all have to have shelter into the mainstream....
Someday these homes will no longer be such a hassle to get approved by 'The Suits'/government
A very inspiring and beautiful home. This is how homes should be designed: focusing on a solid envelope while thinking comprehensively about the various systems (ex. your hot water tank placed where it will absorb heat from the sun)
A beautifully well constructed designed build, love it!
i have been on another information binge learning journey and i wound up here, thanks for sharing!
Hi and thank you for your wonderful video, sharing your home, and details of home. I aspire to build a home with similar ideas such as yours, earth ships, etc. My goal is to build one in the next 6 years. Only reason why I have to wait that long is because I am in college. Thank you again. You and your wife's efforts show in every detail of the home, excellent job! 💜💛💚
this house makes a ton of sense. Not slighting the hardcore off grid earthships, but this is using their best design principles while also making code. Only thing i might consider adding would be cisterns if able. Seems like a great way to keep a garden growing and also providing water in an emergency situation.
Extremely well done video! Thank you for the time you put into this
Beautiful hone and nicely narrated. Thank you for sharing.
thank you for valuable knowledge
Well done, hope you're enjoying re~tire~ment.
Fantastic explanation and you are so kind for sharing your knowledge
An incredible, thorough presentation. Thoroughly enjoyed it. I myself am in the family stage, that you had mentioned and I am planning for the new world we are approaching. I am a tile guy for a living and I enjoyed hearing the praise for the trades that helped you on the build. You seem like a cool guy. I would have been enthusiastic to work on your house too!
This is very interesting and inspiring. We are making our own straw bale home. Y’all did a beautiful job. I love your wife’s work. Somewhat similar to mine. ❤️🥰
A very beautiful home. A ton of work is evident in the construction of this. But for me, I would avoid tires at all costs. Too many chemicals off-gas from them and one tiny crack in the concrete or finish will allow this. I wish you well in your occupation of this picturesque Earthship.
When you go into a tire store, you can smell the tires. That is the offgassing that you're smelling. Used tires don't have the odors, because, for the most part, they are gassed-out.
Very cool, Jim, well done. Reasons #4 and #5 are attractive for me. I'll bet the indoor plants are fantastic and the total absence of forced air would be a big health benefit (dust, mold, etc are eliminated). Enjoyed the video and learned a lot.
Thank you for the great amount of detail you have given about the building of the home. I am planning on building a earthship like home and did not even know about the tire bails. This would save so much time in the building process and definitely worth looking into.
I have friends who spent 9 months pounding dirt into tires, and then filling in the voids with cobb mix. We used a lot of cobb mix filling in voids, but we had the bales stacked in one day. Our building department required a soil analysis for compaction and other stability issues. Even if not required, this is a good idea. Good luck on your build! If you ever have any questions, don't hesitate to ask. If I don't have the answer, I have other friends who have built these homes.
Jim Gagnepain thank you
Excellent detailed explanation. Thank you!
Very Informative!
Wow Jim what a wonderful video. Well thought out and laid out. It's easy to see it must have taken you quite some time to structure the video. One of the best summaries I've seen for an earth ship home which I have had interest in for years. Also very happy to have found your video as I believe I may have seen another one of your videos years ago talking about the tire bales vs pounding tires. I searched for years trying to find it and today I found this one instead. It may have been someone else I suppose but if I recall they were also in Colorado. Regarding insulating the floor, I think that has more to do with the climate than the design. I remember reading an engineering blog on passive solar houses that specifically referred to a Reynolds earth ship built in England. It was the first one of its kind in England. Mike had arguments with local structural engineers and contractors who told him he needed to insulate the floor, he of course disagreed. The owners have complained ever since that it doesn't function right. The floor becomes a massive heat sink during the winter and sucks the heat right out of the house instead of storing it for the owners use. I guess the ambient ground temperature is much colder in their climate then it is in your location. That's what I recall anyway. Thanks for the awesome video and for sharing your incredible home.
The frost line would be my first consideration. Idaho is around 3 feet down, where Maryland is about 18 inches down. It all starts at the foundation...
We don't seem to have the "heatsink" problem at all, and we get very cold nights in Colorado. Maybe it's because the floor absorbs heat, as thermal mass, during the day, just like every other area. Other possible reasons are that there is about a foot of small rock under the slab, and also, our water pipes (cold and hot) are under the slab.
I love this - I am a general contractor / engineer, with a passion for sustainable and efficient structures. While implementing a lot of the concepts here you can only go so far with a traditional style home. One day i plan on following your step and building one of these myself...problem is I live in CA and the codes here are not friendly to these alternate designs.
I would look around for other earthship-style homes in your county. According to Earthship Biotechture, their are Earthships in all 50 states. During a visit to our Building Permit department, I was questioned about some design aspects. I gave them the address of another Earthship in the county, and the rep. looked it up on his computer. He OK'd it, once he saw there was a precedent.
I am in Canada and have the same problem with townships, so I think we could only do it in 'unorganized' townships, but still researching. Townships and Municipalities will only 'approve' a narrow set of parameters, it seems.
Very nice build sir
Thank you for this information. Beautiful home,
Super helpful and your wife did such a beautiful job with the tiles
This is so awesome! Thanks so much for the great info! This is totally Earthship Goals!
I would love to have a home like this…..
Wonderfully thorough, Jim. Thank you so much!
Thank you for the video
Really enjoyed this, thank you
Thank you sir for showing us your lovely home.
Thank you so much for sharing
Great idea to use tire bale - filling tires with ground is a nightmare (very time consuming and required lot of volunteers).
im so glad i saw this video. I kept thinking on the amount of labor that’s required to pack them tires, but tire bales...could be the next best thing since slice bread.
I still cannot find a place that has the tire bales and will ship them
Front Range Tire Recyclers 303-660-0090. The owner is Rick Welle. His cell is 303-500-2323. Another friend of mine built more recently, and he used a different source - American Tire Recycling (Duane Immel) 303-638-7150. Both of those are Denver area code numbers. Not sure where you're located.
Very informative.
Thank you
Amazingly Beautiful!! Thank you!! 🌹🥀🌹🥀🌹
Great video! So informative, thank you!
It’s for sell.
Really appreciate how thorough and unbiased you were in explaining y’all’s experience! Like some others in the comments I’ve never heard of the tire bales, that’s something to look into.
Also love how grounded and kind-hearted you feel, glad you guys get to live the life you want!
excellent information. Thank you. We will be building one eventually as well. I think we'll be using cinder blocks and insulate about 8 feet outside the walls (after 8' of dirt).
Does the 8' of dirt act as an insulation barrier? Haven't seen much info on this type of build. Can you share a link? One issue that is hard to manage with bermed homes is mice. Even though I sealed our house incredibly well, we still see an occasional visitor.
@@jimgagnepain7708 The 8' of dirt is for thermal mass. Ideally, there is no insulation around the cinder block wall (or whatever you are using for a wall), so if there is excess heat in the house, it will be stored in the dirt behind the cinder block wall. that dirt behind the wall does need to be insulated from the outside temperatures, however, so I would put insulation (and plastic to keep the insulation dry) outside of the dirt. Then, it will need to be covered with more dirt to protect it from the sun. Michael Reynolds shows how to do this in his earthships. There was one video that showed the insulation. i don't remember how to get to it. sorry.
Thank you Jim, I really appreciate your taking the time to film this :)
Great Information and understandable! Thank you for sharing your home, it's lovely and I can see all the love that you both put into it.
I call my 24x24 6/12 pitched skillion cottage a pseudo earth ship. Will add on 2 more 24x24 sections. No tires or berm using well insulated cmu block with masonry veneer on north wall. Our frost depth is 6 feet and ground temps of 48*F in summer where I am at. And can get 6 feet of snow in a weekend. So insulating under masonry floor. I have plans for a masonry stove/white oven and masonry heater old world kitchen. Post and beam square notched timber frame. I have 70 psf snow loads. Doing a Richardsonian Romanesque style. Because proper stones are local and timbers too. Have plans to build a Broch type tower to see lake Michigan. Matt and Goldie's earth ship is similar design as too what I am doing. Using 3 vertical 16 foot columns of 4x7 windows installed horizontal per 24 foot section. 4 foot raised bed and 4 foot above windows for hvac ventilation. I am using 2 inches of concrete with slate slabs over thermal break, insulation, and limestone fines for floor. Using western Delta honey comb riprap masonry veener to get megalithic look. Like Temple of Malta. Doing solar d.c. electric like a boat or R.v.
Loved your home. Video is detailed and very helpful 🙏🏼