Thank you so much for sharing this process! I too want to help build an Earthship, but until I can make that happen in my life I’m really going to enjoy joining you and the community on yt for this one. :)
After packing hundreds of tires I was warned in a comment on one of these YT videos not to pack tires too tightly. Apparently they lock in better when they are not bulging too much. That makes sense. I must have wasted a lot of energy on each tire unnecessarily using sledgehammer. I am considering building a mini earthship which I estimated will use less than 200 tires. There is a video series on YT for one they are currently building in Montana. I would love to build a full size one, but I can't afford it. I think I can always add on to a mini later on.
When I was helping build an earthship, I started just standing in the tire hole with my boots on and doing some light kicks to push a lot of the dirt into the tires to help save a lot of the work with my hands and arms. Then use my hands and tools to finish puffing up the tire to where we needed it. It honestly helps save energy just moving your feet a little then straining your arms with a sledge the whole time. Also the video is awesome!
I'm far too old for tire pounding. I'm building my walls out of form filled concrete and flagstones. It won't be earthquake proof because it won't have the 'give' of tires, but it'll be a site faster and a LOT easier on old people's bodies.
Thanks for posting more earthship videos @The off grid guru I have a question about the cooling tube where it connects into the structure. What was the expanded metal mesh the cooling tube was going threw? iv been curious how people are sealing up around where it enters the home. Thanks, Zach
Why I am using concrete block on my earthship. #1 time and labor. I have 5 weeks. It takes me and another mason a month to complete a 30x60 block basement. Going with a 6/12 mono sloped roof for winter sun and vertical windows. Snow needs to go some where. Rockwool insulation and masonry veneer. No berm because of snow build up in winter and ventilation. Decided to go taller on windows rather than whole front of building just windows. Needed room for masonry columns too. Going with a Richardsonian Romanesque style as some Earthships seem to have those elements. Trying to make it look heavy, like it holds the earth it's self down in place. I could build completely out of stone and would be clean green build more so than tire built Earthships. The code changed. They now allow more smoke detector options. Before it was ac with battery backup smoke detectors. I am using boat/rv smoke detectors with d.c. and battery backup. Inspector is allowing my reinforced stone footers. Waiting on call back about going with limestone fines compacted, then insulation screwed and glued then flooring. No extra concrete for floor. Being in the cold north I need more insulation on the floor. Using concrete block or poured walls actually allows an Earthship to be built anywhere in the U.S. Building masonry heater/stove to provide extra heat and gets by code easier. Surprised more people don't build modern Earthship homes. If I was worried about cooling I would sink it more into the ground. The slope of 6/12 roof will allow sun to to even hit the north wall inside. Trying to pass Passive House Standard and PHIUS+. Less than 50000 buildings have passed world wide.
Ogg, what do you think about the tire off gassing? Plus how people come about all the tires. Wouldn't earthbag or strawbale be healthier/ easier/ faster? Plus where else are pockets of freedom? I know of Creston.
Earthship Biotecture has university experiment backed study on their website called the Tire Offgassing Report - Non-Issue: earthshipbiotecture.com/tire-offgassing-report-non-issue/
Strawbale and Earthship also have pros and cons which I would highlight the possible permitting issues. However permits aside, I would love to incorporate both into builds in the future.
Another pocket of freedom is Cochise County, Arizona. That's where we are and planning to build an Earthship-inspired home. We will use most of the design principles, but not all of them. We will combine the tires with earthbags. For us, the decision between earthship and strawbales came down to the availability of materials. There has actually been a straw and hay shortage due to drought, but people will always be using up their tires and the dirt is right under our feet.
@@louieballorodell8347 Maybe you could inspire your kids by gifting them Earthship Model kit? Its a great hands on educational experience for kids and you might learn and enjoy it too. :) www.earthshipmodelkit.com
@@eliinthewolverinestate6729 ,i would like to know how it goes with u and yr build,im in Grayling Mi,which is about 90 miles south of the Mac,so we are in about the same area. I was thinking filling the tires with the idea to help the earth,and reuse something otherwise just taking room on our plant.
Why not incorporate sand batteries into these earthships? Then you get free long term heat, hot water and energy year round regardless of weather conditions. You could bury 2 rain water tanks and two sand tanks. Sand can heat up over 1000 degrees with very little energy. A copper coil running through the sand piped into a hot water tank and separate radiant floor heating system. Or at least incorporate an air to ground heat transfer system so they’re not losing energy (heat) and can store it back down in their thermal mass.
Great Idea! The architect that pioneered these, designed their systems to be as passive as possible. That may be why you do not see "Active" systems such as the ones you are describing, radiant flooring, geo-thermal heat pumps ect.
I have 3 hectares of land in rural Spain, Surounded by olive groves would you come and build a tiny Earthship on my land please 🙏🏼 we can organise volunteers etc. Please please consider it. Montserrat
Beautiful work amazing video especially because you reveal the real truth which is that you don’t have to kill yourself pounding Tyres! Ive built five earth ships and I’ve done it with children of eight years old and even an elderly lady of 76 who was quite capable of finishing off Tyres using her own genius method of a small hammer and a stick! I made a video a while ago during Covid when I got stranded in Portugal and I was having to do about 50 tires by myself in beating hot sun so I also found much easier way and here’s a link to that video which is as you say quite easy to do and then also I managed to finish it off really with very minimal effort too! The Easiest Way To Pound A Tyre For Load Bearing Walls / Earthships th-cam.com/video/IjRIULClNBY/w-d-xo.html
Excellent. A unity build! Please tell us everything even if it seems mundane and boring with the steps by steps
Thank you so much for sharing this process! I too want to help build an Earthship, but until I can make that happen in my life I’m really going to enjoy joining you and the community on yt for this one. :)
This is just the tip of the iceberg ;)
After packing hundreds of tires I was warned in a comment on one of these YT videos not to pack tires too tightly. Apparently they lock in better when they are not bulging too much. That makes sense. I must have wasted a lot of energy on each tire unnecessarily using sledgehammer. I am considering building a mini earthship which I estimated will use less than 200 tires. There is a video series on YT for one they are currently building in Montana. I would love to build a full size one, but I can't afford it. I think I can always add on to a mini later on.
When I was helping build an earthship, I started just standing in the tire hole with my boots on and doing some light kicks to push a lot of the dirt into the tires to help save a lot of the work with my hands and arms. Then use my hands and tools to finish puffing up the tire to where we needed it. It honestly helps save energy just moving your feet a little then straining your arms with a sledge the whole time. Also the video is awesome!
That sounds like a good technique especially for 1st couple layers of tires.
Looking good keep the videos coming excited to see the progress
I'm far too old for tire pounding. I'm building my walls out of form filled concrete and flagstones. It won't be earthquake proof because it won't have the 'give' of tires, but it'll be a site faster and a LOT easier on old people's bodies.
oh, so interesting to see how it all starts!
Thank you! Have always loved these homes but wanted to learn more.
@4:47, the moon raises a wee bit between takes. So cool
Thanks for posting more earthship videos @The off grid guru
I have a question about the cooling tube where it connects into the structure. What was the expanded metal mesh the cooling tube was going threw? iv been curious how people are sealing up around where it enters the home. Thanks, Zach
Why I am using concrete block on my earthship. #1 time and labor. I have 5 weeks. It takes me and another mason a month to complete a 30x60 block basement. Going with a 6/12 mono sloped roof for winter sun and vertical windows. Snow needs to go some where. Rockwool insulation and masonry veneer. No berm because of snow build up in winter and ventilation. Decided to go taller on windows rather than whole front of building just windows. Needed room for masonry columns too. Going with a Richardsonian Romanesque style as some Earthships seem to have those elements. Trying to make it look heavy, like it holds the earth it's self down in place. I could build completely out of stone and would be clean green build more so than tire built Earthships. The code changed. They now allow more smoke detector options. Before it was ac with battery backup smoke detectors. I am using boat/rv smoke detectors with d.c. and battery backup. Inspector is allowing my reinforced stone footers. Waiting on call back about going with limestone fines compacted, then insulation screwed and glued then flooring. No extra concrete for floor. Being in the cold north I need more insulation on the floor. Using concrete block or poured walls actually allows an Earthship to be built anywhere in the U.S. Building masonry heater/stove to provide extra heat and gets by code easier. Surprised more people don't build modern Earthship homes. If I was worried about cooling I would sink it more into the ground. The slope of 6/12 roof will allow sun to to even hit the north wall inside. Trying to pass Passive House Standard and PHIUS+. Less than 50000 buildings have passed world wide.
Would love to see! Feel free to email me using the contact on my about page!
It has been 2+ years... can you still smell the old tires "rubber stink" smell?
Love it! Looking forward to the journey. Also I can’t find the link to the educational build. Can you help me?
Buildable paper model Earthship house
www.earthshipmodelkit.com
@@TheOffGridGuru thanks
Why not use tire bales? Seems there's an abundance of tires, and setting walls with bales would be a one day job.
I would love to do a tire bale build!
Ogg, what do you think about the tire off gassing? Plus how people come about all the tires. Wouldn't earthbag or strawbale be healthier/ easier/ faster? Plus where else are pockets of freedom? I know of Creston.
Earthship Biotecture has university experiment backed study on their website called the Tire Offgassing Report - Non-Issue: earthshipbiotecture.com/tire-offgassing-report-non-issue/
Finding tires is not hard, digging through the piles is another story. Often Whats hard is finding the right size tires!
Strawbale and Earthship also have pros and cons which I would highlight the possible permitting issues. However permits aside, I would love to incorporate both into builds in the future.
Another pocket of freedom is Cochise County, Arizona. That's where we are and planning to build an Earthship-inspired home. We will use most of the design principles, but not all of them. We will combine the tires with earthbags. For us, the decision between earthship and strawbales came down to the availability of materials. There has actually been a straw and hay shortage due to drought, but people will always be using up their tires and the dirt is right under our feet.
I live in northern Michigan! Would I be able to build a earth ship?
For sure! There are numerous in Canada, might even be some in your climate zone
@@TheOffGridGuru thank you Eric. I'm thinking how I could get this done aty age,so I'm trying to interest my daughter and her kids.
@@louieballorodell8347 Maybe you could inspire your kids by gifting them Earthship Model kit? Its a great hands on educational experience for kids and you might learn and enjoy it too. :) www.earthshipmodelkit.com
I am building one in the U.p. Using concrete block, so no tires. Less work for me. The Ontario and Alberta Earthships are my favorites.
@@eliinthewolverinestate6729 ,i would like to know how it goes with u and yr build,im in Grayling Mi,which is about 90 miles south of the Mac,so we are in about the same area.
I was thinking filling the tires with the idea to help the earth,and reuse something otherwise just taking room on our plant.
Subbed
How can I contact you? I have a question on a build.
Use the contact form at: www.theoffgridguru.com
Why is this Earthship being built so small?
Why not incorporate sand batteries into these earthships? Then you get free long term heat, hot water and energy year round regardless of weather conditions. You could bury 2 rain water tanks and two sand tanks. Sand can heat up over 1000 degrees with very little energy. A copper coil running through the sand piped into a hot water tank and separate radiant floor heating system. Or at least incorporate an air to ground heat transfer system so they’re not losing energy (heat) and can store it back down in their thermal mass.
Great Idea! The architect that pioneered these, designed their systems to be as passive as possible. That may be why you do not see "Active" systems such as the ones you are describing, radiant flooring, geo-thermal heat pumps ect.
I have 3 hectares of land in rural Spain, Surounded by olive groves would you come and build a tiny Earthship on my land please 🙏🏼 we can organise volunteers etc. Please please consider it. Montserrat
I love olive groves :) Shoot me an email using the address on my channels about page 📄.
Beautiful work amazing video especially because you reveal the real truth which is that you don’t have to kill yourself pounding Tyres! Ive built five earth ships and I’ve done it with children of eight years old and even an elderly lady of 76 who was quite capable of finishing off Tyres using her own genius method of a small hammer and a stick! I made a video a while ago during Covid when I got stranded in Portugal and I was having to do about 50 tires by myself in beating hot sun so I also found much easier way and here’s a link to that video which is as you say quite easy to do and then also I managed to finish it off really with very minimal effort too!
The Easiest Way To Pound A Tyre For Load Bearing Walls / Earthships
th-cam.com/video/IjRIULClNBY/w-d-xo.html
Ogg, third time asking: where are pockets of freedom??
I just unsubscribed. These events are symbolic and inaccessible as a forum.
There is an actual earthship biotecture school you can attend in Taos NM.
Would love to know how I could better serve your needs.
@@TheOffGridGuru Somehow i missed the outreach part. It's not findable. cuecatscratch aatt hotma..