Earthships

I am building in the boonies. forget the city had enough of it, and those numbers are retarded, no one needs that much debt for a house, it's madness at its modern finest and part of the reason things are not doing so well, that is what happens when you make unrealistic dreams a reality, can you imagine the heating bill in one of those houses you speak of, bet that alone is more than my total living expense, only doctors can aford one but they have to make outrageus wages therefore healthcare is not available to everyone, so what is the solution = insurence so now the shareholders can afford these houses, I could go on forever I am so disgusted with modern living standards I don't even wish to waist my breath anymore
This whole project is supposed to be cheap, simple and recyclable so I can finish it in a few years and live the rest of my life for a change, the poles are $1/foot at the local DTE pole yard, used telephone poles, lumber I have, my lots are wooded just need a mill and I am good at making things happen, the insulation I can source EPS for nothing, might get paid to haul it away, there are these fancy table grapes in the fall we handle they come in styrofoam boxex aprox 12X18X6 they go to the dump once the product reached it's destination, go to the boston produce market in the fall there are tons of this stuff dumpsters overfill with it, the glass one of my drivers had the idea of keeping an eye on any skyscrapers going down, Vegas is a good one, and when that happens send him out there with a load and he'll bring the glass back, this project will take a minute but the general idea is to be superefficient from the start including materials, Idealy the final cost will be tools ( loader back hoe, saw mill etc ) plus labour and that is it
and if I pull it off won't cost a small fortune to heat and it will have plenty of natural light, part of the reason I started such a thread was to spread the word, maybe get some advice along the way, there may be a prius owning architect on here or maybe a building inspector to go over the drawings

 

where I grew up adobe was pretty much the norm, really simple yellow dirt, staw and horse $hit ( no joke ) walls were loadbearing, grandma built the house I grew up in by herself while gandpa got drafted in the war, this is the same thing on steroids, her house was simple she only had 1st grades education, and what is stopping me? got too much of an education I guess I learned how to own a house without building it.
I love what I see about rammed earth do a google search look at pictures, it's beautifull, in my younger years I worked construction, when the money was right my boss would do something simmilar for the bathrooms as a layer over the green board 30 shovels sand half bag cement half bag lime, very light weight and watter proof done many fancy showers this way in those 2mil houses, whenever the owner was a cheap a$$ we did sheatrock and liquid nails, the homedepot stuff same $hit you see on all those homeimprovement shows in those fancy houses, I took several such jobs apart due to water damage, only once took down one of those sand and lime walls in a historical house dam thing was hundreds of years old and beautifull, the new owners wife saw some ceramic tile she liked at homedepot, we glued it to the greenboard directly she was that cheap. what can I say, I honestly see no value at all in any subdivision, michigan or masachusetts.

 

Enough with the underground allready, even true earth ships have the floor at grade level, I guess beaming them from 3sides may create that impression, my drawing also has the floor at grade, I could sink it 4 feet like a Hal f basement but with 12 feet of window to the south could hardly call it such.
Building underground such as a basement for example is a waterproofing nightmare, I looked into it and incorporated some similar drain system just to be safe but a quick look on youtube at basement leak repair will turn you away from that idea

 

Most people can't wrap their head around the concept and those that do often take it to the other extreme, I'm looking for a middle of the road solution,
You could have not said it better, watched a grand design video last night about one of those "Eco buildings" in Australia the reporter asked why point it to the west kind of defies the point, answer but west has the view, we'll just have to compromise and work around that, needless to say there was nothing else of value to learn from it, lots of concrete, steel an outrageous underground pool million dollar budget which they blew.

There is nothing logical about any house going up these days most architects act like 5year olds with Legos or girls with doll houses, just build it bigger Add 6 more bathrooms that kind of stuff

George

 

I have the same concept, the structure itself may push 2000 sqft at the end but half of it is buffer zones, the actual livingspace is only 6 rooms 11x11, I too noticed how modern housing evolved well beyond shelter, there is no reason for a heated garage for example, or large walk in closets, wife usually binns the off season clothing and stores it in the barn, or 6 and a half baths, all the glass facing the street whichever that may fall.

The lot I plan to buil on the street would be due west of the house, I have another one on that the street would be due north, I simply do not care they can stare at my north wall with no windows from the street, looks are in the eye of the beholder and to me something that works looks much better.

these days homes are large enough for children not to have a reason to go outside anymore, further the reason I wish to build in the woods so my boy can go throw rocs at critters or something

 

I started a conversation on a more apropriate forum and I have been getting lots of feedback and help with the design you can folow up on it here:
passive solar - GreenBuildingTalk - GreenBuildingTalk - Green Building Forums on Insulating Concrete Forms (ICF), Structural Insulated Panels (SIP), Radiant Heating, Geothermal Heat Pumps, Solar Power, Green Construction Projects - Green Building Forums - Green/Energy-Efficient Building and Construction


George

 

if you know your stuff I'd love to get an insight on what you know, no need to worru about windowas there wont be none, the walls the way I drew them so far add up to about 70R, 30R under the floor, it wont be radiant heat floor but same concept, the south wall is all glass, floor is supposed to harness the sunlight. look it up, watch that video in first post

George

 

seriously I can tell you know a thing or 2 but we are not talking about the same thing here, have a look at some of the videos posted early on, look up Earthship, what I am trying to accomplish is rather simmilar but more so geared for the north.
forget the 10 % that is for conventional passive sollar design, I call that a ranch with a south window, this is different, I'll have more glass than floor, half the house is supposed to be a buffer zone the summer sun wont reach the living area, cooling tubes, convection engine, look at the drawings the roof pitch is winter solstice and the summers is outlined too, reflective drapes go without saying
fyi the roof I am planning 4 ft thick solid foam at say 5r /inch

 

I do apreciate you getting involved, to answear some of your concerns.
the reason I am so generous with the foam is because I have a sourse for it may even get paid to haul it away that in itself is debatable, since it is not made for this purpose, but I rreconed for the roof it will be fine, underground and in rammed earth walls may be questionable,
you did noticed I'm in Michigan? roasting in Februarry with no fuel sounds real good, highly unlikely thou, I believe average sunshine per day is 3 hours, as for the summer the south side of the house in the original Earthship design it's acctually a gray water greenhouse, I am sure the plants have something to do with the temperature controll, I havent explored that much, the green house is ment to get hot in the summer, shades can controll that and effectively cut down the fenestration, as the air stratifies in the greenhouse it tends to rise and escape out the roof vents drawing from the livingspace through the deep underground tubes,
granted I exagerated my design compared to what they do for earthships and that was a concern, one of my first questions was why the low roof pitch, I drew mine at winter soltice so the back walls can get blasted.
I don't have a clue as to how to calculate heat loss, I asume is based on materials used and how much of it, and yes I was going about it back words, figured I overbuild it first , and shade it down as needed