I'm on my way to Taos, New Mexico (not Mexico - NEW Mexico which is a state in the USA), to find out more about Earthships. I will be doing the Internship program with Earthship Biotecture in August 2008, and then I'll be travelling to The Farm (Tennessee), one of the oldest ecological communities in the "western world". So it's not just about Earthships - it's about living ecologically... something that seems to escape us (westerners). I think Earthships are part of the solution for satisfying our basic human needs for shelter (pleasant indoor air temperatures), water, sewage treatment, and electricity. And I think the folks at The Farm might know a thing or two about how to "live lightly on the Earth". I am hoping that by visiting these places, and gaining hands-on experience, I will be able to develop these ideas to be more applicable to Australian communities, with their particular geography, climate, policy, regulations, etc that define them.
I have some questions relating to practical aspects of building Earthships in Australia, and in particular, my home town, Adelaide, South Australia. I also have some more general questions that are valid no matter where you are building;
Adelaide Specific Questions
- How do you termite-proof an Earthship, which is (usually) partially underground/earth-bermed? In Adelaide we have to deal with termites ("white-ants" which eat timber), usually with expensive physical barriers or poisonous chemical barriers.
- Is highly reactive clay soil suitable for building the walls (by compacting it into old tyres)? In Adelaide we have a lot of clay soils which can be highly reactive to moisture, expanding and contracting as moisture conditions change.
- What sort of climate control features should be designed into an Earthship in Adelaide which has cold wet winters, scorching hot summers and a lot of sunshine? It is at low altitute - not much higher than sea level. I am thinking earth-pipes for passive air-con in the summer (if a low water table allows this), vertical north facing (equator facing) windows, preferably double glazed or with a "double green-house".
- Do cement rendered Earthship "cisterns" (rain water tanks) need a lot of maintenance to prevent leaks?
- What is the best way to deal with different sized tyres (in terms of diameter and tread width so that you can ensure a good "running bond" (adequate overlap) of the tyres.
- Why do you persist with manually compacting the earth in the tyres? It represents a lot of hard manual labor, a big disincentive for most owner builders. Do options such as electric or pneumatic machinery fail to deliver the required compaction rate?
- Further to previous question, do you know of/have you tried pouring a slurry into the tires (to avoid compacting). A slurry with a small quantity of cement might be all that is needed to ensure a solid "brick".
- Other builders of of tyre walls (e.g. Ed Pasich) report success with removing (cutting) the top wall of the tyre to assist with compaction of the earth. Earthships don't use this method - why?
