Another way of building

[Erratus Animus]

I bought his book a few years ago and was taken back by the beauty of his home, earthship. I really like the yurt look but have not yet built any thing , however seeing this post does encourage me to rekindle the desire to build one. A man could always use another shop

[Rick]

You are more than welcome to build one at my house. I could always use another shop, you're right.

[crashdive123]

I love the look of them. Down here about the only way one would survive is to build it either off grade, or on a slab......termites.

[Rick]

Well, there you go. Looks like it's my place.

[BENESSE]

The whole structure of the house is built into the earth and the exposed front and roof are faced with recycled copper. The roof also has solar panels. The interior uses materials found on the property.

http://www.architecturaldigest.com/h...deshow#slide=1

Wish I knew how much it cost to build it but it's a cool look and a cool idea.

[BENESSE]

A little more about the architect Allan Shope and a few more pics of the house (note the close-up of copper facade & pulls):
http://shopearchitect.com/?p=18

I definitely agree with him on this point:
"Although I appreciate the availability of many materials, I like to use the forms and materials that are indigenous to a region. Vernacular forms and materials offer not only the environmental and economic benefits of less energy consumption for transporting the materials, but also a distinctly regional experience, with architecture that is unique and appropriate to its surroundings."

[nilespathfinder]

gramps and i always done this around 6 to 8 trees and stacked and cut the wood in a circle. we'd have a fire pit in the center and a thatched roof with a smoke port in the middle. we'd stay warm and dry for days at a time, and eventually we made the walls two rows thick so the fire would dry out the inner wall so wed always have dry wood. very time consuming, extended stays shelter.

[Willie]

Ww, how do you keep the logs from rotting? Also would it have been better to let the logs sit in the weather to expand and shrink to their size after drying out then use them to build? Kind of like building a deck then you buy new wood and build your deck, only to have 1/2" cracks between the boards after they weather for a few months! BTW it looks awsome! Great work!


Willie

[crashdive123]

I don't want to speak for Wild Woman, but she truly does live off grid and doesn't get on here as much as we would all like. In her OP if you look at the pictures, the cord wood is held in place with mortar. She addresses the cracking issue with having a supply of perma-chink or log jam on hand. With the cold climate that she lives in, rotting is probably a much slower process than it is where I am.

[Willie]

I tried veiwing the pictures on my phone and they were too small. I figured she lived somewhere cold but didnt know where, or what type of wood she used. I know some places people use wood that really dont rot.Here and back home its mostly pine. I moved here from s. mississippi and im like you crash, between the humidity,ants and termites, those logs would be lucky to last a year.

[Winter]

Here in SE Ak, ceder rots very slowly.

Another thing you can do is dip the exterior ends of logs in diesel or used motor oil. A kind of "do it yourself" creosote process.

Speaking of which, a person could get a hold of a bunch of retired/replaced creosote telephone poles and never have to worry about termites and rot.

[Rick]

There aren't many creosote poles these days. Like everyone else we had to "green" up. Most are Penta treated today. If you notice the poles have a green hue to them. Those are penta treated. But even that is under attack. According to the EPA estimates continued soil exposure at the base of pentra treated poles puts two children at risk of cancer each day. My suggestion to the industry was find those two kids and give them a basketball or a job.

[crashdive123]

Not down south. I have found termites many times in old poles and rail road cross timbers. The Formosan Subterranean Termite (Coptotermes formosanus) has been spread to many areas of the country through the practice of selling used rail road cross timbers as landscape timbers. For this reason, they many have been barred from use, depending on their origin.

[Winter]

Not down south. I have found termites many times in old poles and rail road cross timbers. The Formosan Subterranean Termite (Coptotermes formosanus) has been spread to many areas of the country through the practice of selling used rail road cross timbers as landscape timbers. For this reason, they many have been barred from use, depending on their origin.

Wow Crash. That blows my mind. Termites must sacrifice workers to remove the tar. That's amazing and worrisome.

[crashdive123]

They really are an amazing critter. They also consume live trees.

[Winter]

Damn.

Don't wanna derail the thread too much, but where did they come from and is there an effort to kill them?

Addon-the fire ant problem has been done a good kick by the Tx fires, at a huge human loss.

[Rick]

It's a Formosan termite. Formosan. For....mos....a.

Yeah, there are many reasons not to live in Florida.

1. Gators
2. Lightening
3. Fire ants
4. Giant humongus Gambian rats (They come from Gambia, Winter)
5. killer bees
6. Monster cross breeding python anaconda thingies
7. Old people

[crashdive123]

When the native termites in our area (Eastern Subterranean Termites) swarm (during the day) a few hundred to a few thousand will swarm. When Formosans swarm (in the evening) the fly toward lights (like many insects). Baseball games have been cancelled because of swarms blocking the stadium lights. Originally from Formosa (Taiwan). Spread through commerce. Probably introduced to the Continental US in the 50's or 60's.

[Winter]

Hahaha, and I thought it was just a bread.

[Winter]

They need to light the fields with zappers.