March 2003
MOUNTAIN COUNTRY LIFE
Home & Planet’s Feature Article

Little Earthship on the Mountainside
by Ann Smeal

We call our planet “Mother Earth.” A mother provides love and warmth by holding you in her arms. An earthship home is just that, an embrace in Mother Earth or Mother Nature’s nurturing arms. In an earthship home, its inhabitants are surrounded on three sides by Mother Earth while the fourth side is dominated by Father Sun’s warmth. Inside one of these homes, you can feel the love that the inhabitants have for the earth.

earth•ship n. 1: passive solar home made of natural and recycled materials. 2: thermal mass construction for temperature stabilization. 3: renewable energy & integrated water systems make the Earthship an off-grid home with little to no utility bills.

This is the definition of a home that is built using recycled materials using the natural resources of the earth and the sun to provide a human habitat that does not use the traditional building materials and traditional fuel for heating and electricity.

Larry and Doris Ledue live in Santa Maria Ranch near Como, Colorado. The couple graciously invited us out to see their Earthship. Their home sits on 35 acres with panoramic views of the Mosquito Mountain Range and around to the Collegiate Mountain Range. The Ledues built their home over a course of seven years, traveling from Bailey on weekends and vacations.

Besides being labor intensive, it is difficult to obtain a construction loan for an Earthship. As with all pioneers, those wishing to undertake such a non-traditional approach have had to be creative on many levels. In the state of New Mexico, Earthships are a more accepted form of building and construction loans are easier to obtain. For Doris and Larry, the years spent building their home and the innovative ways they found to accomplish their goal was well worth it.

The outside of an Earthship is mostly underground on three sides. The home is usually constructed on a hillside. Building the home into the earth shields the occupants against the elements and allows them to use what nature provides while incorporating modern technology to give them a comfortable lifestyle.

Three of the outer walls are built using aluminum cans and used tires. The tires weigh around three hundred pounds once they are packed with dirt and then added as part of the wall. Each tire must be leveled and plumbed making the construction very labor intensive. Partially crushed aluminum cans are used to fill in the gaps around each tire. Once the walls are built, adobe is used to seal the deal. The traditional finish sealant is a mixture of turpentine and linseed oil. The Ledue’s used a mixture of water and Elmer’s glue to effectively seal their walls, avoiding the toxic sealants. After the outer walls are finished, there are no visible signs of the inner materials (tires and cans) and no chance of toxins seeping into the structure from these materials.

The soil which surrounds the Earthship is at a constant temperature of 52 degrees Fahrenheit, summer and winter. Living in a home that is encased on three sides by soil, shields the home from the elements that anything residing above the surface are subject to. Without any heat source, the Earthship’s temperature will not drop below 52 degrees F. Throughout the year, the Ledue’s use only minimal heat sources other than what the sun provides.

This construction method has many advantages. The tires provide a wall that is thick and holds in heat from the day’s sun that is slowly released into the home during the night. The aluminum cans are also recycled and add to the stability of the walls. The use of adobe to finish the walls helps hold in heat and is effective for keeping the home cool in the summer. The fourth wall is usually made of glass and is slanted to allow maximum advantages from the sun that heats the home and warms the adobe during the day. The large amount of glass eliminates the need for daytime lighting.

The inside glass serves another function as well. A three foot high adobe wall is built approximately three feet back from the slanted glass wall. This enclosure is filled with rich soil which now becomes the perfect indoor greenhouse, thriving within your Earthship home. The plants provide oxygen and moisture for the dwelling and food can be grown year round. The glass within the greenhouse serves to warm the home. The day we were visiting the temperature outside was 27 degrees Fahrenheit and the wind was blowing. Inside, we were warm as toast. The vents in the greenhouse were open and the skylights were raised. In an Earthship, each room must have an operable skylight to release excess heat as well as help provide light for the home.

To truly be an Earthship, builders use many recycled materials inside the home as well. The use of recycled building materials does not necessarily mean used materials. There are many sources to find building materials that fall under the category of “recycled”. One such company, Extras, which is located on “furniture row” in Denver, has a wide variety of building products that are acquired from a variety of sources.

Among these acquisitions are discontinued items, overstock and special orders that were not purchased. They carry building materials at a lower cost and maintain a larger variety then the average outlet. Everything from new kitchen sinks to windows, doors and vinyl decking. Not only is Extras a good resource for conventional homes, they have helped many pioneers of Earthships complete their homes.

The Ledue’s doors were constructed from pine pallets and oak scraps. The core is OSB (Oriented Strand Board). The kitchen countertops are also made from oak scraps. The home’s ceiling is made from recycled cedar fencing. Floors in this cozy home are adobe and flagstone allowing heat to be absorbed and gently released at night. This home was truly a labor of love and inventive construction.

The bathroom is also an area that is limited only by imagination. Showers and jetted bathtubs can be shaped into any graceful design and are made from aluminum cans and adobe. Doris painted her shower area a deep sea blue giving this room a tropical, earthy feeling.

The use of alternative energy is an important component to qualify a home as an Earthship. There are different solar and wind generated options. The Ledue’s have a wind generator, solar panels and a beautiful cook stove that fall into this category. The stove can be operated with propane, coal or wood. This one appliance is used for cooking, baking and heating. A specialized hot water heater works only when needed. This compact device instantly heats water on demand. The washing machine is a Staber model that uses only 18 gallons on water to wash one large load. A traditional washer typically uses approximately 44 gallons of water. The Ledue’s washer cleans clothes better than conventional washers. Drying clothes is not a problem for this homemaker, she hangs the clothes in the greenhouse area and they are dry in a short period of time. A propane-powered refrigerator and large freezer add to the efficiency of the home. The Ledues use approximately 600 gallons of propane per year and utilize gasoline to run the well pump generator to fill the water storage tanks every few days. This is the only fuel that is not self-generated by the home’s system.

Living an environmentally conscious lifestyle has many rewards. Today, there are many alternative choices for home building. An Earthship is an excellent example of earth friendliness, and at the same time still offers modern comforts. The actor and environmental advocate, Dennis Weaver, has built his own Earthship that is an example of how size and comfort have no limitations.

Architect and designer, Michael Reynolds, designed both Weaver's and the Ledue's homes. Reynolds has a website (www.earthship.org) that has hundreds of pictures of earthships. You may rent an Earthship through his web site and experience for yourself the beauty and serenity of dwelling at nature’s level. The site offers workshops, videos and a variety of assistance for the curious and serious seeker of information.

Fast Forward: FOUR YEARS LATER

Since we first moved into our solar friendly home and business we have:

• increased our solar (PV) size to just over 2 KW,
• increased our battery bank by 25%,
• added solar thermal to provide pre-heated hot water for our domestic hot water (DHW) needs
• replaced a small propane refrigerator with an 18.8 CU ft electric frost free refrigerator
• added a dishwasher
• replaced a propane freezer with an extremely efficient DC electric chest freezer
• added a second 400W wind generator
• upgraded from a small modified sine wave inverter to a pure sine wave model with remote automatic generator start and surge capacity of 8,000 watts
• changed our charge controller to 2 MPPT controller,
• added a sophisticated system monitor
• changed our instant-on water heater to a solar pre-heated model
• added a state of the art lightning protection system

All of our used equipment has found homes and nothing was wasted. This is a first hand example how solar / wind renewable systems can start small and grow with the homeowners’ needs and budget.

Colorado has many more Earthships now than four years ago, and it may be easier to obtain construction loans.

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