Earthship Texas Week 4

Quick watercolor sketch sitting at lake Ratcliff at sunset and a morning photo above.

Nov 15-20
This was the last week of the build until January when the crew will come back to finish the interior of the house. This week the gutters were placed on the roof and the greywater system was buried in place under the greenhouse. The interior walls were finished with cement, the cement floors were poured, final wiring was put in, finished doors and decorative bottle bricks were placed.

Overview Main Systems
Water
water is all supplied by rain channeled by the roof into cisterns that are sized appropriately to the climate of the area. The cisterns here are buried behind the north wall of the house under the dirt. The water then flows to a WOM (Water Organizing Module) that filters it. Water is efficiently used four times:

1. water used in sinks and showers.
2. greywater system flows through the greenhouse, waters plants and excess is filtered by rocks, roots and moss
3. then it flows to toilets
4. black water is treated in septic system then flows to outside gardens.

Electricity
Power is supplied by photovoltaic panels on the south sloping roof. A POM (Power Organizing Module) distributes the electricity that is stored in batteries in a box on the roof

Earthship house 2 bedroom global model

Week 4- not much change on the outside of the house mainly interior changes

Systems
water
Rain flows from the roof through the gutter to these rock beds that filter silt and debris before it is contained in the cisterns.

The cistern caps are visible but the water is buried below the dirt behind the houseFrom the cistern it travels by gravity to the WOM to be filtered and sent to the showers and sinks.

After use in the showers and sinks the greywater is sent to the greenhouse where it is filtered underneath. This slanted ditch will be filled with rocks and peat moss to filter the water.
Jimmy at the end of the ditch where the filtered water will go into the pipes and to the toilets. After the toilets the black water goes to a two chamber (cement can walls) plastic septic tank buried outside that then flows to water outdoor beds.The final layer of soil is placed over the ditch ready for plants to growThe POM directs electricity form the solar panels stored in the battery through the house.

Bottle Brick ArtMain bedroom Interior - I love the cubbyholesmain bedroom closet
Interior floors of the kitchen and living room being installedFlagstone in the entrywayDan needs a medal for doing this with a broken leg. He is setting up some electrical lines he also has an awesome blog hereBrian being studly.

Jimmy being adorable.

Seth being cuddly.
Paul being reporter man.
Sprocket being SprocketGroup Pyramid...this took a few tries.Canadian Steve catching a fish!
The whole crew out to eat for the last night!Blake, Rebecca and IMike and I are homies now

THE END!

Videos of the nearly completed house

Earthship Texas Week 3

Nov 9-14
A pretty cool thing this week is that Mike told me I won the t-shirt contest! He said he picked it before he knew it was mine and it was great for him to be able to tell me in person while I was at the build. I am glad to be spreading the word through my design.

It was a pretty eventful week, the house went from bones to a fully covered and insulated cozy home. The main functioning systems of the house like the greenhouse, greywater containment system and solar power are near completion.

Over the weekend we had an awesome boar BBQ and Micheal told me about his next big plan to create a village learning center in the heart of the Galapagos. He wants to call it G.I.V.E. Galapagos Institute of Village Ecologies. It will be a place for people from all over the word to learn hands how to create a sustainable lifestyle within a community. I couldn't imagine a better place for this project than the origin of evolutionary insight whose lush forests inspire the utmost reverence for natural biological systems.

Below are week 3 pictures

Earthship house 2 bedroom global model
beginning of week 3

mid-week

end of week 3
Windows
Brian puts the glue for the inside windows in with MikeI am drilling the frames for the outside windows
Entryway
Rebecca sets bottle bricks for a sparkling entry wayRebecca and Tiffany smooth the final layer of cement over the entryway.
Mike drills a layer of insulation onto the roof.
The solar panels are going up!

Steve and I drilling the metal panels on the outside. These will be the final protective layer of the house.The roof is complete, now rain can drain into the cistern.Fun Time!
Lunch -the best time of day and Chris makes bomb lunches.

After a night at the amazing Shang Hai circus in the exciting town of Crockett Texas we decide to have our own outsidefun at the campsite mid-week

Earthship Texas Week 2

Nov. 2 -7, 2009.
I will be joining a crew of about 15 with 15 other interns to be building a 2 bedroom global model Earthship in between Crockett and Lufkin Texas. So week one of the build has happened without us. Blake and I are joining the crew and interns at the beginning of week two. We will be camping at Lake Ratcliff TX, what turns out to be a gorgeous lake surrounded by trees and deer a few miles from the build site. It is beyond perfect camping conditions, beautiful lake, hot showers and bathrooms, and fellow interns with kayaks, hammocks, great food and beer. Seriously spoiled. Most of the interns are staying here with us while the crew is at the Crockett Holiday Inn but they came by to visit and have massive cookouts. The interns and crew are all amazing people.

The first week I spent making can walls (old soda cans laid in cement), pounding a few remaining tires (rammed earth encased by recycled car tires), packing the tire walls, prepping Veegas (large wood beams that need shaving, cleaning, sanding), and porcupining (hammering nails in various wood elements) to get ready for more cement and can walls. It was a very rewarding week. Hard work but the crew was extra helpful and encouraging. Every evening it was not so bad to retire to camp and watch the sunset over the lake with fellow interns, including an ex-gourmet chef and thus eat amazing group meals by a fire till we pass out, then do it all again.

Photos of the first week of building!

Earthship house 2 bedroom global model
beginning of week 2

mid-weekend of week 2
Basic Building Elements
Tires
Tires, The Primary Building block. This one is waiting to be rammed with dirt.

A whole tire wall with cans and cement as filler. I would guess about 500 tires were used to create the north and side walls. After the dirt is rammed they can weigh about 300lbs and the width is 2-4 ft creating amazing thermal mass to keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.

Cans
Cans are also a recycled element used in building the house. This reduces use of cement and therefore lowers the cost of the house. This wall is a sandwich of two-inch styrofoam with aluminum can/cement walls on either side. When plastered these walls are nearly one foot thick and have tremendous insulating value.
Lianne making a can wall inside the house.
Veegas
Veegas are wood poles that form the structure of the roof -Look at these studly men!
A small bulldozer helping with the veegas. This was the biggest tool use on the job. Other than that two small cement mixers hand tools, saw and power tools were about it.Brian positions the veega with a rope and Steve sands it clean.

The girls on the veegas, I was to scared to do this.A signature Earthship door being installed by Jonah and Mike ReynoldsMike "porcupining" the top of the door with nails so that cement will not slide off the top later.Chris also drilling screws instead of nails on the top the keep the cement in place.Lathe structure that will be covered in cement for the entryway coverBob pouring cement to make supports that help hold the can wall back, the roof up, and are a part of the interior walls.
building a can wall between the veegas, the porcupine nails help hold the cement in placebeginning the roofPaul, amazon man, on the roof.Highlight picture of the week: Bob's sweet tan in his Utilikilt.
The Doggies on site
Fiesty Saul
Sweet Raven (except when you get in the way of her stick)
Sprocket the best dog in the W.O.R.L.D.
Fun Time
studsUK Rebecca, Aussie Brian, US of A meBlake with Raven in the bus trailer.
Brian is a pro on the Indo board I made
My tent at Lake Ratcilff, Davy Crockett National Forest, TX = beautiful!

more pics on the earthship website here