I'm thinking about ways of doing earth tubes for a greenhouse without extensive and deep excavation. I had the idea of burying them about 12" deep and insulating the soil in about a 30' wide swath centered above the earth tubes, over the entire length of the 100' run. My thought is to use about 12" of wood chips for insulation since i can get them for next to nothing. Decomposition would be very slow in my area since we have little rainfall.

Would this behave the same as something buried much deeper?

If so do you have a link to see it?

Hello all!

I am new here, currently obsessing over earthship homes. I am looking for anyone who has built one. Has anyone built one in California? I have seen them built in New Mexico and Colorado, but curious to talk with someone who has done it in California.

I have been looking at visas and immigration a little bit but not enough I figured why not ask if any on here has any tips or advise on moving forward with getting a visa first as I am aware this will be one of my main struggles. I also am here asking if anyone has built any earthships in Portugal on here I am aware of a couple but more so just worried about planning permission and how much it will cost and how long it will take? (Or if it’s even a possibility😂)

All and any help or responses are greatly appreciated and I will be responding as often as possible

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Any opinions on the interior tire walls being covered in plastic before being covered with plaster? I got this old earthship book that uses this method

Hi all first time poster, I'm currently prepping for the purchase of land and construction of my first earthship!

I work in a brewery in the UK and ever so often we get damaged kegs that can't be used for beer and will go to a recycler.

Does anyone see a good propose for them in construction?

Looking forward to all your ideas

In the 21st century there are so many better options than physically forcing the dirt into the walls of the tire with a hammer. Why not get a vibrating machine like a gasoline powered tamper or a compactor? Or why not just add water to the dirt mixture, to turn it into mud, which will fill the tire walls when you pour it in?

Heya earthshippers. Just completed my doco Grounded By Design of building Earthship Willunga (click the link to see it). It's pitched as an introduction to Earthships but hopefully it can also be enjoyed by those who are already familiar with the concepts etc. I worked REALLY hard on it (I'm just a one man band) so I REALLY hope you like it!!! Hopefully it can be viewed and enjoyed by as many people as possible. If you think it's worth sharing, please do so and give it a like or comment or whatever, which will push it to more people in youtube land. Thanks so much, and enjoy :)

Where do you all get good windows for Earthship greenhouses? Any recommendations for dimensions that offer better prices? I noticed that on one of the Refuge models, they used a standard size with a smaller window below, while the others used custom-ordered taller windows. Everything I’m finding at Home Depot or Lowe’s seems designed for framed installations, not standalone glass setups.

I’ve also seen a lot of Earthships where people install glass with just a basic aluminum flashing around it; not the typical flashing that integrates with house framing. Then they add flashing on the outside over the edges of the glass. Some Earthships do use standard framed windows with outward flashing.

Another question: What’s the consensus on using low-E coatings? Are they necessary for inner greenhouse windows? And are those inner typically single-pane or double-pane?

It's not the paying that is the problem, just the window solutions that I would put on a normal stick house, seem to be the wrong sort for a greenhouse.

Hi everyone,

I recently purchased a longhouse that’s oriented south-facing. Between the house and the garage (which are aligned on the same axis but several meters apart), I’m planning to build a greenhouse to connect the two. Eventually, this greenhouse will extend southward to cover the entire front of the house, but that will be part of a second phase.

For now, I’m focusing on the first phase: constructing the greenhouse only between the house and the garage. In my country, this kind of project requires an architect and various permits, which are already in progress and moving along well.

My question is more technical:
The house is located on the edge of a forest, with the entire northern side facing the woods. The greenhouse will have one side facing south and another facing north. For the north side, should I:

• Keep it glazed to enjoy the beautiful view of the forest?
• Or build a heavy, inert wall to better store and retain heat in the greenhouse?

Thank you in advance for your advice and insights!

I think Earthship Biotecture is a cult. Not saying everyone who lives in one, owns one, or has built them is in a cult. But the company and crew in Taos, New Mexico, is a borderline cult. Or maybe is just outright- a cult. So I did the academy, field studies, and lived in the Greater World (the subdivision in El Prado) Also let me say I do think the origin of this company was in a good place, hippies trying to build sustainably with trash. Sounds good, right? Greed is where it went wrong. In the beginning you could just show up and do an internship, and learn how to build Earthships. They actually taught you, well all the sudden people are building them better than the company. So they stopped actually teaching people how to do it, in my experience that’s what I’ve seen and what I’ve heard from fellow rejects. Mike charges top dollar for homes built by students with no construction experience, having been a student at one point I asked so many questions about how things should be done and got no real answer half of the time - ending up with some whack a** homes. I did a build where Earthship left the owners with an unfinished, unenclosed house for over $500,000. Wasn’t even close to done though the contract stated it would be enclosed and that’s a common occurrence. Mike is known for spending all the accounts money, or getting locked out of the account, so payroll? Sorry not enough money or can’t get access to it! But there’s scarce housing in the Taos area, so what can you do when they control your housing, paycheck, and food. Nothing, just keep working for free because if you say anything you’ll get banned, blacklisted, and all the sudden you’re homeless. And it’s ok that they don’t pay you on time or sometimes at all, because the company gives you free beer every Friday so get over it and get drunk! The beer will make you forget that you can’t afford to eat. I first realized things were a bit off when I was expressing to the crowd at the weekly Friday beer party, which is called “Payday”, ironically since you might not be getting paid, that I was in the process of buying my own land. “Why would you do that when you can build on OUR land, why would you want to get permission from the government to build when you could get permission from (Earthship contractor’s name)?” And the amount of pushback I got for getting a paying job in town and not working for free was intense. “If you volunteer for long enough you’ll get paid”. There’s crew members who lived in tents for 9 months until they got paid. and paid what? $10/hr. Mike isn’t the first person to build this way and he won’t be the last. All the money goes into his pocket and he does god knows what with it. I got banned for moving out the awful environment I lived in, with crew-members who spent their time drinking, & doing cocaine and molly. I left and spoke out on the behavior I witnessed and boom- banned. What “school” is going to ban someone for leaving a bad situation? What “school” is going to blacklist people for not wanting to live in filth? And I can’t even get started on the high school like drama and love triangles going on in this company that’ll take too long lol. They control your life, they control YOU. If you want to build one I’ll send you a copy of my textbook, don’t give them your money.

There’s a humanitarian fund that all the tips from the Visitor Center goes to but they haven’t done a humanitarian build in years, so what happens to that money? and the Field Study money, your $800 that just goes into Mike’s pocket too. He doesn’t pay himself a salary, just takes whatever he wants from the company accounts and the amount of times that leaves the employees with no pay is unacceptable. and He’s not using it to to pay off his 2mil debt, it’s to spend on eating out because he gotta live a little before the cancer kills him. And again what can the employees do when they may be left jobless, houseless, starving, and banned from all of their friends

Hi,

Earthship fascinates me, but I am not interested in giving EB any money. Are there similar organizations/projects/internships that anyone can point me towards? I'm not necessarily looking for free or even low-cost programs. I'm specifically averse to EB.

Reason: rape allegations, and how poorly EB is handling them (seems like they're all but ignoring them). Don't want to support that guy.

If you use tires do they expand and contract with heat and cold? If so how do you avoid that change in pressure being too much against walls or other parts of an earthship and even causing damage?

I've seen mold as an issue for some unsealed tire walls and saw for some it was a massive hassle to fix, how would one properly seal everything to prevent a moisture issue?

I know concrete is very porous and often times when it's used regardless of where or how in most things it will crack and shift which can be an issue for structural integrity and the looks and use of whatever it's used in. How does one avoid cracking if using concrete, and if you can't really then what are better options? Is terracotta or other similar alternatives better in that regard or about the same? Also to prevent mold would adding something like copper to a concrete mix make the concrete antimicrobial? And along with that would copper dust added to a mix be a toxicity issue?

I have ideas and a want for an earth ship but I wouldn't want the making of it to be toxic or unsafe due to some recycled materials like plastic/tires, aluminum, or the like. I have seen debates on wether or not tires will off gas or be toxic to those living in the home and it would be nice if someone could clarify if it's safe or not?

What are some long lasting and non-toxic (as much as possible) materials that would be good to use when building an earth ship?

I've also seen discussions on slanted windows being an old design and that there was some sort of issue with them and so newer earth ship plans changed that, is this true and if so what was the issue and what do the improved versions improve?

Lastly, from experience with earthships like living in them or staying in them what are the pros and cons? Mainly what are the downsides to making, owning, and living in earthships in your personal experiences?

I’m posting this link to our bermed-earth home as a driver of discussion and questions-and-answers. I have a number of friends who built similar homes, and they did some things differently. There are a number of ways to accomplish the build. I General Contracted our build, with the help of many very able and qualified contractors.

We are not a “true” Earthship. We have a conventional well. At the time of our construction it was illegal to collect rainwater in Colorado. We are also On-Grid with Netmetering. There was electric service on the 5-1/2 acre lot when we purchased it. Lastly, we have a typical septic system (no grey water, etc.).

We used tire bales for our Bermed walls, in lieu of rammed-earth tires. The bales are about 5’x5’x2-1/2’ high, and weigh about a ton each. Here is a link to our home. It is currently for sale. I don’t want to move, but my wife does for health reasons.

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/3695-Hare-Haven-Ln-Colorado-Springs-CO-80930/121238138_zpid/?view=public

Greetings from Chattanooga, Tennessee, USA! Our family is hosting a cob building workshop with Cruzin Cob Global in August to October 2025. Enrollment is taking place now for anyone interested in earthbuilding.

In summary, this is a 5-week long intensive workshop. Students are welcome to tent camp on our property (Talking Water Nature Retreat) or rent one of our cabins at a reduced rate. Meals during workdays will be provided by us and weekends are free to explore Chattanooga. All monies go towards Cruzin Cob Global and the end result is that our property gets all the good vibes and beauty that comes from this build (we intend to create a ceremony room for marriages, yoga, spirituality, reunions, etc).

The detailed information for the workshop can be found at this link: https://cruzincobglobal.org/.../cob-ceremony-ritual.../

Our family has worked on earthbuilding before. We use lime plaster over every interior wall, including over hempcrete. We have handbuilt a cabin using cordwood construction and I will be leading some short cordwood workshops in 2025 as well. We have participated in a cob workshop and are psyched to be hosting now! Our retreat, Talking Water, can be found at https://talkingwatertn.com/ or https://www.facebook.com/.../Talking-Water-Nature.../

I am attaching our flyer below.

Thanks & best wishes to all!

I understand earthships are prone to issues in cold climates, including having insulation and mildew/mold issues. Have people overcome this? Or should I be looking more at straw bale houses?

Does anyone know how water collection and roof construction would work for an Earthship in southern Sweden Are earth ships even legal there?

Hi guys, just wondering if anyone knows of a good program (preferably free) to design earth ships external and internal? I want to play around with a few designs and have something a little better than a few hand drawings

I live in an Earthship style home. I have a conventional well and septic, and I am on-grid with renewables and net-metering. But other than that, all else is TOTAL Earthship.

At one time, it seems like Earthships were cool. It is the one home-style that can boast true Net-Zero. They have always been anti- establishment, but they were perceived as COOL. Is this attitude reversing, or is it my imagination?