We have made some headway on the Earthship as our festival year has come to an end. Each year we do not get any time in on the progress of the Earthship due to the craziness a farm experiences during season start up. Any farmer could identify with me. Fortunately this year we have a new farm friend and helper Dale Guindon (the father of our partner Eric Guindon who manages the fields). Dale is a retiree from Morton Buildings where he worked for 30+ years! We are so happy to have him on board.
We have framed the entire dual bathroom area and roofed the top to keep the water out of the Earthship completely. The winter snow and cold weather let the ice build up in the exposed area which in the end melted and completely filled the Earthship up 3". We managed to keep the water out after the dethaw with sump pumps running everyday. Luckily we only need to refinish some lower mud plaster and had to re-dig the trench for drainage down the hallway.
Our next step will be removing the dirt between this new wall and the large room wall. The roof will be extended over this entire area giving us an additional amount of interior room space, over 100 square feet of utility room to house a dryer, washer, and fridge. No traditional place for a refrigerator but it's about utilizing what we already have to reduce. The cold winter months will be helpful when in this back utility room which will be sealed off and colder than the entire Earthship.
The true next step will be pouring an additional footer for the utility room extension. Front casement windows will be on order along with hand built skylight counter bounce systems installed over the 4' x 4' roof windows ( definitely a plus for ventilation during cool summer days). The past three weeks in Ohio have been scorching, with temps surpassing 90 degrees for 17 straight days. We have had an additional three weeks in the 90's throughout the summer up until August 1st, 2011. With this Earthship design we should stay near 70-75 inside the structure during these hot days. Our walls are 12' deep in a hill and the highest point of the roof has some good double layer of R-39 on top. Excuse the little bit of rambling, but we are on track to prove my roof method will keep us cool in the summer and warm in the winter.
After the windows we are working to have concrete installed throughout the entire inside of the Earthship, utility room and all. From here we can run electrical wiring conduit between tire rows. The outlet boxes will be made of wood and placed inside the tire voids while we fill around them to place the outlet forms. The boxes will then have electrical boxes mounted flush (similar to drywall) and will be finished with mud cob. From here on out it's mud, mud , straw, sand, and more mud to get a finished Adobe plaster look. The majority of the work from here will be handmade kitchen cabinets out of hardwood and bathroom tile, water lines, and utilities. I would think utilities may take an additional 1-2 years before we are satisfied with the setup, something we are excited to experience and struggle with.
Stay tuned! I'll update you once we seal up the structure this fall. Working weekly to get done in 2011! Keep your fingers crossed.
