Where do you get all those tires?

Where do you get all those tires for earthships? I can imagine a huge portion of the time and money that went into building the house could be wasted on just transporting materials.

Well most tire places will be glad to give them to you as they have to pay to get rid of them. Yes you use gas to transport them but it is all in how you pay for your house. Do you get a loan and pay for it for 30 years? or do you pay for is a little at a time in elbow grease and gas to get the building materials to where you need them. Earthships are a lot of work but not having a house payment is wonderful. I just wish we hadnt used used windows. After 13 years they are mostly cloudy.

Most tire dealerships now charge a 'disposal fee' for each tire you leave there.

If you haul off 100 tires, he gets to pocket a whole lot of money.

Also, it seems like every time I look at the "free" section of Craig's List there is somebody offering tires.

amber marcum wrote:Well most tire places will be glad to give them to you as they have to pay to get rid of them. Yes you use gas to transport them but it is all in how you pay for your house. Do you get a loan and pay for it for 30 years? or do you pay for is a little at a time in elbow grease and gas to get the building materials to where you need them. Earthships are a lot of work but not having a house payment is wonderful. I just wish we hadnt used used windows. After 13 years they are mostly cloudy.

what do yopu mean wish you hadnt used windows? what is the other option?

If you're going to build an earth ship, the first step is to become the tire disposal guy. That money has to go somewhere. Buy the right truck and let the tires pay for it. Seek out other builders and deliver tires to them.

There are areas where the tire guy has to track his disposal all the way to a registered disposer, to be green you know. Well, so they don't just end up in a ditch somewhere anyway. Those places it is harder to do now.

The problem is finding enough tires THE SAME SIZE. You have to pick your tire sizes carefully. You can do a little variation if you know equivalent sizes and are careful about packing tires to level, but not much.

R Scott wrote:There are areas where the tire guy has to track his disposal all the way to a registered disposer, to be green you know. Well, so they don't just end up in a ditch somewhere anyway. Those places it is harder to do now.

The problem is finding enough tires THE SAME SIZE. You have to pick your tire sizes carefully. You can do a little variation if you know equivalent sizes and are careful about packing tires to level, but not much.

Are there ways around this problem? can you fill gaps with earth and such to compensate for different size tires?

The size thing would be an issue. I only like tires for foundations where a couple layers above grade is sufficient. Tires from big commercial trucks give a broad base and can be filled using a front end loader. The places that service 18 wheelers often get very uniform batches. Disposal costs are high. If you can't legally be paid for disposal, give them 5 bucks to deliver a big load to the building site. That's as good as being paid.

I was out chatting buying tires at a local tire store.. talking to the owner.. I told him about earth ships.. Guess what he told me.. Not only would he give me tires but sort them and haul them to my land.. about 15 miles from his shop FREE..

Betting that if you chat with the owners of independent tire stores they will be happy to do the same thing.. It really does save them money over the recycling fees so it is a win win situation..

If you can find anyone who has their tires bailed .. it is even more efficient.. a bail holds about 100 tires.. they big.. and there will be zero pounding ... the walls will be thicker. as most of the bails are about 4 x 4 x 6 foot.. stack em three high and just berm them.. have seen them stacked way high and they just dont move.. you will need a crane service to set them like bricks which is what they are. but at a couple of tons each.. and removing them from the waste stream is a good thing

steve pailet wrote:I was out chatting buying tires at a local tire store.. talking to the owner.. I told him about earth ships.. Guess what he told me.. Not only would he give me tires but sort them and haul them to my land.. about 15 miles from his shop FREE..

Betting that if you chat with the owners of independent tire stores they will be happy to do the same thing.. It really does save them money over the recycling fees so it is a win win situation..

If you can find anyone who has their tires bailed .. it is even more efficient.. a bail holds about 100 tires.. they big.. and there will be zero pounding ... the walls will be thicker. as most of the bails are about 4 x 4 x 6 foot.. stack em three high and just berm them.. have seen them stacked way high and they just dont move.. you will need a crane service to set them like bricks which is what they are. but at a couple of tons each.. and removing them from the waste stream is a good thing

I am now interested in tires bailed, but have no information on them. Is it possible to do it yourself?

my guess is if you have a baler you could http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sjReNWMG2I

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_62QWftzFEA this baler is similar to what is used in many large big box retailers for bailing their boxes.

here is a link to tire baling and you can take a look at just how high the tiire bales are stacked. http://www.touchtheearthranch.com/tirebales.htm

here is a link to a house that was built with tire bales http://www.tirebalehouse.com/


Hope this is useful

steve

here is another link showing a house being built with the tire bales and then gunite on the walls http://www.homedesignfind.com/green/how-to-build-a-house-using-free-tires/

one of the things I discovered about building with used tires in my location.. Yes permitting is almost impossible.. but if one uses them as a retaining wall rather than a supporting wall they have zero problem with that.. Stupidity at its finest with guys who do inspections.

It is for this reason while I think this a great way to remove waste from the the land fills. I have decided to go a direction that allows for easy permitting. Going with 8 inch cement block with surface bonding cement on both sides. It is a LOT less work, then pounding the tires.. If one has to spend cash on labor it is still a much better solution.. 1 week to stack and bond the walls vs 3 plus months pounding tires.

I was kind of surprised at the cost of the block. $1.30 per block then add whatever it takes for your sbc

COVERAGE: One 50 lb. (22.6 kg) bag will cover 35-40 sq. feet (3.25-3.7 sq. meter) at 1/8 inch (3.2 mm) thick. a bag is about $15 here is a link to sakrette that has a calculator that will give you an idea how many bags you will need http://www.sakrete.com/products/calculators.cfm

I know it seems like a lot of good material gone to waste, but the truth is, tires, like everything else, are breaking down. They are off gassing what they are made of. I have come to the conclusion that I would rather not have this type of material near where I live.

mark masters wrote:...truth is, tires, like everything else, are breaking down. They are off gassing what they are made of. I have come to the conclusion that I would rather not have this type of material near where I live.

I honestly think you are misinformed and should do more research before making claims like this one.

The truth of the matter is that those tires are fully enclosed and will not break down in your lifetime and gas or fire is not an issue since they are not exposed to the elements / air / sunshine and regular wear and tear that nature throws at it.

The big issue I have is that Earthship concept is 20 years old, sorely outdated and tire pounding as most already know is mostly a useless endeavor and best left to the young folk with lots of energy to spare and no money... to spare. Tire bales are a much better idea. http://www.touchtheearthranch.com/tirebales.htm

However sourcing tires in this day and age is becoming harder at least up here in Canada. I realise recycling is still gathering traction in the US or as the nice lady in the Florida food court told me a few years ago: "Oh we don't recycle in Florida dear" with a nice smirk on her face when I was looking for a recycle bin for my milk carton, but I digress.

Here, in Albera, a local recycler makes it his business to source tires to shred and make a living providing the broken down materials to be used in other industries. An article I read stated that he goes as far as a 1000 Kilometers away to get those tires so finding plenty of tires the same size would be a very time consuming if not fruitless exercise. I'm sorry I did look for the link to that article but was unable to locate it at this time.

Earthships are a great idea to introduce the concept that yes you can live a better life and not have to pay utility bills (or very little), however as most who spend any amount of time researching the project will soon realise that they will have to modify the Earthship to work for their situation, and let's not forget that it is a Trademarked word and the inventor is out to make money from selling plans, labour and expertise, this is not how I would save the planet as he is claiming. Making the plans available in the public domain would be a great start so others could help improve the concept.

This is my first post and I hope to become an active participant in this community as where I live and what I do is very damaging to the planet and my dream of building an off the grid fully sustainable home is the only thing that keeps me sane.

my .02 watts...

Stefan, I don't think I claimed anything but the truth and my preference. I live in New Mexico, I know Michael Renoylds, and I know people that live in these structures.
You are right, they are enclosed, but concrete or mud does not stop gases.
The reality is, people will make choices based on the necessity and availability of materials. I am only pointing out my preference and awareness of my experience.
I feel sensitive to the energetic frequency of the material I build with, Im not too keen on tiers, no misinformation, just a preference.

I've deleted posts in this thread and I'm seriously considering deleting a few more.

On permies we strongly discourage use of the word 'truth' - we much prefer for people to state their opinion and not to insist that their opinion is the only valid or true one.

We also take a dim view of people demanding 'proof' of other people's opinions. That is akin to calling them liars, which is not acceptable.

This post will self-destruct in three days.

Hello Burra, I agree, my choice of words may have left little room for others opinion. I am new here obviously, and have been attracted by the principles and practices reflected in this way of life. I am also not a social networker and will need to contemplate my response in a more thoughtful way, as I have been helped to realize that this information may be available for years to come and viewed by many inquisitive minds.

Thank you Burra,

Mark

Burra Maluca wrote:On permies we strongly discourage use of the word 'truth'

Tru dat yo'!



Sorry... irresistible.

The way I se it,

Earthships don't always have to follow the same mold. Heck, why even constrain yourself to using techniques from one company when there are many methodologies available to draw upon?

I am working on building designs that take many ideas from Earthships but make them livable, legal and affordable for more people, today.

Here is one example of an "Earthship" from Suffolk, Virginia that doesn't use tires in its construction:

https://sites.google.com/site/suffolkearthship/

It uses insulated concrete forms, but it is just as example of what other options are available.

Disclaimer: Unfortunately I do not consider this Earthship to be a true Earthship... It uses grid power (almost triple what my conventional home uses!), a well, etc... But they did what they had to do to pass code.