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thermal mass

Earth-sheltered mansion, UK

Posts: 9

posted 5 months ago

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UK based homesteader who tinkers with natural and/or eco building methods.

One of my earthship inspired builds was documented and introduced on the YouTube channel “Liveration” but I sense this community would be interested in more details regarding permaculture technology utilised over what is now 5 experimental builds of underground homes on my playground I call home.

I welcome any questions - ideas I have, answers I will give
DOC

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 9815

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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posted 5 months ago

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Hi, Thank you for sharing your home with us - that is astounding! It is so bright inside, I was really surprised.
So the basic structure is IBC totes covered in earthbags? Is there insulation in the walls at all? I didn't catch that. Insulated roof and floor, with clerestory windows letting in winter light and warmth. Electric for cooking, with a conventional wood burner for back up heating if necessary. I love your mezzanine office too.
Is there anything you'd do differently now it is finished? Any advice you'd give someone contemplating doing something similar in the UK (or elsewhere)?
I'd actually like to hear more about your microbusinesses, but that is a slightly different subject.
Well done!

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

david danielson

Posts: 9

posted 5 months ago

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I only answered the questions they asked and 30 minutes of a 20 year odyssey is limited - as you have demonstrated a Permie asks the right ones!

This is v0.2 (current build is 0.5) and lessons learnt for sure.

IBCs are stacked, wrapped with silage tarp/dpm/foil insulation and layered geo-tex with hyper-adobe to hide and offer extra insulation
Floors and Roof insulated to 150mm
All materials are recycled/recovered except for white paint

updates:
v0.3 was made with structural insulated panels (extra £ but build time was 1 day - not including earth bag exterior)

Dale Ziemianski

Posts: 18

Location: Lancaster Ohio

posted 5 months ago

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I just saw the video and found you on here.... and I love your place.having trouble finding you on Instagram. How do you write your @? I keep getting millionaire crap that I'm not interested in.

Dale Ziemianski
d-alien.com

david danielson

Posts: 9

posted 5 months ago

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david danielson wrote:UK based homesteader who tinkers with natural and/or eco building methods.

One of my earthship inspired builds was documented and introduced on the YouTube channel “Liveration” but I sense this community would be interested in more details regarding permaculture technology utilised over what is now 5 experimental builds of underground homes on my playground I call home.

I welcome any questions - ideas I have, answers I will give

Instagram. /50millionmillilitremansion

YouTube: /@50millionmillilitremansion

DOC

Dale Ziemianski

Posts: 18

Location: Lancaster Ohio

posted 5 months ago

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Thanks.
So I was wondering... Does water do a better job of maintaining a livable temperature than, say, earthbags?

Dale Ziemianski
d-alien.com

david danielson

Posts: 9

posted 5 months ago

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Dale Ziemianski wrote:Thanks.
So I was wondering... Does water do a better job of maintaining a livable temperature than, say, earthbags?

I believe 20x more - that was the principle (potential lie) i was working on. Even if that is an exaggeration it is surrounded by earth bags so hard to say.

[img][/img

50mmlm_YT_icon-(1).png

Nancy Reading

steward and tree herder

Posts: 9815

Location: Isle of Skye, Scotland. Nearly 70 inches rain a year

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posted 5 months ago

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Dale Ziemianski wrote:Thanks.
So I was wondering... Does water do a better job of maintaining a livable temperature than, say, earthbags?

Water has a high specific heat capacity (ability to store heat per unit mass)
from Rain or Shine by Tyson Ochsner

Soil constituent	Thermal conductivity	Density	Specific heat
	W m-1 °C -1	g cm-3	J g-1 °C -1
Clay minerals	3	2.65	0.76
Soil organic matter	0.3	1.3	1.9
Water	0.57	1.00	4.18

From that reference the soil's heat capacity is also dependent on it's water content.
I'm not sure how the soil density might affect the heat capacity too. Water is a contiguous material,being a liquid, whereas soil has air gaps in between the particles so it's actual energy storage wouldn't be as high as the figures above suggest.
One disadvantage of water perhaps is that it doesn't have any insulative value? convective currents would spread the heat through the liquid. But that would also mean it is more effective at storing the heat; spreading it thought the mass rather than only heating the surface of the material as soil might do.
It's fairly common to use a 'water wall' in a thermal store for a greenhouse. I'm not sure what other disadvantages might be? As long as you use a good container....

How Permies works: https://permies.com/wiki/34193/permies-works-links-threads
My projects on Skye: The tree field, Growing and landracing, perennial polycultures, "Don't dream it - be it! "

Manda Bell

Posts: 32

Location: Oxford county Maine

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posted 3 months ago

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Just watched that video of you on YouTube and immediately searched for more info about your home. I must say, I was blown away by the interior- it is spectacular! You would have no idea what’s buried under there from a glance. Bravo.

I’m very interested in at least partially burying our next home, which is in a very cold and snowy climate. Did I miss how you dug out the original structure? Did you dig or perhaps just add to the top of the hill? We’ve always wanted an earth-covered shelter but haven’t found one that we want to imitate yet.. but I did love how natural in shape your earth covering looked.

Since you dug out your home I’m curious if you also considered a walipini, or buried greenhouse? That is something we plan to do first and that’s what got us thinking that burying the house would be equally nice.

david danielson

Posts: 9

posted 3 months ago

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The land is mostly on a south/southwest facing hill which is steep and therefore I had my neighbour use a digger to flatten a space - effectively making a terrace.

The IBCs were stacked and the spoil was used to bury as much as possible. But the hill limited the spoil that could be used so only east, west and north sides by using digger.

Ideally south side would be open (u shaped like an earthship) but as it needed to be hidden (hilltop, but visible from a distance) the south side was all earth bags. That said, E, W + N walls could only be covered 1.2m of the 2.4m height.

My first walipini builds were essentially solar ovens by virtue of the orientation and soil (3” top soil then shillet and slate thereafter - not muddy) - I got the idea of not digging down but building up - and so used IBCs as they are “waste” ( I make organic farming & Cosmetic solutions from hemp oil) and wanted to make a factory from my factory waste. I have built another and it is my factory.

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Emmett Ray

Posts: 144

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posted 3 months ago

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I can't lie. I bristled when I saw the word "mansion." But, intrigued by it being earth sheltered, I watched it. (Fast forwarding through the sponsorship ads.)

I'm so glad I did. I LOVE this guy! He's just everything that's right with the world and we need more people like him. He's right when he said the only thing stopping us from living this way are the laws. (And those laws aren't for the good of anyone. They're about controlling and suffocating people.) Great video! Thanks for sharing it.

Thank you in advance to everyone for their replies, help, and suggestions! Forgive me if I miss any replies, I'm still learning how to keep up with threads I participate in!

Kevin Olson

gardener

Posts: 375

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posted 3 months ago

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Somehow I missed this the first time around, but I'm very happy to have spotted it now.

I'd like to see some details about waterproofing (or diversion and drainage) around the walls. In a rainy climate like the UK, this seems important, though perhaps the location on the ridge helps considerably with this.

As other commenters noted, the interior is a surprise after the exterior. I expected something more rough-hewn.

Very nice hobbit hole! I passed the video link on to my son, who is thinking about earth ships and hobbit holes and tiny houses and such.

"Ah, but a man's reach should exceed his grasp,
Or what's a heaven for?"
Andrea del Sarto by Robert Browning

Manda Bell

Posts: 32

Location: Oxford county Maine

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posted 3 months ago

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david danielson wrote:I have built another and it is my factory.

Is there a site or video for your greenhouses too? Did I miss it? I would love to see how you did it! You clearly know more about this than we do.

We're comparing the pros and cons of building up with insulation versus digging. We want to start with the greenhouse since it should be easier and require less investment on an experiment.. but I would love to get the largest gain possible because we won't be using electricity to heat. I'd like to hold on to as much as I can! I'm sure that means digging would be better -- but cost will also be a part of the equation and we have no idea what it'll cost yet.

david danielson

Posts: 9

posted 3 months ago

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I'm in the process of uploading more content about the building method I have developed using IBCs - links to my Instagram are within the video makers description... Link to YouTube in my Instagram...new to this all and trying not to get distracted from my day "job" of being a natural farming educator.
I adopted Fukuoka methods for building and let the rain do the work.

I answer more and all questions via Instagram,not here really

Manda Bell

Posts: 32

Location: Oxford county Maine

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posted 3 months ago

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david danielson wrote:links to my Instagram are within the video makers description...

I answer more and all questions via Instagram,not here really

Oh, sorry I completely forgot to check under the video.

Perhaps I'll check out instagram eventually. Thanks for the info and the video inspiration!

To avoid criticism, do nothing, say nothing, and be nothing - Elbert Hubbard / tiny ad

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