tires and cob to hold heat and form a micro climate

I've been looking to see if anyone was talking about this subject already and haven't seen it. Has anybody tried stacking old tires in sort of a pyramid to warm in the sun, and give off heat at night, sort of a micro climate. I'm thinking this might be useful for helping tropical plants like bananas and pineapples survive in a temperate climate. In order to add more mass I think you could make up some cob to partially fill the tires and stack them with the full side facing south, then fill the rest of them with soil/compost and grow strawberries or something in the open areas between the tires. Then of course fill in behind the tire stack with soil or better yet a hugelbed. Anybody tried this yet?

That sounds like a good idea. Instead of a pyramid though I would do a a curved wall (like a horseshoe) open to the South. I would also put some stones (or urbanite or 55-gal drums filled with water) in there to store heat - I'm not sure cob inside of the tires will do a good enough job of radiating the heat back where you want to, it'll probably mostly heat the strawberries, etc.

Hi Leon, a horseshoe better describes what I was trying to express. I was just thinking hi in the middle and low on both ends. I like the idea of a small pond in the middle as well.

Oh, yeah - a pond should work great as a thermal mass + it would provide quite a few other services.

Hi Michael -

Tires plus earthen fill and cob on the outside is one of the fundamental techniques associated with the Earthship concept, precisely for the reasons you're interested in.

http://earthship.com/ website of Earthship inventor, architect Michael Reynolds

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UNYFlcV9R1w <<< "Garbage Warrior" documentary about Michael Reynolds. One of the first shots of the film is him pounding earth into a tire. In the film he talks a lot about thermal mass, solar heating, the role of tires + cob in forming a micro climate for living (people + plants)

Enjoy!!!

Scott

Few things make a property look totally trashy like an accumulation of old tires can. You get gassing off of pollutants, leachate, fire hazard and a visual blight, all in one product.

A big pile of tires would be a great thing to start on a rental property if you're hoping to buy something nearby. It might serve to reduce property values and save you some money.

Dale Hodgins wrote:Few things make a property look totally trashy like an accumulation of old tires can. You get gassing off of pollutants, leachate, fire hazard and a visual blight, all in one product.

A big pile of tires would be a great thing to start on a rental property if you're hoping to buy something nearby. It might serve to reduce property values and save you some money.

Dale, I've been wondering about that actually - do you have any links for studies re leaching, off-gassing, etc.?

P.S. Tires filled with earth sound pretty fire-resistant, actually.

Leon Elt wrote:

Dale Hodgins wrote:Few things make a property look totally trashy like an accumulation of old tires can. You get gassing off of pollutants, leachate, fire hazard and a visual blight, all in one product.

A big pile of tires would be a great thing to start on a rental property if you're hoping to buy something nearby. It might serve to reduce property values and save you some money.

Dale, I've been wondering about that actually - do you have any links for studies re leaching, off-gassing, etc.?

P.S. Tires filled with earth sound pretty fire-resistant, actually.

Here's a link that discusses pollutants in tires and fake turf made from them. http://progressivekid.wordpress.com/2007/03/15/home-turf-disadvantage/

Thanks for the input guys. I watched the video of mike reynolds and was impressed with his use of thermal mass. if you can build a house that doesn't need heat with snow on the ground and wind blowing you've done something right.