The greatest cost of the Earthship is labor. That can be combated with volunteers who somehow seem to be drawn to intense heavy labor if it's on something as wacky as an Earthship. This is particularly true if you are living near an urban center that has folks interested in alternative building and are looking for inspiration to do something of their own. I was part of an Earthship build here in Dunster, and I have visited one several times in
Darfield B.C.. I brought the idea from Darfield to get a hydraulic press built which pushed soil into the insides of the tires from the center. It was a MASSIVE labor saver.
The press consisted of a 1/4 rounds of heavy pipe cut to fit so that they would fit in the gap of the tire where the rim normally sits, thus packing into the rubber, expanding it. The action is accomplished by the hydraulic piston pressing one arm that has one of the pipes welded on it, and the pipe welded onto a stationary arm on the opposite side works in reaction to the piston pressing away from it. We still had to ram the center of the tires (to fill the inner circle) with sledge hammers, but that is easy in comparison to packing/filling the rubber part of the tires with hammers. We put approximately 3 wheelbarrows of material in each tire, so there's a lot of work there too. At Darfield they had a small skid steer machine helping with the loading. We did it all by shovel and wheelbarrow. 3 full "U" classic design.
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has."-Margaret Mead "The only thing worse than being blind, is having sight but no vision."-Helen Keller
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