Jennyerin Steele-Staats

We moved from the Cleveland/Akron area to start our sustainable living journey. We moved 3 hours south and have a longer growing season now with less snow. Also, the lake effect snow was a new experience for us. To me it seemed impossible to have a high tunnel system there in winter because the snow accumulated so quickly, here we have more time to prepare as we rarely get such big waves of snow. We have the same depth at times but when it comes down over weeks instead of days it is easier to keep pathways cleared. Just my opinion on it, but as with everything in life, the more you prepare in advance, the less worries and hardship you will have! Just be prepared for 2 feet of snow to fall at any given time. We only made it 2 years in that area before we relocated I just couldn't get used to the lake effect!

Ronen Hirsch wrote:Has anyone had experience in building or designing an Earthship in expansive-clay soils?

- Is if feasible?
- How important is it to work with dry clay (so it does not compact further in the tires)?
- How important is it to keep the tire walls dry during construction?
- What about the back-filling? Clay OK? Dry?
- What about structural strength - will a tire-wall withstand the pressures of surrounding expansive wet clay?

Everything I've read about expansive clay soils in building has made us steer away from the earthbag and towards the rammed tires. In the earthbags, it can expand and crack the plaster where in the tires the force is on the steel belted rubber. The rubber is strong enough to protect the plaster. At least that's the way I have read the resources out there. We are building in West Virginia in the US and we have a very heavy expansive clay soil. From personal experience I can say that a damp clay is much easier to work with than a hard dry clay. Rainy days cause us to lose a day of work but it makes the next day much easier to dig and pound the damp clay.

Just wondering what ever became of the earthship build. If you are still on here let us know! We started construction of a "modified" earthship this spring and would love to know if you overcame your issues with it.