mike hillerer

Rebecca Norman wrote:I'm a great fan of pure earthen buildings, but I've always understood that for the underground or earth bermed part, you need to use something that can't turn to mud in case the ground gets wet or damp. Our school is all rammed earth and adobe brick buildings with the north side bermed into the earth, and that bermed north wall is always made of stone in our case. I have seen people write of rammed earth foundations, which I think are stabilised with cement, but I've never actually seen them.

I also have to say that in terms of thermal comfort, the earth bermed walls are okay, but really not perfect. In our region, the ground temperature is in the 50sF, which is nice and cool in summer, but chillier than you really want as your whole north wall in winter. One the other hand, the thick earth walls are just terrific, and I would strongly encourage you to go through with that. Whether it's rammed earth or cob or adobes or earthbags, it's got wonderful properties of insulating and thermal mass, as well as being acoustically pleasant, moderating humidity, and a certain coziness.

[Spellcheck doesn't recognise "bermed" -- phooey! But it prefers -ise to -ize.][/quote
very old post do you have any examples of a stone berm wall? i was wanting to do the same

John C Daley wrote:I agree with Hans, also moisture is the enemy of rammed earth, when soil is piled against it.
Have you thought of old tyres loosely filled, not compacted as it is done sometimes?

wofati was my first thought but the ants n termites are bad here. i already dug the area out . I also thought tires buts a lot of work for one person. i was going to  try cutting the side wall off of one side to make it easier but idk if that would hold ?

Hans Quistorff wrote:Perhaps in  but not on.   Such walls do not have tensile strength; meaning the force of berm against them could make them collapse.  Such walls are intended for internal division and additional mass to control temperature swings.

I was unaware that rammed earth wasn't bearing i guess more information is needed
rammed earth sounded free and healthy

Could a Rammed earth walled be used on a earth berm home?

We are wanting to build an earth ship like structure. We would like to cut the sidewall off of the upper side of the tire and then rent a tamper to pack it... how much less integrity would there be? Should i be concerned about it?   Also kind of interested in the banded tire idea, if anybody has any information out there on it, i can't find anything.

Is there a alternative to fire bricks? They are very costly and hard to find more then a pack of 5 here in south east mo.
I have a few books but none explain how to build the heat riser without fire bricks.

Thank you we will email you.

Looking for a person or couple w/ or w/o kids to join our early stages homestead. We are in our 30's with 2 kids, we have 20 acres. Projects are slower moving then we would like, and would love to have somebody join us in our goal of off grid sustainability. we do all organic, no chemicals, try to stay away from EMF, we plan to homeschool, we are not vegan, we have animals, but have been leaning more towards vegetarian. we are preparing to be totally reliant on our homestead. if you have a kid/kids my idea was to swap the kids back and forth possibly after getting to know one another so each of us could get some things done and the kids have plenty of play dates. we need help with planting, digging ponds/swales, greenhouse work, fencing and shelters for animals, and more in the future, there will never be a time where there isn't something to do. we want to grow a bond with a few people or couples, goal being helping eachother with all the responsibilities and projects of self sustainability and get through any tough times ahead. we have no connected grid electric, some solar, no water besides the rain. we started a small pond, and plan to do lots more. plans to do a permanent earth sheltered home and barn and greenhouse. there is multiple wet weather creeks, and a possibly spring (we are trying to get/find more water) we have started a permaculture orchard recently. we have been antisocial, not going out to many places, we have just been here getting things done, but we are very much craving community and feel it's important to have more people on board, it will be easier on everybody, and i think becoming close to other people is important for the soul. we are very spiritual people, we are not Christians but know a lot of the history. we strive for positivity, peace, happiness, and hope to ascend out of this matrix someday!

Hello permies
I would like to ask if it would be worth the extra heat exchange or not worth the risk? To run a stove pipe from my wood cook stove up close to the ceiling, then place a elbow that would run about 10'- 20'  into the living room then out the wall or up throught the roof. of couse it would far enough from the ceiling and have a CO detector. thank you for your thought
Seen the wofati had something like this idea but ftom a rmh

John C Daley wrote:Something missing?

I seen your other post thank you