Hi,
I'm in the beginning stages of planning out an earthbag home. I am planning on making it using as much passive design technique as possible. I was wondering what the best kind of roofing type and angle would be best for this. The home is rectangular, the roof is a skillion design and I want to put water cisterns at the lower end for rain water collection. How do I calculate the necessary overhang for my roofs? I am also thinking of sinking the home about three feet down to help increase the insulation and, if the dirt is suitable in that area, provide me with some dirt to work with. I was wondering if there would be any unforeseen problems with doing that? I'm also taking some ideas from earthships. The pertinent one being the greenhouse. I live in North Carolina, where it is too hot and humid to fully utilize this idea. But if the "greenhouse" section of the house had windows that were about 4' tall instead of the full length of the wall (the other 3' is going to be buried anyway) and the corresponding walls leading into the rest of the house had similarly sized windows, would that eliminate the problem while still allowing me to grow plants in there? I included my rough sketches with some notes scribbled on them.
Thank you,
-Alex
