This tire-bale Earthship-inspired home sold for well over $1 million. I visited it at one point, and it was awesome!

https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/M1983308120

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/230-Sunrose-Ln-Montrose-CO-81403/104593806_zpid/

We plan to put French drains around the entire bermed north side. Any tirebale builders have thoughts of whether this will work? We plan to use cages of wire with stone for gabions.

Thanks in advance!!

Am I missing anything?

I am having an incredibly hard time getting an affordable quote in my remote area for shotcrete.

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What other earthen plaster diy friendly spray equipment and finish coat options are available for sealing a tirebale interior wall?

We are in the design and planning stage of a 7000 sq ft tirebale demonstration building under a non-profit project called PEARL, Permaculture Education And Research Lab. The site consists of 63 acres in Northcentral WV.

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We are partnering with a local baling company, Tyrex, 1 hour away, to source, deliver and set the bales.

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We recently obtained approval through West Virginia DEP for the structure and because it is not currently defined as a residence, the building permitting process and costs are negligible.

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Our design is still a work in progress. We plan to run all the specs/design by a structural engineer.

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The basics include a 9' deep excavation into a southwest facing slope for three 36" courses in running bond pattern, a clerestory roof design with south side glazing/operable doors and 4' wide planters the length of the building, operable clerestory awning windows, second story loft with walkouts to North side grade level which slopes downhill North to diversion ditch. All North walls will have a French drain to daylight. Multiple Earth tubes for cooling via floor vents. Solar panels and passive solar hot water heaters mounted to south sloping roof. Two 2000 gallon cisterns on east and west ends. Insulated concrete floor (still deciding for or against hydronic heating?).

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We have lots of ideas for other systems but that's the basics for the shell.

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I thought I’d open up this subreddit with a link to our bermed-earth, passive solar home. This Colorado home was built in 2011. The tire bales were acquired for FREE, from Tire Recyclers in Denver, CO. We had to pay for shipping (7 semis delivered the bales, at a total cost of about $3500). In addition, we built a retaining wall out of tire bales. In total, about 20,000 tires were recycled with this build.

Bale details: Composed of between 80-120 individual tires, machine-compressed and bound by heavy duty galvanized cable, they measure approximately 5’x5’x2-1/2’ high, and weigh about a ton each. The design called for stacking the bales like bricks. Half bales were utilized to fill in the gaps at the end.

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