Home in the Earth - Page 42 of 52 - Information about design and construction of earth sheltered homes and a journal of my own progress

Early May Update

Posted on May 9, 2013 by Simon

Here is a bit of an early May update…

Architect/Engineer You may recall that the last bill (5 weeks ago) said everything was done and payment was due, but everything was not done and there were a number of errors to correct on both the architect and engineers drawings… And on top of that, my engineer wrote to the architect to say that he thought he should get more money. I disagreed and sent in my argument to the architect who hired the engineer. You can go here to catch up on some of the past details.

Anyway, my architect decided that we should just wait until we had everything else done and then send the engineer a “final” list of issues. I guess that is how we should have worked from the start. In the mean time, they drafted (but have not sent) a letter to the engineer based on my arguments. Last weekend, I found at least one more big problem in the form of a support bracket that doesn’t fit inside the wall and would radiate heat to the outside… So that whole engineering issue is just waiting on hold, more to come.

Meanwhile, the architects assistant and I have completed our exams (I got 95% on mine) and got back to work on the plans. He is working his way thru my comments and most of the serious issues are sorted. We have some disagreements to work out in a few areas, but the biggest remaining problem is the windows. We had visited the architect after getting our final window quote but they seem to have lost or confused the notes we gave them with notes from an earlier meeting and some other things they thought they should figure out on their own, so I will need to get that sorted out…

I decided not to wait any more before talking to the neighborhood association. I wrote to them asked what they want and how they wanted it. Maybe things will be ready in time, but even if not, I would still like the approval process to get started. The current state of the drawings is probably enough for that process. The association requirements that that the plans need to be submitted along with landscaping.

I am planning to do the landscaping myself (along with help from my wife) and bought some software (Punch Lanscape Deck and Patio) to help out, but first I needed the topology. I played with it a couple weekends ago to figure out how to create the topology for the landscape. One way to do it was to trace the lines of the survey pdf (image) in Autodesk Revit and export that as a DXF and then set the elevation for each line in Punch… but I asked the architect for the AutoCAD files and he sent them over… I have not done anything with the file yet, but I really appreciate that he was willing to do that because it will save me a lot of time.

I have also installed AutoCAD on my machine so I can do the shop drawings for some of the steel beams that the architect/engineer do not see as part of their scope, as well as to design the forms for the concrete ribs. When I was in high school, I won awards for my AutoCAD skills and I worked as TA in my Engineering CAD classes, but that was all a long time ago. Hopefully the skill is still there and the newest version is not too different ;^)

Sourcing This week I am working on getting prices for the steel arches and the construction loan… Again, the plans are not quite done, but I am hoping that I can get these started now so everything will be ready when the plans are done.

Temperature Probes I really want to put a number of sensors into my house so I can understand the heat profile and hopefully validate my theories. They will also help me keep the home comfortable by giving me understanding about the temperature conditions in the soil around my home under my umbrella. The sensors that I bought for the soil temperature experiment were expensive. I didn’t feel I had much choice because I needed it to work with a data logger… However, for this application, I will need a lot more sensors to really understand the umbrella. I will also be able to connect the directly to a computer, so I am looking into designing and assembling a much cheaper array of “1-wire” sensors (DS19B20). These sensors cost about 1/10th the price, so I can afford 10 times more, but I will need to build my own circuit board, program my own code, etc… I bought a book, Weather Toys, which is the best source for information about how to build these systems and I am reading thru it now that school is over. I am looking forward to the engineering of it, but I am a bit short on time and will probably want the array to be ready and tested before I bury it so I will probably need to get started on buying the components soon.

Eye Candy These are just some of the fun things that have caught my eye lately, even if they are not all related to earth sheltering. I appreciated the engineering and creativity of the bicycle chain clocks (the simpler looking one retails for a ridiculous $2400) and I also really appreciated some of the good construction techniques shown on the RM Dev blog. (I just included a few relevant pics here) You can tell that I have been thinking a lot about how to cover the trellis lately… No I don’t plan to use hundreds of colorful umbrellas, but that pic still caught my eye and colorful fabric might not be a bad idea while I wait for the vines to grow in.

I also found two more interesting “earth sheltered” hotels, but I will put those in as another post.

: I saw this a “chain clock”, but it costs $2400, so I did a quick image search to see what else I could find… I found a few examples, but these two were my favorites. Maybe one day I will put one together myself.

: I saw a “chain clock” and did a quick image search to see what else I could find… I found a few examples, but these two were my favorites. Maybe one day I will put one together myself.

: I plan to include a sofet bug/squirrel stopper on the few parts of my design that could be considered a traditional roof.

: Thinking about Landscaping and Wisteria may be perfect for part of that front trellis. I thought this use to decorate a tree house was inspired.

: I just loved the look of this shady porch, I think this one came from Houzz

: This was just an interesting pic, especially as I am thinking about what to do with my trellis before the vines grow in… This one is in Agueda Portugal

: Terribly impractical, especially for a bathroom, but still interesting.

: I liked this hole in the wall to accommodate the tree limb… Probably a more practical way to “let nature inside” than creating a green wall in the bathroom… ;^)

: Looking up how to create a bell roof and I found these images on http://rmdevelopments.blogspot.com/. This one shows how 1/8th inch plywood strips (intended for skinning hollow doors) were overlapped and held down with glue and nails.

: Next, the strips were sanded to a nice curve…

: Finally, diamond shingles were added… In this case, I assume some sort of ridge cap will cover the seams between the three diamond shingle sections.

: Also found on http://rmdevelopments.blogspot.com/ these are just a few of the images they used to show how they created a curved stem wall… It starts with cutting out curved bits of plywood…

: The plywood is layered together to form a long continuous curve…

: Things are built up to create the forms…

: And concrete is poured in the forms… This is likely how I will create my concrete ribs. Except I will need lots more internal structure and the ability to pick them up and set them in place.

Another way to go underground…

Posted on April 30, 2013 by Simon

Personally, I preferred the style of the earth sheltered “home” shown in the last post. I liked everything about it from the organic lines to the tropical color palette and location. But there is more than one way to go underground. Here is another option.

If you live in a cloudy, wet, windy maritime climate and want a very modern earth shelter with just a little bit of earth, a wide view and room to breath… Maybe the Malitor house is what your are looking for.

This is the “back” of the Malator house. The front has similar windows, so you can imagine the cross breezes…

This home was built in 1998 for a wealthy Welsh Member of Parliament There were strict rules in place against “visible construction, destruction of the landscape, or disruption of wildlife” on this site. Earth sheltering was really the only solution. Even the drive way and walking path are hidden just below the sod.

The structure is only one room deep and 3 rooms wide with a “pod” hiding the bathroom and other pluming. The roof is contoured to fit naturally into the hilly site, and like the surrounding hills, it is covered simply with grass. In fact, I suspect the roof is mowed by Welsh sheep. Looking thru these links, I noticed that they went with the same wood stove that I was initially considering; before I saw the price.

This is the front door of the home. This angle hints at the expansive view seen thru the back window wall…

With its small scale and other clues (such as no garage), I suspect this is more of an occasional weekend retreat rather than a full time home, but it is still very interesting and shows some of the flexibility of earth sheltered design.

Malator made it into Forbes magazine as “Incredible Fortress Home”, and Architectural Digest listed it as one of the “Most Innovative Homes of the Last Century“. But this link has the best slide show…

Trip to Grenada anyone?

Posted on April 27, 2013 by Simon

The color pallet of this hotel is very tropical

Mt Hartman Bay Estate

Hey all, I saw something fun recently…

http://www.mounthartmanbay.com/hotel-gallery.html (Click on the Mt Hartman Bay Estate gallery)

Obviously the tropical location and ocean views are fantastic, and I love the tropical color palette and organic feel.

But what caught my eye is the roof line with its dormers… Check out slides 3 and 5 in the web gallery. There are some big differences from our plan, particularly in the scale and proximity of the dormers, as well as the depth of the earth. But this is the first time I have seen this idea (dormers in a forward sloping earth sheltered roof) used anywhere else. Too many earth sheltered homes are only earth sheltered int he back and display a large flat wall, made even taller by the height of the parapet wall, on the front. Some try to improve the front elevation by hiding the parapet with a mansard roof. I much prefer the way the forward sloping earth puts the green roof on display.

Dormers on a forward sloping earth sheltered roof… Our dormers will be wider (a product of my roof structure) and more buried, but the idea is similar.

This is the inside of one of those dormers... My roof won't be high enough to fit a second floor...

This is the inside of one of those dormers, very modern and spacious… My roof won’t be high enough to fit a second floor, but I might put in a balcony in the back of the playrooms with closets below ;^)

They also have planted terraces, which is something we will have on the north west side of our house. And the below picture shows a glimpse of the water management system on the top left.

Check the websites for other views of the terraces.

Sherri pointed out how they used prickly things instead of fences to keep people off the edge. This next pic shows that well.

The rest of the slides in the gallery are pretty nice also. You can get a closer look at the water management system on slide 6. Slides 15, 25 and 29 will make you want to earth shelter.

Check out the “Suites” gallery to see inside the rooms.

You can see the stiffening members in the dining room roof.

It is a hotel and you can stay in on of the “cave suites” for 259$/night… I am sure the helicopter and yacht are extra.

It also looks great lit up at night…