My wife and I recently built a zero energy home.  We both love it!  It's a passive solar design, with thermal mass storage.  We also have a wind turbine and solar photovoltaic system.  We hired a lot of contractors, but I did the General Contracting, which worked out very well.



A snowy day last winter.  We got the occupancy permit, with just plywood on the walls.  We wanted to do an adobe and tile wall finish, which is very time-consuming.  We didn't want to pay rent during this time.



We started with the basic building block, which is the pictured tire bale.  There are between 80 and 120 tires in one of these tire bales, and it weighs about a ton.  The rough dimension is 5' x 5' x 2.5'.  An important point is that the "R" value is between 45 and 60.

The tire bales were stacked like bricks, using a design plan and a skid steer, into the excavated area.  This took 2 days to complete.  I estimate that there are about 20,000 tires behind our walls.



Later a rebar reinforced bond beam is poured around the tire structure.  This holds everything in place.  It's about 12" thick.  Shotcrete was pumped and sprayed over the rest of the tire bale mass on the inside of the house.  2 layers of #6 poly was draped over the outside of the bales, into a french drain.  The bond beam and shotcrete will later become thermal mass for heat and cooling retention.  It's important to note here that, if a standard reinforced concrete wall was used, without the tire bales, our Regional Building Department would have required that it be insulated, and we would have lost all this thermal mass.  This is the true advantage of the tire bale structure for this style of home.

"J" Bolts are installed in the concrete bond beam.  From this point onward, conventional construction is used to frame to the "J" bolts.



With the angled windows, and the thermal mass, we only had to light the wood burning stove about 7-8 times last winter.  Note the adobe walls.  They're time-consuming, and we're not finished yet.  But once they are done, they are great!

Quite impressive.

Where is it?

We used etched acid for the concrete floors, with some nano-tech staining inlays.  We used beetle kill pine for the ceilings.  My wife is the artist, and she loves doing tile work.  A few more pics:



This is our guest bedroom, with bathroom beyond.  We preferred the organic look of the adobe'd tire bales.  A friend of mine built a similar house, but he furred out a number of his walls.  It's all about your individual preference.



Guest bathroom walk-in shower with acrylic stucco over the bales.

Kitchen walk-in pantry:



Lastly, the Bermed Home from a distance, before glass installation, showing the wind turbine and solar panels.

We built just east of Colorado Springs, out on the high plains.  It's a dry, sunny climate, with 320 sun-days a year.

Was the county pretty lax on the building codes out there? Most would not issue an occupancy permit with only plywood on the walls.

Are you off grid?

Hi Guy
What is a lovely sight. it is unbelievable.where is this type.

Posted By Lbear on 24 Jun 2013 04:04 AM
Was the county pretty lax on the building codes out there? Most would not issue an occupancy permit with only plywood on the walls.

Are you off grid?

As my electricians and plumbers were finishing up, I asked the inspector what has to be complete to get my OP, and he said that, "As long as the insulation, electrical and plumbing were all covered, I would be OK."

We have Netmetering with an electrical service.  I'm glad that I'm in area that had this option, so I don't have to mess with batteries, etc.  A lot of friends of mine built these types of homes in the mountains where it was cost prohibitive to run electrical lines, and they had to spend $6K-10K on a battery system that may only last 5-10 years.

I run a surplus every month on electricity.  We get credited at the end of the year.  This year we'll probably get about a 2+ MegaWatt Hours of credit.  I have no gas or propane.  Everything is electrical - water heater (hybrid Rheam), dryer, range, etc.  That said the hybrid water heater was placed in front, by the windows, where it would be much more efficient.  We don't use the dryer as much, as we have a clothesline in a back room of the house, by the windows.  The clothes dry incredibly fast there, and it makes the house smell rosy.

Wow- slanted glass, no overhangs, for the classic late 1970s look! :-)

The maintenance/leakage/cleaning issues drove a lot of passive solar designers away from that approach by the late 1980s, along with the excessive summertime gains that can occur. Yes, you can max out the winter gains per square foot of glazing that way, but there are ways around that. Has the summertime overheating issue been OK so far? (A lot of thermal mass helps, as well as nighttime ventilation.)

Pretty soapstone stove! (Is that a Woodstock?)

Posted By Dana1 on 25 Jun 2013 05:26 PM
Wow- slanted glass, no overhangs, for the classic late 1970s look! :-)

The maintenance/leakage/cleaning issues drove a lot of passive solar designers away from that approach by the late 1980s, along with the excessive summertime gains that can occur. Yes, you can max out the winter gains per square foot of glazing that way, but there are ways around that. Has the summertime overheating issue been OK so far? (A lot of thermal mass helps, as well as nighttime ventilation.)

Pretty soapstone stove! (Is that a Woodstock?)

We found that outdoor shades take care of the summer gains just fine.  We had them down today, when the temperatures approached 100 deg F, with the house closed off, and it was very, very comfortable.  I went out and took a picture this evening:




There were some issues with some of the early designs (leakage, etc).  We have no issues with this design.  I'm not sure what you mean about Maintenance.  I've lived in some fairly well-built conventional homes, and I find that this house is built much more solidly than any I've lived in.  There is no painting (stucco exterior, adobe/tile interior).  There is less to go wrong - no furnace, heat pump, pressure relief valves, etc.  As far as cleaning, there is no forced air, so I would think it should be cleaner.  We are still doing construction projects, so we have quite a few messes.

Yes, the soapstone stove is a Woodstock.  We have really enjoyed it.  At times in the winter, we wonder when we're going to light it again, and enjoy the ambiance.  We probably averaged lighting it about once every 2 weeks.

A few years ago, we rented an Earthship on a very cold night, in the Earthship community near Taos.  When we woke up the next morning, my wife said, "I want to build one of these!".  We used a different design (tire bales in lieu of rammed-earth tires, etc.), but the basic principles are the same.  I have toured a number of green homes, and I am aware of the different alternatives.  I am sold on all of them!  I hope more builders start building green.  Currently, it's a very small percentage of builders.

Advantages to this design over a conventional home, using Geothermal or other methods - it feels like you're always outdoors (except 100 deg F days when the shades are down), very quiet with 5' thick walls, no forced air (along with the associated particulate matter), very simple (we don't even have a thermostat).  I'd be interested to hear of the advantages of a conventional home.  I suppose one would be automatic thermostat control.  And I suppose more readily off-the-shelf construction items (my commercial-style window system wasn't cheap).  Some people don't like the looks of the Earth-Home.  I had one person call it "a strip mall".  Also, this home probably isn't feasible to build in an urban area.  I wonder what the neighbors would say, when semi-trucks full of tire bales start pulling up to the curb :-)

I should mention, that my building inspector was very skeptical about our project, especially in the early stages, with the make-shift forms all around the tire bales, prior to pouring the bond beam.  He actually said, "What is it?".  By the time we were ready for the OP, he said, "You know, I think I might build one of these!".

With the tire bales is there any risk of them leaching chemicals or gasses into the ground and/or home? Tire rubber is not exactly an earth friendly product.

What about fire risks? Do the tires pose a risk of burning?

Posted By Alton on 26 Jun 2013 09:19 AM

I am not aware of tire bales.  Who bales the tires?  How much does a typical bale weigh?  Do they stack securely without a lot of bracing?  In your area, how much did a tire bale cost?  What is the approximate size of your tire bales?  Is there a limit as to how tall they can be stacked?

Our tire bales were out of South Denver, from a place called Tire Recyclers.  They have a machine that compresses them, and then they use a heavy gage cable to hold everything together.  For home construction, they double-cable them, with galvanized cable.   A full bale is 5'x5'x2-1/2' high, and it weighs about a ton.  They are stacked with a skid steer, alternating seems, like bricks.  At the ends, sometimes a 1/2 bale is used, to complete the design.  My design called for a 4-high (10') wall in back, and a 3-high (7-1/2') wall on the sides.  We were able to walk on the unsupported wall, with no problem.  My concrete contractor spent days and days on those bales, securing forms, and filling gaps with rip-rap, so the concrete didn't all flow into the bales.  One of my friends shotcreted his bales, internally, for more stability.  But I found that this wasn't absolutely necessary.  Once the bond beam is poured, and the bales are sprayed with penetrating surface shotcrete, nothing moves at all.  It's a fortress!

The bales were free, but I had to pay for shipping, which was $3K for 7 semi-trucks.  I understand that Tire Recyclers gets $50 from the State of Colorado for every bale that they use.  For this reason, I had to provide them with a copy of my Building Permit.

I can't imagine going much higher than 4 bales (10').  This same friend built a 2-story home, but it's tiered, so there are two 3 or 4-high bale walls.

I believe there are now 4 bermed homes in Colorado, using the tire-bale approach, and probably hundreds that used the rammed-earth method.

Posted By Lbear on 26 Jun 2013 04:07 PM
With the tire bales is there any risk of them leaching chemicals or gasses into the ground and/or home? Tire rubber is not exactly an earth friendly product.

What about fire risks? Do the tires pose a risk of burning?

The used tires are pretty much gassed-out.  There is little to no odors from the bales.  My friend doesn't even have his bales covered yet, and the house is all enclosed and insulated.  There are no odors in his place.  Our tire bales are covered with about 2" of shotcrete, and then adobe over that.  No fumes at all.  Concrete and adobe are non-flammable.  I would imagine that even if the rest of the house was to burn, that the tire bale/concrete structure would still be standing.

I personally think that it's a great use for tires, in an ecological sense.

Interesting. How was the bale R value determined? What did you use overhead?

Posted By jonr on 26 Jun 2013 06:46 PM
Interesting. How was the bale R value determined? What did you use overhead?

Actually, originally I was told that the R-value is 60, but Pikes Peak Regional Building looked it up in some database, and told me I had to use 45.  That's what was used for the thermal analysis, and electric wall heater sizing.

Overhead?  Are you talking about the roof?  If so, there are 16" BCIs at 20" apart, with 12" of batt insulation and sealing poly just above the inside ceiling.  There is a vent space between the insulation and the roof deck.  The roof is colored steel.

Where do you get your wood? I don't see any trees big enough to burn on your property.

Posted By JimGagnepain on 26 Jun 2013 04:50 PM

The used tires are pretty much gassed-out.  There is little to no odors from the bales.  My friend doesn't even have his bales covered yet, and the house is all enclosed and insulated.  There are no odors in his place.  Our tire bales are covered with about 2" of shotcrete, and then adobe over that.  No fumes at all.  Concrete and adobe are non-flammable.  I would imagine that even if the rest of the house was to burn, that the tire bale/concrete structure would still be standing.

I personally think that it's a great use for tires, in an ecological sense.

The reason I ask is that tires contain a lot of VOCs and other deadly carcinogenic toxins. Some of which are; benzene, cyclohexene, toluene, siloxanes octamethyl-cyclotetrasiloxane, decamethyl-cyclopentasiloxane, methyl pentanone, etc The list goes on and on.

A friend of mine who is a fire fighter says that a tire fire is brutal because the smoke contains really bad carcinogenic toxins and the tires smolder for a long time.

Not all toxins produce odors that can be smelled by humans. I'm just wondering if the tires can leach the toxins and carcinogens that can permeate shotcrete and adobe since they are both not waterproof or did you waterproof/vapor proof the wall assembly?

Posted By s2israw on 27 Jun 2013 04:42 PM
Where do you get your wood? I don't see any trees big enough to burn on your property.

Yeah, there are some cottonwoods in a creek bed, but we have a lot of leftover construction lumber.  We've been burning that, when we need it.  We didn't even put a dent in that this past year.