Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Re: Domes

[David Schiman (dschiman]

Yes,
I have looked at Earthships.  I worked building them one summer in Taos,
about 8 years ago.  They can be beautiful, comfortable, efficient, and
cheap.  The can also be very expensive.  It depends on the level of finish.
I know people who have $1,000,000+ earthships, and I know people who have
$25,000 Earthships.  I also know people who've spent $20,000+ and have a
bunch of tires stacked up with a greenhouse and a roof, but nothing else.
Earthships are VERY labor intensive, a good strong back is a prerequisite.
If you pay someone to "pound tires" expect to spend alot of money getting
your walls up with no finish.  Depending on the site, excavation can be an
expensive factor (as it would with any construction).  If you hire someone
to do it who has little experience, expect it to be a slow, expensive
proposition.  If you hire Mike reynold's crews, expect it to go more
quickly, but still be expensive.  If you do it yourself, be ready to work
very hard and take a nice long time.  I think these are best where you have
lot's of cash to pay someone to do it right, or lots of time and enough cash
to get it done.  A one room, with loft, Earthship will cost upwards of 20K
to build.  That's one large room, but still only one room.  Then there's
land costs.  I think straw bale is a more efficient (and more easily
approved) alternative if you live in the right area (for zoning).  They go
up much faster, are more flexible in terms of floor plans, and just as
beautiful and energy efficient.  Another interesting option is paper bale.
Paper bale construction gives the added benefits of being load bearing (you
could do more than one story, I believe) and you save the paper from land
fills.  The type of paper used is wax coated stuff like laundry detergent
boxes that can't be recycled.  As with "Earthships" and straw bale, you get
excellent insulation, interesteing architecture, thermal battery effect
(although not as great).

David Schiman, M.Ac., Lic.Ac.
Traditional Acupuncture
dschiman [at] comcast.net

Bowie, Maryland    301-802-7908

Rehoboth Beach, Delaware    302-644-8944


----- Original Message -----
From: "Jock Coats" <jock.coats [at] oxfordlibdems.org.uk>
To: <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>
Sent: Wednesday, July 17, 2002 4:24 PM
Subject: Re: [C-L]_Re: Domes


> Lynn Nadeau wrote:
>
> >>Has anyone looked at the dome
> >>homes ? They are building them for much less, in Texas, and the builders
say
> >>that the regulations would make it much more expensive in California.
> >>
> >>
> >
> >There are a number of domes in Port Townsend Washington, including a very
> >beautiful one at RoseWind here. If you love aesthetic use of sunny space,
> >have a look, via our website www.rosewind.org then follow links on the
> >dome for sale, through to the realtors "More Photos". The owner is a
> >Danish artist and the results are visually striking.
> >
> >Regarding affordability, the ones I've seen, and I watched closely as
> >this one was built, were more expensive than conventional construction.
> >True, the ribbed dome frame goes up quickly, but all the interior work
> >had to be very custom, with thousands of miter cuts to make all sorts of
> >rectilinear materials, like lumber, fit into triangles. Ditto for the
> >roofing (which is almost the whole outside of the dome), as rectangular
> >roofing shingles had to be cut to carefully cover all those triangles.
> >Lots of extra labor cost and material waste. Can't just pick up cheap
> >windows at the local bone yard: they are triangular too.
> >
> >
> As a compromise, and a pretty environmental one at that, have people
> looked at Earthships?  http://www.earthship.org/
>
> jock
>
> --
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> +  Jock Coats, Oxford Liberal Democrats, M3a Morrell Hall, OX3 0TU  +
> +       T:+44 1865 485019 M:+44 7769 695767 F:+44 845 1275714       +
> +   E(pref):jock.coats [at] oxfordlibdems.org.uk Cix:jockox3 [at] cix.co.uk   
> +
> +     W1:www.oxfordlibdems.org.uk W2:aldco.oxfordlibdems.org.uk     +
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
>
>
>
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