Hi all,
we are presently in the process of building an earth-rammed tyre and strawbale eco-house on the north coast of Scotland and would welcome anyone who is interested in coming to volunteer. We are currently plodding away with the tyres and, although its slow going, hope to be finished before the end of autumn. We hope to get the strawbale walls started when the weather breaks next year.
We have a small caravan that can sleep up to 3 people at a time (any more and its tents in afraid) and can provide food, toilet and shower facilities. Unlike other earthship stuff, we are also not charging anything!
We would also love to hear from anyone who might be interested in running courses on the build. I'm afraid we can't do it ourselves as we are by no means experts on any of the methods we are using.
To find out more and get contact details, you can visit our website at http://www.skerray.net
Thanks

I'm not convinced that the Earthship idea is ecologically/environmentally as sound as, say, the Hockerton project. Good luck though.

Thanks ludide and agu for you best wishes. I know we are way out in M.A.M.B.A country, so not too handy for most of England. Saying that, I'm always amazed to see adverts for Earthship courses in Mexico or the Caribean. Something about flying halfway around the world to help build a low carbon house doesn't seem right
Jon.....we don't claim to be the MOST eco-friendly home in the world, I'm sure that there are many that are much better. However using tyres to build does get rid of a troublesome waste material, and replaces the need for a more conventional type of retaining wall material (ie concrete).

"we don't claim to be the MOST eco-friendly home in the world, I'm sure that there are many that are much better. However using tyres to build does get rid of a troublesome waste material, and replaces the need for a more conventional type of retaining wall material (ie concrete)."

Yes, I understand that clashaidy but the amount of effort that goes into the production (tamping) of the tyres seems to be disproportionate to the gain: In other words, for the labour force that you use to build the concept, you could have built several similar types of houses albeit at a slightly higher annualised embodied cost: Given that the Environmental Agency appears to have concerns about the use of tyres as landfill and that there is the possibility that the tyres might contain harmful leacheates, I wonder if the concept itself is faulty. I went along to Brighton to have a look and couldn't convince myself that, for the effort, it was a worthwhile concept.

However, I could easily be wrong, so good luck with the venture.

That's right, it is largely water table concerns: You're quite right, the likelihood of degradation is low. (however, the likelihood of degradation or contamination with concrete is virtually zero). Sorry for calling you and your wife the labour force!

A difficult balance of risks: If you're not near a water resource then it's unlikely to be a consideration. If on the other hand you were near a fragile water resource (with gravels, sands or chalk) then, on balance I think that getting tyres or any other potential contaminants away would be the overriding concern.

Great! Good luck

I think anyone asking for volunteers should be able to justify their cause Rachel.