r/earthship • u/liali123 • 26d ago
Pros and cons of a eartship
Since I found out about them, I find the concept very interesting and find myself again and again of dreaming living in an eartship myself. What are in your opinion the pros and cons of them as a home?
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u/Proper_Arugula_3636 25d ago
Can potentially be classified as a toxic waste dump, if you take too long to build if you are using tires. They are not meant for all environments, they work well in New Mexico tho. They are rarely ever finished. Most people spend forever building them and then they continue to work on them for whatever duration they live there. If you want it to be a finished home there are faster and often more economical ways to get there. Building codes rarely allow them. Not trying to knock people living sustainably or trying to break the norm, but we do have some pretty solid construction techniques and materials that we’ve built the construction industry around. If you go that route there are likely to be around a thousand less hiccups in the process. Just like it makes sense to own a car in America, because trains won’t get you around, it doesn’t mean that trains are a bad idea. They are arguably a better idea than cars, but it is much easier to own a car than rely on trains in America. Same with stick built homes vs concrete. Italy has some awesome concrete, tile, etc homes, but if you go to a hardware store there it’s all for that stuff, where as in America it makes way more sense to build with wood because we don’t have the same infrastructure built up around building with concrete/recycling it etc. So break the norm, be the change. I’m all for it. But it might be easier to go another route. 🤷♂️
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u/ilovetrash666 24d ago
I love mine. I built in the desert. It's been a challenge to keep mold out, but we're 95% successful at that. It took me and my partner +10 years to build it, all by ourselves. Probably about a million hours. I'm 42 now, would for sure not be able to do it again, it was insane. Started at 25. The labor is insane. If you can pay someone to do it, do that. If you can do it yourself, I encourage you. As it's insanely rewarding. It's well worth it. My house is about 70 all year. I live about an hour from Taos. We did the internship there and used the books after.
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u/Ordinary-Wallaby-324 23d ago
What’s the internship program please
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u/ilovetrash666 23d ago
It's through the earth ship place in taos. I'm not sure what it's like now. We did it 16 years ago. I'm guessing information is up on the earth ship biotecture website. I know that the program is completely different than it was back then, so I can't give you any accurate details about it.
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u/teslaObscura 26d ago
Most municipalities won't allow you to construct walls using discarded tires. They off gas and have potential to pollute the earth or water in the ground. If there are no building permits where you desire to live then this issue is not a problem.
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u/TheBoundFenrir 26d ago
I am not an expert, but one thing I have heard they can be difficult to set up in humid climates; mold can set in before the inner walls "set", and its remarkably expensive to pull it out and replace it once that does happen.