Earthships in Pennsylvania?! The Full Story | Radically Off Grid Houses
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- Опубліковано 8 кві 2021
- This is a story about a father and son team that have inspired a radically off-grid housing movement in Pennsylvania. They started with an Earthship-inspired greenhouse in the suburbs of Philadelphia and are currently building a self- sufficient home in the woods.
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I live in New Mexico, Santa Fe, to be exact, and I have to tell you this is the way to save your life, your family, and friends too... If you are sick due to living on the grid, you very well may save your life and get off the meds, cutting the ties that bind you to a system failing us all. Make your own way, change your life, build your home using some basic practical instruction that anyone can understand. Create meaning in your life. Start now, do it today. It isn't easy to get up and get going; you must, we must... You will be glad you did something courageous, tell your story, teach your family, watch them flourish...
I love this comment!😀
I love this comment and changed my life just like you said. My husband and I now live in an earthship in NM. I have never been more at peace. I love this life. Blessings to all and be well
@@ridingtoantarctica8886 Wow! Congratulations! I am living in New Mexico now and would love to know more about your story. If you would like to share, contact me using the "ABOUT" tab on my channel page. 😉
We live in Santa Fe and just got back from a nice stay on Lone Tree road out in Taos. What an experience!! Ironically we’re from Philly and this video popped up. Thanks 🙏 😊
I’m from central Pennsylvania. I’m 60 but living off grid was and still is a dream i have. Love n light ❤
We always see these earthship projects in the desert southwest - it's refreshing to see it being done in a very different climate. I'd love to see a follow up in a few years on how this completed home performs in northern winter conditions, and how well this adapts as you continue to move north and the frost line gets deeper.
I agree. I'd like to see the results as well. I suspect (from a building science perspective) that it will work well as a greenhouse and not so well as a home in this climate.
Agreed, I look forward to going back for a follow up! Any specific questions?
@@TheOffGridGuru I donated back in March. I definitely wanted to help, but also a big selling point at the time was the Earthship book and model that you said you were going to send out. I haven't seen anything and was hoping that was still coming.
I would also love to know once they have it completely done, how the concrete block wall performs compared to the tire wall. Looks like (from their website) that they have made some great progress.
Also, I'm in Iowa and was wondering if you have any knowledge you can share of how well (or not) they could work in Iowa's climate.
@@traviss589 Thank you for donating Travis, Im going to contact them about getting the book to you ;)
@@TheOffGridGuru Awesome. Thank you…and keep up the great work, I really enjoy your videos.
They have been building these earthship houses since the early 1970,s . Its nothin knew. But they are fascinating.
Yes, books by Malcolm Wells are a great resource a great resource.
Very different climate in pensilvania. Heating and moisture are much bigger issues.
Why is this so called Guru not giving the recognition to Michael Reynolds......bad form sir , VERY bad form considering all the pioneering work that's been done all around the world
@@CHMichael Michael Reynolds , the true pioneer has built them all around the world.....these so called gurus are just copy cats and don't give the credit where it's due
@@juliawitt3813 very true Micheal Reynolds is my hero!!! I love it!!!
We bought a foreclosed 3 storey 1884 brick rowhouse in downtown Pittsburgh ( Northside) and spent 10 years restoring it. Sold it in 2 days on craigslist and purchased our earthship compound here in Taos. Now there is a fully restored historic home in Pittsburgh and we have our earthships without the environmental impact of building new ones.
If everyone looked outside the box and downsized their comfort zones with fast and easy it’s amazing how free they can live
What looks uncomfortable about it?
So happy to have found this video. I live outside of Pittsburgh, PA. Across the state, but, would love to travel east to visit the project there. 💕
I'm closer to Pittsburgh, too. I've been interested in Earthships for decades, but I never thought they could survive PA's freeze/thaw cycles. Still curious about that.
I live in pa as well, and ive seen a bunch of these while ferrying for work. They kinda sneak up on ya from the air, if youre not paying attention you wouldnt even know they were there.
@@50shadesofcerakote where?
I'm in Pittsburgh, too. I have put a lot of earthship elements in my south-facing house, like the thermal earth tube and the water reclamation roof to a cistern. I wish there was a community of like-minded individuals here.
When you guys get snow, won't that block your solar panels that are on the roof. We have our's mounted on steel bar base into cement at an angle, so we can brush them off with a broom.
Good idea! Ground mount is definitely superior when you got the space.
"Mother Earth News" was my "go to" magazine and life style way of life starting back in the 70"s. When I got out of the Marine Corps in "75"...I hitch-hiked across the US with just my pack and gear., Along the way, I came across others living ecologically friendly lives and more productive and happier lives. I live a simple, minimal life with homelessness on occasion, but I'm happier helping others and finding work here and there. Wishing all a safe and better day...
What's up, Gentlemen? First of all, I love what you're doing. Using the earth "which is are only home" in the proper manner. This is great. This is something I've been wanting to do, but just don't know how to get started. I a retired Vet living on a fixed income, I'm 69 years old, and frankly speaking, "I am board as hell." How do a person volunteer for something like this; if for nothing els, the education and exersize. Right now I'm living in Phoenix, Az. And the first chance I get I'm moving back to Cleveland, Ohio where I came from. I'm also interested in Forest Gardening. This is great, stay with it. Peace!
Look up earthships in Taos, NM. there is a community out there and you can attend classes. Cheers!
@@tylerblane Thanks man, I will check that out!
Research flat Earth and realize the blessing that is Jesus Christ
@@Sasha8pancakes Actually Mother Earth and Father Sky are the ones to thank.
Off grid skills !!! Sustainability NOW.!!!
I used earthship design to create a greenhouse on side of my house, love it, dreams of a full earthship❤🌎🏁
This is crazy because I was literally just asking this question yesterday and the answer I came to is that permits are easier to get in southern states the ground is easier to use and it’s cheaper to collect materials… I’m so glad you covered this topic because I could never live in the New Mexico Southwest but I want an earthship more than anything in the world and I’m planning on building one up north in New York
Hey there!! You and I share the same vision! I live in nyc and I NEED to make this change in my life soon but I just can’t figure which state to go to ... I’m just wondering, if you don’t mind my asking, what part of upstate New York are you interested in doing the build and do you think the state would even permit it?
Thank you in advance!
Tug hill region has a lot of snow but very cheap land. Rodman NY
Tamaqua is practically my home town. I haven't been up there in a long time, but it's cool to hear they are allowing this type of build.
I wouldn’t exactly say “allowing” they have actually given Will and Bill a fairly hard time. Thats why we made a GoFundMe for them, to raise the funds they need to finish the house.
www.gofundme.com/f/tamaqua-earthship
LOVE to see this movement growing! It's the future!
Earthships in Pennsylvania?! Who knew? I'm a native of Harrisburg and moved to Schuylkill County almost 3 years ago. So, that's not far from the Lehigh Valley. They really are fascinating. If I were younger I'd love to design and build one. Ironically, my mom was born and raised in Tamaqua.
Great design, but do yourself a favour. Use earth bags instead of car tyres. You will halve your labour and have a more stable wall.Use mesh bags or tubing, so that there is contact between the wall levels.
I would love to know if this sort of house works in a cooler climate. I live in Victoria, Australia (temperate zone) and we just don't have much sun to help heat anything during the cooler months. Its always fascinated me, to build a house using common sense to fit your environment rather than modern houses that exist in spite of their environment which in turn costs a bundle to heat and cool.
I don’t live far from them! I really want to build one myself. It reminds me of my home state, New Mexico where earthships originated.
Nice job with the video! I had a great time as a volunteer on the Bottle Brick Wall. I’ll certainly be back, I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to learn more about sustainable building. Thank you.
Awesome Grimble!
@@TheOffGridGuru can I use shipping container for earthship house?
@@albertla3072 no
@@albertla3072 If I am not mistaken, earth ships employ sustainability principles of permaculture.
This is a wonderfully Innovative idea, especially in a time where we need more and more autonomy and distance from our governments which have become tyrannical and society in general which doesn't espouse our values anymore. Small, self-sufficient and autonomous communities built upon these Earthship Concepts will be absolutely amazing.
I JUST HAVE TO LEARN MORE about this even though I am87 years old…no formal education etc…something tells me…I can be part of helping spread the information to the best of my ability…
Never too late to learn!
Earth ship pioneers have inspired the next generation. I still watch these old style engineering and architecture videos to remind me where the earth ship movement started. I am building in the mountains of British Columbia. We are not taking garbage. I am building and have designed with the next generation of psychological outlooks.... that is, this type of construction is normal. This is how earthlings build homes. Taking modern building material and using them in different ways... Thankyou for inspiring the next phase of human habitats! From all of us at Sard Canada.
I've been following the earth ship movement for a while. As a Pennsylvanian myself I have been wondering how the zoning boards have been since the state has a very antiquated system of what they consider a building or home. Even the tiny house movement is having a hard time getting permits in the state.
I'm in the more suburban area outside of Philly and believe that being up North near the Poconos it would be much easier to get through the permit process.
I'm finding this video a year later and hope to see a follow up visit on the progress.
This is the future and needs to be allowed in more places in the country.
I moved from PA 8 years ago and I’ve also been following this movement PA just wants to control everything it’s about speaking with your city officials but more people have to be on board numbers count and since the pandemic they need to be more lenient on how people are needing or wanting to live!! Start with your City Council and find more people wanting to do the same thing!!
OK. I will check out the link below. Great job man, and great idea!
I didn't realize there was someone like you doing this. Very interested!!
Wow, excellent video. I'm so glad UA-cam recommended this to me. I'm looking forward to viewing the other videos you've posted!
I've just discovered you, and I'm so excited! I've only seen this first video, but I can already tell you are going to make this journey of mine so much more attainable than before I discovered you! I wish I could take advantage of your special deal for people watching right now, but the timing is off for me. I will be sharing your page on the group pages I am a part of though. Everyone is looking for ways of learning on them. It's exciting to have a solid resource to reference when different questions come up. I'm excited to watch all the videos in your channel and wait for how they apply to questions.... it gives me "traction" for learning the things I have been researching about. See there.... you are already doing it... .making it easy for me to learn! ;)
Great documentary, Eric! I'm looking forward to watching more and learning about your other adventures. And hope to see you on the jobsite again too!
Thanks Peter! Looking forward to building with you again someday :)
I think that's absolutely awesome I definitely will continue watching
Brilliant video... never heard of this before... I am in amazement and how refreshing to see how big the movement is
Look into Mike Reynolds his earthships in Taos are completely self contained..
a wall made of disgarded tires is the smartest thing ive heard all day. that would be excellent physical resistance and weather insulation.
Hello! My mother lives not far from you guys in Tamaqua. I am originally from Summit Hill. I would love to visit your site sometime I'm up there, With Covid I haven't been able to get up there. I currently live in Delaware. I love what you are doing. It is fantastic to see stuff that people throw away being reused for a good purpose. Keep up the good work. Whenever I get up to my Mom's I'll stop by.
Hey! I'm a Hiller too. Lived in Sussex County for a few years after college.
Man I'm am so inspired by your movement. The fact that you would take even 1 extra minutes out of your day to network to a population of people that should essentially know this particular set of skills, gives me hope. That we as a whole from every walk of life can come together and do for each other as we should and luft each other up and teach each other how to become better and literally get back to what is inherently ours from the beginning. So I strive towards the same walk of life and teach and educate everyone I encounter who will listen to my long rants long enough to make this movement make sense. Thank you sir your ideas have made my teaching process easier and to be in the service of others is more than just an act although it can't just be talk it has to be passed on by experience but your efforts validate our work thank you bro put every bit of positive energy that I can emanate towards your project and I know it's great already and strive to follow your footsteps so I can lead another to the topof the mountains we shall climb and come out of this ridiculous lifestyle we come to know as normal
Thanks for your compliment.
Wonderful. Now to use objects with less embodied energy. Glass, sand are getting scarce (recycling bottles for making food containers would make more sense) and metal can b recycled too, doesn't need to be buried in walls. Portland cement demands huge quantities of energy to make, when mud or clay would do the same on most of these "filling " uses.
So I've taken the concept to make it less polluting at construction phase.
I really love that you use recycled material and save energy while keeping the home at a good temperature. The only big problem is, used tires are really toxic so growing food in them and keeping them near where you live is not healthy in the long run.
Thats where you also have a small wind mill to put in on cloudy days..
Amazing and inspiring video! I'm so glad the YT algorithm suggested this video. I will check out the links in the description since my dream home is an Earthship. I just need some land close to Pittsburgh and some money to build, lol.
Thanks Steve! Im glad you found us :) Don't give up on your dreams!
21:01 I'm interested to know more about this Earthship Dashboard app! Really cool video with good explanations of the technology, thank you for sharing! Subbed & added to my Alternative Housing & Architecture playlist :)
As an idea..You can take short interviews from people who came for help for build Earthship and ask them about..who they are?how they became a part of this community?and etc ..just short interviews about people who actually not just helping to build a house..but growing a Big community ❤️
Certainly!
Watching you from Hazleton. Love it!
I'm from Pa, but moved to Nm. Thank you, please keep it up!
I'm from Ireland 🇮🇪hello hope you are well
Earth ships are a wonderful idea. That said many of these builds actually find that they have huge temperature swings (typical of over glazed solar homes)
Love your videos. Love your channel! Look forward to future videos.
Thanks Lufer!
Fascinating!! I so enjoyed the content and passion that has brought innovative people together to create a passive dwelling with permaculture for sustainable living.
Beautiful story
Thanks for posting and sharing.
BRAVA!! If only I'd known 20+ yrs ago... Keep doing what you're doing, get it out there. Making a difference one home at a time.
Great job. Love it. Regards from downunder.
Thank You!
What will keep the earth's pressure from eventually pushing the masonry wall in on that back wall? I see the dirt building up with rainstorms. Either that or washing the foundation out. Anyway, I love all you are doing. Have you explored 3D houses and incorporating the methods you use with that? I can see that being used with bottle walls, tires vertically outside a 3D wall filled with and cover with earth.
There were masonry braces shown holding the wall. Slanting the wall out instead of plumb would be practical.
Moisture and frost is terrible on bank walls. Builders here use drain tile and a layer of crushed stone to drain off the water, and use poured concrete for the walls
I love this video! I love this concept. Thank you for sharing! Wendy🙏🏻🇺🇸🌎
Love Taos NM. Beautiful and open free and away from these city and suburbs, more like laid back, and yeah off the Grid! Said to myself I want to go back to Taos and build or have someone help me build an earthship home! Great for Mother earth! 😊❤😊
Thank you! Working together we can find solutions for building homes in harmony with nature. Looking forward to meeting up with you when I get back to Pennsylvania.
Please do.
Hey buddy fellow shipper! My husband and I used to build these in 1996-2000...he was doing it in 1992. Studied under Micheal and the Greater World community. it is in South Park at 10,000 feet. This channel rocks dude. Love it! If you ever want to organize with us to do some high country classes and finish this puppy...that would be epic. YES...it literally has taken that long...it is remote and hidden for a reason. South Park is an epic slope for another ship community for as far as the eye can see. Would be amazing to see this happen in my lifetime......."Not big swings so you can't work the rest of the day, but little swings..." hahahahahha OMG do I know this. We had all tires pounded and started on the top plates and front row line for the windows and then ...THEN found out about numatic hammers lol...lawd
Sounds great !!! Tires are extremely flammable!! When exposed to a hot flame!!! Now if you use cement and bottles is smart!!!! Tire might be good if they are sealed off with cement!!!! This is very interesting
We used very few tires on this build. The tires will be sealed of with cement.
Very inspiring! I have build a house, but actually through building i was thinking about off grid ideas. Also i noticed that i don't like to listen people who have only standard ideas of building, i always wanted to upgrade it, make it better, clever. Functionality of the house or object needs to be connected with nature or individual environment that you have and not against it.
Love this, ive loved earthships for many years keep it up.
Air tamp vs sledge? If we can figure out a less labor intensive way to fill tires that would be awesome.
I have no experience with air tamps, would be curious to try it out! Maybe for a future video..
Amen to that! Made me tired just watching it! 🤣
@@TheOffGridGuru that or maybe an air bag (there are many types)( or innertube) fill side walls place air bag and pressure to tamp dirt in sidewalls. Then fill center and air tamp the center soil....just brainstorming.
@@katiegreene3960 Tamping is an extreme pressure.
@@jakebredthauer5100 yes impact pressures are very high correct. Specialieeed lifting bags can reach veryhigh pressures, and they do so evenly. They use lifting bags in emergency rescue to lift cars,trains etc and the use them in the quarry and mining industry to lift multi ton stone.
Air tamp is the same as regular tamping it's just a mechanical version.
I like the video and especially the scale model kit.
thanks for video.
Be sure to get those permits so police can't shut it down as an illegal building that might have to be torn down.
Love Love everything. I will come to the Academy!
So Interesting!
Nice job man!
this is a great video..i want to live in a heath ship ...i didn't think i could do the tires physically but concrete in cinder block yes!
My aunt and uncle did something similar that's earthbermed on 3 sides, lawn roof, with a greenhouse on the front about 40 years ago. Did everything but the electricity themselves.
Earthships in Pennsylvania? I live in PA - suburb of Philly. I have always been discouraged from doing anything earth-friendly because the zoning doesn’t let you do squat. I think the whole east coast might be that way. Glad to see someone is making progress on an earth friendly design.
This house was really easy to find on google maps. The area looks like paradise.
i wonder if michael knew just how influential his vision would be. ive seen an earthship inspired home work in canada, so its really great to see something on this side of the country work for colder climates! my dream is to have a northern earthship
exciting!
Lovely. We need an update soon!
those discarted car tires look perfect to me.
Idea for packing tires- a large sliding hammer , with a cone shaped Ram Rod. Then switch to more square when packing center.👍🇨🇦😎
I love this
Great ..thanks!!
I am glad they have an awesome house. It's definitely great for reducing heating and AC costs, and the greenhouse looks awesome.
My family built an Adobe house, and it is awesome except for earthquake damage.
Earthships are amazing except for the tires. Tires seem toxic and difficult. Tires can alternitavely be cleanly burned to produce electricity.
Wow I live in PA OMG 😱 Who would have thought one is here too. I’m excited I have to see if they Airbnb this one or atlease have trips to visit.
I see. Great job!
I really love your channel. Thank you for showing us these earthships all over the world. I really would like to go to join the earth ship academy. Could you please give me information about how to sign up for that. The home you are building with your father in Pennsylvanian is beautiful. I hope it works out to be everything you want it to be. 😃
Instead of a sledge hammer should use a fence post rammer that farmers use on the back of a tractor that you can retract up and down as well in New Zealand we use it alot...
My biggest question relates to humidity control in an Earthship. I live just south of Philly in Maryland and humidity is a real problem in the summer around here.
Its certainly an issue! You’ve got to do your homework when it comes to designing for high humidity. Some think its better to have a detached greenhouse in humid areas…
I live in P.A it gets cold as fuck at times my electric heat struggles so if that really works that’s amazing.
Great to see people finding ideas to live free of the programming we are all apart of if need be 👍
Just a funny thought, stopping the tires going into land fill, by being literally filled with land!
This is good stuff
This is great I would love to do and live.
Yeah tell me who is going to pay people to pound tires? There are still concerns about the off gas. Lets talk about humidity also
Dont get me wrong. I looked ve the concept of the earthship but taos is way different than a place that has humidity. Mold will kill.
Plug off the bottom hole of the tire. Add water to the dirt. Let the water evaporate. Saves a lot of labor.
I've heard that moisture buildup from the humidity inside greenhouses and underground homes can become a problem, especially with the formation of mold. Have you tried calcium chloride to dehumidify inside the underground structures? Is there any issues with off gassing that might cause another problem? Could the liquid calcium chloride that forms when the dry stuff is saturated be piped outside of the house into a soil collection bin to hold the corrosive liquid until it can be mineralized by the dirt again rendering the salt harmless?
You seem to know what you are talking about already, why don’t you give it a try?
As for the off gassing, the tires are rendered inert when buried and/or plastered over, completely covered in the interior of the home.
Moisture build up can be a problem for sure, you need to ventilate the space really well. It helps to have DC fans, and vents in the roof. Possibly even air also coming from the interior rooms and pulled out into the greenhouse via operate-able windows. I have a diagram explaining the ventilation system in the Earthship Model Kit info guide book. (As well as the passive thermal heating and cooling diagrams.
Awe such a sweet man.
could you use something like a jack hammer on the dirt in the tires? I feel like the labor you could save would offset the cost of owning/renting and operating one. Though I always appreciate a building method you can do by hand, it is important to keep that skill.
No mortgage no bills sounds like freedom
Would love to keep up with the progress on the temp monitoring app… sounds very intriguing
I wished I can do that, magnificently
Wow.. my backyard! We’ve got to connect!
Pumicecrete is by far the best building material on the planet Pumicecrete is a mixture of pumice cement and water mixed and poured into a set of reusable forms walls are poured from 12"to 24" thick pumicecrete is fireproof termite proof rust rot and mold proof and has a high R value and good sound attenuation solid poured walls means no critters can live in your walls Pumicecrete can be built for a fraction of the cost and time and pumice is one of the few building materials that can go directly from the mine to the job site ready to use without any additional possessing and zero waste
Pumicecrete!
Ooh, off to google...
I would think those southern facing slanted windows would bake you in the summer. I would think you need upright southern facing windows with large overhangs to keep the summer sun out.
Plants that fruit need all the sun they can get. The slanted windows will allow the plant to grow strait up because they will have light from above. Some plants in my greenhouse with upright southern facing windows are stretching and bending south because they want more sun and the sun only comes from one direction. But there are plenty of things you can grow with upright windows like micro greens and the like.
@@tamaquasustainabilityproject But this is a home also, not just a greenhouse, right? I still wonder if the people living there won't be baking in the summer. Maybe it's only true in the south where I live and where the summers are hotter.
@@acuteteacher Yes, this is a home. There are 3 big vents on the roof of the greenhouse part of the house and tubes that run under the house and bring in cold air. If we close all that in the winter the window will help bring in more heat.
I guess I don't understand when people are thinking about sustainability why they think they need a couple thousand square feet to live in. I think I could be pretty comfortable in something 1/10 th the size. You could still have an area to grow some food in winter and have large outside gardens for summer. It could be affordable to most.
New to your channel and I really like it- thank you, for what you do 😊🤙 I'm wondering about the cinderblock wall with the Earth behind it, is it challenging to make it to where it's not encouraging mold growth? Also, is that a problem with packed tire walls?
We need to use 2 inch insulation board properly on the outside of the cinderblock wall to remove the frostline from touching the walls and tap into the earth 57 degrees. Then we bring the house and wall up 10 degrees with the sun's energy. Moisture will form where there is a drop in temperature. We hope the windows will be the weakest part and we can insulate them more somehow at night. We will take pictures and post to Instagram when we do it. instagram.com/tamaquasustainability
Yeah EarthShips in Pa!
wow i live in hazleton and never knew this existed
I want to build one of these, are there any reference material for finding a community that will allow this? and then I can start looking for some land... under 5k or cheaper... I'd like to find an acre, in a rural area. then collect my garbage to recycle into a home. tired of paying high rent. and also, thank-you for the video and the people that pioneered this! awesome stuff!
Really depends on where you want to live. As for reference material, you have my channel and others on youtube that cover alternative living. If I were you, I would join off grid/alternative groups and forums online and start researching/networking.
I love this!! How can I be involved, participate, etc???
Seems like one could weld up an auger bit to pack those tires. Like a downward/outward facing propeller attached to an auger. Ogger ?