Blue Rock Station,
1190 Virginia Ridge Rd.
Philo Ohio 43771 USA
+1-740-674-4300 (phone)
+1-740-674-6303 (fax)
Or contact us by e-mail.
1190 Virginia Ridge Rd.
Philo Ohio 43771 USA
+1-
Or contact us by e-
Copyright 2008 Blue Rock Station, All Rights Reserved
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Visit some good friends of Blue Rock Station...
Pounding the tires...
We all know the problem... hundreds of thousands of tires fillings landfills for generations to come. Nobody pretends that Earthships are the sole answer, but they are a great way to put thousands of these eyesores to good use.
We used about 1,400 tires in the construction of our Earthship.
The tire itself is little more than a mold to hold rammed earth in place. It generally takes about two wheel barrow loads of earth to fill each tire. Simply take the stuff that has been excavated from your site, shovel it into the tire and spend the rest of the summer swinging a sledge hammer.
After a couple of tires, you will find you develop your own style. Most people end up pulling the inside rim of the tire up with their hands and shoving the loose dirt into the tire. Then you begin pounding with the sledge.
Once filled to the brim, level the tire to itself and in respect to the tires around it. If you do this right, the entire wall should end up standing straight and tall.
The good folks at Solar Survival don't seem to suffer from some of the same difficulties we encountered during this phase of the project. We were told that they often have so many volunteers showing up on site, that they interview them and only accept those that show promise.
We, on the other hand, placed ad after ad in the local newspaper trying to get anyone who could swing a sledgehammer to come out and work - and we even would pay them, with Catlyn (bottom right) supervising.
Admittedly pounding tires is really hard work, but we still managed to go through about 60 "strong young men" during the course of the summer (in an effort to keep 3-4 working at any one time). Some lasted less than a day.
Surprisingly we found the people who lasted longest and did the best work were middle-aged men and young women. I don't know what that says about anything... but I thought I would throw it in for all to ponder.
We all know the problem... hundreds of thousands of tires fillings landfills for generations to come. Nobody pretends that Earthships are the sole answer, but they are a great way to put thousands of these eyesores to good use.
We used about 1,400 tires in the construction of our Earthship.
The tire itself is little more than a mold to hold rammed earth in place. It generally takes about two wheel barrow loads of earth to fill each tire. Simply take the stuff that has been excavated from your site, shovel it into the tire and spend the rest of the summer swinging a sledge hammer.
After a couple of tires, you will find you develop your own style. Most people end up pulling the inside rim of the tire up with their hands and shoving the loose dirt into the tire. Then you begin pounding with the sledge.
Once filled to the brim, level the tire to itself and in respect to the tires around it. If you do this right, the entire wall should end up standing straight and tall.
The good folks at Solar Survival don't seem to suffer from some of the same difficulties we encountered during this phase of the project. We were told that they often have so many volunteers showing up on site, that they interview them and only accept those that show promise.
We, on the other hand, placed ad after ad in the local newspaper trying to get anyone who could swing a sledgehammer to come out and work -
Admittedly pounding tires is really hard work, but we still managed to go through about 60 "strong young men" during the course of the summer (in an effort to keep 3-
Surprisingly we found the people who lasted longest and did the best work were middle-
Other web sites that will give you a bit more about this...
Check out our book on Building a Tire Foundation
