Earthship

Earthships are for the individual looking for a home that looks after them.

The next level in sustainable, off-grid lifestyle without compromising on creature comforts.
Those looking for a home that is not just a home, but an entire life supporting system. This home takes care of your basic requirements to stay alive, so that you can focus on who you want to be and do the things you want to do, free to be as involved in the commercial system as you want to be. Take back control of your life and your time, by investing in the future of sustainability.

Earthships are oriented to make use of the sun’s angle as the earth moves around the sun every year. The angle of the windows allows for maximum sunlight penetration into the home in winter to heat up the interior, while minimizing how far and how much sun enters the home in summer to allow for a cooler internal temperature during the warmer months.
Compacted (rammed earth) in reclaimed used tyres form the back of the building acting not only as a fire, wind and storm safety barrier, but also as a temperature regulating earth mass.
Placing air vents in strategic locations and ducting under the earth layer at the back of the home, allows for cooling air treatment similar to what an air conditioning unit would do in a traditional home, but without the requirement for motors, coolant and electronics.

Now that your comfort level has been taken into consideration by your home, you need food and water to survive (well let’s be honest… you needed water and food first) …. At the back of your house, nestled into your earth mass will be water storage tanks, which are configured to catch rainwater from your roof. You and your family’s water consumption per annum as well as rainfall in your area needs to be taken into consideration when deciding the storage volume required (don’t worry – we’ll do the math).
Your rainwater is filtered by your own filtering system before you use it. As water is used for washing, rinsing, cooking, etc., it is turned into grey water, the house will treat your greywater, by filtering it when it gets reticulated through your indoor greenhouse vegetable and fruit planter that forms part of your standard earthship home… Imagine waking up in the morning, opening your bedroom door, walking through your greenhouse to get to your kitchen and on the way picking your own fresh produce as you move along without even having to go outside into the garden.
Your treated grey water is then reticulated to the bathroom where it fills the cistern of your toilet…. no more clean useable water going to waste by literally flushing it down the toilet.
But…it does not stop here…. you take your sustainability to the next level by having your waste water reticulated into a “sump garden” outside, where you will have the happiest most lush fruit forest…yes, growing tropical fruit trees in the desert is possible!

Taking your lifestyle off-grid does not mean you have to sacrifice modern comforts like electricity and the latest basic need…. Wi-Fi . On your roof there will be solar panels and we can throw in some wind turbines as well if your area allows for enough wind power to be generated. If you live next to a water stream, we can look at incorporating tidal power to your grid too! Sodium ion batteries are the most environmentally friendly batteries currently available, that we know of (if you’re a chemical engineer / electrical buff and you have a better solution, please tell us about it, we love learning about better ways to do things).

Construction of earthships:

• Floors and foundation can be traditional concrete, or you could be a little more environmentally friendly by using lime and tin cans, the best one we’ve heard of was a build close to the ocean, where they used crushed seashells
• Back wall constructed form tyres (save our oceans) with compacted earth inside – this is a very labour intensive process and we encourage you, your friends and family to come join us if you want for this phase of the build (yes, of course you can be part of the full build as well if you want – we love having you on site helping, learning and to give you the feeling of accomplishment that you helped build your home with your own hands) – houses are built with materials, but homes are built with blood, sweat tears, laughter and love.
• Front of house constructed mainly out of glass to help your plants get enough sun, so that photosynthesis can help them produce food for you – the glass front also helps keep you warm in winter…. and who doesn’t love floor to ceiling windows allowing in the view?
• You have an option to add a glass bottle wall, which can be like a mural that allows sun light in, in a creative way
• Internal walls can be rammed earth, tyres, brick, wood, aluminum, etc… we could also bring our recycling gear to site and make some recycled plastic walls for you or show you how to make your own recycled plastic items if you want to get creative and build furniture with trash from your community
• Roof can be timer, steel or …again with the recycled plastic…

Tiny homes are for the individual looking to downscale, live a simpler life, looking for financial freedom, independence, manageability, maintainability… 

Typically floor area will be smaller than 80m2 with living space on ground level and sleeping spaces in a loft

Cupboards are built into walls while optimizing efficient use for storage purposes (no dead spaces)

Bookshelves can be used to double up as ladders to get to loft space

Have stairs pull out, swivel or slide out to add seating, which can be tucked away when not required to clear up space

Tiny homes are full functioning homes on a smaller scale. The functionality is gained by clever design without compromising maneuverability and comfort of the occupants.

The conscientious, the minimalist, the traveller, the adventurer, the creative, the thinker, the philosopher, the alternative…

The traditional room division is thrown out the window with most spaces divided by clever functional design elements

This type of design to live approach takes the meaning of how you live in your home to a whole new level

Those looking for something less complicated and more imaginative.

Smaller footprint = smaller impact

Open plan design allows for a more spacious and open feel in a smaller footprint

A well ventilated, full functional bathroom with shower, basin, vanity and toilet is fit into the space under the sleeping area, tiny home bathrooms typically exclude a bath tub

You spend less time maintaining your home and everything you own, simply because the design fits in with your requirements.

Natural light is used to brighten up the entire house by placing windows and skylights in strategic locations

Add a counter top to your balustrade separating your sleeping space from your living space to cater for a work space