My Mother’s House Part II: Building Our Earth Sheltered House

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The earth sheltered house as it stood during summer seminars at MOTHER EARTH NEWS' Eco-Village.
The earth sheltered house as it stood during summer seminars at MOTHER EARTH NEWS' Eco-Village.
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An 8 x 16 beam was stacked on the 6 x 12 timbers to leave head room in the center of the house.
An 8 x 16 beam was stacked on the 6 x 12 timbers to leave head room in the center of the house.
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All of the beams were notched, with an adze, to key them to the posts.
All of the beams were notched, with an adze, to key them to the posts.
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The 2 x 8 sections of Homasote being hammered together and nailed down.
The 2 x 8 sections of Homasote being hammered together and nailed down.
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The Homasote and the Thermasote sheets were piled up on the front roof prior to their application.
The Homasote and the Thermasote sheets were piled up on the front roof prior to their application.
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The stud frame second-story front wall is eight inches thick.
The stud frame second-story front wall is eight inches thick.
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Inside the future living room .
Inside the future living room .

In the initial article about the construction of our earth sheltered house, we discussed the basic design concepts behind the planned structure, and we described the methods used to erect the dwelling’s reinforced outer walls. Of course, our workers were anxious to get a roof on the building as quickly as possible to keep the rain out and the summer sun off their backs. And, as a result of their enthusiasm to get a little weatherproofing on the job site, in this issue we’re able to tell you about the assembly of the internal roof-supporting-framework and the laying-on of the sheathing and insulation.

Post and Beam

While designing MOTHER EARTH NEWS’ earth shelter, our team considered several different means of supporting the sod-covered roof on the front half of the house: precast, pre-stressed, and cast-in-place concrete, trusses, and even steel beams. But after hashing out the advantages and disadvantages of the various approaches, we finally chose to go with a wooden post-and-beam arrangement, because it could be economically built from local materials with basic hand tools and since we felt that the huge timbers required would be attractive additions to the dwelling’s interior decor.

The vertical members (or posts) are 8 X 8 hemlock pine, which we acquired from a local lumber mill. Our original plans specified 6 X 8’s, but the sawyer had only 8 X 8’s on hand. So rather than wait to have the smaller timbers cut, we decided to widen the central wall thickness to 8″ (instead of 6″) to accommodate the larger members. Each post was secured to the slab with a 10″-long piece of 1/2″ rebar that was pounded into holes in both the concrete and the wood. In addition, the posts at each end of the building were tied to exterior walls with 3/4″ bolts.

A total of four more uprights were then positioned at 6-foot intervals from each end of the building, and the remaining quartet of vertical members was arranged so as to make room for a stairway and to provide additional support for a long central spanning beam.

  • Published on Sep 1, 1981
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