How do you layout and design a house in the shape of a circle!? That was the challenge I had, and one that I spent countless hours playing with. I made a large number of designs and layouts. I had so many ideas and I couldn't have them all! I also had some help from a dear friend who drew some wonderful layout ideas.
There were a few things that I knew I wanted, and that led the way for a lot of the planning. I decided very early on that I would make the entire house open plan, with the exception of the bathroom. Due to the height of the roof, it would have also been quite difficult to close off the ceiling except for under the mezzanine. I also knew that I would have two planter cells by the kitchen and both front windows. Upstairs would be more private, and so I located the bedroom and a lounge area to be upstairs.
The location of the kitchen was known to me all along, since I wanted to have a good window and view of the mountains whilst I cooked. The area under the mezzanine had much less light and was the perfect spot for my office since it is very hard to see the screen when the sun is out.. This is especially the case when you have a 15ft skylight at 12:00 midday. It's fair to say that we have more than enough light in Earthship Karuna, and during a full moon the entire house is lit up! That is one of the reasons we have a 4-poster bed here with a good covering. It makes everything feel cozy. One thing is for sure, I NEVER got up with the sun my whole life before I slept under a 15ft skylight! Nowadays I am awake at 6:30 every day, just as the sun makes her way over the mountain edge. This eco house even has a built in alarm clock!
I've just looked everywhere, and I'm sorry to say I have lost the sketches of my original plans! Knowing me i'll discover them right after I post this!! lol. Luckily I do have plenty of great photos, so you will still see how we sculpted and crafted the interior of Earthship Karuna. The overall look and feel was to be rustic but not too rustic. I took a lot of influences from Japanese design and blended it with a bit of rustic-ness, and dash of funkiness. I had to be careful not to go over the top, and yet still create something beautiful and eye catching.
It was also very clear that I would need to have some carpets downstairs to assist with noise reduction. Once we had taken all the scaffolding down and had this large and tall roof in place, the acoustics were unbelievable. The bare bones Earthship was more like a cathedral than a house. You could almost not talk to someone right next to you because there was such a strong echo. We put these amazing acoustics to use right away as my friend got her flute out and started playing. Every sound you made sounded just beautiful, and I also had a nice drumming session which blew my mind! As good as the acoustics were, I couldn't live like that! Therefore I made sure to add some carpet and rugs, as well as all the other fixtures and fittings that would be made.
The work itself was done by my wonderful Indian team from Auroville, and myself. I also had the artistic magnificence of Chloe, who spent nearly 2 months adding her artistic magic to many areas of the Earthship.. in particular the bathroom! This whole finishing process took around a year, although there wasn't an actual moment when it finished.
I moved in right at the beginning of this interior work and managed to find a secluded spot up on the mezzanine with some plywood on top of the mezzanine frame. The whole process started off by us creating the main features of the house. The kitchen floor was raised about a foot, and I decided we would make all of the kitchen units rather than trying to buy something that would fit. We needed a spiral staircase in the center of the house! I wanted a nice big fireplace in case it got cold during winter. The bathroom needed partition walls, as well as tiling and finishing. The list went on of course but those are the basics!
The first job was to finish the gray cement plastered walls with something a bit more natural. We had already added a 1/2 inch thick cement plaster to the entire inside and outside of the tyre walls. This was to ensure strength as I had exceeded the normal height of a tyre wall. It was also because we have 2 monsoons a year and it can rain like you have never seen for days and even weeks on end. I wanted to be sure the walls would not have issues, particularly outside. The final plaster was a mix of 10% dirt, 80% sand and 10% cement. It had a lovely brown colour and because of this small amount of cement would set quickly and have a nice natural brown colour. Once the walls had been plastered, which only took a few days we waited for them to dry. The final layer we put was a sealant to help protect and reduce any dust and damage. It also improves the waterproofing abilities which was most important outside! I decided to use Linseed Oil which was liberally painted on the walls several times with several dilutions with paint thinner. We put about three layers on, and the walls took on a lovely deep brown colour. This took some weeks to dry, but we carried on with other work.
I had spent quite some time researching and reading about ferro-cement on the Internet. Whilst I try to use as less cement as possible, there are times when a little cement can go a LONG way! A prime example was the staircase. We would never have managed to build this staircase with such ease using any other material! In the end I made the kitchen units, staircase, bathroom walls, systems rooms, fireplace and roof guttering all out of ferro cement! There are many advantages to using it including, a very thin 1" wall is possible, it is very quick, it is very strong, it is quite cheap, it can be made into almost any shape or form and hardens in a few days.
The first job we took on was the staircase. It seems hard to believe that this approach would really produce a strong sturdy staircase when you start out making the framing, but I can assure you it does! The work started with us making a skeleton frame out of long steel rebar. It is strong stuff, but flexible enough to bend into any shape. The challenge with this was to make the frame such that the steps were evenly space out and each had the same height. It took some fiddling around, but we got there in the end! You can see in the images below the different stages. The frame was covered with chicken mesh. It was then plastered in regular cement. We finished the steps in the same mix as the walls. The sides of the staircase were finished with white cement. Once Chloe arrived we tiled the whole thing with an arty mosaic. You will see that soon!
The kitchen units were next! If i had chosen to use wood, I think the carpenters would have been busy for weeks! There were no straight lines, and the whole thing was a real custom fit. Using ferro-cement we just framed the whole thing like the staircase. I chose the size and depth of the cupboards and we just made the shape how I wanted it. The hardest part was deciding how high to make the counter and sink. ;=) You can see below the stages involved.
The final layer was put on afterwards which you will see later. It was a white cement with a yellow pigment with a very smooth finish.
We were manifesting everything in quick-time using this method! It took just a few days to make the kitchen unit. We were on a roll, and after so much slow progress it was great to see it all come together so quickly! Next we moved on to the bathroom walls. Since we were using ferro-cement, we could also make the wall curved and very thin. We make this wall very quickly again, and with just a few sacs of cement and sand.
Whilst the maisoners were busy with all that, we had the carpenters work on the mezzanine flooring. They brought some 1/2" thick hardwood planks with them from Auroville. This wood was Supposed to be dry, which is hard to get around here. When you spend the time getting the joints and cuts just perfect, you really do need dry wood or else it will all move and shrink as it dries. The shape of the mezzanine was pretty unusual, and we decided not to floor it with straight lines but rather follow the shape of the mezzanine. It made it a bit harder to do, and there were definitely some uneven levels which made the job a bit more challenging. They took a good 3 weeks to do this work, nearly all by hand. It seemed to me that most of their time was spent cutting tongue and groove joints throughout. It took a while to get each piece to fit perfectly to the next. Definitely a labor of love!
By the time they were finished the entire house was covered in wood dust. Not a square inch was spared from sawdust! Even before the varnish was put on, I could see it was going to look lovely. We also added some teak wood colored stainer to the varnish to give it a deeper colour. That you will see soon!
It was interesting during this process to notice how making these big structures like the staircase and kitchen took no time at all. It was the detail work and smaller jobs that took the longest! It was always worth going that extra mile, and with no deadline or need to finish we took our time and made everything as nice as we could.
The front of the Earthship has several features. Two of them are those big wooden pillars that you may have read about in a previous part. The other features are the two glass bottle pillars, and the front door! The bottle walls were also pillars that whilst simply filling a gap, also helped to support the roof, and made for a beautiful decorative and colorful feature. Once you put the time into cleaning and polishing each inch by hand, the result was very beautiful. From the inside you can see a colored stain-glass window affect when the sun shines through. The design for the doors was my own, based on Japanese proportions. The guys couldn't understand why i wanted the glass panels to be uneven, and I kept insisting that they do it even though to them it made no sense.. Hopefully you can see below what I mean! ;-)
We also had an electrician and 'plumber' on the team, and they were kept very busy. Earthship Karuna is powered by a solar power system, that arrives just after this finishing work happens. To prepare for it, we installed normal electrical wiring throughout. Although Earthship Karuna runs will run on solar power, the whole technical side of that happens outside the house in the battery room. What is fed into the house is normal AC current at 220V.
The plumbing was much more thought out, and had in fact been planned well ahead of the entire build. I knew what pipes i would need where. The main difference between normal household plumbing and an Earthship is that the waste water is dealt with very differently. There are two types of waste water, gray water and black water. Gray water comes from the kitchen and shower, and black water is anything to do with the toilet. We had installed an underground septic tank behind and below the house to deal with the toilet flushing. I chose a normal water flush type toilet so that we didn't have to deal with any maintenance. We also have plenty of water here and not much hay for something like a compost toilet! This tank should last many years if not indefinitely if done properly. The idea is that you encourage bugs and roots to drink and eat the feces that are underground, so that you have little mini ecosystem that is dealing with your waste without any centralization or further treatment needed.
The kitchen water would be funneled into the planter cell that was just by it and near the front window. This planter would have a banana tree, a bamboo tree, aloe vera, fruits, and all sorts of ornamental plants. They would be fed and watered when I used the kitchen sink, and I built in a by-pass to send water straight outside so that I could use lots of soap and hot water if needed without polluting the planter! The whole planter also overflowed outside, where we put another banana plant that could feed and drink from this nutrient rich water all day long. The great thing about this system is that all you have to do is wash the dishes and use your shower and you end up watering most of your fruits and vegetables with no effort!. This is a system that is very water conserving, and in fact reuses the same water up to three times! In some Earthships they also flush the toilet with gray water, which is a very smart idea. Why flush a toilet with perfectly clean water!? I chose not to do that as we have plenty of water and less power to drive the pumps we would have needed. My entire water system works without any pumps at all! I am very lucky that our main source of water is from a few fresh water springs high above us. We pipe all that down to 5,000 liter holding tanks that are above and behind the house. These feed high pressure water to the house and all taps without the need of pumps. Whilst i do harvest rain water as well, i only use it as a backup option. SO far I have never needed to use it. TO do so would require pumps and power, and we really don't seem to need it. Here is a peek of how this planter looked after we finished!
On and on we went, for many weeks. This whole finishing stage was split over two sessions totaling around 2-3 months. In the final finishing stage we turned this rough but stunning space into a polished spectacle! The final reveal will be in the next part! I was in a state of awe and intense focus. I had to watch everyone all of the time and didn't have a day off for the whole time. On Sunday i would be busy running to town to buy more materials. It just didn't stop, and I didn't want it to. This was just too exciting and I ran on adrenaline and excitement and coffee the whole time!
MISSED A PART?
CATCH UP ON PARTS 1-9 HERE:
Part 1: The creation of my life's dream, a totally off-grid self sufficient home - Earthship Karuna
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Part 2: The dream was born.
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Part 3: How to accomplish anything in life!
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Part 4: Finding My Spot in India at Last! The Journey Ends and Starts!
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Part 5: The Remarkable Diary of an ecoBuilder. A plan and vision was born
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Part 6: A Diary Of My First Eco-Build Of An Off-Grid Sustainable Earthship: - We Start Building!
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Part 7: Epic Tales Of An Eco-Builder : The 200 Ft Tree Challenge!
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Part 8: The Remarkable Diary Of An Eco Builder Part 8: The Show Must Go On!
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Part 9: Remarkable Diary: The Roof! I love it when a plan comes together!
Another fantastic read. It really starts to look great. Very handy and useful tips as well. I hope you'll give us the grand tour at the end of the series.
you know,, i NEVER did a video tour.. And i really should! i will sure give a photo tour thought yes! Next part you see EVERYTHING in all its glory!
That's great I can't wait.
Great Post!
thank u thank you dennis!
seems like a lot of work:) You are doing a great job.
yeah it was the hardest thing i ever did! ;=)
actually im writing this in past tense .. i finishe din 2012 / 13 ... better late than never!
img credz: pixabay.com
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Yo brother!
I have been so busy I haven't been able to check in on your posts for quite a while. Though now that I do I am very pleased to see you making another post in this awesome series!
I am as you know, a huge fan of sustainable living and sustainable homes are a BIG piece of the pie!
Thanks for sharing education and inspiring content in support of this very important matter!
100% UP vote for exposure and compensation for great works.
INFINITE blessings to you!
Blessings~*~
infinite thanks to you! glad you stepped in to say hi! thanks for the shout out, and support .. and the big up . upvote.. lets get this out there! And this is a good part to see as Earthship Karuna Starts To take shape!
Yea man!
I support your post in general, but totally love the earth ship ones as they are quite awesome!
Happy to help and I will continue to check in on your great contributions!
thats good to know.. I agree, im most excited writing these!
Dont worry, even though we;re nearing the end of this build, I have Three workshops and built three more! What was really amazing was that on the first workshop I ever did, we attempted to build and roof a small round earthship in TWO weeks using 100% unskilled volunteers from all around the world.
It was an ambitious plan to try to do it so fast.. DID we succeed? Youll have to wait and see!! ;-)
hahahahaha I see what your doing there with the cliff hanger ;-)>
If I didn't already believe in your abilities I may be on the edge of my seat!
Keep up the great work brother!
aweeeee ;-) swooned !
hahahahahaha yea swooning the eco train conductor!
;-)>
You are quite an artist really. Your creativity and hard work is visible through every photograph of the post. Amazing job really! Going through the other parts of the series now.
Definitely an artist he is!
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STOPAlex you should totally make a book on this topic. I think it will sell good.
this was my plan many years back!
I think i have to write a lOT more to make it into a book, but i have made a good start here! There are SO many stories and details i have left out to prevent it being too long!
Maybe i should write the next series called
"The Remarkable Diary, Untold and Unbelievable Stories"
Try this ^^
https://editor.reedsy.com
I would love to read this series%)<3
how to publish these days that what i want to know! Ive Just introduced a very old friend here who has an amazing book that he wrote.. you would love it! Im thinking to help him publish it here on Steemit.. but maybe you have a better suggestion! I
SWG! @vangelov has some amazing ideas! We can get you an invite ;p
great!
OH, I love, love, love this. I've been smitten with alternative technology and building for 20 or so years. I'm finally living in Belize (my happy place), and we hope to start on our earthbag house when the dry season comes.
So, I have a question, and I'm wondering if you have thoughts. I have an earth bag builder whose opinion I can also ask, but I'm hoping to get a variety of opinions. I have always wanted to do a round house, but when I began designing, I realized that what made the most sense for us was a doughnut. An open floor plan won't work for us because there are five of us. Anyway, I really want a doughnut with a little courtyard in the middle. My concern is a seven month rainy season. Am I asking for trouble with flooding in the courtyard? Maybe I can do some kind of retractable dome or cover over the center? I'm kind of attached to the courtyard idea but not enough to deal with water damage or drainage problems. Were in southern Belize, so it's subtropical not fully tropical. Now I need to go back and read all these other articles!
OH, I love, love, love this. I've been smitten with alternative technology and building for 20 or so years. I'm finally living in Belize (my happy place), and we hope to start on our earthbag house when the dry season comes.
So, I have a question, and I'm wondering if you have thoughts. I have an earth bag builder whose opinion I can also ask, but I'm hoping to get a variety of opinions. I have always wanted to do a round house, but when I began designing, I realized that what made the most sense for us was a doughnut. An open floor plan won't work for us because there are five of us. Anyway, I really want a doughnut with a little courtyard in the middle. My concern is a seven month rainy season. Am I asking for trouble with flooding in the courtyard? Maybe I can do some kind of retractable dome or cover over the center? I'm kind of attached to the courtyard idea but not enough to deal with water damage or drainage problems. Were in southern Belize, so it's subtropical not fully tropical. Now I need to go back and read all these other articles!
oh my @solarsupermama .. what a coincidence!!! You may be surprised to hear that what you are describing is exactly what I was going to build before I changed my plans!!! Earthbag is amazing and also a hybrid of tyre foundations with earthbag is also the way to go.
Let me start by showing you the plan that i had seen online of a similar idea! Note that this is kind of a spiral rather than donut. I think it adds a great dimension to the space.
THis plan has the same centre garden idea, I its one of the things i like most about this design. If you have windows on the inside you will be able to see the garden from all parts of the house. Note that you have access from the whole house too if you want, including the bedroom which backs onto it.
Now, drainage is a major issue is for sure! What I would reccomend is that you firstly have the entire level of the ground in the core around 1 ft below the floor level of the house. Then that ground should be slightly angled toward the natural drainage line of the land.
Before you even start you will want to fit several big drainage pipes underground that are at least 10" wide and spread around. THere should be more of them where the slope of the land will funnel it during heavy rains. The trick will be doing this before the build happens and making sure the pipes are strong enough (metal ideally) that they won't break under pressure from the walls sitting close on top. Obviously the drainage pipes will need to be dig in on a gentle slope and so doing this on a sloped piece of land may help if you work with it.
Needless to say that if you have that much rain, the best way to go is to use a tyre foundation with a good epdm membrane enveloping at least the first few feet of the walls going down and under the first course of tyres. You can do the same for the floor area, oR you can also raise the floor 1-2 feet using large stones and then smaller stones and finally cement to prevent wicking.
Here is that part of the blog if you are interested!
Very best of luck!
https://steemit.com/blog/@eco-alex/the-remarkable-diary-of-an-ecobuilder-part-5-a-plan-and-vision-was-born
Oh my, this is so, so helpful!!!!! Thank you so much for sharing all this knowledge! Drainage pipes is a great solution! I am so glad I found you!!
feel free to ask anything anytime or email me on [email protected] .. im happy to help people!
Thank you so much! I know I'll have lots more questions as time goes on. Your articles are super informative. Being on the coast in a hurricane zone, I think the tires will be a really good idea for the foundation.
yes definitely good for hurricanes.. most important will be your roof and choosing a strong and durable option..
Definitely. Lots of good, local knowledge on that one thankfully.
OH, and I have to say, that bath. So beautiful. Makes me wanna cry. Earthen bathtub is way up there on my list.
oh that bath is the highlight ;=) it's actually a jacuzzi and runs totally on solar. The water is heated with solar, and the power is also photovoltaic.
I love it because the tables are turned. At the end of the day the water is already hot and ready to go.. it is a waste NOT to have a piping hot bath here many nights! ;-))
mine isnt earthen in the end.. for various reasons, but i did do it once.. Its fun to be able to sculpt your tub! watch our for the ergonomics though, mine wasn't the most comfortable to be honest ;-) it was the shape of a pair of lips, lol!
Most excellent tip! I will research ergonomics before shaping! And, yes, I'm super excited to have solar hot water. Right now we have an instant water heater fueled by butane. I'm ready to make the switch!
One day, hopefully before too long, I will make one of these, and this series will be my go-to guide! Thank you for documenting it so well, it is a motivation to others (like me!)
I love reading this series, @eco-alex. It is so detailed and you can feel the passion you have. And I agree with @ecoinstant that I hope one day I can also use this knowledge as to do-guide.
Regarding the book I do not know, I think it will be to hard to put it all on paper, but series of educational videos I can picture quite well. Much love.
thanks sasha! Im thinking now to try and publish it on Kindle after I finish.. I would probably write a bit more to add a few more stories that I couldn't squeeze into my posts! x
Oh, Kindle should be a good option%) It is a marketer in me is always looking for the best way to promote good ideas%) That is why I made a remark of the video lessons. Unfortunately these days people tend to grab information the easiest way possible so reading is becoming less popular%(