Rod moved to Costa Rica in June, but before he moved he was living in this charming house at the Earthaven Ecovilage near Asheville, NC. His housing expenses were about $40 per month including community fees. Utilities cost him nothing.
The Hobbit House
It doesn’t look like it from the road, but the hobbit house is earth-sheltered. By using massive materials the interior stays comfortable in the summer without using fossil fuels. A wood stove and passive solar gains provide the heat during the winter.
Most of the materials came from the site. The house is on a terrace cut into the side of a mountain. Using an excavator, the top soil was removed and stockpiled to be used on the roof. The subsoil was used to make the rammed earth bricks that would form the walls.
South Wall (note the shelves for sparrow nests and slots for bats under the eave)
The south wall is cinva rammed blocks. The blocks themselves are a clay/sand/water mixture. They are held in place by mortar also made of clay/straw/sand/water. Around windows and in tight spots, the same clay/straw/sand/water mixture is built up by hand (it’s called cob).
Above the concrete foundation are a couple of rows of feed sacks filled with gravel. Concrete is permeable, and if the earth blocks were set directly on it, water could wick up through the foundation to the block walls. On a typical wood framed house a rubber sill gasket keeps the wood dry. Here, any water that gets to the gravel is pulled back down by gravity and drained out the bottom of the wall.
Almost all of the windows are located in the south wall. They are shaded by the roof overhang and grape leaves in the summer, but the lower winter sun is allowed in to heat the floor. The windows are salvaged from other buildings. They are all rectangular, but the clay/sand mixture is formed into arches. All but upper windows in the center section are operable.
The east and west walls use cordwood construction. 12″ firewood is stacked and mortared with the same mixture used for the adobe bricks. Wood provides some insulation, but Rod said he would increase it to 18″ for added stability and insulation next time.
The guest bedroom walls were built using feed sacks. He filled the bottom with old discarded clothing to act as insulation, then filled the rest with earth for structural support and mass to store passive solar heat.
The feed sacks were covered with one of Rod’s inventions called paper-clayche. It consists of paper strips dipped in (you guessed it) a clay/sand/water mixture and applied to the walls. The paper fibers act as reinforcing and the result is an extremely tough natural plaster wall. He used the same thing for the floor. When we were there the floor was still drying so I don’t know how it turned out, but it looked beautiful.
The north wall of the first floor is wood framed with an old canvas tepee used as the skin. Through the secret hidden door is a “vertical crawlspace”. The excavated hill side is a few feet behind the tepee wall. The composting toilet is in there along with the electrical and piping distribution. Adding or repairing wiring or piping couldn’t be easier. The stairs lead to a second story stick framed bedroom.
Rod installed 200 watts of used solar panels, which is an extremely small system for a house, but it’s all he needed. A system for a typical American house would be about 4000 watts. A microwave alone is 1000-1500 watts, and a hairdryer uses 1500 watts. There is only 35 watts of lighting in the whole house (half of one typical incandescent bulb). Most of the lights are ultra efficient LED. The Sundanzer refrigerator sips a mere 150 watt hours per day.
Kitchen with DC refrigerator
Water comes from a spring located up the mountain. Hot water is generated by running it thru a small black tank (about 30 gallons) tucked into the back of a skylight above the kitchen.
Skylight with adjustable covers
Grey water from the sink and shower are used to water the landscaping. The shower is located in an adjacent greenhouse. Most houses have an exhaust fan in the bathroom to remove the humidity from the shower, but the plants in the greenhouse love it.
Greenhouse interior (the big tank is for tilapia - the bathtub is behind it)
For a lot more information see Rod’s website: rrylander.com
Also, please take a look a his reason for moving:
