By Joseph Robertia
Photo courtesy of Earthship Biotecture. Volunteers pack tires with dirt to create “bricks” for an Earthship structure in Todos Santos, Baja California. A Kasilof family will begin building a similar structure, made of recycled materials, this summer.
For the Redoubt Reporter
When a fire consumed the two-story log cabin owned by Kasilof residents Willow King and Kelly Hagelund in November, it was a searing loss for their family. But from the ashes of this tragedy, an idea for a new and better home was born. Their “Earthship” will take its unique shape this summer.
“Basically, the design of the whole house is based on garbage,” Hagelund said. “Tires, bottles, cans, newspapers — the whole house is made of recyclables.”
A malfunctioning component in the Hagelund’s wood stove exhaust system is believed to have caused the blaze, which robbed them of their home of five and a half years, near Mile 107 off the Sterling Highway, and all their possessions in it.
“What we went through with the fire, I wouldn’t wish it on anyone,” Hagelund said. “But in some ways, it was a blessing in disguise.”
Hagelund, 28, and his wife, 29, had been researching ways to live more sustainably before their cabin was deemed a total loss by firefighters. Afterward, while living in an apartment with their three children, ages 2 to 8 years old, they learned about Earthships.
“We were watching a documentary,” Hagelund said. “We never would have learned about it if we hadn’t been watching TV in that apartment, because we didn’t have a television.”
Earthships — which first became popular in Taos, N.M., around the 1970s — are designed to be sustainable, “off-the-grid” homes, economically feasible for an average person to build with no specialized construction skills.
“We wanted to move toward a life that was simpler, cheaper, more efficient and more self-sufficient,” King said.
The major structural building component of an Earthship is recycled automobile tires, filled with dirt and compacted by use of a sledgehammer.
“We’ve been collecting tires since around late December to early January, since we’ll need around 1,000 to 1,200 of them,” King said.
“I just pounded out our first one for practice the other day, though” Hagelund said. “It took me about a half hour as a rookie. It’s pretty heavy-duty work, so we should all have forearms like Popeye by the end of the summer.”
This “brick,” encased in steel-belted rubber, can weigh as much as 300 pounds once rammed with earth, so they are used to make outer, load-bearing walls. Internally, nonload-bearing walls are made of a honeycomb of recycled bottles or cans joined by concrete.
“Earthships also utilize thermal mass construction to naturally regulate indoor temperatures,” King said.
South-facing windows allow light to naturally heat the home, as well as allowing the tire walls at the back of the structure to soak up heat during the day and radiate it during the night.
“They’re oriented to utilize the sun for heat, electricity and sometimes cooking and composting.” King said.
Most Earthships are U-shaped, but King said their home’s design will be modified to accommodate Alaska sunlight better.
“We’ll open it up to get more sun access,” King said. “We’ll also go with two stories to utilize rising heat. The goal is to create a year-round ambient air temperature of around 50 degrees.”
To accomplish this, Hagelund acknowledged some supplemental heat will have to take place during the cooler months.
“We’ll be running a masonry stove almost all winter,” he said. “We’ll also have a small wind turbine and some solar panels to charge a small bank of batteries to power a refrigerator, freezer, other small appliances and our computer.”
Water used in Earthships is collected from rain, snow and condensation. Cisterns are positioned so they gravity feed to a filter and pump system, and the harvested water has multiple uses. Water used for a shower may later be used to water a garden.
“Water may be recycled three to four times before it goes to septic,” King said.
Many Earthships are subterranean or built into the side of a hill or mountain, but Hagelund said this, too, had to be modified to accommodate the soggy substrate of their Kasilof property.
“We live in a swampy area so we’ll build up dirt terraces to it,” he said. “We’d like to start the dirt work, and getting the pad ready, in about a week and a half.”
The Hagelunds said they are open to working with volunteers interested in helping ram tires with dirt, and they are still in need of some supplies for the construction of their home. They need around 3,500 bottles to build their interior walls, so they are taking donations.
“We’d like nice, preferably colored, liquor bottles,” King said.
To help work or make a donation, contact the Hagelunds by e-mail at happinessislocated@yahoo.com.
