Shed made of tires and dirt

[landlord]

My bro, visiting from CO, told me of a guy who built a shed from tires. He stacked tires, filled them with dirt and put a roof over it. Unsure of further details for roof supports but the walls would be sound. He said the temps were like 65'F in the winter in the shed. Uncertain of other construction details, would he have to bolt the tires together? Sounds interesting... Could almost cut strips out of the treads and make rubber shakes for a roof. Have to be pretty strong trusses...

[mightybooboo]

Do a google search for earthships.The tires are filled with dirt,then smash the dirt into them with a sledgehammer,making compressed dirt.Do a first course,stack up next level tire and do it again.Tires are staggered like bricks.So,for all the details,look at earthship sites.
BooBoo

[gobug]

You might check the archives here. I posted a question not long ago about how to build a retaining wall of old tires. Its hard to pack the dirt, so most who have done this don't want to do it again. One response said to use a jig saw to cut the top surface off the tire and make it simple to fill with dirt. Once the tires are full, you put on another layer. The surface can be finished like straw bale.

[Janon]

I once built a wooden shed using a "rib design". I assembled all the ribs in my shop with a jig I had made to lay on the shop floor. It took a fair amount of time to build this unconventional shed. My neighbour admired the design and my craftsmanship... and later that summer that same neighbour built his own shed. The shed he built was very conventional... but it took him about a third of the time to build it. Granted, if I built many ribbed sheds I could be quicker... but I don't.

His shed and my shed do the same thing... hold lawnmowers and garden tools. My point?

Being creative
takes a whole lot of time
which you could be using
to drink a whole lot of wine

cheers,

[John Hill]

Not sure of the point of putting too much effort into ramming the earth into the tyres. We have used them for retaining walls around here with no more than filling the tyres. Maybe you get to use a few extra tyres as the compress down a little more in not hard packed.

Thinks "There could be potential here to design a earth tyre packer machine".

[Ken Scharabok]

I know it would be messy, but couldn't you wet down the dirt as the tires are being billed to compact it?

Keep in mind in some places if you have more than a certain amount of tires on your property you are consider a landfill and need to get a premit.

Ken Scharabok

[mightybooboo]

Originally Posted by Ken Scharabok

I know it would be messy, but couldn't you wet down the dirt as the tires are being billed to compact it?

Keep in mind in some places if you have more than a certain amount of tires on your property you are consider a landfill and need to get a premit.

Ken Scharabok

The Earthship books I have by Micheal Reynolds describe the system as rammed earth with the tires as the holder of the rammed earth.Supposed to be very very strong setup.Yep,I worry about the eco-nazis getting in my way on this plan too,though the successes and approved building plans(from Reynolds) that are available now should help in getting approval (I hope).
BooBoo