Friday, Jan 11, 2019
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Below, Dawn Kirklan outside her Wakanui Road earth-ship (above), a self-sustaining eco-house, which consists mainly of dirt and tyres. PHOTO JAIME PITT-MACKAY 100119-JPM-0002
Earth-ship has landed JAIME.P@THEGUARDIAN.CO.NZ
One of Ashburton’s first earthships has landed, and its owners are hoping their build might inspire more sustainable houses in the future. Much like a ship sails the oceans, an earth-ship is a house
that is built up with tyres packed with soil before being covered with more soil. The entire property is self-sustaining, with water coming from collected rainwater, and solar power providing the energy. Where the earth-ship comes in to its own is in heating, with the
design of the building allowing it to maintain a constant heat level. “The sun comes through the glass side and hits the back walls of the rooms, which heats them up,” owner Dawn Kirklan said. “The heat is then released and there is also ventilation through to the other side of the build that
keeps things at a constant temperature. “Even when we had those hot days last week we were still sitting at 18 or 19°(Celsius).” The build used a total 13,000 tyres, and took around two years to get to this stage, with only a few finishing touches left to be put in
place. “The tyre work was hard for a start,” she said. “Getting the big roof beams up was also challenging as they had to be level.”
CONTINUED
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BY JAIME PITT-MACKAY