The Earthship Explained (2004)

On the eve of the birth of their grandchild, Jay and Annie Warmke looked out over the wooded hills of Muskingum County and felt they had come home. They bought the 38-acre tract that makes up the Station and dreamed of one day creating a retreat for their family.  

While listening to public radio, Annie heard architect Michael Reynolds of Solar Survival in Taos, New Mexico talking about a new type of home he designed that used old tires and bottles. A living dwelling he called an “Earthship.” The seed had been sown.  

Construction of the original 1,650 square foot house began in 1996.  During a nine-week period, 1,100 tires were brought in from an illegal dumpsite cleaned up by the Environmental Protection Agency. They were used to create the walls of the single-family dwelling. Most of the wood used in the construction was re-claimed from local barns.

The addition of a 600 square foot conservatory will be completed in 2005. This room has a foundation of 75 tires. The walls will be constructed of cordwood and glass.

Each room in the Earthship is called a “U” because of the shape of the area. The house has two bedrooms, a living room, kitchen, utility room and shower room.

In the original design there were two 5,000-gallon cisterns that catch the runoff from the roof, one located at each end of the house. As it turns out, one cistern is more than enough for the house, so the other cistern is being converted into a root cellar.  

All water from the sinks, shower and washing machine drains inside the house to giant planters called “wetlands” where plants can be grown year round. The large plants currently being grown are avocado trees and cannas.

A compost toilet is located in the utility room, along with a front-loading low water use washing machine, and a dryer. Eventually a blackwater treatment system will be installed just outside of this room, and will use an ordinary commode.

The two other wooden buildings on site are used as a garage, and a small barn for storage of lumber. Both of these buildings were constructed from wood taken from a deconstructed barn just outside of New Concord. The slate on the roof of the barn was removed from two buildings slated for demolition.