Miles City, Montana Day 2

June 24, 2009 from chromasomatic.com

We made a lot of progress on day 2. Most interns were a little beat up from day 1 but everyone worked through their pain inspired by the relentless Earthship build crew. We just about doubled the tire walls and introduced 2 layers of the thermal barrier. That’s a foam wall that sits 4.5 feet from the tire wall. That space gets filled with earth and creates a thermal mass that retains heat or cool (depending on the season) for the house. It also separates the thermal mass from the outside earth so there is little thermal transfer and thus, loss. We also got the cooling ducts in. These are tubes that run underground from about 25 feet behind the back wall to the inside space. The idea is that warm air in the summertime flows in, cools as it travels underground and then enters the interior to cool the space.

The beginning of Day 2