Earth-covered arch, the home of John Loveless (right) and family, was designed by Loveless and Jeremy Derg (let. Earth-sheltered houses —bolt-and-glue arched wooden panels cut costs How do you build earth-sheltered houses that cost no more than standard homes? Use conventional materials, reduce the quantities required, and keep to familiar modules, two Michigan designers decided. They invent ed—and manufacture—pre-insulated curved wooden panels that form un- derground arches. Similar straight panels form rectangular earth shelters. By V. ELAINE SMAY Gano Haven, Mien at's the amount af panols it takes to enclose 2 2,300-square-fo0t house," said John Loveless, mo- tioning toward four 10-fot-high stacks of gently curving fourby-eight-foot panels, each six inches thick and ‘skinned with the eruay-quilt patcern of oriented-strand board. “Often peo- ple just rent «litle fated truck and rive away with the structure for a house” ‘We were walking through the one room factory and warehouse of Inte- brated Building Systems (BS), housed ina 1980s-era box of building in a commercial sector of Grand Haven, ‘ear Lake Michigan. IBS is the de 8 and manufacturing company owned and operated by Loveless and his partner, Jeremy Berg. Their lfce sajna the shop. The curved panels; developed by Loveless and Berg and. made in their faetar, are pre-ineulated, stressed: skin wood panels that glae and bolt together om site to form archahaped structures for earth sheltered house ‘Thao houses cost no mare to build than conventnnal abvegraind bes, yet they cost mach Test to heat and fn. “A Tat of people claim thei earth “These two innavators recently de- veloped structural panels for rectan- reular earth-shellered houses, a8 well ‘Theis real quest: quality housing at ‘an affordable price ‘Loveless first became enamored of earth-sheltered hounae ata young ‘man, when he read my article on John. Barnard’ Ecology House in the June 1974 Pororan Science. Years later, ‘ofter a stint as a math and seienes. teacher, he became a design associate in an architectural frm Continue‘Soon economies tempered his enthu- siasm: Barth-shelered houses, along, with allother energy-efficient designs, were more expensive t build than conventional houses, “That means you've just prepaying your energy bills at the bank,” Loveless fretted. Berg, another designer in the architectural firm, shared Lavelesss dissatisfaction, “We just didn’t think energy offioncy should be for the elite alone,” Berg said. So the two young men teamed ‘up to form IBS, ‘They desided to focus on earth: sheltered design. “We liked the inker- ent efficiency,” said Loveless. “You can Superinsulate until you're blue in the faco, and you will slow heat loss—and add cost. But you wont establish a ‘mass that ean moderate temperature” ‘The soil around an earthvsheltered house does provide that thermal mass. I stays cooler than the air in sum- mer and warmer in winter. Thus it reduces the need for heating and, in a climate like Michigan's, eliminstes the need for air conditioning. “We also liked the low maintenance and ‘ceurity of carth-ohaltered houses," Toveless pointed out, “and the aes- thetic possibilities” "And we thougit they had the po tontial t be coat-compotitive with the conventional ranch house with 2x4 stud walls,” Berg added, ‘They were soon disabused of that notion. “Wo tried everything: poured concrete, concrete blocks, all-weather- ‘wood systems, trusses, ‘steel beams, and laminated wood beams auld Taveless. All the houses cost $55 $60 per square foot—mueh higher than conventional houses. "The arch entered the IBS repertory about five years azo, when the design- fers learned about a steel-mesh tun- nel liner called Bernold, distributed by US. Gypsum. “We liked the idea because the arch configuration would let us do greater spans with less- massive materials,” said Loveless, ‘Thats heeause an arch is inherently strong in compression, and thus can support a much greater load for a given shell thickness than ean a box: like structure “Domes, Arches. and in Earth Sheltered Hous. houses with the Bernold system, and 15 were built. The arch id indoed use fewer materials, Bul those mate- rale—Bemold plates and sprayed ceonerete—were expersive and labor in- tensive. “We finally got the eos: dewn 1 around $50 to $53 per square foot of usable for space [they count only the area with five feet or more of head room, which was competitive with ev: ecybody else inthe earth-shelterindus- fairs, where ‘quired angway to support second Boor ‘Arch is self-supporting. Windows and 4oors in end walls provide light and Soa geatintion, The howe be 8 cep, End walls @) ae eualy famed ith asiude they extendaboveareh {0 form retaining walle for earth cov. r (8 in, on top) Top of walls ean be try" Loveless said. But rot competitive with the 24 ranch house, Arch-Tech system The word-arch system sneaked up ‘on tho IBS mon: Thoy had got out & design reusable forms for poured. ‘concrete arches. “As we vere doing the engineering anslysis it suddenly dawned on us that if the formwork ‘ould support the reinforeing bars and wet corerete, it could also support the Ultimate earth load,” Loveless related cut to a curve, asin the Loveless house, or angled, as here. Areh-Tech panels tre glued and beltod together to form reh (3). Access holes for attaching bots wut be lea with insulation and covered with orlented-etrand beard. Crew works off seconds house is betng built in founding mot TBS houses (fr fenuly 26 conlyretening walle arent seeded. ora, walla are teed becouse Owners wanted private pa “So we said, What the heck, let's ot put on any concrete and call it a house and see if anybody notices.’ ” tracked Berg, the exmic of the team. The result: the curved, pre-insulated ‘wooden panel Taw stacked in their factory. They call them Arch-Tech pan- sls and have applied for a patent. ‘The top and bottom skins of the panele are four-by-cight-foot sheets of Yeineh oriented strand board (OSB). The sides are six-inchwide ares cut from %-inch OSB. The ends of thepanels are 1*Gs, The interior struc thre is a grid of OSB. The parts are laminated together with a relatively new stractural adhesive, an emulsion polymer isocyanate, Ie is strong and ‘waterproof and works over 1 brad ‘temperature range. Before the top skin ses on, thoy fil the 5%-inch interior tevity ofthe panels with pellets of ex: panded polystyrene (EPS) foam in sulation. "Its about one-quarter the cast of extruded polystyrene [like Dow Chemicals Styrofoam), which is nor- mally used on earth-sheltered houses” Borg printed out Tn the IBS factory, I watehed Jef? Lemons at the homemade press where the panels are clamped while the ad: hesive cures, The thick tan glue ovzed from the sears as he applied an im: pact wrench to the bolts of the press. ‘The noise of the wrench could’ quite drown out the blast ef reek musi from 4 radio hanging overhead. Loveless and Berg not onlv designed and engi heered the panels, they also designed land built the press and other ing ious equipment to produce the pare! “Its very much a low-tech approach, sald Berg. “One guy looked around hore and said, “Hos, this ix just a co tage industry.” I'takesone workman tneo weeks to produce the panels for 2 house ‘AL the building site, the Arch-Toch panels are bolted and glued together (with the same adhesive used in the factory! to form the arch. Each panel weighs about 150 pounds. To protect the OSB, the erew covers the arch with inch pressurestreated (vith chro: mated copper arsenate) plywood. & ‘crew of four or five can erect the shell in about three days, Waterproofing comes next. Generally aliquid synthe tic rubler is applied over the plywood anderovs-laminated polyethylene goos ver it "Then comes the backfill. When the contractor got to that point with the firs Arch ‘Tech shel, Berg yot butter fice. “The bulldeaor operator was there ready to blast away at it,” he related. “This guy looked at the wood shell und saldy 1 don't know if that thing’s going to hold up’ We had done all the engineering, af course, but su: denly I thought, ‘Maybe it ‘wil! fall llown’™ Te didevt. Infact, they monitored the deflection of the shell daring backfill, fand it proved even stronger than the stoel-und-concreie arches theyd bull, Even better news! The Arch-Tech houses proved less expensive. “The wood shell has a base materiels price bf 33 percent of the Bernold shell; erg told me, “And it easily inte- grated with the wood systems that are familiar to builders: 2 *10 flocr jist, 2o4 interior walls, 2.<6 end walls, Even the drywalling ix conventional Iteasily bends to fitthe curve,” Love- less added "To date, 32 Arch-Tech houses have bhoen built in eight states, from New Hampshire to Washington, Cost of & roughed-in house, including. excava ton and Lackfll but without doors or windows, has ranged fram $15 to $20 er square foot, the men report in ‘luding the contractors profit.That’s tne-half to two-thirds of what, other barth-shelered structs cos,” Love less said, Cost of a finished house is usually {Contin ope 106]This cata cm save you yp 1 60% oy sour ‘est Car oF hame sere, telephone. or VCR. FREE Stereo Catalog Refer to the latest Crutchfield Citslog before buying your next tear of home stereo, telephone, orver Sree eed ae ee ee saca ae en creat es ee Seer, see nie Eager see sovoine pares tbl Sereeeenls Se ea asc Mee ee Huge in-stock inventories stg eS eee Seen Tae {Call or write now for your FREE Catalog 1 seth coupon iow o cal tb '800- 336-5566 | tn Vii, cal 0-2-2961 | CRUTCHFIELD Earth-sheltered houses (Continued from page 68 labout double the roughin cost. Love> Tess's own 2,023-square-foot house {cover and opening photos), completed two years ago, cost $57,000, includ- ing land and site improvements. "I got the land dirt cheap,” he ssid, “and was able to seve where the average home- owner couldn't.” He gave me this ex- ‘ample of an Arch-Tech house built this Spring, without any owner labor or other cost advantages, “It was bid at '$85,500—tumkey,” Loveless said. “Phe house has 2,208 square feet of finished space, including a greenhouse, plus = Glé-square-foot garage and 260 square feet of storage space.” Wherever thelr Areh-Tech houses have boon built, Loveless and Berg report, they are matching the cost of site-buill conventional Houses with 24 stud walls and similar amenities, though they may not be as lowcost ‘as some tract houses. “But ifa builder ‘were to doa tract with our system, it ‘would compete with a eonventional trset,” Berg maintained. “And with ur sytem yout havea very efficient How efficient? Loveless calculations show that the heat loss of the Arch-Tech houses is 18,000 to 20,000 Buu per hour when the outside temperature ix zora and the temperature inside is 70 degrees FA ranch house with 24 stud walls fand similar fleor space might lose {60,000 to 75.000 Riu por hour undor those conditions, "The insulation of the Arch-Tech shell is R22, not all tht high,” Loveless volunteered, "But with the earth cover we're placing the house ina climate more like South Carolina's than like Michigan's” The larch shape also gives a high ratio of terior space to exterior surface Which reduces heat loss ‘and heat gain in summer'. And where there's earth cower there is po infliration, Many of tha hnuson araoriented to ward the south to benefit from solar heat; many have wood stoves, Most Ihave eleciricresiotance bachup beet With such low heating needs, its hard to justify more efficient—but more costly—systems, ‘The IBS men have collected data from Arch-Tech home- fwners, mostly in 700-dogree-day mates like Michigan's, who report annual fuel costs ranging from $80 for wood, cool, or natural gus Lo 8425 "There are Recently, Loveless and Berg de- veloped a system for building rectan gular earth-sheltered houses. They call it Wood Tesh, “Oar arches just Kknocked the socks off anything else Continued Reve Pace: ies ato hogirs 56 Call TOLL-FREE 800/443-3355. #Dash Saver. Oe pa ‘eine Fetes heady Laer stil News and Franchise Opportunity!!! or times f 35,0 1089800 yo#348 Eee ee i as, bea EET iototnetn era, O1UA. 0s Bock aboot Aluminum ‘Molde wit pee and Drodueion trade seca Siet trom ‘wore rg svt ral manufacturers EASY-TO-ASSEMBLE-KIT: PSN ICaa nents ow 2S Ee Pomona, ca fey Sereeota FL capers CrayraebE, Shen ea Wenger ind ar coped het oes < priate) Earth-sheltered houses. Continued in earth sheltering in terms of price.” Loveless explained, “but for the fam- ily that wanted a smaller, single-story home, the arch was not an ideal solu tion” Arch-Tech shells come in 30- or S-fuot spans and heights of 18 and 19 feet. Thus they work best as two- story houses with 1,600 square feet ‘or more of floor space. The IBS men row recommend the Wood-Tech sys tem for smaller houses. Wood-Tech panels are factory- formed, stressed-skin post-and-beam panels. The outside skin of & wall panel is a fourby-eight-foot sheet of Yeinch pressure troated plywood, Taminated to it are 2» 4 studs, placed ‘one foot on center. Thea a sesond 2x 4 is laminated to each stud, forming a ‘Tilange. The wall panels are left open, to be wired, plumbed, and insulated dake A Babycight feat wall panel ‘weighs about 130 pounds, "The four-by-12-foot roof panels —with 28 beams, Yeinch pressure- EPS foam insu: inch OSB bottom skins—are engineered for 16 inches ‘of earth cover and weigh a hefty 400 pounds. ‘These are put in place by Berg and Loveless took me to the first Weod-Tech house bul, where they placed the reof panels by hand. “It's ‘ot something yeu'd want to do twis Berg quipped. That 1,500-square-foot ryughed-in house cost $25,000; the finished houre wat around $65,000 (including an eye-popping master suite with het tub) ‘A plan book of Arch-Tech and Wood: ‘Tech house designs can be bought from IBS (Box 115, Grand Haven, Mich. 49417) for $15. A complete set of construction drawings for stock plans costs $225. Continuing innovation “What 1 responded to in thot frst PS article was that earth sheltering intuitively makes sense as an energy: efficient structure,” Loveless told me. But we'reno: married tit; we've til ding other things” For example: “Next year's project is ‘house that'l go up in a week,” Borg suid, handing me a rendering of an attractive aboveground house. Its to bbe mado of manafactured panels that are prefinished, from siding to drywall and contain 24 stud, The designers hope to use a radiantheat-reflective ceramic insulation. “That would give tus an effective R-value of about 25, in a 3¥minch eavity” Berg said. “This fifteen-hundred-square-foot_house could ke put up for about $27,000— ‘nished!™ he exclaimed. “Finished?” I asked skeptically, “Finished” co See ' re he year weve sl Aes of Bene at acomplia Seto ches, ratte and Your chon, your corer bost your sean home ate grate ah sre ih yo ot seal METRIC s2es ori you preter seen and vial apy see socket ya ee Ther’ 37 heady inal "enough races any stb yl ever have do aed ou fo hte than cots pe vorsal cet es yo cal hare o auto sto ae “the Vor potable tat he | 3 ES ie L 7s nt 221 Ieee HARBOR FREIGHT. SALVAGE. CO.Fora small job. Buy a Mantis oey to plow anu yoursat “Threromreraimeyre practical ass twins on dine ana weight only 20 peunss! Simply turning a300-poune tier ina backyard (aden sa challenge ‘Mort bg tilrs were designed to jt i (batman now fer clumsy ade-or laiackmonts an stomp jot tie ign cost Tne Marts wes esgnsd rom the beginning topresieay Bewerulenainet variety your ger Mants-20 sa tough, durable, precision dente sereorlem, you'd forabig tex sar 0'dajs bayou Marts has aLfotine instrumot.-ystitcostsatracton of what Mest machines ae partly covros for rmentagreemen’ nine engine Best ot. {you get 23. Week n-Yeur-Gardon Trt {yon dont ket wei buy back forevery penny you paid FREE $41.00 Boréer/Edaer! Manta hteutautng Co MGs Coun tne Ra Bap (ontrndon Vay PASO attr ana AEE Sook in The Cash in on our success. ‘Tri-Steo! Structures" revolutionary too! frame homes have what homebuyers want: ‘Fast construction time * Huge selection of flocrpians Singles multi-amily designs: * Low maintenance ‘Tremendous energy efficiency Custom designs avaitab) Unique patented dosig floes and churches avail nestory. two-story treiver Developer Inquiries Welcome oy TD 12 | POPULAR SCIENCE LU Ton ee ada 2 eames Sa eo Tea Siete norlttewth eames Shop Talk By AL LEES Arizona underground Rarth-sheltored housing’s not, cost effective? Nonsense, says architect, dames Hofivan of Tempe, Aris, who Sank this handsome howse ino the arched dooert to save 68 percent of Tre coning tots of nearby homes of comparable size. About 85 percent of the stractare fs covered with si walls and root are highly snsaaeed td there's natural venation, pus vorhange to aha interior fro the Histering son ‘Toachieve wale above grade with an insulation value of 28, Hoffman Specified three-ineh-thik fol-fecee ‘ethane sheathing board. And for « tnonolifhie, walertedstant sab be eth the earth-cowered portions ofthe Toot, tres inches of urethane fore were sprayee over the plywood eck town the wale abou te feet re sting am intogral cap. “That elt ates sears,” Hoffman explains, “and Ininimzes the spots where water car Seep in The spree foam alae of fers feitlity br sealing root vents tnd other penetrations that are if ill to waterpeat” A Ori cont of polyurethane elastomer was sprayed {rer the hardoned fam before the rot with Td inches of earth deck is « trovinch lyr of iid poigesyrene ard an eight-inch fherglas batt fora total insulating valve ef R-40. Together withthe sol this provides a |e-hoar thermal lag that feo the home handle peak une mner temporstures at tee or three Gelock inthe morning, when aircon ditioning is easiest and cheapest "The various feams were formulated fiom raw materials supplied by Maes Chemical Corp. (Mobay Ra, Pitts burgh, Pa, 19809-0741). For more about underground he SSarth-Shelteret Houses” this issue