# PAHS and Earth Sheltered Homes



## HomeCastle (Dec 27, 2012)

I am thinking about building a small earth sheltered house on my property. More as a guest house/novelty than as a main dwelling. Been doing a lot of research and I'm really interested in the PAHS and umbrella home construction. Is there anyone here who has built an earth home that has used these techniques?


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

HomeCastle said:


> I am thinking about building a small earth sheltered house on my property. More as a guest house/novelty than as a main dwelling. Been doing a lot of research and I'm really interested in the PAHS and umbrella home construction. Is there anyone here who has built an earth home that has used these techniques?


 I looked up PAHS construction and it is wonderful. Goes along w/all the other info I've accumulated for earth-sheltered/underground housing.
Thanks so much for the idea. (May conquer pesky issue of moisture laden air in earth homes.)


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## speedfunk (Dec 7, 2005)

Home Castle: That is pretty much what we are bulding right now. Here is the thread that has more info. 

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5690.0

The earthtubes are done but we have yet to install the "umbrella"/insulated skirting around the house (20') . That looks to be the project for this year.


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## speedfunk (Dec 7, 2005)

Home Castle: That is pretty much what we are bulding right now. Here is the thread that has more info. 

http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5690.0

The earthtubes are done but we have yet to install the "umbrella"/insulated skirting around the house (20') only the first 4' . That looks to be the project for this year.


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## HomeCastle (Dec 27, 2012)

Speedfunk,
I'm reading your thread now. That's very similar to what I am planning as well, dry stacking and all. Nice job!


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## HomeCastle (Dec 27, 2012)

speedfunk said:


> Home Castle: That is pretty much what we are bulding right now. Here is the thread that has more info.
> 
> http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=5690.0
> 
> The earthtubes are done but we have yet to install the "umbrella"/insulated skirting around the house (20') only the first 4' . That looks to be the project for this year.


Speedfunk,

Hope you don't mind a bunch of questions. You're the first person I've found who is trying PAHS.

How many earthtubes did you install, and where are they located inside the house? Did you just kind of snake them around outside in the area that will be under the umbrella? How far is the tube's outlet from the house?

What type of materials are you using for the umbrella?

I saw the Kubota you purchased. Would you recommend something like that for the excavation?

Looking forward to see how your umbrella installation goes. What I am planning will be fully bermed on the roof and basically just have an exposed front. I'm just in the planning stages now and probably won't be starting it for another year or two.


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## kvr28 (Feb 15, 2009)

we built a earth sheltered as well but didn't use the umbrella method, some times I wish we did, we did a small outbuilding we use as a smokehouse and earth roofed that though so I could get it out of my system

http://thehomesteadingboards.com/forum/general-homesteading-group2/construction-and-diy-projects-forum5/our-earth-sheltered-home-thread673

http://thehomesteadingboards.com/2012/03/our-earth-sheltered-greenhouse/

warning, not dial up friendly, we have about 1000 pictures total of the process


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## HomeCastle (Dec 27, 2012)

kvr28 said:


> we built a earth sheltered as well but didn't use the umbrella method, some times I wish we did, we did a small outbuilding we use as a smokehouse and earth roofed that though so I could get it out of my system
> 
> http://thehomesteadingboards.com/forum/general-homesteading-group2/construction-and-diy-projects-forum5/our-earth-sheltered-home-thread673
> 
> ...



Very cool, kvr28. I love the greenhouse. Does it get enough sun through the front windows? I'd assume it's warm enough in the berm, especially when you fire the smoker up.


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## HomeCastle (Dec 27, 2012)

Here's a question for any of you earth sheltered guys that I haven't found a clear explanation of. How do you clean your earth tubes? Pulling a cloth through them is mentioned, but how? Do you need to leave a length of string in them and tie on a replacement string to pull through each time you clean them?


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## speedfunk (Dec 7, 2005)

HomeCastle said:


> Speedfunk,
> 
> How many earthtubes did you install, and where are they located inside the house? Did you just kind of snake them around outside in the area that will be under the umbrella? How far is the tube's outlet from the house?


7 total . 4" pvc pipes. 3 at the ground level (100' in length) ,1 short one in bathroom (25' in lenth) and 3 in bermed rear section at 6' off the ground ( 100' in length)



HomeCastle said:


> What type of materials are you using for the umbrella?


 I've landed on these layers from bottom to the top

dirt\4" styrofoam sheets overlapped at seems mostly-ish)\Rubber roof membrane\Old rug\2" and below round river rocks/pebbles. So far this is working really well on the first 4' around the house. The rocks dont allow any water to backup. The membrane keeps water the general shape around the house is always going away from the house. 



HomeCastle said:


> I saw the Kubota you purchased. Would you recommend something like that for the excavation?


It depends. For us, It makes sense b/c we are planning a full scale plan of swales/hugelbeds/rentention ponds/waterwheel and paths throughout 14 acre property. I also have a project offsite on spec that im using it for. It also plows driveways. So with the house and all of the land shaping for US is makes sense. You can rent these easily enough around here. I am certainly learning a lot by having it, its also opening up certian doors BUT its a peice of equipment the degrades/requires maintenace and unless you really going to use it it might be better to rent and diy or have someone else do it. The economics made sense being it will cost us 10k over 5 years if we were to sell it in 5. So 2k a year plus gas/oil/hydrallic fluid. 

Cleaning the earthtubes:

That is the method I have read about also. I have not worried as its but part of the house and there are things that need attention more, just getting them in at this point so i can finish skirting/umbrella and get stone covering around the house. We have had mud for years around house and its getting tiresome . I'm not seeing a whole lot of condensation though so far. The earthtubes that are working the best so far are the lower three that are level with the floor. They exit house are pitched down say 12' over say a 40' distance (the outside air intake tubes). This seems to make the house a heat trap. Both cold and warm air intermingling in the same tube. I'll worry about it when its a problem i guess is the best answer. 


BTW Kvr's way of berming I think is better. Instead of digging out a place for an earthberm like we kind of did. Built on top then backfill with land around. We have a few piles of dirt that are epic that will be used by will take time to deal with.

hope that helps.


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## Allen15 (Apr 18, 2013)

I've bought & read Mr. Hait's books on PAHS, among several other resources, & I'm certain that PAHS is not necessarily the same thing as earth-sheltered. One can build an earth-bermed building that also has an umbrella designed for PAHS, but the books clearly point out that those same PAHS techniques can be applied to ANY type of building. There are also examples of earth-bermed homes which didn't use PAHS techniques, & they tended to under-perform and/or have moisture problems.

Hope all goes well with your build, I'm curious how often you end up needing to bother with cleaning your earthtubes, since I wouldn't expect them to grow much of anything with no food supply inside.


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## rickfrosty (Jun 19, 2008)

I bought the PAHS book too ($78 used on Amazon !). Not liking the idea of tubes bringing into the house air that could at some time be laden w/the fallout that is one of many reasons to build this type of house ?
Maybe the tubes could be one piece in and out - continuous, bringing in warm air to warm surrounding ground in summer which passes out by convection instead of the same effect but the air possibly contaminating air in the house by use of separate intake & exit tubes.
One way or the other you'd have to be sure the tubes were well covered by screens on the open ends.
Anyone interested in some form of partnership to develop my 100 acres in NW corner of Maine (near both NH & Quebec) ? Secluded defensible farm/retreat w/50 to 70 acres level enough to farm, and the rest for pigs, goats, apples, maple trees, berries, game - terrific location .


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