# Earth Contact (berm) house help



## chrisl (Jan 20, 2006)

My family and I are really interested in building an earth contact home. I'm looking for floor plans and haven't had any success. The ones on the web are either underground or look like something out of the movie the hobbit. We are looking for something simple and rectangular. If anyone has built an earth contact house and would be willing to share their floor plans we would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks in advance,
Chris


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## blooba (Feb 9, 2010)

Kinda like a finished basement with a roof?


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## tkrabec (Mar 12, 2003)

you might also look at an umbrella house, very similar to an earth bermed/sheltered houses, except it has an umbrella of pond liner over the "hill" but under about a foot of Earth to help lesson the water


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## chrisl (Jan 20, 2006)

yes like a finished basement with a roof, not interested in a earth roof or any of the such


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## Bearfootfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

Most any floor plan works in what you want


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## Nimrod (Jun 8, 2010)

I am doing something similar. I have just about settled on a home site. I need to drive a sand point and make sure I can get water there first. The site faces south. The house will be about 50 X 30 feet. The long sides will face the north and south. It will be built into the south side of the hill so most of the north and west walls will be below grade. The south wall will be the front of the house and will have lots of windows and the appropriate overhang so it will provide solar heating in the winter. The first floor will have a loadbearing wall run on the north/south direction that is about 18 feet from the south wall. The 18 X 50 foot room on the south side of the house will be open with the living room on the west end and the kitchen on the east end. There will be an area in the middle of it that will be open to the second floor. The 12 X50 foot room on the north side of the house will be divided into a bedroom on the NW corner, the bathroom in the middle, and a shop on the NE corner. There should be space for a mechanical room and utility room north of the bathroom and between the bedroom and the shop. 

The east wall will not be under ground. There will be a garage door on the north end of the east wall so I can drive a truck or piece of equipment into the shop to work on it. The south end of the east wall will have a window in it so that it is right above the kitchen sink. The view out the window will be of the area I plan to make into pasture. 

I plan to build a Finish/Russion/masonary stove sort of right in the middle of the house so part of the outside wall of the stove is part of the wall in the bedroom, bathroom, shop, and livingroom/kitchen. When it is fired up it should radiate heat to all the rooms. I plan on feeding it from the shop so the wood mess is in there. It will also provide serious thermal mass to help keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer. 

The upstairs will have two rooms sort of like lofts under the roof, over the center of the house, and on either side of the open area between the living room and the kitchen. There will be dormers on the south side of the roof so these rooms each get a window. I may leave the ends of these rooms open to the open space from the first floor and just put up railings.

I hope this helps you in your search for a design. I have not drawn it out yet. 

I don't want to hijack this thread but what are you building the underground walls with? It seems to me I have seen poured concrete and cement block walls used for this but they are pricy. How about an earth bag wall with cement on the outside and then painted with waterproofing and covered with sheets of foam? I could put up a post and beam with treated posts and use the earth bags for infill?


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## Raven12 (Mar 5, 2011)

chrisl said:


> My family and I are really interested in building an earth contact home. I'm looking for floor plans and haven't had any success. The ones on the web are *either underground or look like something out of the movie the hobbit.* We are looking for something simple and rectangular. If anyone has built an earth contact house and would be willing to share their floor plans we would greatly appreciate it.
> 
> Thanks in advance,
> Chris



ROFL. Yep, I find some of that stuff pretty unattractive myself. Glad I'm not the only one.


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## chrisl (Jan 20, 2006)

Nimrod said:


> I don't want to hijack this thread but what are you building the underground walls with? It seems to me I have seen poured concrete and cement block walls used for this but they are pricy. How about an earth bag wall with cement on the outside and then painted with waterproofing and covered with sheets of foam? I could put up a post and beam with treated posts and use the earth bags for infill?


I'm considering a permanent wood foundation/ walls with concrete slab.


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## kvr28 (Feb 15, 2009)

here is how we did it, like someone else mentioned, basically a daylight basement with a roof

http://thehomesteadingboards.com/fo...cts-forum5/our-earth-sheltered-home-thread673


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## TacticalTrout (Jan 7, 2010)

I guess that I am the only one that would love to live in Bilbo Baggins' house. When it is our time to build I will certainly be incorporating a round doorway somewhere.


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## chrisl (Jan 20, 2006)

kvr28 your house is awesome i like it.


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## kvr28 (Feb 15, 2009)

thank-you, we are hopefully build a round earth sheltered cordwood cabin this summer, excited to get started on that


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