Here's a sample letter we send out to some inquiries that might be of help to your understanding what we do.
Congratulations on acquiring the new property !
That's always an exciting stage of the process and the Georgia Adobe Home™ is a great way to go regardless of if you are flush with cash and ready to hire us to build you a new 10,000 plus square foot home or whether you just wish to experiment as many before us all have done and go build it yourself from free or nearly free and local or natural materials. For professional design and sometimes construction services too, call Georgia Adobe™ at 706-363-6453. But, begin with a simple 30 minute consultation for just $125
Throughout this website, are ideas of ways that WE "could do construction", but nowhere herein, is a complete set instructions, as we actually sell those complete details as a service, but the DIY builder, can perhaps improvise or experiment where needed and they may from information freely written herein the website, learn some or perhaps enough to go build themselves something like a tiny off grid home, all without any professional help perhaps even regardless of your skill level , but this is not financial, construction nor investment advice, so always err on the side of caution and hire us or some other professional that know all about this subject, ( good luck finding them as this is a niche business) if required and while this is not a set of free building plans, it is just general ideas, that many could use for their own success or to plan to hire us from, for new consultation etc..
In order to actually live comfortably "off grid", it’s always best to begin with a structure that can actually function without energy inputs, not that you don’t want the versatility of having energy consumption equipment if desired, but it’s just best, to not need it to live, if perhaps that energy is not available . Do Not Build Into A Bank ! It’s been coming this way for a few billion years and your little wall, won’t stop it. At the least, back away 25 or more feet from any embankments, and that will be a great uphill plant-able area and/or garden spot.
So to begin with :
Have you considered an insulated, Earth Sheltered, Rammed Earth High Thermal Mass structure ?
( SPOILER ALERT: THERE ARE 40+ REASONS BELOW THIS ARTICLE TO DO SO !)
Design is what we do for our clients and for the most part in Rammed Earth and Adobe Brick construction, as it's a process even teenagers, and the elderly or infirmed and even the impoverished can do themselves, without too much assistance from others. We have designed simple structures ideas completely, on cocktail napkins before and so can you. And when actual construction time comes, this too can be accomplish by most persons of a common 6th grade education, and with just the most basic of tools. The Earthen materials and the use of recycled materials and small amounts of Earth added at a time, all firmly compressed (or Rammed) , all from the free Earth from the property, (where your building upon) is mostly all that is required for 80% of the structure.
In doing construction this way, your choice of an area to build upon, that already has water running away from where the building will go, and or landscape it to do this is needed before construction, so you're not fighting water during construction, thus sloping runoff water away naturally, from the walls with long roof overhangs and Earth sloped away is required. In the Northern hemisphere North, East And Western walls are often Earth sheltered, and the South wall is mostly covered by glass panes, (old windows will sometimes do too) , but some DIY builders without any money have even in the beginning used clear plastic of doubled 6 mm and old quilts on the inside, and after Sun goes down, to better encapsulate the solar gains of your high amounts of thermal mass.
Always design at least 2 exits, and all bedrooms should terminate upon the last interior wall, of the fronts exterior so that if there’s an emergency all can exit easily through the greenhouse area along the front of the building. With alterations to these ideas one can also have exits on all 4 sides of the building and the roof too, plus multi-stories are possible, if enough ground is behind the main structure, will allow it to have its own glass façade floors and roof, then just add stairs from the ground floor to the second story.
The floors are constructed just as the process of a concrete floor goes in, (level it first , lay plastic down, add rocks or sand & gravel (sometimes called crush and run gravel), add insulation,one more layer of plastic, then with a mixture of sand and clay mix, just as the walls below are detailed are designed from, and add this to a level amount at least 2 inches thick, but no Portland cement is required, as you‘re going to tamp it into place level side to side front to back. After that, a very thin wet clay, sand slip layer is added, [wet by any comparison to the wall or main section of the floor mixes noted below], will be added and allowed to dry fully before the last step. Then, just add linseed oil, (3 coats drying between each step) to it upon completion and if ever repairs are needed, a simple filling with the same materials, is all that is required. We like to plan the floor for the last, just because of interior construction, and or potentially damaging the beautiful finished floors. ( You're Gonna Like This ! )
In traditional rammed earth and with the least energy efficient walls, but non Earth sheltered walls can be constructed from just a couple of form boards, then each Earth layer of earth added, of screened 3/8" and down evenly graded sand at 70% plus, Clay at 30% ( same mix for the above steps) and just enough water to make it all “slightly damp never WET” placed in 6 inch layers then compacted, which are next lifted upward by 6 more inches each time you add Earth, and this is then compacted upon, a concrete & gravel footing, terminating above the exterior grade by 6 “ min. and the foam insulation is added ( inside ) as the wall goes up. Inside that exterior wall about 6 inches minimum, from the exterior, is where the wall insulation sits, leaving the mass majority of the 24 inches of thick thermal mass inside that building and fully insulated.
Then when your walls warm up inside, from simply passive sunlight in the Winter as the Sun is low in the sky and comes in fully from 9 AM, to noon, until 3 PM or so and the cool of night draws it back into the living space as free heating all night long. Those same walls Cool in the Summer as all passive structures will, since the Sun is high in the Summer sky and won’t easily heat up the interior any longer. With a natural ventilation pipe, of at least 1 per 20 feet of building length across the back, is then opened so a natural cool air breeze, will enter and pass through the structure [if unobstructed] and if there is ample transom windows opened, on the Sunny side of the building, causing natural convection. (See there, this is just 6th grade stuff . You Can Do It !)
When walls are Earth sheltered outside, no traditional foundation is actually required for the building, as the 1st layer of constructed walls is buried 8 feet or so below grade and so are all the rest of the walls, thus the frost line is moved up to the roof line, or just below it. A concrete bond beam is what we prefer to use as the point to connect all walls and our roof together, but wood can be the material.
The form materials, can be as simple as free used tires (1 side cut away for filling and compaction) and then insulate outside the tires with foam (we like 6 inches of Polly ISO) , then cover with a few sheets of 6 mill plastic ( or 30 MM pond liner is better) as your exterior walls go up and then cover that with an Earthen fill, outside upon the exterior wall as construction progresses, all landscaped to sweep water and or any away all moisture that forms. We like plastic under the top 1 foot of earth, so that when landscaping (hiding the structure), it has ample soil moisture to grow into, but not enough to get through to the walls.
This method is a permanent wall form material, that stays there for a few hundred years and won’t off gas or be a problem to the Earth nor the residents in the building, as it’s all at Earth atmospheric pressure and used tires of 30,000 miles or so, have already off gassed all they are going to, unless they are burned or pressurize, and this is all far less expensive than purchased forms ( but if you want to we can sell you manufactured forms ) , and as it’s Earth sheltered outside, no one knows that the structure is there ( built from form filled earth ) except on one side and that's getting covered inside by more earth. The interior walls are normally covered with a poultry wire at a minimum, and then mudded over with several coats of the same mix as the floors and walls were built of, just to give an Earth toned stucco finish of sand and clay, (it really is quite beautiful when finished and it can be painted if you prefer white walls in the kitchen, bathroom and in dark closets).
The roof can be crafted from the leftover metal & wood from other construction or where they are tearing down homes and at landfills for these materials, (they may can be free, generally after main construction on new homes a clean up is paid for and by asking most times you can get it for free) or materials can be found online for free on many websites, (in the USA a web portal like Craig’s List) or old appliances and automobiles can be cut up for its sheet metal roofing (save the other parts too, as you might can use them like switches, water pumps DC Electrical etc), or if you have a tiny home, an old house trailer (caravan) they could be cut up too.
With Concrete footings (anchors) poured into the last 2 feet of your walls, are shaped as tee posts (with the T upside down, and the top is at the bottom), every 8 feet of length . We prefer with rebar steel connected thereupon the wall anchors and pre-pour them to add during wall compaction and then with the rebar all rounded over as a pre insulated concrete dome, with cement and wire mesh (poultry wire, metal lath ,etc) , for maximum strength (round is 20/1 over rectangular) a rain water directing, solid roof is constructed and can be water sealed with white sealer or camo painted (or if engineered Earth sheltered and exterior insulated too). There are always "short term structure" substitutions for the metal and lumber if required (lashed with kudzu vines, bamboo, site treated cedar strips, site treated white oak strips and plastic or whatever you have and 2 sides of a cardboard enclosure with straw dried inside for insulation can work, if you have no foam insulation (as the impoverished often do not) and rivers are where sand comes from, so we have even had clients draft their own sand from their waterway, {when it’s available and legal to do so}, and the clay comes from your property (generally) .
Your incoming and out going Plumbing should be stubbed in even if you are not going to use it to start with, and (the Natural Ventilation on the North Side) should be built into the structure as well terminating 20 feet from the structure downhill. A Northern wall buried rainwater cistern purchased , (or built of old soda cans and cement), should be installed and plumed into the main North walls exterior, so some planning is a must (before one begins to build), for that structure to allow a passive solar gain and air flow, water collection, then use and elimination of those liquids, and if one adds another interior wall and long foyer across the solar side of the new structure, a greenhouse space is accomplished, so food production can be easily incorporated right there inside the building and is a location use, for all your grey water’s reuse, instead of spilling it outside, at least until after it’s filtered and flushes your toilet, as plant watering can be easily done by hand with buckets, for those that can’t afford full plumbing. Later alterations can been made, just first with more manual labor required to move that water.
Solid human wastes can be easily handled by composting toilets ( bucket type will work but there are better ways than just the bucket) , but we like plumbing and likely this one accomplishment will make your life easier, with a 55 gallon double set of barrels buried outside , [if no one knows], to catch both black water and toilet solids, by a simple piping arrangement, if not the proper septic tank can be used.
Hopefully some of this will make sense to you and a look at our How To Rammed Earth Page and the other pages on our website may also be of great assistance to a more complete understanding of how to, but know this: all construction is hard work, but we think this process is less work, less expensive and accomplishable by most any that strive to build a nearly free DIY Earth sheltered home, that won‘t become wet, as a basement does , So Don‘t Dig Down !.
Come to a Georgia Adobe TM Seminar and learn this first hand ( and there's always lots more to it than what type can explain !) You can always Start your new project with a consultation of just 30 minutes on the phone to see how we can help you for just $125. Contact Joe Woodall Ecoitect TM and Founder of Georgia Adobe TM, so we can initiate our services for your new project. DIAL US UP AT: 706-363-6453 .
Copyright © 1959-2022 Joe Woodall, Ecoitect™ Georgia Adobe Ecoitecture™
231 Harris Lord Cemetery Road Commerce Georgia 30530 USA
CALL OUR OFFICE TO PURCHASE REPRINT COPIES 706-363-6453
Start your new project with a consultation of just 30 minutes on the phone to see how we can help you for just $125.
Contact Joe Woodall Ecoitect and Founder of Georgia Adobe, so we can initiate our services for your new project. Dial 706-363-6453
40+ GREAT REASONS
TO BUILD A GEORGIA ADOBE HOME™
Trademark © 2007-2022 GEORGIA ADOBE ™
40 GREAT REASONS TO BUILD A GEORGIA ADOBE HOME™ !
A Georgia Adobe™ is a passive or active off grid solar home, constructed from mostly from Free locally available & natural materials, such as Rammed Earth ! As that the materials are inexpensive nearly every adult can afford to build a Georgia Adobe™ Home. One of the amazing things about Georgia Adobe’s™ is just how versatile the design can be, from totally passive solar or nearly conventional looking, while hiding its modern sophistication, unlike any other structure on earth !
Here Are 40 Great Reasons, To Build A Georgia Adobe Home™ :
1) Foundations Are Not Required To Start Your Construction
( Although Foundations Always Make A Better Building , we do it differently and this can save you money )
2) Far Less Labor Is Involved Overall, Than With Conventional Structures
3) Less Cost Of Building Materials Is Required, Than Is With Conventional Structures
4) Georgia Adobe’s™ Are “Earth Sheltered Done Right”
5) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ , Are Very Aesthetically Pleasing
6) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ Are Automatically Temperature Controlled, Staying Constantly About The Same Temperature
Year Round
7) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ , Can Grow Your Fresh Food From Built In Wintergarden™ Greenhouses
As A Part Of The Main Structure
8) Rammed Earth Construction Materials Are Almost Free
9) The Construction Skills Required To Build A Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™
Are Few And Even Children Can Build Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s ™ Designs, With Accuracy !
10) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ , Are Rapidly Constructed And Have The Ability To Be Emergency Replacement Shelters
Built From Local Materials, Often Thrown Away Or Available Upon The Land, Right Where The Construction Takes Place
11) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ , Are Almost Completely Fireproof
12) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ Capture Rain Water & Snow Melt, Thus Providing A Water Well, From Your Roof
13 ) Personal Safety Is Heightened, As That Earth Sheltered Is A Bio-Safe Georgia Adobe™ And Are Nearly Hidden - Yet Defendable .
14) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ Can Process Onsite, All Their Waste Water
15) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ Are Storm Safe Shelters
16 ) Sturdy Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ Make Their Own Off Grid Electric Power
17) An Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ Life, Is Measured In The Centuries, Rather Than Single Years
18) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ , Have Far Less Maintenance Cost, Than Above Ground Conventional Structures Do
19) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe’s™ , Give The Residents Greater Land Use. Possibilities.
20) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Can Be 100% Paid For Before You Move In
21 ) Wine, Food, Root & Storage Cellars Can Be Incorporated Into The Structure, All Safe From Predators.
22) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes Are Able To Have More Closet Space Than Conventional Structures And More Can Be Added Later
23) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Are Easily Expandable, When The Need Arises
24) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Are Carbon -0- Buildings, When Built Per Our Plans.
25) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes Are Less Noticed By Passer's By.
26) The Ease Of Concealment, Inherent To Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Also Makes Great Hunting Cabins,
Permanent Residences Or They Can Become Landmark Commercial - Retail - Multifamily Structures, If Desired
27) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes Are Basically Soundproof Inside
28) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes Are Well Lighted
29) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes Are Well Ventilated
30) A Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Will Cost Far Less To Operate, Than Do Conventional Structure.
31) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Can Be Build To Be Code Compliant, "When Required".
32) Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Can Be Passive Or Active Solar Buildings.
33) Small Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Can Often Be Built With Nothing But, Simple Hand Tools
34) A Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Home, Can Have Hidden, Private Or Sweeping Flamboyant Entrances , It’s Your Choice !
35) An Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Home, Can Blend In With Nature Or Become A Landmark
36) Any Heating Or Cooling Equipment, In Use In A Earth Sheltered Georgia Adobe™ Home, Can be of the smaller single phase type,
thus costing less to buy or operate.
37) Large Or Small Georgia Adobe™ Homes, Can Be, Earth Sheltered Or Not
38) FEMA The Federal Emergency Management Agency, Often Approves Public Earth Sheltered Community Emergency Disaster Shelters, Enabling The Builder To Perhaps Qualify For, Some Federal Funding Assistance And/or Grants For Construction Cost Assistance.
39) Bank Financing, Is Perhaps Available, When The Benefits Of Georgia Adobe™ Structures Is Fully Understood
40) Insurance Coverage Cost, Is Often Far Less Than Conventional Structures, As That Georgia Adobe™ Homes
Are Virtually Fire, Flood And Disaster Proof
Once A Proper Feasibility Plan Is Completed, Starting Your Georgia Adobe™ Project The Right Way, is An Easy Step !
Hire Georgia Adobe™ .
Start your new project with a consultation of just 30 minutes on the phone to see how we can help you for just $125. Contact Joe Woodall Ecoitect and Founder of Georgia Adobe, so we can initiate our services for your new project. Dial 706-363-6453
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