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 thepanels 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
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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
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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
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12 | POPULAR SCIENCE
LU Ton
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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