THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 17, 1994 TAG: 9410170062
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B4 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Virginia News
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE: BATESVILLE LENGTH: Medium: 74 lines
Many people who have tired of trying to find a way to afford to build a traditional house have turned to - well, tires.
Firestone, Dunlop, Goodyear, it doesn't matter. Just as long as they're standard 14- or 15-inch used passenger car tires, they'll do. And the best part about it is, at least in this area, they're free.
These are not houses that only the Michelin Man could love, either. Laurie and Doug Royse are building their dream house near Batesville, using what is called rammed-earth tire construction.
When completed, about 1,700 tires will have created the walls of their 6,000-square-foot luxury home. Long before the welcome mat is placed, the tires will have disappeared behind a covering of adobe plaster.
``Laurie and I have been wanting to build our own house for 10 years now,'' Royse said, as he stood in the shade of a towering wall of tires.
``This system benefits the environment by recycling tires that would otherwise end up in a landfill, and also gives us the highest mass, which creates the highest energy efficiency of any house being built today.''
Building homes with tires was the brainchild of Taos, N.M., architect Michael Reynolds. He came up with the idea about 20 years ago when looking for ways to recycle cans and tires into building materials.
The concept started to get recognition some years ago when actor Dennis Weaver built his dream home in Ridgeway, Colo., out of tires.
``In the middle of the winter when it's 30 below outside, (Weaver is) growing tomatoes and vegetables inside the house and walking around in a T-shirt,'' said Alice Billings, Weaver's creative assistant.
It's estimated that there are 242 million tires stockpiled in American landfills. The Royses got all their tires free.
Getting the tires is the easy part. Once the walls are ready to go up, cardboard is laid in the bottom of the tires and the real work begins.
While one person shovels dirt into the tire, another packs it with a sledgehammer, then layers the tires to create an ideal solar receptor, Royse said.
``About three wheelbarrow loads of dirt, weighing about 350 pounds, are beat into each tire with an eight-pound sledgehammer,'' Royse said.
Before the walls are covered over with adobe plaster, the cavities between the tires are flushed out with concrete and aluminum cans for filler. Cans and cement also form the interior walls.
``We had a man from the Museum of American Frontier Culture in Staunton come out here and show us how to make the adobe,'' Laurie Royse said. ``He told us central Virginia has the best soil for adobe plaster in the country, and that includes the Southwest.''
The tires, once covered and out of the sunlight, will last for hundreds of years, Royse said.
One thing that probably won't last is free tires. Already in Taos, where it all started, used tires are brought in from other areas and sell for 75 cents apiece.
``Right now there are about 900 to 1,000 tire houses in the United States that we know of,'' he said. ``There are a lot of them being built in Japan, Australia and Bolivia, too.
``There's even one on the side of Mount Everest, which is used as a hiker station.''
The massive dirt-filled walls are a critical aspect of a home like the Royses, because they are designed to absorb the sun's energy and warmth.
``On a sunny day in Virginia, even if it's below freezing, you probably won't need any auxiliary heat in this house,'' she said. ``Even if it's cloudy, the walls will continue to generate heat for three or four days.''
The Royses will also use the sun to generate energy. ``We are going to have 20 solar panels mounted on a pole, which will track the sun,'' Laurie Royse said. by CNB