Q–What do you know about earth-sheltered houses? We live out in Indiana and we’re thinking of building a home for the first time. We’ve heard earth-sheltered houses can be a real plus energy efficiency-wise. What are they? And how do they work?
A–An earth-sheltered house, in a nutshell, is one that is partially buried or bermed in the ground, but is done so sensitively from an architectural standpoint. In other words, it doesn’t look like a house buried in the ground.
An earth-sheltered house is energy efficient because it’s heavily insulated by the dirt that surrounds the house. From a technical standpoint, earth-sheltered design utilizes the earth as the major component of a building’s thermal control system.
It’s built on the same principles that keep your below-grade basement warm in the winter and cool in the summer without the use of a furnace or air conditioner.
The advantage of an earth-sheltered house is that the home is less vulnerable to what can be extreme hot and cold temperatures outside.
Inside, rooms will also remain more stable temperature-wise, which will make them feel more comfortable.
The house will cost less to heat and as a result, you’ll have much lower utility bills.
A couple of other advantages to earth-sheltered homes are that they are more soundproof than a typical stick-built home, and they also require less exterior maintenance.
The downside is that most earth-sheltered houses are built on one-level, similar to a ranch home. In addition, you have less windows and views from an earth-sheltered house than a typical home. And waterproofing can be a concern.
Often times, you may also have to change the plans for your earth-sheltered house to conform to local building codes.
Here is what’s key with designing an earth-sheltered house: Building it so that it doesn’t look like it’s buried in the ground.
Instead, those who specialize in building earth-sheltered homes try to create them so that they look like they’re part of the natural landscape.
Many earth-sheltered houses are worked into the side of a knoll or hill. So from the front, the house can look no different from a typical house. From the back, however, the house melds into the landscape.
A great source of additional information on earth-sheltered houses is on the Web.
Start at the Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy Network or EREN’s Web page, www.eren.doe.gov/. Here, you can do a search for earth-sheltered house information that will turn up a number of educational and free-of-charge documents.
There’s also a source list for such organizations as the American Underground-Construction Association and a recommended reading list.
And there are links to companies that specialize in earth-sheltered homes and organizations such as Greenbuilder.com.
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Got a question about home energy or home environmental issues?
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