Mountain View Escape

What was your initial motivation: 

 We had several criteria for our new home in the mountains and we looked into several building systems. the earth blocks seemed to be our best fit for:

• fire resistance 
• long term value in a structure
• comfort (warm in winter, cool in summer, and noise cancelling)
• simplistic elegance in a structure

How was the planning and construction process:

• We had a great crew install the blocks and it went better than expected even though they were completing the install in November at 8,000 (+) feet ASL.  
• With the engineer’s stamp, our plans went through the permitting process with no complicating side issues. 

How has the lived experience been:

• The house has met all of our initial goals listed above.
  • We had a “Fire Wise” inspection and the inspector had no recommendations for improving the fire resistance of our home except to suggest that we keep the beams on the front porch stained on a regular basis.  
  • We heat our ~2,500 Ft2 home with wood and burn 3-4 cords per year (we keep the house toasty warm).  That helps keep me in shape!
  • We do not have or need an air conditioner in the summer.  If it is a hot day we simply close the windows and let the bricks do their magic.
  • We love the look.  
  • I have plans to add solar hot water panels to the roof to help reduce our dependence on burning wood.  That hot water will feed the existing boiler to send hot water to floors. We seldom use that system today.  We haven’t purchased propane for 2 years.  
  • Looking back at the entire process, I wish we had been better versed at many of the passive solar options that are available and incorporated more passive solar into our design.
    • We are building a detached greenhouse with several features that possibly could reduce the environmental impact of our home had we made it part of the design.