Talk:Earth shelter

Risk
Earthquake risk should be noted, in particular for dwellings dug out in löss. In recent times Iran (Bam 2003) and China (Sichuan 2008) have experienced earthquakes triggering the complete collapse of dwellings made of/in löss. As the esteemed traditional affordable building styles result in near total loss of life the numbers are downplayed. Also entire families, entire communities are buried alive, leaving no-one to tell the tale. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 77.173.226.152 (talk) 11:27, 4 February 2021 (UTC)

Contradiction
Can someone explain this contradiction:
 * Most often, there is not an earth covering on the roof, but this is occasionally done. ('Theory')
 * The majority of earth sheltered homes use earth sheltering around three of the sides and over the roof. ('Earth Sheltered Homes')

Perhaps I am missing something here... but what I read here is that most often the roof is not covered with earth, however, the majority of earth sheltered homes use earth sheltering on three sides and on the roof.

It depends on which house you look at. 24.39.50.135 12:15, 14 June 2006 (UTC)

Error
# In-hill construction: The house is set into a south-facing slope or hillside so that the north, and possibly part or all of east and west walls, are sheltered.     Not all in-hill earth sheltered houses are in the northern hemisphere, and thus this is quite wrong. 59.167.83.164 12:41, 26 October 2005 (UTC)

Revisions and additions
Hi, a collegue and myself have heavily revised the article and added alot of information. Also, included with the new information is a large reference list. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by Lichen-studios (talk • contribs) 19:40, 2 March 2007 (UTC).

extra examples
The Terraset elementary school in Reston, Virginia, John Mulford's Rocky Mountain residence near Aspen, Colorado and the Geohouse are other earth sheltered building (build in the 80's).

Include in article.

KVDP (talk) 09:47, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

can somebody start a beadwall article
Can somebody with an account start a beadwall article?? 71.131.20.156 (talk) 18:14, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

can somebody start a umbrella house article
Can somebody with an account start aa umbrella house article?? 71.131.20.156 (talk) 18:45, 5 September 2008 (UTC)

Merger?
It appears we have another article discussing the same subject — Earth house. Possible merger? Hayden120 (talk) 12:47, 15 April 2009 (UTC)

It seems to me like there's a subtle difference. Earth sheltering uses earth to reinforce an existing home design, whereas Earth Houses are literally constructed out of dirt. I say we keep them separate, maybe make a small subsection in each discussing how they are distinct from one another. FunkyDuffy (talk) 16:41, 31 March 2011 (UTC)

What's the clear difference between earth house and earth sheltering?
It seems to so similar that there are no reason to block merging two article.

I can't understand why these two article stand apart. — Preceding unsigned comment added by Gaepakchinae (talk • contribs) 14:50, 10 April 2018 (UTC)

Scope of article
I feel there needs to a narrowing of scope otherwise this topic gets too large. I make the following reccomendations for this article based on reading several sources on the topic. Matthew Ferguson (talk) 22:24, 24 January 2019 (UTC)

What is an earth shelter:


 * an above grade man made structure where earth is bermed against the one or more walls. Many sources also consider turf / sod or peat piled against the walls as a type of earth shelter.
 * Earth may also cover the roof. The roof covering may be merely a very thin layer of earth (green roof / living roof).
 * a man made structure partially below grade where effectively the walls are earth bermed.
 * a small residental-sized man made structure completely below ground.

What isn't an earth shelter:


 * rammed earth structures, cob structures (earth or materials containing earth forms the wall itself rather than earth piled against a wall that is not made of earth)
 * natural caves, even if humans move into them and adapt or extend them
 * man made caves which are made by removal of earth or stone and which do not have any other form of "wall". This would include structures carved out of cliffs etc.
 * Structures with just a thin grass roof and no earth berming of the walls - I have not seen any source so far that considers these as earth shelters. Such structures are more appropriately dealt with on the green roof article. Structures with no earth berming of the walls but a lot of earth on the root might be considered earth shelters.


 * I think this is a good suggestion, and will use this list to remove pictures of traditional buildings that do not conform to the above. 86.83.56.115 (talk) 14:49, 6 March 2021 (UTC)

How-to content
I am starting to remove some of the large amount of how-to type content in this article. I am leaving the content here as it will be moved to a wiki which allows such content (Appropedia), once I have finished redrafting the article. Matthew Ferguson (talk) 19:39, 29 January 2019 (UTC)

Landscape and site planning

The site planning for an earth-sheltered building is an integral part of the overall design; investigating the landscape of a potential building site is crucial. There are many factors to assess when surveying a site for underground construction. The topography, regional climate, vegetation, water table and soil type of varying landscapes all play dynamic roles in the design and application of earth shelters.

New Page
I think it is appropriate for a new page for David Baggs please. Dbaggs01 (talk) 22:47, 29 September 2020 (UTC)