The Earth-Sheltered Solar Greenhouse Book

235 Pages·2007·24.18 MB·English

by  Mike Oehler

he
arth
Sheltered
olar Greenhouse Book
How to build an energy free year-round greenhouse
MIKE OEHLER
Author of Tire $50 & Up Underground House Book
Foreword by ROB ROY
THE FOOD YOU ARE EATING TODAY
IS HAZARDOUS TO YOUR HEALTH.
You have long known your food is laced with pesticides, herbi
cides, fungicides, waxes, hormones, preservatives, artificial coloring
and flavoring. You probably realize produce can lose half its vitamin
contcnt during transportation and sitting on market shelves. You
may have learned that as much as 60% of the food sold in the super
markets today is genetically modified and that much of it is irradi
ated. Now we know much of it is filthy, too, tainted with harmful
bacteria. Our spinach, OUf green onions, OUf lettuce - none of the
supermarket produce today can be considered safe. According to the
New York Times, every year 76 miUion Americans get sick and
325,000 are hospitalized - because of tainted food. Some die from it.
Is there a way to guarantee your food is absolutely fresh, pure,
organically grown in healthy soil and free of E. coli and other biologi
cal contaminants? Yes there is! Grow and harvest it yourself year
round in a free-energy, earth-sheltered solar greenhouse. Electricity
goes out? Energy prices soar? It doesn't matter. The greenhouses
described in this book can take your plants through bitter cold nights
and long winters with just the direct energy of the sun and what is
stored in the earth. Here Mike Oehler, author of The $50 & Up Un
derground House Book, shows you how to design and build an earth
sheltered solar greenhouse for pennies on the dollar - the definitive
book on energy efficient greenhouses.
CRlTICALACCLAIM FOR MlKE OEHLER'S
THE $50 & UP UNDERGROUND HOUSE BOOK
" he has written a wonderfully unsophisticated manual and filled it with
design ideas and even plans for building in different ways and on different
kinds of terrain ... impressive ... entertaining, sometimes philosophical ... a
valuable document."
- Daniel Lusk, National Public Radio
"One possible alternative to the outrageous cost of commercial housing is to
adopt the underground design vision of Mike Oehler. The author is an au
thority on the subject baving lectured at Berkeley, Harvard, and elsewhere,
and morc importantly, having lived underground in a self-designed home for
the past [thirty-five] years. One should not assume that life in an inexpen
sive underground home is either dank or crypt like. Oehler guarantees build
ers of subterranean dwelling such amenities as light, fresh air, and views."
- San Francisco Re"iew of Books
''Not at all conventional ... uncommon taste ... doesn't hedge ... offers his
[thirty-five] years of experience in earth shelter building ... intriguing."
- Eartlr Slre/ter Digest & Energy Report
"A house with 42 view-fed windows. Soundproof. Fireproof. Warm m
winter. Cool in summer. Weatherproof. Ecologically sound. Almost invisi
ble ... a workable, livable and attractively organic bouse ...
"The book is filled with practical dos and don'ts, good illustrations,
some humorous side thoughts and lots of photographs.
"It's a must for anyone who has ever wanted to go underground."
- Nortlrwest Exclrange
"Mike Oehler's fascinating new book shows that the construction of an un
derground abode needn't be just a daydream. Oehler, who has buill several
such structures and lives in one himself, provides a comprehensive text with
numerous detailed illustrations ... easy to read and understand.
"As built according to Oehler's various general designs ... there are end
less possibilities for windows, skylights and cross-ventilation. Mike shows
how to go about the entire job step-by-step ...
"Almost every question except how to add a bowling alley is anticipated
and answered thoroughly ... excellent."
- Tire Prairie SUIl
"This remarkable and simple-to-understand guide will show you how to get
light, air, and good views, how to cut your material costs up to 90%; how to
build greenhouses into your home; how to construct built-in root cellars,
wine cellars, and fallout shelters; how to use solar energy effectively; how to
build into hillsides and solve drainage problems; plus how to handle zoning
and building codes. If you're thinking of building your own livable, pleas
ant, light and airy and tuned-into-nature home, this book is for you."
- The Mother Earth News
"This book is well-written and entertaining. 1t includes photographs, draw
ings, and his useful "rule-of-thumb engineering tables" dealing with beam,
girder, and post sizing and spans. I think Mike is right when he says that
anyone with minimal skills, this book, and the desire, can build this type of
home successfully. He presents the material in a very understandable man
ner that even construction novices can understand.
- Home POHler
"By far the best example oflow-cost earth sheltering we've found."
- Earth Shelter Living Magazine
"This guy literally wrote the book on subterranean housing and sold more
than [90,000] copies of The $50 & Up Underground House Book. He lives
in his own creation. It's a little snug but it's custom-built and has all the
creature comforts. You can barely see it, a dream getaway nestled deep in
the mountains of scenic Northern Idaho on 40 acres of land. Imagine, it, all
yours for $500. That's what subterranean pioneer Mike Oehler created when
he ... built one of the nation's first underground houses in 1971 ... Today his
little house in a hillside is a rustic gem ... It's like having an underground
log cabin ... and somehow, eight feet underground, there's still lots of light
here."
- HGTV, The Subterraneans
"The author should be given an award for proving that an energy-efficient
house is only as expensive as you want it to be ... could save you dollars too
... a joy to read ... practical ... presents a new view into the ever-growing
field of underground housing. If you are playing with the idea of an under
ground structure, pick up a copy of this book."
- Workbench
The
Earth -Sheltered
Solar Greenhouse Book
How to build an energy-free year-round greenhouse
by Mike Oehler
Illustrated by:
Ross
Anita Bedard
Katie Purviance
Cassie Eisenhower
Chandel Oyharsabal
Sarah Tye
David Fairall
© 2007 by Mike Oehler
Library of Congress Control Number: 2006940268
ISBN 9780960446407
All rights reserved. No part of this work covered by the copy
right hereon may be reproduced or used in any form or by any
means - graphic, electronic, or mechanical, including photo
copying, recording, taping, or information storage and retrieval
systems - without written permission of the publisher.
Printed in the United States of America by
Sheridan Books, Inc.
Chelsea, Michigan
13579108642
Published by Mole Publishing Company
Bonners Ferry, Idaho
Readers are invited to use the design or construction methods
and features described in this book. For permission to build
from any specific plans, please contact:
Mike Oehler
333 Gandhi Way
Rt.4 Box618
Bonners Ferry, Idaho 83805
www.undergroundhousing.com
Please include an SASE (self-addressed, stamped envelope)
with all mail correspondence if you wish a written reply.
" Printed with Soy Ink
~ on Recycled Acid Free Paper
Other works by the author
Books:
The $50 & Up Underground House Book
One Mexican Sunday
The Hippy Survival Guide to Y2K
DVD's:
The Underground House Workshop and
Survival Shelter Seminar- tbree DVD set
(Construction, Design, Shelter)
VHS:
The Battle ofS eat/Ie
The WTO protests through the lens of a
protestor
CD
Out of the Woods
Original and traditional folk songs
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Many people helped to bring this book to completion. In
Idaho Vern Wilson of Bonners Ferry Glass and Jessica Berube
of Northern Home Center have gracefully given of their time to
answer questions, as have organic growers Marsha Semar and
Kathi O'Leary. Mark Lathrom, AIA, in Post Falls, Idaho,
helped conceptualize many of the early sketches. Architectural
puzzles have been handled with expertise by Chris Royer, AlA,
one of Massachusetts leading "green architects" and one of my
best friends. Another great friend is Rob Roy who interrupted
writing of his 13th book to read and proof this manuscript and
write the forward. He is a legend in his time and an inspiration
to countless people who struggle towards affordable housing.
Tony Tiverious, my great brother-in-law, has come out of retire
ment as a top Chicago structural engineer to give us the load and
stress tables in this book as he did on my underground house
book back in the 1970's.
Then there are Jill and David Fairall who with their won
derful children, Ian and Hannah, share my land. Despite home
schooling the children and keeping ber household in order Jill
graciously shares evening meals, helps on dishwashing and run
ning the company, saving this author several hours a day for
writing. If tbat isn't enough, she has proofread this manuscript
multiple times, given valuable advice, and did the indexing.
David Fairall has tuned out to be a wonder on the com
puter in not only typing the manuscript but in learning the soft
ware to help layout the book. Our collaboration has been both
rewarding and deeply satisfying. He is a diligent researcher. An
expert photographer, be took tbe photos and did the captions on
page 169 and 232. He turned into an astonishing artist in touch
ing up many drawings and doing all the structural renderings
from page 176 on. The computer did tbe renderings? No more
than a paintbrusb does the painting. David's a computer artist.
A number of other drawings in this book had two or
more artists besides computer enhancement. Three of the art
ists did not sign their work so we aren't entirely sure of the spe
cific artist or artists for each drawing. However, we are sure
that Ross, who set the tone and was the artist to emulate, drew
the hammer on page 42 and the strawberries on page 82. Anita
Bedard, despite health problems, did many of the plant and
vegetable drawings. Examples of her fine work are on pages
26 and 148. Katie Purviance, a U ofIdaho architecture student
who dropped out and disappeared into the cab of an over-the
road semi in the midst of her job with us, did all the insects in
chapter 11, most of the earlier structural renderings and the
drawings on page 53.
Then there were three astonishing Idaho art students at
Bonners Ferry Higb School wbo cranked out numerous profes
sional quality drawings for us. Senior Cassie Eisenhower, de
scribed by her art teacher as "the most talented art student I've
ever had" did the drawings, among others, on pages 13 and 87.
Sopbomore Chandel Oyharsabal, grand champion artist at the
Boundary County Fair, bas examples of her fine drawings on
pages 134 and 161, while Sophomore Sarab Tye, First Place
fair winner, displays samples of her excellent work on pages
149 and lSI.
Dedicated to
The Gophers of America
honorable adversaries