Filling in the gaps

Mix up a little dirt, concrete and water, sling a trowel full of it into a crack, garnish with a soda can!  Let dry overnight.

The 7' top ones were a little hard to reach, but Kristina and Morgan teamed up to get the job done!

Go back the next day and cover up the cans with more dirt and 'crete for a more complete wall.  Soda cans recycled, and pocket of air for insulation. I can't wait for our first electric bill! 

The start of the Foundation Footings

It's not always easy digging in dirt...This pic was taken on Jauary 23, 2011, and it hadn't rained in Odessa since sometime in September.  To be able to get the shovel further than an inch into the soil, I laid a soaker hose along the edge of the tire foundation and let it run overnight.  Then I was able to dig this 15' in about 20 minutes.  It took several weekends to get the perimeter dug, as we had to move the soaker hose often.  Kristina dug one long end in one weekend  (Go Nina!)  which is quite a feat, as again, there are a  multitude of rocks, and the inside perimeter is 120' x 30'.                                                                                                      

             

Some Stats on our house;

*539 tires kept out of a landfill, and some more to be used as landscaping/retaining walls

*250 - 300 lbs. of dirt in each tire

*roughly 67 tons of dirt -about 90 cubic yards packed into the tires

5...4...3...2...1...FINISHED!!!!!! With the tires... 2-12-2011

5 tires left to go....

3 tires....

My super-dee-duper  sis- in- law hauling the VERY LAST TIRE  over to its niche in the wall!!  She offered me the honor, but I prefered her to, since she was so kind to help us with the tedious work  :)  We are grateful!!

squeezing it into place...

Morgan and the last buckets of dirt....

AND......(drum roll)   THE Final Tire Pounding!!    Goal accomplished, reached, and put behind us February 12, 2011 @ 5:55 pm  !!    Praise to God! 

Soooo,   NOW what do we do?   Celebrate with a bottle of champagne!!     then start digging the footings for the house foundation...

there's a light at the end of the tunnel

November 26, Joe carved our driveway out of the thorny mesquite trees, and lined it with "chat", or crushed rotten limestone which compacts and hardens nearly to concrete surface.  It's a pretty white drive now!

Level 7 is nearly as tall as Joe, the 8th and final level being  ~ 7' 1".

January 16, 2011, we'd gotten the corners done of the 8th level- now to fill in the gaps...

January 22 2011, after a hard day's work, the sun was low, and I climbed a dirt pile to take this shot.  The end is in sight at this point!

the local wildlife...



   Kristina unearthed 3 lizard eggs one day which promptly hatched before our eyes... it was phenomenal!  We've also unearthed a tarantula den, other lizards and eggs, and a small non-venomous snake from our piles of dirt.



This 2" spider is called an Ariotrope- such a beautiful creature and a beautiful web it spins as well- with a "zipper" down the middle.

Lacewing eggs on their stalks were placed on the underside of this tire.  We see many variety of insect eggs on our tires

2 walking sticks "walking" together... we see alot of walking sticks, and praying mantis out here, of all sizes.

the footprints of a wood rat in the soft sandy dirt. I actually went and bought a wildlife reference book to ID these tiny prints we were finding hither and thither out at "our place"

Friendly cat whom the kids dubbed "marshmallow".  He hung out with us for a few weeks then disappeared.

yes, this is a rare "great horned lizard", or "horny toad" which we see from time to time out here.  The kids are always fascinated by them, and share them with each other for a few moments before seeing them to a safe place out of harm's way, as they are protected. 

and the Wall Gets Higher, Higher, Higher!

This was taken 7-24-10 when we really needed to mow the kitchen and living room...

 Moon rising over the south east corner of the house 7-25-10...

September 11, 2010, we did mow...  5th course done, working on the corners of the 6th.

11-7-10  7 layers done! 

 11-26-10- over the Thanksgiving holiday week, Joe rented a backhoe and put in our driveway, and dug some deep holes in which to plant some trees. 
He also used the tractor to level out the dirt where the foundation will be poured. 
Big fun, that big equipment!

How to put together a Tire Wall

Pick a similarly sized (width and height) to the tire next to it, and make sure it is plumb with the row below so the outside of tires are all even. 

For most of the tires, we used 6 screws- 4 where the tire rested on the 2 tires under it and 2 to the tire next to it.  More or less for the corners or ends.

After a good shake to be sure the tire is secure,   a square of cardboard that overlaps  the center by 1"-1 1/2" on all sides is folded, put inside and the edges pressed down so the dirt doesn't escape below.       

When the tiers of tires got too high to dump a wheelbarrow-full of dirt in, empty cat litter buckets were the perfect solution for us.  4 buckets dumped in, then a good sledgehammering to pack it in solidly.  2-3 more buckets, and another hammering.  Then with the level again, be sure the tire is horizontal across the top both ways and level with the tire next to it so that each level is fairly even across for the next level.

For the last hammering, we used a mallet that Joe made out of 4x4x7 and a dowel handle.  The flat surface made a nice flat top to the dirt. 

The final effect reminds me of Giants Causeway in Ireland...total of 8 buckets used per tire. 

This was taken April 18, 2010, 2 weeks before we lost our son.  Just finished the 4th tier.  We were stagnant for a while, and it took us a few months to get back into the swing of things.  I think it took us 3 months to get past the 5th tier.  On our biggest days we could get 13 tires packed, and there were avg 67 tires per tier.  We could finish 1 tier in about 2 to 2 1/2 weekends. 

from the west end

Wild flowers growing in our kitchen in July 2010!  

2nd tier

We'd pick a few tires and throw 'em up on the next tier to see what fit the best... woulda/shoulda sorted all of the tires completely beforehand so we didn't have to puzzle so much toward the end.

first tier finished