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I live in an earth home that was built in the early 80s. There are many pros and a few cons. My house was built 75 percent by professionals and 25 percent by the home owner that was a cobbler of sorts. My house is poured concrete on 3 sides with concrete precast roof that are about 10 inches thick with a 4 inch concrete cap poured on top of that. The structure itself is a tank. This design seems to be prevalent in this area. The south wall is built of 2x4 and insulated with fiber glass batt insulation with 1.5 inch blue board on the exterior of that. The concrete shell is insulated with 2 inch white foam that was placed inside the concrete forms, similar to modern day lite form. I fought water about 2 years after we moved in. I found that the original water proofing membrane was 3 layers of a heavy plastic material which ahd deteriorated after 25 years or so. This was a pretty simple fix. I used a rubber pond liner directly over the white foam insulation. It was cheaper to do than reroofing an equivelent sized asphault roof and it took about 3 days to do. Pond liner is the same stuff as rubber roofing but it is made to be in contact with dirt. I was able to order 2 large sheets and I only had to seam it one time. The house has always been heated with a wood stove and electric baseboard heaters in each of the south rooms. Cooling was provided by a hotel style ptac unit. Over all it is a pretty cozy house. We are in Iowa and the coldest months seem to be Jan and Feb the hottest being July. The biggest problem has alway been humidity. If the house is left unheated during the day the temp has never dipped below 62F. If left un cooled, temps never get above 79F. We are in the process of adding a forced air system right now mainly to help control the humidity levels. I would do many things differently if I were to build one. The house only has 8' ceilings. I would go taller and run the plumbing and electrical over head instead of in the slab. I would install an HVAC system whether you think you will need it or not. We have a toddler now so the wood stove is a saftey concern. Radon could be a problem so consider a mitigation system. For the most part we love the house but it does present certain challenges that must be considered before building. The house is pretty much sound proof. We live a quarter mile from a busy highway and cant hear it. Most of the problems with my house are due to the original owner cutting corners in certain areas. Hope this helps the OP.
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