Midwest earth sheltered home

[drainoil]

Despite the lower heating/cooling costs that earth sheltered homes may have, those savings could be offset somewhat by insurance coverage. In a conversation with my insurance agent the other day, he said he thinks the policy would cost more due to possible roof cave ins, etc, and he has never insured an earth sheltered home after being in the insurance business for almost 30 years. Thought that was interesting.

Along the lines of ESH's, I remembered that my grandmother had a basement home built in the 1950s. Eventually she was able to afford to build a main level on top off it, I think Sussel homes built it. She was a school teacher so she was always frugal. The house still stands today. I don't have any pics now but you get the idea here:

Southwest Denver basement home historic district proposal: Kenny Be's Yard Arteology - Denver - News - The Latest Word

About 3/4's of the way down this link, some more info on a basement house:

Side Streets

[Occasionally6]

Originally Posted by drainoil

Despite the lower heating/cooling costs that earth sheltered homes may have, those savings could be offset somewhat by insurance coverage. In a conversation with my insurance agent the other day, he said he thinks the policy would cost more due to possible roof cave ins, etc, and he has never insured an earth sheltered home after being in the insurance business for almost 30 years. Thought that was interesting.

Probably because they don't have (a lot of?) actuarial data they have to guess and then add a premium to cover the uncertainty.

I would think that in tornado prone areas there would be lower risk of destruction with an earth sheltered home though.

[redpoint5]

I can't see earth shelters being efficient in any but the hottest regions of the U.S.

The temperature just below the top surface of the soil is lower than comfortable room temperature in nearly all places, and the dirt represents a virtually unlimited heat sink.

So, building into the earth would require plenty of insulation to prevent heat from conducting away. This brings us back to the same problem of conventional houses, except they have more than dirt for a view.

As far as tornado protection goes, earth shelters would almost certainly hold up better. A more likely problem for most people would be water infiltration and mold. Radon might have to be actively managed, too.

So if one lived in an area that had an average temperature around 70 degrees and didn't have to worry about water infiltration, an earth shelter would probably make a lot of sense.