Renovating
Down to Earth
Energy efficient earth-sheltered homes help reduce heating and cooling costs.

Earth-sheltered homes, or homes partially built into the earth, are smart solution to the rising costs of heating and cooling a home. The genius of an earth-sheltered home lies in its surroundings… literally. Beginning at 24-60 inches below the surface, the soil maintains a fairly constant temperature of approximately 50°F. Hence, homes built into the earth have a year-round baseline temperature that requires only slight modifications to reach a comfortable room temperature. This allows earth-sheltered homeowners to cut heating and cooling costs by up to 50 percent, saving them tens of thousands of dollars over the life of the home.

As summer temperatures rise, earth-sheltered homes maintain a comfortable 70°F, eliminating the dependency on air conditioning. During cold winter months, these homes require a mere 20-degree boost, while conventional homes must work to raise internal temperatures by 50-70 degrees.

The Bethalto, Illinois, home of David Sherrill is a picture-perfect example. A geothermal pool is used to heat the entirety of his earth-sheltered home. “We have a 6,000-square-foot, fully-electric home, and the pool easily heats all areas,” David says. “It’s very pleasant all year round, and our utilities are generally under $300 a month. That includes the electricity used to heat the pool.” David uses a desert air system to regulate humidity and moderate the air quality, and the pool is salt water, eliminating the chlorine effect and smell. “In forced-air homes, the temperature always varies by a few degrees, striving to keep that constant, but in our home the temperature is always the same. Plus, you don’t have the draft you get in conventional homes.” As an added bonus, the geothermal pool is a fully functioning pool used by the Sherrills for swimming and entertaining.

Earth-sheltered homes offer endless energy-saving options, as well as “green living” alternatives. The sky is the limit when the earth is your home!

INFORMED DECISIONS

While you’ll save on utility costs, you need not skimp on style. Many hold the misconceptions that earth-sheltered homes are plain, ugly and costly. Quite to the contrary, a home’s façade is unfettered by its partial underground placement, and the surrounding earth presents many landscaping options. Also, the cost of building earth-sheltered homes is nearly equal to that of conventional homes. For more information on earth-sheltered homes and other “green home” options, visit the following St. Louis-area businesses:

Belcher Homes: 636-271-9889, belcherhomes.com
Breckenridge Material Co.: 314-961-1612, breckenridgematerial.com
Butterfly Energy Works: 314-961-8418, butterflyenergyworks.com
Calvin Fry Remodeling: 314-645-7190, toll free 800-217-1863
GeoComfort: 888-393-8533, geocomfort.com
Magnamite: 636-673-2066, magnamite@centurytel.net
Sage Homebuilders, LLC: 314-495-0718, sagestl.com
Sherrill Associates, Inc.: 618-656-9251, sherrillassoc.com
Woods Basement Systems: 314-965-1980, woodsbasementsystems.com