What a great time we had visiting the Carter Groundhouse in Jasper Missouri. It was September 9th, 2023, and a beautiful warm day.
Jimmy was gracious enough to do an interview with me and allow us into his beautiful home. His ground house was inspired by the “Earthship” homes found in New Mexico. Michael Reynolds is the original creator of the Earthship. You can find out more about Earthships by visiting the Earthship website.
Michael Reynolds and his Earthships were featured in the documentary The Garbage Warrior and you can watch the full documentary on YouTube. The documentary was released in 2007. Shortly after the release of the documentary, Jimmy found it, viewed it, and was “blown away” by it.
Each bottle was reclaimed and meticulously hand-placed on each side of the windows to not only bring more light into the home but it also adds a decorative appeal. Instead of these bottles going into a landfill, they were used to make this ground house more beautiful. The windows took Jimmy a year and a half to do.
After viewing The Garbage Warrior, Jimmy mentioned it expanded his consciousness and got him thinking about how he would like to live in a similar home. The Carter ground house is not technically an Earthship because it is built into the ground. Jimmy’s ground house is similar to an Earthship in the way that he used automobile tires to build the walls of his home. He used 1,000 tires to build his home. Each tire is packed with earth with a sledgehammer. The state of Missouri offers some freedoms when it comes to homebuilding. Jimmy had to get a permit to use the used tires to build his home but mentioned it was not difficult at all to get the county permit.
The entire video is almost an hour long. Jimmy was very informative and I didn’t want to leave out anything he graciously shared. Jimmy provided so much information and you will want to see these videos. I created a playlist for the entire interview/tour process. Please forgive any of the quality in the editing or sound quality. At times it was very difficult to get the right lighted shot due to the way the light entered the home. Because the home was positioned towards the South it offered excellent lighting and every room was well lit. When creating a video during the day you just have to have the camera pointing away from the windows to allow for auto adjustment.
Jimmy told me that he priced handmade doors for homes and rather than spend thousands of dollars to purchase a custom door for his ground house he decided it would be less expensive to build his custom door from reclaimed wood. Seen in person this door is very impressive and thick.
With the front door shut, it is difficult to ignore how beautiful it looks with the glass bottles built around it. The custom wood door and the bottles together create a vision of beauty.
This dining/kitchen wood table was hand-built by Jimmy himself. The wood is also reclaimed and in my opinion, it looks great. This is an heirloom piece that will impress for years to come. Jimmy said that his father helped him move the wood and logs he used to build his home. His father owns a tractor and it makes the job easier. A center support walnut tree from the property was used and you can see it in the YouTube video. It is huge and very beautiful after it was set in place.
Notice the concrete kitchen countertop. Jimmy mixed and poured the concrete all by hand. He put a nice finish on the counter after it dried. All of the wood on the walls was placed piece by piece to create a decorative pattern on the wall. The wood pieces were cut from reclaimed wood.
The fireplace was very nice to get a close-up look at. Just like the outside of the house, Jimmy placed each stone by hand as he explains in the video interview. He placed some stones that have fossils in them to face outwards for viewing. The fossils were created millions of years ago from living creatures on the land.
This custom pantry wood door caught my attention for sure with the spiral design. The design includes glass bottle bottoms Jimmy collected for the door. Have you ever seen a custom wood door like this?
Jimmy wanted to give the living room wall an attraction that would be pleasing to the eye. The design can be recognized by ancient designs found in architecture and artwork. This gives the living room a creative crafting feel.
The only thing in the home that Jimmy paid a professional to do was the concrete floor. He had someone install plastic tubing inside the floor of the home. Warm water is pumped through the tubes to help heat the floor in the winter. Everything else in the home Jimmy did with his own hands.
In addition to the spiral wall decoration found in the living room, this sun design is very nice in the dining room/kitchen area. Jimmy said that building his ground house was a “Labor of Love” for him. After talking to Jimmy I would most definitely agree there were countless hours of labor involved for him. He collected a lot of materials and hand-lifted each stone in place. Some of the stones are well over 50 pounds and had to be set while on a ladder. You have to be very safety conscious when doing that type of work, as Jimmy mentioned in the interview.
Jimmy used broken glass to embed in the concrete walkway in front of the house for added decoration. He mentioned in the moonlight the glass reflects the light to create an illuminated effect that is very nice to look at. It lights up the walkway at night and allows you to see where you are walking.
Jimmy said that he was not interested in selling his home. It took him seven years to build his home. He also mentioned that there is too much trash in our culture and he would like to inspire others to think differently about trash and other ways trash could be used instead of going into a landfill.
Jimmy is always improving and adding to his ground house. You can stay updated and follow his journey by visiting the Carter Groundhouse Project on Facebook link below. Be sure to give his page a like and share it with your friends who are interested in building their groundhouse.
