HOW TO BUILD YOUR (12 Foot in diameter- EARTH BALL (E.B.)) - HOME and/or GREENHOUSE

The E.B. is made up of 20 Hexagons and 12 pentagons.

NOTE: The longer the Struts... the bigger the E.B. (the Struts will all be the same length no matter what size E.B. you build.  (example a Big 20 ft. or small 6 ft.E.B.)

1. 90 - Struts are needed to build one - 11 foot / 7 in. EarthBall - As shown at EarthBall.org using 2 X 4 lumber and plywood. The more accurate you cut these Struts / the easer, tighter and better your E.B. will go together.

NOTE: Treated 2 X 4s and plywood for all wood 1 foot above and all material below the waterline. With an 1/8 in or thicker fiberglass coating below water line and if you want a thinner coat of fiberglass all over the ball.

The 12 foot E.B. is in fact 11 foot / 7 inch in diameter, This Earth Ball size is used to take full advantage of 4 foot by 8 foot standard building materials of your choosing to create your E.B.. We used 3/4 to 1/2 in. plywood. (treated for water use) 1. You will need 90 struts to create an EarthBall

2. All 90 Struts are 27 and 1/2 in. long ( frame long point to long point )

3. The (End Cuts) of ALL STRUTS - ANGLE on both ENDs of the struts are 12 degrees.

3.5 The length between the 2 longest points of the Struts is 27 1/2 in. to make your (12 foot E.B.) ( IT IS IN FACT - 11 foot 7 in  in diameter) 

4. The EDGE Inside Angle of all the Pentagons are 36 Degrees.

5. The Inside Angle of all the Hexagons are 30 Degrees.

NOTE: This means that of the 90 TOTAL... Struts needed to build the basic frame of your E.B.

NOTE: 30 Struts will be the Hexagon angles ( 30 degrees ) on both edges

NOTE: 60 of your Struts will be 30 degrees HEXAGON Angle ON ONE SIDE  

AND... 36 Degree PENTAGON Angle on the other side.

SUGGESTION,

SEE PICTURES. at www.EarthBall.org web site.

You may want to work this out with smaller sticks to make sure you have it right.. BEFORE  you start cutting your 2 X 4 X 27 1/2 / with 30 degree and 36 degree angle on your (Real) STRUTS.

We paid about $100.00 for a large box (25 lb.) of 3 in. # 8 galvanized, exterior, screws and was enough to screw together the whole frame using 6 to 12 screws per 3 STRUT CONNECTION. You will feel how many screws you need per connection... depending on what kind of glue you use to help secure your struts.

NOTE: Once you have plywood covering the whole E.B. with fiberglass or some other waterproofing, the Earth Ball will become... very, very strong and waterproof.

NOTE: We suggest that all EarthBall Homes and Greenhouses be put together as described above. Thus your E.B. will FLOAT in case of a FLOOD or you decide to use it and /or move it to live on or travel with your E.B. Home and Greenhouse on water.

This does not take a Rocket Scientist to create an E.B. We suggest you get a few like minded Earth Citizens together and work together building one for each E.C. The E.B. we built... pics at EarthBall.org was put together in 6 months at a cost of about...

A. 90 Struts, Cut, Screwed together Creating our E.B. FRAME. About $ 500.00

B. Covering the E.B. with plywood... 3/4 in. plywood one foot above and below water line, and 5/8 and 1/2 in. as we worked up to the top. Depends on what you are going to use it for. About, $ 1700.00. Please keep track and make public your innovations, ideas, plans, with pictures of your progress, E.B. going together, etc so that we can share all this information with our Brother and Sister, Earth Citizens all around OUR Earth.

Good luck, Peace, Love and Later, Roger and Friends at, Earth Ball.org