Glad it's helpful!

Glad it is useful and good luck with your project!

Exactly, well written :)

Thanks and good point! Most of the tires surface is covered by soil and the rest will be covered by evergreen vegetation (the cotoneaster is an evergreen and creates a thick, low layer that won't let any sun through.), so the strongest factors in terms of tire degradation - the sun and wind, will be strongly reduced. Over time, debris, plant remains and fallen soil will cover them even further. landscapeplants.oregonstate.edu/plants/cotoneaster-franchetii#:~:text=Evergreen%20shrub%2C%206%2D8(,white%20to%20pink%2C%20petals%20erect. From my research, a tire takes between 50-100 years to degrade when exposed to the sun, wind and water. When shielded from these elements, it's at least double that if not more. A concrete wall or pretty much any other building material degrades faster than that (think it's 50-100 years for a concrete wall too, also depending on its maintenance). Tires are used in construction more and more, f.e. www.groupeeurec.com/pneusol-pneuresil-travaux-publics/ already since the 80s: www.groupeeurec.com/pneusol-pneuresil-travaux-publics/ pneusol.eu.org/TheseLong/FR/8-ANNEXE.Pneusol.pdf And some tests on their impact: www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S221450952300150X cdnsciencepub.com/doi/10.1139/t99-086 www.researchgate.net/publication/237381469_Tire-reinforced_earthfill_Part_1_Construction_of_a_test_fill_performance_and_retaining_wall_design

Hi, thanks & yours sounds like a good project too! Cutting the tires will reduce their structural integrity quite a bit - but if you leave the part that touches the road when the tire is in normal use and only cut it from the top (when it's lying down), it should reduce the loss of integrity a bit. Perhaps leave the tires around the edges intact and only cut the ones inside? If you fill them with rocks, probably pick smaller ones as I presume you will have to fill the gaps between the rocks with dirt anyway and tamper it down properly to avoid the whole thing settling down regularly over time. And it depends on how heavy the building/structure on top of these tires will be. But no matter how much you pound and compact the tires, they will settle down - I wouldn't build anything rigid on top of them (concrete etc, stuff that cracks). Wooden structures are more flexible to handle some subsidence. Good luck!

Interesting approach! My container cottage only has rainwater, so not an option for me. I'd also worry about how much water you'd have to use for 530 tires - I'm presuming one tire takes a lot of water to make sure the soil settles properly. And jetting the upper rows would flush soil out of the lower rows, to some extent at least?

dry stones are certainly better than recycled tires, but do you have any idea how much they cost? (I mean big ones that don't require concrete, as building a retaining wall out of small rocks requires lots of concrete too). plus how are they procured / mined? Half of a mountain is destroyed to get the stones, so they have their disadvantages too. Not to mention the transportation cost + the need to have a crane, they would be even more expensive than concrete. It is commendable to want to be as sustainable as possible, but we also live in a world with budgets and costs and I have to work with what I have.

It depends, we make dry stone walls (that is without cement) with all the small and big stones you find in the field. As people did for thousands of years, you can also use dead branches, wood, anything to make contour structures to keep erosion at bay. Anyway it's just another way of thinking and yes, in the long run everything will decompose, even tires. But anyway it's good that you are working on these things! Like I said it is just another perspective.. @@LukasCech

@@urbanstreetforest5322 This might work for walls that aren't above 1-2meters and don't have to hold tonnes and tonnes of dirt + cars parking on top of that and a road below that. I needed something that will stay put no matter what rain comes, or how many cars park on top of the soil. Plus branches & wood will rot in two years, that doesn't work for me. And I would need several lorries worth of stones, no chance of just finding them around (it's a populated area, I can't take stuff from other peoples fields just like that). But thanks for the tip, I might use the dry stone wall for a smaller wall I need on the side of the property. No rush, so can start collecting stones now, over several years and thethen build :)