Craig Daily Press

To some people, the stacks of mud-filled tires near Second Avenue and Rangely Street on Thompson Hill look like junk.

But to David Greathouse, the tires are the building blocks for what he hopes will someday be his home.

Greathouse, 27, plans to build an energy-efficient home using stacks of tires as walls.

The tires would be covered with plaster and the home would be virtually self-sufficient, with the tires providing much better insulation than traditional methods, Greathouse said.

"I someday would like to have one because I've had too many problems with conventional construction," Greathouse said.

But if Greathouse hopes to build his tire house, it needs to live up to the county's building standards -- something county officials say the house is far from doing.

The Moffat County Building Department ordered Greathouse to stop work on the house earlier this month.

The county's stop order cited Greathouse's lack of required setbacks from the road and "questionable building methods."

Going green

Greathouse, who sees the irony in his last name, said he never imagined the county would require him to meet so many standards for building his home.

"I figured when you own the land, you own the right to build," Greathouse said.

Greathouse bought the small piece of property in 2004 for $5,000.

His original plan was to build a metal, garage-like structure on the property.

The county granted Greathouse a permit for that structure, but he later decided he didn't really want to build it.

Greathouse then decided to build an adobe-like structure using sandbags and dirt from his property.

Last summer, the county made him stop building the adobe structure.

Greathouse lived in New Orleans last winter but came back to Craig this summer, intent on building the tire house.

In New Orleans, Greathouse said he saw plenty of homes destroyed by Hurricane Katrina.

"Those houses were built up to code, and yet, they fell apart," he said.

Greathouse, who is from New Mexico, said he has toured homes like the one he hopes to build and has done a lot of research into green building techniques.

The homes require very little energy and are very quiet, Greathouse said.

"It seemed like it was a lot more comfortable than a traditional house," he said of the tire house he toured.

"Apparently, they don't really like them too much up here," Greathouse said.

Wrong lot

County officials say the issue with Greathouse's plans isn't that he is trying to build green.

"I don't mind people building green. That's great," said Moffat County Planner Ben Crippen. "It's just the wrong lot."

Because it is on a corner lot, Greathouse's home needs to be 25 feet from the road on both sides.

Right now, the tire house is only about 10 feet from the road.

Plus, Crippen said, the lot is too small for Greathouse to have a septic system on it and homes can't be built on it.

"The bottom line is, he can't build a dwelling up there," Crippen said.

Crippen said neighbors have called the county to complain about Greathouse's project.

Scott Cook, who lives across the street from Greathouse's property, said the tire house isn't popular on Thompson Hill.

"None of the neighbors are really excited about having that there," Cook said.

Cook said it isn't fair to the people in the neighborhood who abided by the county's regulations when they built their homes if Greathouse doesn't abide by the same regulations.

Just a house

No matter what eventually happens with the county, Greathouse said he hasn't given up on owning a tire house.

The county's zoning rules seem a little excessive, Greathouse said, especially since he just wants to live in the house, not rent it or sell it.