SUPERIOR, Colo. — It’s moving day for the Rebeschini-Glover family after waiting nearly three years to come back home after the Marshall Fire tore through their neighborhood on Dec. 30, 2021.
“Finally moving in. What is it — 930 something days?” said Mel Glover, as she roughly calculated the number of days since the Marshall Fire destroyed 1,084 homes, including every single home in Superior’s Sagamore subdivision.
Mel was trying to get home but was stuck on US 36, as her husband, Matteo, and their two kids were trying to get out.
“If we didn’t have this room, they would be dead,” Mel said while standing in the family’s new mudroom.
The mudroom in the house they lost was the only part of the house built out of brick and stone, which saved the family that day. The rest of the home was wood-framed and went up in flames quickly during the wildfire.
That old mudroom inspired the family to build what is now a new home constructed entirely of blocks and brick.
“This is a lime slurry,” Mel explained while running her hand across the wall. “It’s like painting with oatmeal.”
The Rebeschinis used what are known as EcoBlox to construct a modern-day fortress if you will.
“We’re very proud because of the type of construction, the type of walls that we use,” Matteo Rebeschini said.
A home built to withstand fire, ice and just about anything else Mother Nature may throw their way.
“We were determined to find what is the best type of materials we can use to feel safe in the house,” Matteo said.
What they found was a small company just 30 miles down the road.
“I call this the block yard,” said Lisa Morey, owner of Nova Terra. “This is the facility. This is where the ‘sausage’ is made. We make blocks. Pure and simple.”
Nova Terra uses leftover materials from a nearby rock quarry to mold blocks used for building earth homes.
“It’s a composition of sand and clay and there is some small aggregate in there,” Morey said, as she sifted some of the sand through her hand.
“We add a small amount of water and then that material is conveyed to the press,” she said. “I call them EcoBlox. I add a small percentage of lime and then hydrate the material and then compress it under 2,000 PSI of pressure.”
And it’s a building material that dates back thousands of years.
“Even today – it is estimated that 40% of the world’s population still builds out of earth,” Morey said. “It’s been in constant use for 10,000 years. The walls of Jericho were excavated (in) 8,000 B.C. and it was seen to be adobe or mud bricks.”
And Nova Terra is cranking the EcoBlox out with six homes currently under construction and another six projects in the works.
Nova Terra can produce about 1,000 blocks a day. In the Rebeschini, home they used roughly 15,000 EcoBlox, so it took about two weeks to produce the material to build that house.
“While we might be 15% more than a framed home, we’re going to be saving in energy costs,” Morey said. “We’re going to build a more durable home.”
Experts estimate the cost of building an energy efficient home in the Marshall Fire burn zone is anywhere from $50,000 to $100,000 more than a traditional stick build.
But experts say the payoff is worth it.
“Oh – the long-term benefit is ridiculous,” said one construction worker. “These homes use 5% the energy of a normal home.”
“The ERV system circulates fresh air around the house,” Mel said. “And this is what all the efficient houses and passive houses have in them.”
The EcoBlox combined with Alpen windows make the environment of the home that is nearly air tight and smoke tight. A home built to withstand the test of time.
“I like to say (the blocks) will last 1,000 years, come find me in 900 if I’m wrong,” Morey laughed.
“We tried to prove a point really, that you can build a house in a cookie-cutter neighborhood that looks like a cookie-cutter home, but it’s not,” Mel said. “When you think about earth homes, people think about earth ships and crazy, weird houses and not many people want to live in a house like that. So, we wanted to build a house that blended in with regular American homes.”