06x02 - House of 30,000 Tires

[bunniefuu]

A house built out of


The biggest problem is just
that the tires are not covered.

We're having bats
get in the house.

Families of raccoons
living in there now.

Snakes nesting in the walls.

This is pretty crazy.

I mean, your bed's right there,
your kitchen's right there.

We tried to hand-dig a well,
but we hit a gravel layer

That we just couldn't
get through by hand.

That tree and that line

Are really what's keeping
the house from moving forward.

They don't have anything -- they
don't have a finished house,

They don't have water,
she doesn't have a toilet.

Man: it is a tremendous
amount of work.

To get this property
to a actual homestead.

All right, here we go.

Oh.

Okay!

This home can't be a home until
I deal with all the critters

I'm going in.

I'm here to address
the water issue.

So all of this will need to go.

-Lost one.
-That went well.

This isn't a game changer.
Okay.

This is gonna be
a life changer.

--Captions by vitac --
www.vitac.com

Captions paid for by
discovery communications

♪♪

All right, kids,
welcome to ohio.

Right here is the mecca
for the legacy that is

The amish -- the homesteading,
the lifestyle, the off-grid.

They don't really believe
in technology.

Oh, look right here. Look.

Nice!

If that doesn't speak
homesteading, nothing does.

That's beautiful.
Look at that.

I'm jealous man.
Okay.

So this homestead that we're
about to get to is very unique.

We have never, and may
never, visit a homestead

That has been built
and designed like this one.

Narrator: the raneys are deep in
the backwoods of central ohio,


Of columbus,

En route to an urgent cry for
help from the broadhead family

Who are struggling to establish
a sustainable homestead.

Their attempt to build
a passive solar home,

Which uses large windows
and upcycled materials,

Is failing.

Without a lifeline,

This family of six
will not survive the winter.

We are totally out
of our league at this point.

If we fail here
we have nothing left.

We've put our entire life
into this homestead.

There is no plan b.

♪♪

Look at that place.
You've gotta be kidding me.

Oh, my goodness!

♪♪

I've never seen anything
like this before, ever.

I'm marty raney.
Camden.

Nice to meet you.

-Ashton.
-Ashton.

-Hey, marty, I'm morgan.
-Morgan.

-Wendy.
-Wendy.

-I'm tessa.
-Tessa.

Why don't we just get this
off the table

Right this second:
is it all tires?!

Whole back wall,
all the way down.

-How many tires?
-30,000.

It's all recycled materials --
plastic bottles, glass,

Anything that would normally
end up in a landfill,

We stuff and all the cracks
and crevices.

Non biodegradable --

So nothing that can mold
or biodegrade in the walls.

All of these tires came
from pennsylvania and wisconsin.

Its thermal mass.
This is our insulation.

This is like the craziest thing
I've ever seen.

This is epic.
But at the same time

It's the ugliest thing
I've ever seen.

But we're also here
for a reason

And I'm assuming some of that
has to do with the structure

Wendy and I are married,
till death do us part.

We're kind of married to this
house now, too.

This house is
till death do us part.

We're in it for the long haul.

Narrator: in 2008,
wendy and morgan broadhead

Led a typical suburban life
in columbus ohio.

He worked in
the financial industry;

She as a part time nurse.

When the economy crashed
I was out of work

For about 18 months.
We had bills to pay.

We burned through
all of our savings

And just barely managed
to keep the house.

We kind of looked at each other
and our situation

And what we had gotten into
and said we have to be able

To find a way of living
that someone can't come in

And just take our home
whenever they want to.

They sent me an email,
they're like,

"Hey, by the way,"
like, "we sold our house

And bought this property
out the middle of nowhere."

I was like, oh, my gosh,
I'm gonna come home

And literally, like,
live in a ditch.

These tire bales

Are really the foundation
of our entire house.

We spent about a year or so
researching what kinds of homes

Could we build
that would be self-sufficient,

And we decided on a home
like this

Using tire bales
and recycled materials.

We have one-ton bales
of compressed tires

That stack sort of like legos

To help keep kind of a cooler
temperature in the summer

And warmer temperature
in the winter

And the south facing side
of the house

Is supposed to be all windows
to act as this passive solar.

Narrator: the broadhead received
special permission

From the environmental
protection agency

To build their home
out of tires.

They moved in last year

But have not been able
to finish construction.

We've been building our home
cash-based only,

Because we did not want
to be tied to the bank.

So it's only what we can afford
every month.

Things that really
should have been done

The very first year
are still not done.

The biggest problem is just
that the tires are not covered.

We're having a huge wasp
and bee problem,

We're having bats
get in the house,

Snakes nesting in the walls.

Woman: they also have families
of raccoons living in there now,

And they had to actually buy,
like, a bottle of coyote urine

And, like, spread the scent
out along the walls,

Which keeps them quiet,

But I guess it didn't
actually run them off.

Narrator: the broadheads
need to complete their home

Before a storm knocks it down.

Ohio is in tornado alley,
with 18 twisters

And 42 inches of rain last year.

I'm concerned with ohio
tornadoes that

It's just gonna come
crashing down around us.

We're not construction workers,
we're not general contractors,

We've never
built a house before.

What do you think mom and dad
need help with.

Other than the mudding.

Um...
The house.

What part of it.

All of it.
All of it, the whole thing?

-Yep.
-It's extremely important

For me to have a safe place
for my family.

Narrator: when wendy's
special-needs son camden

Graduates from
high school soon,

She will need to quit her job,

So she's trying to start
a business

Selling herbs
and natural ointments.

She grows on the homestead.

Wendy:
starting the business

Is a big deal for us

That will allow me not only
to work the homestead full time

And allow me to be home
when camden needs me.

I want a home where they feel
safe, and right now,

That home is not safe
to live in.

Raneys, I am in desperate need
of your help out here.

If you could come out
and help us

We would be eternally grateful.

-And there they are.
-One hundred tires per bail.

I've climbed to the top
of denali -- mount mckinley...

This is the bailing wire
wire that they use.

I built a log raft,
floated the yukon river...

They're about six feet wide.

Yeah, a little over


But I've never seen a home built
out of used rubber...tires.

What's going on here?

Because we don't have
this garage wall built,

Structurally our house
started to lean,

And so we had to really
anchor the house --

That tree and that line

Are really what's keeping
the house from...

Moving forward.
You got four kids here.

You tell me: are you worried
about that or not?

Yeah, it's a concern.
It's a big concern right now.

The problem
with this homestead:

The wall itself is compromised.

It's overwhelming,
what still needs to be done.

For sure.

Narrator: inside the house
wendy gives misty a tour

Of the 3,000-square-foot
structure.

It's so...
It's huge!

So this is the half the house
that we're currently living in.

I cannot believe
how big this house is.

So, yeah, it ended up being
bigger than we actually planned.

It's kind of been
a 24/7 anxiety...

Attack for me
the last year.

This house?
Yeah.

The whole nothing being
finished or functional

Has been really stressful.

Well, it's stressful to
build houses.

It's really --
normal --

Normal houses.
Right.

But this is
something else entirely.

So what is this?

Well, it's a weed patch
right now.

The weeds are going really great
in my house right now.

Supposed to be filled with
layers of, like,

Gravel and dirt, supposed
to have, like, a liner in it.

And it's supposed to grow food
and herbs and things like that.

While we came out
with the intention

That we were getting off grid,

We're still buying all of our
groceries at the grocery store

Instead of growing our own food.

Where do you see yourself
in, like, a year from now?

Camden graduates
from high school in a few years.

I'm going to need to be here
full time for him.

That's your youngest.
That's my youngest.

Yeah, he has down syndrome?

He does, yep,
some special needs.

My goal is to be able
to have the place

To where I am selling
my own herbal remedies.

So that's my hope.

I love wendy and her ideals
and what she stands for,

Because there's not a lot of
people that would attempt this.

They are trying
to recycle, reuse tires,

But I don't understand,
like, the overall game plan.

There's no plan b.

We cannot abandon -- we signed
a contract with the epa

That this house build
would not be abandoned.

Otherwise we are fined
for an ill*gal tire dump

Which would be more
than the house cost us.

Narrator: outside the house,

Matt learns about another
homestead issue.

Right over here's where
the minks got into the house.

My mom filled it
with spray foam.

Spray foam?
It might be worse than dirt.

It's easier to get through.
Right.

We've seen
raccoons, groundhogs;

I know there's bats living
under the house,

Minks, wasps,
and different types of bees.

This hole right up here is
one of the main problems spots.

I would hope that somehow
we can figure out a way

To get all the animals out.

When they're active at night,

There is no sleep.

They just crawl
right through this rubber.

They're all crawling around
right where we're sleeping

So you can hear 'em
in the walls.

Your house is just like

Probably an infinite
amount of catacombs.

Yeah.
Where these animals --

I mean, they can
get in anywhere.

Having those creatures
living that close with them?

It's dangerous!
It's not just that,

"Oh, I hate mice,"
or hate raccoons --

They have rabies.

They have
all kinds of parasites.

It's just not sanitary
and it isn't safe.

Something has to be done.

And it's got to be done --
quick.

Now.

You ever heard of the movie
"animal house"?

This is the sequel.

All of these tires are like the
catacombs for all the critters.

All the animals that you
wouldn't want in your house

Are living in the house.

I get it. I understand.
There's animals everywhere.

Take a look at this house
and you can't possibly imagine

It getting any worse.

But it does:
they cannot legally abandon it,

Because if they do
it's considered a dump.

This is totally insane.
What are we gonna do?

We start over there
at that corner

Where the foundation is leaning.

We scrounge as much dirt
as we can to do that first fix.

I like your enthusiasm,
but that's just the beginning,

And there's a lot more
to address.

It's the tip of the iceberg --
I get it.

But you got
to start somewhere.

As of tomorrow morning,
we start,

And that's when
the rubber meets the road.

Narrator:
to stabilize the house,

Marty plans to plumb
the leaning exterior wall

And then cover the tire bales
by berming them

And using a natural substance
called cobb.

Misty will grade the front yard
so water

Doesn't seep into the home.

And matt will try to trap
and relocate all of the animals

That live in a 50 yard perimeter
of the home.

I want to start on the outside
and try to run the water away

From the house instead of
towards the house.

We'll start on the outside
and then I'll try to rid

The house of all of the rodents.

You guys do have
tornadoes here.

Twenty six tornadoes
in ohio this year.

The way to make this house
safe is to berm it.

I don't know how
we're gonna do it

But by this time tomorrow night
that's going to be plum,

And that's gonna be bermed.
That'd be awesome.

It's gonna be traumatic.

Yeah.
This house is gonna --

I'm already
traumatized.

This place will never, ever,
look or be the same.

When I meet a family
that I can relate to,

I just want
to help them more.

Broadheads, four kids;
raneys, four kids.

It seems like yesterday

That my kids were
the exact same ages.

And we spent every cent we had
trying to complete a dream.

I can relate.

I wanna help.

Narrator: in central ohio,

The broadhead family's
tire bale house

Is on the verge of failure.

We just feel so overwhelmed.

Narrator: with critters
living in the house,

And a wall held up
by a thin rope.

If this entire roof system
came down

That would be devastating.

Narrator: but wendy and morgan
can't walk away.

We have nothing else
to go back to.

Narrator: or the epa will
condemn it

As a hazardous waste dump.

♪♪

The raney's first project:

Plumbing and berming
the exposed back walls.

♪♪

Think we'll get some work
done with that?

What's up, guys?
Not every day that a homestead

Gets not one, but two
excavators, okay?

That's ginormous.

And just for the record, this
isn't a game changer.

Okay.
This is gonna be a life changer.

-I believe it.
-The first thing we need to do

Is clear a bunch of trees.

Right now the house is sitting
in the middle of a forest.

Create some clearing

So there there's a separation
for the people and the animals.

Clear!

More important than that
for me:

We have to clear
enough trees

To get the big excavator
around the corner.

We can't berm the house
if we can't get back there.

Yeah.

You probably don't want to
watch, do ya?

He's not going to make it.
There's no way.

It's too narrow in there.

Oh, my gosh.

♪♪

Oh...

♪♪

Nice landscape rock!

In alaska,
that's a thousand-dollar rock!

This is beautiful!
I love this!

[ Thunder crashing ]

Morgan: there's thunder.

And there's the rain!

Here it comes.

No, no, no!

This is not what I wanted today.

Oh, there it is.

♪♪

I'm worried
with this amount of rain,

And the hole that marty dug
with the excavator

Near the tree
that's keeping this house up,

That the dirt is going to wear
away and weaken that tree,

And it's gonna fall over.

Well, we got thunder,
we got lightning,

We've got a lot of rain,
we've got a lot of wind.

So let's hold off
on the tree falling.

♪♪

What's wrong?
Our planter is filling up.

Narrator: while it rains,
marty gets a firsthand look

At the devastation
the water causes indoors.

All this rain

Is coming right up against
the house.

Collects right --
where this gutter is,

And it's --
well, that's not even sanitary.

No, that's gross.

That's pretty crazy.

Right now there's eight inches
of water,

The full length.

It's crazy.

Actually smells gross too,
by the way.

-It does.
-I'm sure it does.

-It's nasty.
-This is pretty crazy.

Guys, come on,
you're kidding me.

The broadheads
are smart people.

This garden area
has a lot of glass facing south.

This indoor garden is going
to collect a lot of light

And passive heat -- perfect,
lots of growth potential.

Your bed's right there,
your kitchen's right there.

Your beds are right there.

Come on.

But the indoor garden

Has this much water
in the bottom of it.

And 20 feet from their kitchen
table is a health hazard.

You can see right here where
it's sort of eroding the dirt

Away from the concrete.

Oh, my lord,
I see it.

If this builds a tunnel down
through the concrete,

This concrete slab
could completely just snap.

We have to make sense of
the water coming off the roof,

And get it away from
the house --

Capture it,
whatever it takes --

So that it doesn't go
back into the house

And exacerbate a health concern.

That's one and I've
never seen in my life before.

[ Thunderclap ]

♪♪

Okay, let's do this.
You guys ready?

Narrator: with the thunderstorm
passed, marty returns

To stabilizing the wall.

Marty: the tires were leaning.
What do you do?

Straighten it back up,
do what should have been done

The day they set these tires:

Put an earth dam
on the back of them

And lock it all in
with the soil.

Narrator: the raney's plan --

To prevent the walls of
the broadhead home

From collapsing,
marty will use the bucket

Of the big excavator
to straighten the wall.

Matt will use
the small excavator

To place a temporary support
pole against the wall

So marty can cover it
with earth.

All right, we're ready.

♪♪

Oh, you're gonna hit the cable.

[ Shouting over
each other ]

He's stuck.

[ Indistinct shouts ]

Okay, you gotta stop, it's gonna
snap the cord.

If they break my house,

I mean, that was the last
four years of our lives.

And there's no going back
for us.

Straight out?

That's straight out?

Straight.
Okay.

Excavators are massive;
the margin for error

On an excavator is minimal.

You just swing this way and you
rip the roof off of a house.

The back of the machine?

Pin somebody up
against a tree and kills 'em.

There is no margin for error.

[ Creaking, engine rumbling ]

♪♪

-Wait!
-Holy crap.

That's good.

♪♪

Misty, be careful that
that brace

Doesn't have pressure on it.

Back that screw out --
and I mean slow.

Slow!

Okay, well, you're kind of
freaking me out.

Well, you should be!
Pay attention.

♪♪

Holy [bleep].

There is braces holding up
these tire bale walls.

As soon as you pop
one of those things off,

What's going to happen?

Is the whole thing going to
collapse?

I need a skill saw!

♪♪

Give it a little toss, yeah.

[ Sawing ]

♪♪

Marty: flip that brace over
and see what can go wrong.

♪♪

Tell her to get
out of there please.

Misty, your dad says
to get out of there.

All good.

Nobody in the garage!

When is this house plumb --
straight up and down.

We'll get it close
with the human eye

Starting now.

♪♪

[ Creaking ]

♪♪

Stop! Stop. Stop.

Narrator: deep in ohio's
amish country,

The broadhead homestead
is on the brink of failure.

-Got four kids here.
-My parents need some help.

Narrator: in order to straighten
the wall

On the verge of collapse,

Marty is using
a 30-ton excavator.

It's been a total
emotional roller coaster

To have the raneys here.

Stop! Stop. Stop.

Narrator: but it could be wendy
who's about to break.

♪♪

♪♪

What's going on?

[ Stifled sob ]
what's going on?

This stresses me out a lot.

Why?

'Cause... 'Cause it could knock
my house down.

Listen: you do hold
all the cards.

Do you not
want me to do it?

No, I want you to do it,

But that doesn't make it
any less stressful.

Okay.

♪♪

[ Creaking ]

♪♪

Yeah, you moved that wall in
like three inches.

Let me go up and check it!

I have to hop up

And stand up there
with the level

While my dad's pushing on it
with an excavator,

Gets it plumb,

And then starts
backfilling it with earth.

Hopefully the whole house

Doesn't come
crashing down on me.

Does it look like it
straight up and down?

Man, it's close.

What's it need?

It needs about an inch.

And I don't know
if you can achieve that

Unless you start berming.

Okay. I get it.

Matt, stick in your brace.

matt: all right.

here I go.

♪♪

Marty: I like it!
Let it go!

♪♪

So now that the wall is braced,
we can begin to berm it --

Put tons and tons of dirt
against the rubber tires.

That stabilizes them.

It also serves as insulation
for the home.

This come-along has been on
the corner of the house

For the last year,

Because we've been terrified
to take it off.

So now that the wall
has been bermed,

With tons of earth,
we'll take the cable off

And see if this thing will stand
on its own.

I'm confident it will,
and it needs to,

Because six lives depend on it.

Okay.

It's perfect,
so, go for it.

All right, here we go.

Oh!

Any movement?

It didn't move
one hair.

Not one.

That is amazing!
Good job!

I'm trying to put my faith
in the raneys.

They obviously have
a lot more experience.

So they took that tree brace off
and we cut the rope.

Nothing moved!
Nothing.

Not even a hair.
So it was good.

And you, sir,

Can use this chain
for something other

Than holding your house up.

Fair enough?
Fair enough.

♪♪

Narrator: the next morning,

Matt and ashton
prepare to rid

The walls of dangerous critters.

-Perfect.
-Yeah!

All this heavy equipment
we're using is going to scare

All the wild animals away

But it's not going
to scare away the wasps,

So we're going to have
to remove those by hand.

What I would do...

Just search around,
but also, like,

Listen for, like, a hive.

You can hear them.

Narrator: matt will rid
the homestead

Of dangerous pests
using a three-pronged attack.

First, he will capture any that
made a home in the walls

During construction.

Second, he will place traps
in a 50-yard perimeter

Around the house to capture
the animals that return.

And finally, he will destroy
any burrows

The animals have created
inside the perimeter.

You hear anything?

Not yet.

♪♪

I see a wasp,
it looks like it's on

A tiny little nest.

You see that?

Yeah.

Making itself
a home in there.

I'm going in.

Oh! Okay.

All right.
Okay, bigger than

What it looks like.

A lot bigger
than what it looks like.

It's definitely a hive
that we have to relocate.

There's got to be
a queen in there.

They're starting to come out.

They're not happy.
Unh-uh.

We're getting swarmed.

We have to get these wasps
out of this house

And on the edge of the property.

The thing is, the queen
holds everything together.

We have to get the queen

Into a spot
where she'll actually survive.

Otherwise all those wasps
will disband

And go right back into
the house.

I'm going to try to close
that entrance real quick --

To the bag -- and then
I can take the whole bag,

Put it in here.
Okay.

Putting the wasps in a cooler

Actually puts them
in this docile state

And it makes it really easy
to relocate them.

All right. Ready?
Over here.

All right?

♪♪

There might be multiple
nests in there.

Oh we lost one.

All right.

That went well.

♪♪

They got all sorts of stuff
to nest in there

If they need to.

I still hear
some buzzing.

All right, all that larvae.

Definitely can be queen
in there.

Yep.

We got one pest removed

And a half a dozen more left.

Here we go,
I'm going in.

All right, let's
get out of here.

♪♪

Yeah, we got to talk.

Narrator: to prevent water from
seeping into the house,

Marty and misty make a plan
to grade the front yard.

As long as there is nothing
underground --

Am I going to hit anything?

Mm, yeah.
The ventilation tubes.

Where are they.

-They come out at those sticks.
-Okay.

There's five altogether.

But there might be one
or two steaks missing.

Okay. That's not fun.

Morgan and wendy have installed
these underground cooling pipes

That run into their house.

The problem is, is we don't know
exactly where they're at.

As soon as I start
digging around

With an excavator,
the probability

Of damaging one of these pipes
is pretty high.

Excavator! Ground crew!

Is anybody moving?

This geothermal setup

That they have works better
in drier climates.

Ohio is super humid.

I'm not sure if this system
is even right for this climate.

♪♪

A do a rake with
the excavator.

Maybe people have seen
this before,

Maybe they haven't.

This house has trees and brush
pushed right up against it.

I wanna use the excavator
as this giant rake,

Strip it all back,
then get this ground to grade,

And hopefully not damaging

Any of those underground
cooling pipes.

We're trying to find
a random pipe five feet down.

The chances of us finding it,
buried two years ago, are slim.

♪♪

Any sign of that pipe?

Wendy: no.

♪♪

♪♪

It's already getting
super soggy.

-It's getting super soggy?
-Yeah.

Starting to get standing water
at two and a half feet down.

Really? Two and a half feet?

Guys, you have, like,

A serious, serious
drainage issue.

Yeah.

Oh, my gosh.

At two and a half feet down,
we have struck water,

So that means all of these
cooling pipes

That they've put in are
full of water and not cold air.

What's wrong?
[ Stifled sob ]

What's wrong?

I don't know how I'm gonna cool
the house.

It was almost 89 degrees when
we went to bed last night.

I'm sorry.

This was our air
conditioning system.

♪♪

Narrator:
in the wilds of central ohio,

The raneys are struggling
to save the broadhead family.

This is pretty crazy -- guys,
come on, you're kidding.

Narrator: from water seeping
into their home...

You have, like, a serious
drainage issue.

But misty has run into
a fatal flaw

With the home's
off-grid a/c system.

♪♪

This is probably
as bad as it gets.

Marty: I'm standing in
a foot of water

And that tells me one thing:

These ventilation tubes
are never gonna work.

The broadheads
have a great plan,

But it's not implemented
correctly.

The reason people put
ventilation tubes in the ground

Is to rob the temperature
from the earth.

When the pipes
are filling up with water,

The air cannot move.

It cannot transfer.

So there's no ventilation.

I don't enjoy
this moment at all.

I mean, I'm pretty bummed
about it.

I'm bummed.

I mean it's a lot of wasted time
and money trying to get...

Well, it's not just -- it's not
just the wasted time and money,

It's hot inside that house
in the summertime,

And we have no way,
other than fans,

Of cooling down
naturally

The inside of the house --
like, that was supposed to work.

They built a house
out of 30,000 tires.

They're black --
and black absorbs heat.

But the more of that black
we cover,

The cooler
the house will become.

♪♪

This came from a quarry
a little ways from here

And it's a perfect mix
of sand and clay.

Just add water
just add water.

Narrator: marty meets
a local contractor

To help with the critical
and unique

Next phase of the build.

So, we've reached out
to a local supplier

With bales of straw and piles
of the perfect mixture

Of soil and dirt.

Just add water, mix it
all together,

And you have a product
called cobb.

Don't confuse that with adobe.

Adobe has been around
a few hundred years.

Cobb's been around forever.

Lead the way, dad.

All right.
Good job.

[ Laughs ]

Whoo!

Get your people!
Where are they?

We got it.

We're wasting time.
We gotta make --

All right.

Come on, come on.

What am I doing?
Am I doing it right?

-You're mixing mud.
-You're doing it right.

The only problem with cobb,
it's labor intensive.

Hey, let's give it
a test right now.

-You got it.
-Will it stick to rubber?

Here we go.

Yeah!

-Oh, I see --
-you gotta smear it.

I can see that's fun

But I can also see it's
a tremendous amount of work.

♪♪

♪♪

Narrator: a day after ridding
the walls of wasps,

Matt turns his sights
to the dangerous wildlife

Outside the house.

Matt: since we've been here,
we've made a ton of noise,

And any animals that were living
in this house,

They're definitely out there
in the woods.

Now we have to set up traps
in a perimeter 50 yards

Outside this house

So the animals
don't just come right back in.

All right, check this out.

All this stuff
I used kennel parts.

And these were literally
just lying out,

Getting rusty --
junkyard material.

Yeah, getting ready
to get melted down,

Crushed down at the junkyard.

And all I did was
cut it in half,

Slapped it together,
and boom.

Perfect size.

And made this pressure plate
down here

Just out of that extra material
that I had cut off from this.

And then let's get -- set it
right on the edge.

Right? All right.
Now push down on that.

Boom.

I like it.
Let's go set it.

All right.
The thing is,

This home can't be a home

Until I deal with all
the critters that we are

Dealing with here in ohio,
and get them out of the house

So no one gets bit, scratched,
or woken up day by day.

Right here?
Yeah, I can see 'em already.

Yeah.

Raccoon highway.

This is the area
they're definitely coming from.

We found the route
these pesky critters are using

To get into the home,

And that's where I'm going
to put my trap.

There you go, slide it
all the way to the end.

♪♪

Down.

♪♪

All right, I'll hold that,

All right, now,
you set the trigger.

All right.

Now that I have
this trap set,

I'm going to set up
some trail cams

And really see how much traffic
we have around here,

Because I really want to know
what we're dealing with.

And we'll just see what happens
when the sun goes down.

Hopefully we get somethin'.
Yep.

Narrator: coming up,
misty discovers

A secret about the homestead.

Never in a million years could
we have been prepared for this.

Narrator: four days ago,

The raneys arrived in ohio
to find the broadhead homestead

A total disaster.

Morgan: that tree and that line
are really

What's keeping the house
from moving forward.

Narrator: now, marty has
straightened the walls.

It didn't move one hair.

Narrator: misty is attempting
to grade the front yard.

You have, like, a serious
drainage issue.

And matt is ridding
the homestead

Of dangerous critters.

Matt: we'll just see what
happens when the sun goes down.

Hopefully we get somethin'.

♪♪

Narrator: on the edge of
the forest, matt and the kids

Continue to rid the property
of dangerous animals.

So there's the nest
lot of ants.

At this point,

We're gonna be working full time
to get all the tree piles,

Any wood piles -- anything
where animals could move into

And get comfortable --
has got to be removed.

This thing is like
a mink sanctuary.

I don't think
they're living here anymore.

So we could light a fire
and burn all this stuff now,

Because it's pretty much
a lost cause.

Now that I have the animals
out of the walls

And into the woods,

I'm going
to smoke these fools.

♪♪

All right, guys?

Honestly, just us being here,
heavy excavators,

We've made a lot of trauma.

All right, get out here.

And I think that by the end
of this,

We can actually
rid this house

From all these
animals and all these critters.

Smoke them out.

♪♪

Okay.

Whoo!

It's gonna be a long day.

Narrator: inside the house,

Misty and wendy
begin to work on the garden.

So, if it's okay with you,
I want to rip all of this out.

You've got a tarp
and a bunch of debris.

It's just like it's just
this wet, muddy hole.

I'd rather just getting gravel
in here

And start draining
all of this moisture.

Okay.
What do you think?

Okay.

Yeah, see, we have
freestanding water in here.

What I love about this
tire-bale home

Is there's all of these
south facing windows --

The whole wall is solid glass.

It helps with heating it up,

But it also creates
this amazing opportunity

When it comes to growing food.

You can pretty much grow
anything you want year round.

Do you have running water.

We have a great
big water truck

Come in about every other month.
How much does that cost?

Because it's about $300 to $400
every time they come in.

-What?!
-Yeah.

And where do you go
to the bathroom.

The outhouse.
The outhouse.

Yeah.

There's no running water,

So we don't have
flushing toilets.

So we were using
an outhouse right now.

It's not great.

Showering -- we have had a lot
of rain this year.

And I quite frequently shower
in the rain water

That comes off the roof.

Otherwise we go to the local y,

Which unfortunately is almost
half an hour from here.

Do you have anything
convenient in this house at all.

Not so much.
Nothing?

Like, is one thing easy?

Everything here
is hard right now.

Everything: getting water
is hard,

Getting food is hard,
staying cool is hard.

So, yeah, we had
a rough emotional week

The week before
you guys got here.

Kinda, "why?
Why did we do this?"

Everything here
is hard right now.

Marty: all right, guys, we're
halfway through the week.

Are we in a good place
or a bad place?

Do you really want to know
the answer to that.

I have to know.
Look around you.

There's a lot of projects
that are started,

And not one of them is done.

We've plumbed the walls

And bermed
the entire outside of the house.

What's left is to finish this
inside garden,

Catch all these creatures,

And then cover every single
black tire with cobb.

A lot of work.

Wendy just told me that

They've been hauling water this
whole time they've been here.

They don't really have
a water source at all.

And they're trucking it in
at $400 a pop.

Thousands of dollars.
I get it.

Right now they
don't have anything

They don't have a finished
house, they don't have water,

She doesn't have a toilet.

We've got to change that.

Marty: so, halfway through this
homestead rescue,

Misty comes up to me
with a news flash.

"Hey, dad, this homestead
has zero water,"

And that's
a much bigger problem.

Than rubber tires and walls
that are not plumb.

That said, if we don't address
the water issue here,

We failed this homestead

And taken the "rescue"

Out of "homestead rescue."

Let's get back to work.