Earth Bound Homes

Earth Bound Homes We’re a Certified B Corp + a team of scientists, engineers + builders who build Passive Houses.

A California home has to do more than look beautiful.Heat. Wildfire. Smoke. Power costs. Changing climate conditions.Res...
08/21/2026

A California home has to do more than look beautiful.
Heat. Wildfire. Smoke. Power costs. Changing climate conditions.

Resilience has become part of good design.

For this home, that means a Class A standing-seam metal roof, durable exterior materials, mineral wool in fire-critical areas, ember-resistant venting and careful attention to combustible materials around the structure.

And that exceptionally airtight Passive House envelope?

It also helps reduce the uncontrolled pathways through which outdoor pollutants and wildfire smoke can enter.
Efficiency and resilience aren’t separate conversations.
Increasingly, they’re the same one.

Build for today.
Plan for what’s coming.

Beauty with a spreadsheet behind it. And in this case, a whole lot of personality, too.This Palo Alto Passive House is b...
08/18/2026

Beauty with a spreadsheet behind it. And in this case, a whole lot of personality, too.

This Palo Alto Passive House is being built for a young family who wanted something that feels anything but predictable: Mediterranean-inspired, color-forward and unapologetically maximalist.

Think warm materials, saturated color, pattern, texture and spaces designed for real family life—all wrapped inside a building envelope engineered to perform at an entirely different level.

The modeling tells part of the story: **87% less heating demand and 68% less total site energy compared to code. But the numbers aren’t the design.

They’re what allow the design to shine.

Because Passive House doesn’t have to mean quiet neutrals, minimalism or a particular architectural style. It can be joyful. Layered. Bold. Personal.

Beautiful homes are expected. Better homes are engineered.

Pretty specific number for a beautiful and healthy home.Jake’s Passive House was verified at 0.6 ACH50 with a modeled he...
08/17/2026

Pretty specific number for a beautiful and healthy home.

Jake’s Passive House was verified at 0.6 ACH50 with a modeled heating demand of 1.92 kBTU/(ft²·yr). That’s what we mean when we say performance isn’t marketing, it’s building science.

We measure it.

Your home should protect your health—not quietly compromise it.Persistent dust, a musty odor, or allergy and asthma symp...
08/04/2026

Your home should protect your health—not quietly compromise it.

Persistent dust, a musty odor, or allergy and asthma symptoms that seem worse indoors are not definitive diagnoses. But they can be important clues that your home’s air, moisture, and ventilation systems deserve a closer look.

Dust comes from many sources, including people, pets, fabrics, cooking, and the outdoors. In a leaky home, air can also enter through uncontrolled gaps around windows, recessed lights, outlets, floors, and wall assemblies—bypassing the filtration system entirely. More cleaning may address the surface, but it does not correct the airflow problem.

A musty smell often points to excess moisture or hidden microbial growth. Mold does not appear simply because a home is airtight; it grows where moisture is available. Indoor relative humidity should remain below 60%, and ideally between 30% and 50%. Filtration may capture some airborne particles, but it cannot repair a leak or eliminate the underlying moisture source.

When respiratory or allergy symptoms consistently become worse at home, indoor contaminants may be contributing. Damp conditions, mold, pollen, smoke, dust, and other airborne particles can aggravate asthma and allergic symptoms in susceptible people.

The building-science solution is not simply to “seal everything up.” It is to…
Build tight. Ventilate right. Filter intentionally. Control moisture.

A continuous air barrier limits uncontrolled infiltration. Properly designed mechanical ventilation brings in fresh outdoor air at a deliberate rate. Effective filtration reduces airborne particles, while thoughtful enclosure detailing and humidity management help prevent condensation, moisture damage, and mold growth.

Because the cleanest-looking home is not necessarily the healthiest one.💚

Most homes bring daylight in through windows. This home brings it through the floor.The opaque tempered glass floor inse...
07/09/2026

Most homes bring daylight in through windows. This home brings it through the floor.

The opaque tempered glass floor insert you see here sits directly below a skylight, allowing natural light to cascade through the center of the home and into the level below. The result is a light well that connects all three stories, reducing the need for artificial lighting while creating a striking architectural feature.

By day, sunlight filters down from above, illuminating spaces that would traditionally require electric lighting. By night, the glow reverses direction, turning the floor into a softly lit design element visible from multiple levels. It’s one of those details that feels simple when you experience it—but takes careful planning to execute beautifully.

Natural light doesn’t just make a home brighter. It makes it feel larger, calmer, and more connected to the rhythms of the day.

A reminder that great design isn’t just about what you see—it’s about how a space feels.



Architect: Arkin Tilt Architects
Builder: Earth Bound Homes
Photographer: Edward Caldwell at www.edwardcaldwell.com

When wildfire smoke rolls into the Bay Area, we all check the AQI app. We close the windows. We feel safer inside.The U....
07/06/2026

When wildfire smoke rolls into the Bay Area, we all check the AQI app. We close the windows. We feel safer inside.

The U.S. EPA has been quietly publishing something different for years: indoor air is typically 2 to 5 times more polluted than the air outside. In some homes, more than 100 times.

A lot of that comes from the house itself. Conventional paints, adhesives, flooring, and insulation off-gas chemicals long after the contractor packs up. The home looks finished. The air keeps changing.

This is why we obsess over material selection on every project. Healthier air is not an upgrade or an add-on. It is a decision made early, one product at a time, before the walls ever close up.

Swipe through to see where the number actually comes from, and what it has to do with how a home is built. 🌿

Some stairs get you from one floor to another.These tell a story.At the Cereza Passive House, each tread was crafted fro...
07/03/2026

Some stairs get you from one floor to another.

These tell a story.

At the Cereza Passive House, each tread was crafted from live-edge reclaimed oak, preserving the knots, grain, checking, and character that took decades to form. No two pieces are alike. Every step carries a reminder that nature rarely works in straight lines.

What we love most is the contrast. The warmth and imperfections of the wood float against crisp steel detailing and a high-performance building envelope engineered to exacting standards. Craft meets building science. Art meets function.

From above, the stair unfolds like a sculpture. From below, it anchors the space with weight and warmth. And every day, it turns a simple act—walking upstairs—into an experience.

The best homes aren’t defined by a single feature. They’re defined by the moments that make you pause. This staircase is one of them.

Where craftsmanship and performance meet.

Architect: Arkin Tilt Architects
Builder: Earth Bound Homes
Photographer: Edward Caldwell at www.edwardcaldwell.com

Most homeowners never see this number.A typical new home in California tests between 3 and 5 ACH50. This home tested at ...
06/29/2026

Most homeowners never see this number.

A typical new home in California tests between 3 and 5 ACH50. This home tested at **0.57 ACH50**.

Why does that matter?

Because every gap in a building envelope allows conditioned air to escape and outdoor air to sneak in. That means more dust, more pollen, more wildfire smoke, more temperature swings, and higher energy use.

At 0.57 ACH50, this home is no longer exchanging air with the weather. Fresh air comes in through a filtered ventilation system. Temperatures stay consistent. Comfort becomes predictable.

Building science isn’t about chasing numbers for the sake of numbers.

It’s about creating homes that are healthier, quieter, more resilient, and more comfortable to live in every single day.

The best-performing homes aren’t just insulated well.

They’re built to control where the air goes.

🏡 Built for comfort.
🌿 Built for health.
📊 Verified by testing.

Most homeowners have never heard of a thermal bridge.But they’ve definitely felt one.That cold spot near a window.The ch...
06/21/2026

Most homeowners have never heard of a thermal bridge.

But they’ve definitely felt one.

That cold spot near a window.
The chilly corner that never seems comfortable.
The room that loses heat faster than the thermostat says it should.

A thermal bridge is a pathway that allows heat to bypass your insulation and escape through the building structure itself.

Wood studs, steel components, concrete slabs, and poorly detailed window assemblies can all act like shortcuts for heat loss.

The insulation may be doing its job.

The structure isn’t.

At Earth Bound Homes, we spend a lot of time designing these weak points out of the building envelope. It’s one of the reasons high-performance homes feel different. Walls stay warmer. Temperatures stay more consistent. Mechanical systems work less.

The goal isn’t just energy efficiency.

It’s comfort.

Because the best homes don’t fight the weather.

They work with it.

Meet Jake’s Passive House.Named after the homeowner’s beloved dog, Jake, this Menlo Park home proves that comfort isn’t ...
06/18/2026

Meet Jake’s Passive House.

Named after the homeowner’s beloved dog, Jake, this Menlo Park home proves that comfort isn’t just about temperature—it’s about peace and quiet, too.

Located directly beside an active railway, this home was designed with robust insulation, meticulous sound attenuation detailing, and high-performance triple-pane Passive House windows. The result? An incredibly calm interior environment where the noise of the outside world fades away.

Beyond its quiet comfort, the home uses a fraction of the energy required by a conventional house, maintaining consistent temperatures year-round while delivering exceptional indoor air quality and durability.

Good design doesn’t fight its surroundings.

It works with them.

Building A Better Way.

Address

440 N Central Avenue
San Jose, CA
95008

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Monday 7am - 6pm
Tuesday 7am - 6pm
Wednesday 7am - 6pm
Thursday 7am - 6pm

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+14082445392

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