Oh, forgot to mention that the solar/earth sheltered house's central core 
wall that separated the cozy family room from the spacious sunken living 
room and raised dining/kitchen areas, was 3' thick x 18' long, and stopped 
4" short of the ceiling, filled with cobblestone sized rocks to allow air 
flow for the fan system that moved air up or down depending on the season. 
Warm ceiling air recycled down to under the floor in winter and cool crawl 
space air was pumped up in summer.   The family room had a Rumford 
Fireplace, but the primary heat source was the living room's nice BC-built 
high efficiency (used to be called Northern Heatliner but is now Northern 
Fireplace) wood burner with outside air intake.   A large greenhouse-sun 
room fronted the living room, separated with thermal glass units and 
controllable transom and baseboard windows the entire length.   Living room 
had tile floor (accessible to winter sun) on concrete slab with foam 
insulation under the slab.

Due to a variety of solar and insulation design details, the darn place was 
comfortable in summer too, just as much of a problem as winter in this 
desert environment with normal summer temps in the 90s and low 100s.   Their 
air conditioning budget was as much a bargain as the winter heating cost.

This elegant little house was/is the manager's home at Covert Farms in 
Oliver, BC (great landscape pictures at their web site www.covertfarms.ca ). 
It was designed to be built by farm labourers during the winter months. 
Covert Farms is a big market garden farm and orchard, and one of their 
challenges is to get the good seasonal workers to return the next summer. 
This building project was created to keep the good guys at the farm over 
winter, so the construction details had to be capable for anyone who could 
hold a hammer and follow basic instructions.   Definitely non-union!   Made 
each day an interesting one, but it was in a time of architectural recession 
here, and I was happy to have a job!

For the NY upstaters, you might know of Covert Farm at Covert, NY.  That 
is/was their grandpa's place.

cp in bc



----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Cuyler Page" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Sunday, December 09, 2007 12:22 PM
Subject: Re: [BP] The Sustainability of the Puritan way


> Subject: Re: [BP] The Sustainability of the Puritan way
>
>
> Sounds about right, that's about what we burn each winter.  It's very 
> labor
> (or cost) intensive to live in a cold climate.  Ruth
>
> ------------------------------------------
>
> Just depends on the design!
>
> Here, North of the 49th in dry high desert cold country, at the clients
> request, I designed and built a 2500 sf two story home that made use of
> passive solar features, partial earth sheltering with berms,  thermal mass
> masonry core around the chimney with reversible fan to cycle ceiling air 
> up
> or down through the core and crawl space, depending on the season, and
> aerodynamic form to deal with the site's intense North wind.  The building
> code system here did not allow wood heating as a primary source, so we had
> to install some electric baseboards to satisfy the Building Inspector.
>
> The first winter was an unusually bad one here, but, the owner never 
> turned
> on the breakers for the baseboard system and used only 1-1/2 cords of wood
> for the entire winter season.   Unlike some homes with similar features, 
> it
> was even pretty, and was published in the glossy Dr's office regional
> lifestyle mag.   House cost about$100,00 which was standard here then for
> standard, slightly plus, middle class housing.
>
> cp in bc
>
> --
> To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
> uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
> <http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>
>
> 

--
To terminate puerile preservation prattling among pals and the
uncoffee-ed, or to change your settings, go to:
<http://listserv.icors.org/archives/bullamanka-pinheads.html>