>Hi carol,
>
>Thanks for sharing that post on your friend's passive solar home in the Blue
>Ridge mountains.
>
>That's just what I hope to do...the fact that it is working so well is music
>to my ears.
>
><<The sloped wall of south-facing windows warmed a
>huge block of poured concrete that was about 30 inches by 30 inches by the
>width of the wall of windows. >> I plan to incorporate a 16*16 sun room with
>two or three operable skylights in roof . I'm planning on having concrete
>slab to store thermal gains...am not sure whether I need 4" or 6" slab?
>
My house was built in 1940 of poured concrete - a common technique here at
the time. Base of walls is 15 inches tapering to 11 inches at the top. The
U values are horrible and we spent our first 8 years here shivering despite
the wood stove fired central heating, the supplementary individual wood
stoves and a couple of open fire places (our land is damp and willow grows
like stink so we have fuel coming out of our ears - and CO2 emissions were
only a shadow on the horizon back then). Then we added a large conservatory
right along the south side of the house. We have just had two sunny weeks,
the conservatory get so warm we have to damp down the plants three times a
day (its too cold for them to go outside) The concrete wall is right beside
me as I type and its at just below 60F, the conservatory floor, tile over 6
inch slab, is 100+. So the conservatory is warm, and by leaving the door
open I am getting some heat gain into the house, but the wall between me
and it is actually still lowering the temperature. Ain't life complicated
kathryn
