At 12:11 PM 2/22/2009, [email protected] wrote:
I know of several limestone quarry mines that have homes built in the face
It works out that the ground temperature in Central Texas is about 5 or 6 months out of phase with the atmospheric temperature--and it hovers in the 68º to 70º range--quite nice for home life. In the summer the ground temperature 15 or 20 feet down will be in the mid-60s, in the winter it'll be closer to 70.
About 20 or 25 years ago I designed a house which could be built into a cave or mine or intentional cut and fill site. Ostensibly you find a site on a south-facing cliff or hill that allows for a 20 foot deep rectangular cut and bench. A concrete arch is poured on the bench as a roof for the "cave" providing a "chimney" of 4 or 5 feet diameter to the surface above and that roof then backfilled to a thickness of 5 or 6 feet, the final top to be level with the original topography. Then, inside that "cave" (now 15 feet high) a conventional frame house is built on pier and beam with 100% treated lumber, but no external siding or insulation. No roof is needed but a heavy plastic tent should be provided to preclude water dripping onto the ceiling. The inside (floors, walls, and ceiling) is first carefully lined with heavy (say 20 mil) plastic and caulked to prevent any moisture penetration from the cave invironment, and then finished with conventional flooring and drywall construction. And remember--no insulation.
That way the house is surrounded on 5 of its 6 sides by ambient cave air which can be transferred to the inside of the house through the thin sheet-rock walls.
The 6th wall of the house is built directly under the drip line and the rest of the opening rocked in (to the upper surface level) with masonary as creatively and esthetically as possible. A large green house is built outside that south-facing wall with operable ducting and vents leading into each room of the house. That way, heat from the green house can be used to warm the interior should supplemental heat be wanted. The 'chimney' will extend into the living area to provide light; ducting from each room routed within it so that a natural convective flow of warm air from the green house can be turned on by simply opening a damper or two--each room being separately adjustable.
A wood stove (and perhaps a hot tub) in the green house can supply supplemental heat to that space on cold winter nights. Or you can sleep with the dog.
--Ediger
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