[Greenbuilding] passive solar homes - floors

[John Salmen]

Hi Kathleen,

You have to think of your own winter experience in living Portland. Cold and
sunny and then warm and wet within a very short time period. It is a quick
swing and typically a high mass house in the pnw reacts too slowly. Often
the mass provided by typical gympsum walls can be sufficient in a design.

The other thing to consider is that we don't need huge heat inputs in the
pnw, a well insulated house with heat recovery and good siting requires a
minimal heating system and minimal use of exposure.

Ironically where mass plays a role here is in cooling. I use interior mass
(tiling or equiv. in extreme sun exposed areas, depending on overhang
usually only a few feet of exposure) and design exterior areas to mitigate
summer heat gain as we can reach extreme day temperatures with cool nights.
and the combination can be used effectively to moderate interior
temperature.

JOHN SALMEN ENVIRONMENTAL DESIGN
4465 UPHILL RD,. DUNCAN, B.C.  CANADA, V9L 6M7
PH 250 748 7672 FAX 250 748 7612 CELL 250 246 8541
terrain at shaw.ca

-----Original Message-----
From: greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org
[mailto:greenbuilding-bounces at listserv.repp.org] On Behalf Of Kat
Sent: June 10, 2007 9:18 PM
To: Greenbuilding
Subject: [Greenbuilding] passive solar homes - floors

Hi all,

I've got a client of my very own (my first!) and I'm trying to convince 
them to go with the simplest passive solar system - that of direct 
gain.  I've got a few questions:

1) I'm reading _The Passive Solar Energy Book_, by Edward Mazria, 
copyright 1979.  Is this generally a good source?  Is there another 
source I should follow up with, to fill in holes, or find correct 
information?

2) Does anyone on the list live in a well-functioning direct-gain 
passive solar home that uses the floor as part of the system?  If so, do 
you happen to live in a temperate climate like Portland, Oregon?  And if 
so, what do the floors feel like in the winter?  Are they warm, tepid, 
or cool on the feet?

3) Any suggestions for how to convince the client that they will like a 
thermal-storage floor, when they are a die-hard fan of wood floors, and 
think that concrete is going to be too hard?  Or is this going to be an 
impossible task because concrete *is* too hard?  Is it nasty to live 
on?  These floors would be joisted - the concrete (or dirt, or whatever 
I could convince them to use as thermal storage) would go on top of the 
joists.

Thanks!

-Kathleen

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