[Greenbuilding] Earth-berming an existing home

[RT]

On Thu, 11 Aug 2011 00:37:19 -0400, Leslie Moyer <unschooler at lrec.org>  
wrote:

> Can anyone point me to some information on what would be involved in  
> berming an existing above-grade home?  We have a typical 70's era brick  
> ranch home.

Morely;

I'd suggest simply outsulating the existing structure (to get the thermal  
insulation benefit that berming up against the brick veneer might have  
provided but without the horrific problems) and build a window sill-height  
retaining wall just inside of the drip line of the eaves (hoping that you  
have good,wide eaves... 3 ft or more) to get the "earth berm" aesthetic,  
if that is a look that you were after.

The ground between the retaining wall and the house should be provided  
with drainage  in addition to providing a drainage layer/tile on the berm  
side of the retaining wall.

Then you install a Green Roof to complete the "look" and "Voila!" no more  
70's ranch home.
-- 
=== * ===
Rob Tom
Kanata, Ontario, Canada
< A r c h i L o g i c  at  Y a h o o  dot  C A >
(manually winnow the chaff from my edress if you hit REPLY)