[Greenbuilding] Year-round thermal comfort & insulation

[Paul Hadfield]

Reuben says: "Thermal mass (such as a brick or stone wall) would I
think do a much better job producing comfortably cool summer evenings,
but would not accomplish much in the winter"


As Mike says, doesn't thermal mass provide a flywheel of heat through
cold periods, as building 2226
<https://www.detail-online.com/article/house-without-heating-office-building-in-austria-16667/>
(non-domestic, admittedly) shows?


Paul Hadfield.




On Sat, 14 Jul 2018 at 19:00, <
greenbuilding-request at lists.bioenergylists.org> wrote:

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>    1. Year-round thermal comfort & insulation (Reuben Deumling)
>    2. Re: Year-round thermal comfort & insulation (Mike O'Brien)
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> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com>
> To: Greenbuilding <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2018 07:43:24 -0700
> Subject: [Greenbuilding] Year-round thermal comfort & insulation
> I like insulation: the more the better as far as I'm concerned. For
> keeping the cold out (speaking colloquially) I've found that careful
> attention to air sealing and insulation pays huge dividends. But for
> keeping the summer heat out, I'm finding that the same insulation does a
> far less admirable job. Stretches of direct sun not only manage to heat up
> the room/house, it feels like the insulation then does a good job of
> holding that just-gained heat in. While cool nights with the windows open
> typically solves the problem in our relatively mild PNW climate I'm still
> perplexed why the seasonal symmetry I (naively) expected is not evident.
> The walls in question have two parallel but isolated sets of studs and as
> much dense packed cellulose as I my Forec 2 insulation blower can force
> into the nooks and crannies. Thermal mass (such as a brick or stone wall)
> would I think do a much better job producing comfortably cool summer
> evenings, but would not accomplish much in the winter. Are there hybrid
> wall assemblies I'm not aware for? What am I missing?
>
> Planned remedies: learn to make exterior shutters, plant more trees.
>
> Thanks!
>
>
>
> ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> From: "Mike O'Brien" <obrien at hevanet.com>
> To: Green Building <greenbuilding at lists.bioenergylists.org>
> Cc:
> Bcc:
> Date: Sat, 14 Jul 2018 08:40:38 -0700
> Subject: Re: [Greenbuilding] Year-round thermal comfort & insulation
> Hi, Reuben—
>
> In our house we used lots of insulation, and also thermal mass. The house
> is built on a slab, the southern end has a clay finish floor, it has
> Durasol walls on the south side, and there is a cob wall in the interior.
> We also installed an ecoroof on the south facing side, which helps reduce
> thermal gains on that area. I believe the thermal mass helps dampen the
> temperature swings, especially noticable in extreme weather. The
> west-facing windows are shaded by a big cedar tree and a (sprawling)
> wisteria, and the west-facing roof has solar water panels on it. With your
> same night-flushing strategy, our house remains comfortable, even when the
> outdoors is in the 90s.
>
> Best,
>
> Mike
> (503) 819-8991
>
>
> On Jul 14, 2018, at 7:43 AM, Reuben Deumling <9watts at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I like insulation: the more the better as far as I'm concerned. For
> keeping the cold out (speaking colloquially) I've found that careful
> attention to air sealing and insulation pays huge dividends. But for
> keeping the summer heat out, I'm finding that the same insulation does a
> far less admirable job. Stretches of direct sun not only manage to heat up
> the room/house, it feels like the insulation then does a good job of
> holding that just-gained heat in. While cool nights with the windows open
> typically solves the problem in our relatively mild PNW climate I'm still
> perplexed why the seasonal symmetry I (naively) expected is not evident.
> The walls in question have two parallel but isolated sets of studs and as
> much dense packed cellulose as I my Forec 2 insulation blower can force
> into the nooks and crannies. Thermal mass (such as a brick or stone wall)
> would I think do a much better job producing comfortably cool summer
> evenings, but would not accomplish much in the winter. Are there hybrid
> wall assemblies I'm not aware for? What am I missing?
>
> Planned remedies: learn to make exterior shutters, plant more trees.
>
> Thanks!
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-- 
Paul Hadfield
Firelight Open Fires Ltd
Springside House
Scotland Lane
Burton Overy
Leicester LE8 9DR
Email : paul.hadfield at firelight.co.uk

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