[Greenbuilding] Year-round thermal comfort & insulation

Mon Jul 16 09:08:43 CDT 2018

All, much as I am delighted to see this long running forum on green
building resurrected, we all would appreciate:

1.  *NO* advertising; if you have a comment please DO NOT include a
repetition that includes the product you sell.
   (Information about new products is welcome, but advertising these is
not; there is a difference)

2.  If you have a new subject that orphans off the discussion, head that up
in the subject line, don't just continue in the old one, most particularly
when your new thoughts have nothing to do with what was brought up in the
first place.

thanks for your consideration and I do hope you all continue to discuss
green building here.

Sacie

On Mon, Jul 16, 2018 at 8:24 AM Lynelle A. Hamilton <lynelle at lahamilton.com>
wrote:

> I have a Durisol/Nexcem house, second one, actually. It is well-sealed and
> has additional insulation to total approx. R40 in the wall assembly. The
> temperature does not fluctuate widely, although the house is still under
> construction and has only partial ceiling insulation at the moment. During
> the last heat wave we had in Ontario, the house remained cool, although
> humidity increased to uncomfortable levels eventually. The mini-split isn't
> hooked up in the new house as yet, but we did open windows and it wasn't
> unbearable. Standing in front of the south facing wall outside was another
> matter entirely...
>
> Within reason, we don't seem to pay attention as much to temp; we notice
> temp *fluctuations*, Avoiding those to a great degree means I can set the
> heat lower in the winter and usually avoid a/c altogether in the summer,
> (using only the dehumidifier option on the mini-split.)
> My (Canadian) nickel's worth, as we no longer have pennies.
>
> Lynelle Hamilton
> On 2018-07-15 3:10 AM, Paul Hadfield wrote:
>
> 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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>> Today's Topics:
>>
>>    1. Year-round thermal comfort & insulation (Reuben Deumling)
>>    2. Re: Year-round thermal comfort & insulation (Mike O'Brien)
>>
>>
>>
>> ---------- 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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