CEB No More?

Well I am hear in the solar adobe class, listening to stories and I think I am going to switch to Adobe. Still thinking. Will post more later.

Passive Solar - Its more than pointing the home south.

I was speaking with a friend who is planning to build a "passive solar" home off the grid. The plan is stick frame 2x6 walls, point the home south, cover the south wall with windows and sit back and enjoy. I asked them about the floor and the plan was to lift the home off the ground and use a crawl space. I asked them about their overhangs for the south and they hadn't thought that out yet. Although this home may meet there needs, as similiar home designs meet the needs of many people throughout the world today, to me a few simple changes could make this home REALLY efficient and comfortable. I will touch on a few of those in my next few posts including thermal mass, trombe walls, overhangs for south facing homes and glazing to livable square footage ratios.

Next Adobe Class

I am excited to head down to Bosque, NM to attend the second of two classes put on by the SWSA school. This will be a hands on class, where we will have a earthblock press (AECT manufacturer) available. We will be covering rubble trench foundations, CEB building, slurry's, running electrical, bond-beams etc. This should be an exciting class. I will be taking great notes and sharing them here.

Kim and I have also been trying to figure out our ultimate plan. After attending the last class I was afraid our first guest house was too big, even though it was small. I was sitting in the hotel and I was thinking "you know, if our first house is a guest house, then it doesn't really need to be much bigger than this room" so......I redid my guest house plans and made it 24x24, which is the same size as the detached two car garage I just built here in KC. I removed the laundry, made the bathroom a little smaller and pulled out the kitchen. Now I am worried that if I get the guest house built, then for some reason I can't build the main house, we won't have everything I need in our first and at that point only house. Decisions, decisions.....