designing homes in an old-fashioned way?

[Betho]

Does anyone have any resources on how to learn designing homes the way they used to do? I mean, for example, how to design a home to be cooler in temperature in the summer without needing central air, just by the way the windows and airflow are designed. Or, how to locate a woodstove vs. kitchen, bedrooms, etc. for the maximum efficiency heating... stuff like that. Is there a place I can read up on general info of that sort of thing?

[ldc]

There's a book in librairies called "A Pattern Language". It discusses old ways of doing houses that worked, but a lot of it goes back a long way in history. I remember a section on maying beds in cubby holes w curtains for privacy and to stay warm. it's good for ideas; don't remember about specifics...ldc

[Beaners]

Our house stays very cool in the summer without AC. It is shaded from sun most of the day, and all of the doors on the lower levels have transoms. They are windows that open above the doors so that the door can be shut and air still circulates through the house. We also have fairly high ceilings.

Now, it doesn't keep so warm in winter, because we also have ancient windows that need to be replaced. We do have the doors between all the rooms though, and that allows us to only heat the rooms we are using.

Sorry I don't know of any books or sites that go into more detail, but maybe these examples could help?

Kayleigh

[Alice In TX/MO]

Plant trees that keep their leaves year round on the north side to block the cold winds.

Plant trees that lose their leaves in the winter on the south side so that what warming sun there is can reach your house.

We also planted trees to shade the west side because in Texas, the afternoons and evenings are HOT, and this reduces heat gain.

Installing a ridge vent makes a big difference, too.

http://www.eartheasy.com/live_naturalcooling.htm

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/nat...ps-how-to.html

[Betho]

OK here's a great example - the house we're living in is probably from the 50's or 60's. the 2 entryways (kitchen door and front door) both are set up in a way that there is an archway into the mainroom that I can hang up a blanket or curtain on to keep out the drafts. I think it was done that way on purpose... it's little things like that. Great idea so fars though! Especially about the trees.

[okiemom]

Most doors had a larger space underneath so there would be circulation. Doors had "windows" over them for keeping heat from being traped in a room. tall ceilings. bedrooms off the main living or fire room. Less hall ways. stairways to help direct the heat upwards.

We installed a "lighhouse type box on our roof so we can open window and "vent " the heat out. Windows w/ cross ventilation. In ok we have to worry more about heat than cold so we put our housed in more of an open high spot. It stays much cooler in the summer. The winter is very cold w/ the unprotected winds. I had the heat more.

Screened sleeping porches. wrap around porches. outdoor kitchen so house is not heated up.

[Alice In TX/MO]

Because we have more cooling required days that heating required days, we designed our house as a V, and we have 20 windows. The open part faces the south, which is the direction from which our prevailing winds blow in the summer. The open part of the V channels the breeze through the house.

The pointy part of the V faces the north so that what cold wind in the winter that gets though the wind break of the live oak trees is split and flows around, not through, the house.

[MELOC]

i don't know how "old fashioned" the ideas are, but gary has some good stuff over on www.builditsolar.com


it's worth a look...

[Alex]

Hi Betho,

From another post of mine here is our design, which we built, and live now in as much of the year as we can arrange. Cool in summer, warm in winter. Some of the Poplar logs are twenty-two-inches diameter.

Four of us grew up in this 20 x 28 two story cabin, without power, pressure water and the toilet was outside.

After they left and grew up to be beautiful and amazing people, then Nancy and I (mainly me - she didn't want it at first and now likes it) turned one of the bedroom areas into a nice bathroom, with WC, Lav, Bathtub, and washing machine. We still use the outhouse and think it's fine.


First Floor, Note Three Stoves, Katie-II-The-Cookstove, Ashely (airtight), Pellet Stove

We since relocated the Pellet stove to where Ashely is shown and bought a new Blaze King wood stove, which we love. We moved the Pellet stove to where Ashely was, but never use it -- we have pellets left and thought it might be a back-up if chopping wood was more difficult for some reason -- but it hasn't been used for years.

The Blaze King is great and uses less wood than other non-catalytic types.


Second Floor with New Inside Bathroom


Party with Neighbors and Family in Cabin.

Enjoy,

Alex

[djberg]

Dear Betho,

Great question and great ideas in the responses.

I did two books on the topic. American Country Building Design is available at Amazon.com. How to Build in the Country is out of print, but I've posted much of the material on The Backroad Home.

The stuff is mostly plans and design ideas from 19th century American pattern books and farm journals, and mostly about East Coast and Midwest farmhouses.

If I were you, I'd try to find some examples of vernacular homes in your area. They usually have the best response to local climate. The Historic American Building Survey doesn't have much on Spokane Valley, but Spokane County seems to have an active historic preservation office (www.historicspokane.org). Someone there can probably tell you about historic homes that are open to the public.

If your property is in the woods, a log home like the one Alex has might be right. Massive logs add "thermal mass" to hold in the heat of the central woodstoves in winter and keep some of the cool of summer nights throughout the day. I like the airflow that all those windows give a one-room cabin, but you might need insulating curtains or shutters (the old way) in the winter.

Life is different now, but there are still things that we can learn from the past. Old farmhouses often had their kitchens in separate els, because the stove was going all day and gave off too much heat most of the day. Today, a central location for the kitchen and the woodstove is better. Rooms above the woodstove stay warmer. Rooms set into the earth (root cellars) stay cooler.

Solar orientation (saltbox houses) works. So do breezeways (threshing barns and dog trot cabins). Massive insulation (ice houses) works. So does thermal mass (stone barns, adobe buildings and log homes). Building into the earth (root cellars and bank barns) helps. Good ventilation (cupolas) is essential. Shutters can save a house in a hurricane or a tornado. I can go on and on.

My family built a passive solar home in Vermont about twenty five years ago using many ideas from old-time books and from vernacular homes. It's essentially a New England saltbox with a bank barn foundation. We landscaped it exactly as Rose described but with an additional "arbor-veranda," from an old pattern book, on the South side for more shade in the Summer. We've saved a fortune in heating and don't need AC.


Don

Donald Berg
The Country Home Journal

[stanb999]

You have had a lot of tips for a warmer climate... I'll tell you what they did in this 170 year ond house..... In a colder climate.

First the the house is situated on the land properly.

It sits on a south facing slope just far enough from the peak that the hill blocks the cold north west wind. But high enough that temps are moderated in the winter(the temp can drop 5 degrees in a hundred feet of elevation.).

The house is also blocked on three sides by large spruce trees. But the south side is open to get the suns heat even in the dead of winter.

The house faces exactly due south.
For windows it has one large window and a small one that was added more recently on the north side. On the south side it has 4 large windows to get good light and help with solar gain. These windows are 54X34.. Big I tell ya.
The east/west sides have smaller windows that can be opened to catch the prevailing winds in summer.

The ceilings are 7' to keep the heat down. It has a central stair to get the heat from the wood stove to go up stairs bed rooms. We put up a curtain to keep the heat down stairs during the day and remove it at night. It works real well. In fact in the winter it's warmer upstairs away from the stove even in the morning.

Here is a picture of the house in the front... You can see it's mostly window or door.

Hosted on Fotki

[brosil]

There's a good book from the 1970s called The Owner Built Home but I can't remember the author. It had a lot of good ideas. Remember that when it comes to evening out the temperature variations, mass is your friend.

[raymilosh]

I have found that books on solar design are excellent for including information about creating natural air currents, shading, overhangs, insulation, etc.

[Phantomfyre]

Originally Posted by djberg

...shutters (the old way) in the winter.

Oh my. Oh, MY. That's IT! DH and I want to re-do this home to make it more energy-efficient, and make it look like an old bank barn - inside and out - in the process. (Long story.) I am NOT a fan of traditional window treatments (curtains) but would like something that can be used to block out light, keep in heat, etc. Shutters! Only on the *insides* of the windows! For the look I'm going for, though, not slatted shutters, but little barn doors or something. Oh, thank you! I'm filing this in the idea folder for sure!

We're also planning to have a big open room in the center of the house, with rooms set up loft-style to either side (east and west). Master bedroom on the east side main floor with bedroom(s) above, and the kitchen on the west side with bedroom(s) above. All bedrooms will have transoms and/or "windows" in the wall that can be opened or closed to manipulate air flow. Wood stove in the center great room. Cupola above the great room that will double as a chimney and a whole-house ventilation chimney to allow heat to escape out the peak in summer. (Obviously, cupola will have to be modified to allow for the stove pipe/chimney to safely exit, but I think it's doable, and would be a great way to hide the chimney to keep the barn look.) The back of the house faces due south, so will have large windows and proper overhangs for passive solar gain. Also thinking of having a multi-use solar space/greenhouse/summer kitchen off the back that we'd incorporate into the barn look by doing it lean-to style. Utility rooms, closets, pantry, etc. as much as possible on the north side to insulate and reduce or eliminate the need for windows. Unfortunately, however, the front of the house faces north, so the main door would be there, but thinking another lean-to style porch on the front could be a semi-enclosed porch/airlock. No hallways, (AKA space wasters, IMO).

Thank you for walking with me through my little dream plan; I now return you to your regularly scheduled thread...

Originally Posted by djberg

I can go on and on.

Please do! Please?

[FarmboyBill]

Yer gonna build your house to look loike a barn. Let me guess, Whats your barn gonna look like?????

[djberg]

Phanthomfyre,

A barn home is a great idea. A bank barn is the perfect model for a passive solar home.

I actually design barns for a living and have done a couple of barn homes.

The reason that many people are disappointed when they build barn homes is that they use too many windows. Homes need a lot of windows, barns don't. But, if you're building a passive solar home, you want most of the windows on the South (back) side anyway. Use very few, very small windows on the other sides and organize them in a tight geometric pattern.

How about a big sliding glass door on the South. You can use sliding barn doors as the shutters for that. A projecting forebay, like on Pennsylvania bank barns would make a good Summer shade for lower level windows. Or, you could build the type of pent roof that many old barns have to protect their doors.

Here's a nice greenhouse/solarium/air lock entry by a member of this forum:

http://countryhomejournal.com/passiv...avis-home/401/


Don

Donald Berg
The Country Home Journal

[haypoint]

My old farm house was well laid out for cold weather. While the second floor looks like a half story with big dormers on each side, it holds 4 bedrooms, a hallway, stairway, linen closet and bathroom. Each bedroom has it's own closet and all the closets are on an outside wall. By having closets against outside walls, the house stays warmer. Plus the northwest closet is a good place to store apples in the winter.
In hot weather we open everything up at night and shut the house down during the day. Keeps it pleasantly cool.

Sears sold homes for a number of years. There is a book with most of their many designs, showing floor plans and the house itself. Check with your library, Mail Order Homes or something like that.

[paul]

There is some good advice in:

Roberts, Rex. "Your Engineered House". New York: M.C. Evans Company, 1964.

I think "Low-Cost, Energy-Efficient Shelter for the Owner and Builder" by Eugene Eccli from Rodale Press covers homemade windows and doors as well as ventilation. I don't have a copy handy, but I looked it up on the net and I think this is the book I'm thinking about.

"The Owner Built House" by Ken Kern is well worth reading if you are willing to try new things. I'm pretty sure it covers ventilation.

There were a lot of good books published in the 1970's, and some bad ones. I can't remember the titles of any other of the good ones right now.

abebooks.com is a good place to search for used books.


==>paul

[djberg]

Betho,

These ideas may be of some help. I found these "rules" on the faded pages of old farm journals from upstate New York. It’s fascinating that, for the most part, they still make perfect sense more than a hundred and fifty years after they were written.


http://countryhomejournal.com/rules-...farmhouse/102/

http://countryhomejournal.com/rules-...farmhouse/114/

Don

[brewswain]

Originally Posted by paul

There is some good advice in:

Roberts, Rex. "Your Engineered House". New York: M.C. Evans Company, 1964
==>paul

rex's book title is 'Your engineered HOME"

He thoroughly explains the difference between a house and a home.

What is a 'bank' barn?