Designing a house for Hot weather
 

Ok partially homesteading related.

We have moved into Arkansas and plan on building our house later this year. So many of the new houses that we see seemed focused on keeping things comfortable only when the windows are closed and the AC system is in full gear. Don't get us wrong - when it's really hot we will turn it on so that we can sleep at night but during the day and when it's more moderate( under 100) we want it off. It seems easier to spend time outside if you aren't going back and forth between AC and the outside.

It seems like houses don't have to be that way since people lived here before AC was avail. What is it about those old house designs which made things easier? Any feedback or links would be appreciated.

thanks,
Mark

You might consider underground, that would eliminate the need for a/c entirely. Or even strawbale, should keep you mostly cool if you build in the shade.

Otherwise, besides tons of insulation, high ceilings with windows that open at the top and bottom for air flow, ceiling fans and an attic fan help a lot.

The Wandering Quilter's Life in a Box!

I very much like the idea of an underground or bermed house; however, the first settlers in the south used high ceilings, central hallways that ran the length of the house to take advantage of the prevailing winds, porches to make the outside just another room, strategically placed windows to avoid the Summer sun, and plenty of shade trees. When I built my house, I tried to build a lot of that into the planning, plus I used a radiant barrier, and it actually works pretty good for me. I wish I had gone with a mill or silver colored metal roof rather than a green one. I think that, in conjuction with the radiant barrier, would have been very effective.

Still, if I was building again, I'd definitely be designing a bermed house. Use the dirt to keep temps moderate.

If you look at old common people's houses in the south you will see they were small and had a place to sit outside. It's like going camping, if you have a tent you'll spend a lot of time outside if you have a motor home with A/C and a big screen TV you'll sit in the camper. We don't use A/C,we have a small TV that we don't watch much and we concentrate on outdoor spaces more than indoor spaces.

Insulate the ceilings good, use reflective roofing, design for cross ventilation and use ceiling fans. Also consider large roof overhangs for window shade.

Sometimes you use more energy by doing that. The AC unit has to struggle too hard just to catch up. You may be better off just keeping the windows closed and running it all the time in hot weather.

Up here in the north we usually have nights cool enough to where you can close the windows during the hot day and open them at night. There is maybe a week out of the year when that won't work out, but otherwise it works just fine. I do have a small window AC unit for one BR as backup but never use it. I doubt that strategy will work for Arkansas.

Since when is under 100 moderate?? Anything over 80 is too hot for me. :-)

i thought someone would say this before me. :)

it's a good idea to spend some time "living" on your land before building. that way you can learn the prevailing winds and how the sun hits it during all seasons.

my new house was built to take advantage of the northern prevailing winds, and it faces south. that way i can open the back and front doors and get a good breeze almost anytime. there is also a breeze that comes off the hillside to the east, as it moves toward the creek (don't know if this is only in appalachia? wind moves down hill toward water?) ceiling fans help move this cool air through the house. the front facing south has deciduous trees that shade it in the summer but lose their leaves in the winter to let in sunlight to help heat it. i also agree with building lots of outdoor space aka porches, screened or not.

and yes i learned all this from how old timers built their houses.

i haven't turned on my a/c even once this year. :)

hope this helps!!

A sod roof or very light colored shingles will help. Light colored houses are cooler than dark ones. My ideal house would be in a cave... just can't talk the wife into it.

good sized overhangs with the roof helps. You can make it so that the warm winter sun can shine in but the hot summer sun is shaded by the roof from getting in the windows.
It's all about angles and the position of the sun at different times of the year. Look into earthship designs to get more info about roof lines.

I wonder if the ways of keeping a house cool(tall ceilings,designed with a central hallway,either tall windows or windows at the top and the bottom of walls) wouldn't end up costing MORE than simply cooling your house with the A/C??

Also tall ceilings and lots of windows will make it difficult to heat in winter.

Here humidity is the biggie and unfortunately there is little you can do about that...beyond move. :p

For the design aspects as well as cooling benefits I would go with tall ceilings(10' or so) and lots of windows you can open to allow heat out.

Shade trees are nice too although around our house here they make the house quite dark,of course they are big old live oaks covered in spanish moss.

Id burry the house as deep as I could get it.

I live in a 200 +- year old house here in Southern VA. Four rooms on each floor, with central hall (house is long, only one room deep, not square). High ceilings. Each room has two windows, opposite eachother. The house was built so that the ridge runs east/west(front south/north). In winter the south windows get full sunlight into the room because of the low horizon of the sun, sunlight almost to the other wall. In the summer, the sun's run follows directly along and above the ridge, so that sun doesn't come in either the south or the north windows, making the inside cool because no sunlight enters (in other words the sun stays directly above the house all day, following the ridge of the roof, only the small east and west walls get morning/evening sun).

With the windows open (only the bedrooms have curtains), good ventilation occurs (I don't have ac). Very rare is the day when it's over 80 inside, and seldom is it above 75 by 10:00 bedtime! The problem with modern house plans is that with AC commonly available, nobody designs houses around natural cooling and heating anymore. The keys should be: windows opposite eachother in every room, front and back doors in line, preferably only one room deep (although I've seen old houses with two rooms deep but the doors and windows are in a straight line), high ceilings (after living with 9 1/2 foot ceilings in my house and 10 ft in parents' house, 8 just feels low!), and east/west length orientation (front south/north) so that summer sun misses windows while winter sun comes in full.

Trees help, although my place has none within shadowing of the house (used to have many, but 5 years ago had to cut down the last one after lightning got it, it was over 4 feet across, and just 12 feet from the corner of the house. Before we cut it it had limbs reaching over the house that were 18 inches in diameter....makes for a good prayer life during thunderstorms!) Still have many large trees but not close enough to shade. Even without trees shading, this house does incredibly well. My advice, look at houses near you that are 100 + years old. Usually they are very common (atleast around here they are) and you should be able to pick out the similarities, and follow that pattern. Porches also help, especially if you choose to make the house face east/west, because the porch will help block the extra sunlight. My house only has a small portico on the east side, and a now enclosed back porch on the north, so neither really help with cooling, but then again they aren't really needed.Just remember that a porch will also block the winter sun more, making your heating needs greater. My house in winter gets fairly warm by afternoon because of the full sunlight in the windows, so I let the woodstove run down in the morning and fill it up again about supper time.

One other recommendation, there's a reason why old houses have metal roofs, and it's not the sound! Metal roofs reflect a much greater amount of sunlight than shingle roofs do (unless you paint them dark green or black... big no no). A metal roof kept painted with kool seal (aluminum colored roofing paint) will keep your attic 40 degrees cooler in summer than a shingle roof will, and the cooler the attic, the cooler the house below it.
That's my 2c from dealing with old houses all my life. Nathan

humidity
 

We live in Tn. The difference in humidity from Iowa to here and Missouri and here is tremendous! We run the A/C to keep the humidity out of the house. If you run it only part of the time, you can use more energy because the unit has to remove the moisture from the air all over again each day. My mom runs her AC during the hottest part of the afternoon. When it cools off at night, she turns on her attic fan and blows all the AC-ed air out the roof. Then, the next day, she does it all over again. Her AC bill is twice what mine is. Food for thought.

Basements are easier to keep cool. Bermed houses are our favorites for heating and cooling. I don't know that they keep the house cooler or warmer, but they are cheaper to cool and heat. I would wonder how they would work if there is no cooling available.

When I lived in Al the heat and humidity was brutal (I moved from AK) but I was able to sleep with only a fan running. I put the fan in another room and directed it out. Then I closed all the other windows except the one over my bed.

I went into an old house one day that had high ceilings and it was noticably cooler.

You can build an earth powered AC by burying pipes in the ground. It's been discussed on the Alternative Energy thread.

Thanks all for the many replies. I would like to investigate the earth bermed some more but the wife is dead set against it.
We don't have our land yet but will likely have to build shortly after buying it.

Tall Ceilings
Good insulation in the roof plus decent in the walls
position the house for breezes
Large windows that open top and bottom

Lot's of windows to catch the breeze

Large overhangs to cut down on the sun - suspect this one is in conflict with the large windows.

Shade trees - this will likely take several years since we are likely to buy pasture land or if we do buy wooded have to clear enough trees for the construction crews.


Big shaded porch so that more time can be spent outside.

Possibly setting things up so that only the bedrooms are AC'ed on the average so that we don't have to cool off those rooms each afternoon.

Hi,

There are a lot of suggestions for practical ways to design for passive cooling on my site here:

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...ve_cooling.htm

Not all of these apply to a warm humid climate, but many do.

Also, take a look in this section:
http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects...s/guidesps.htm

Again, many of these don't apply to humid climates, but some do -- e.g. the Florida Solar Cracker House, and Solar home in NC -- there is also some material on EarthShips, which are earth bermed houses.

I'd say the major things are:
- Avoid solar gain through windows with some combination of overhangs (for south facing windows), external shading, or just not having a lot of windows on the east and west sides which are hard to shade. Having windows with solar gain in the summer is like running your furnace. Trees for shading can help a lot. Windows with overhangs on the south side of the house are good, in that they can provide useful winter heating, but the overhangs block the high summer sun.

- Good insulation and good infiltration sealing help both in the winter and summer.

- Plan for good cross ventilation in the direction of the prevailing winds.

- White metal roofs are good (see the FSEC study on this).

- Efficient AC for the times you need it.

Gary


Gary

In Florida people window tint their car windows alot but they also window tint their home windows.
Get a good e rating for your windows to cut cost for heating and cooling and then have then window tinted. I only had the south and west facing windows tinted I bought some at walmart for cars and did it myself it take a little getting used to but it gives the windows an extra layer and it does cut down the heat alot.

We've been in our 1947 built home for 1 year now and do enjoy the 9' ceilings and putting in ceiling fans have really helped both winter & summer. We get westerly prevailing winds so westerly windows are necessary but then they also let in a lot of heat. Low E windows that we just put in have cut down the heat considerably but not fully - so we are going to make the shutters that you see on old Florida/Bahamain houses. We open the windows at night, keep open during the morning but by 10am may need to be shut again. Then on hot days I set the heatpump for 78, usually by 4-5pm it has begun to go on. Then after the house is cooler/drier I put the thermostat up to 82. By 8, we can open the windows again & shut off the A/C. This seems to be cost effective but I am paying attention to things as I get the electric bill. By the way on the ceiling fans - run them only when you are in the room - they cool you, not the room, just learnt this from a energy site.

Here in New Mexico the historic way of dealing with the heat (and cold) was living in an adobe house.

Actually, one thing that has always appealed to me is the "Australian verandah", a roof extension at least 8 feet wide that extends all or most of the way around the house. I think if I ever get to building a house and moving out of this mobile home, I'll incorporate this feature and include a "sleeping porch" in the design.

Bob

My grandfather built a house in Mississippi in the late forties. It was two story and made of blocks. Uninsulated of course. He built it to not only house his large family, but to have a small grocery store downstairs. The floor was concrete downstairs. Upstairs he had tall windows and a door that opened onto a porch on the north side. The kitchen was downstairs, a large room where everybody congregated. All the bedrooms were upstairs. My aunts told me that before my mother renovated the house it used to always be cool downstairs, tho upstairs was always dreadfully hot. Most of the windows faced south, BTW, not good!

What mother did was to close off one end of the house by putting a garage on that side. It cut off the breeze. There was a door on each side of the house downstairs and they were always open in summer with screened doors on them. Mom also sealed off the north side door upstairs and removed the porch. After she renovated the house, the downstairs was always too hot without a/c running.

If you can get your house built where you have natural breezes sweeping the hot air up and out, then it will be much more comfortable.

I also know of people here in south Texas that built new homes designed not to use a/c. Tiled floors or concrete, tall ceilings and natural ventilation as well as shade and it is doable. Acclimating yourself is a really good thing to do too.

I remember reading about a new type of shingles that reflect solar gain. Congress is passing a rebate for them.

One summer we hung string from the back side of the fascia board about every foot or so. We planted morning glories and scarlet climbing beans. In no time they climbed to the top and the shade (and evapotranspiration) they provided kept the house 10 degrees cooler than outside even with lots of garden produced being canned. That's a quick way to provide shade and looks great too.

I incorporated most of the ideas listed in my house. I have 10 foot overhangs on the east and west of my house. I minimized glass (with a garage) on the south side of the house. I have trees that lose their foliage (hackberry and cow oaks) in the winter so we get some heat in the winter from the sun. The shade in the summer keeps the house a bit cooler. What I did that I think helped most of all is double paned glass, sealing ALL baseplates, windows and doors with silicone, 2x6 walls with blown cellulose insulation and 13 inches of blown insulation in the attic (R31 I think). Finally, I also have 12 foot ceilings in the foyer, LR, DR, and kitchen, and 10s everywhere else. Here in south La. the summers are pretty brutal 93-95 most of the time with 50-60% humidity. Lows at night in the mid to upper 70s. I only run my AC during June, July, August, and early Sept. April and May I may run it once a week to remove humidity and again in Sept and Oct. The other months, I don't need it. In the winter, we turn on the central natural gas heat on average once a month and it stays warm for about 3-4 days, and then it warms up outside and we don't need the heater anyway. My average bill for 3650 sq ft with an upstairs is $190 during June, July, and August and $60 a month the other months. Granted I have natural gas for heat but I wouldn't change ANYTHING about the way we built our house. BTW, FWIW, I built my house nail for nail, board by board so I KNOW how everything is laid out and installed.

A whole house fan which exhasts through the attic space can help on the days without wind. Bedrooms on the north side so they don't heat up as much. Porches to keep the direct sun off the windows and trees to reduce the sun hitting the house.

Orient your house so the summer sun follows the ridge line
Place windows and doors opposite one another for cross ventilation
Use ceiling fans
Use metal roof or attic radiant barrier
Build a basement but don't insulate the floor from the ground

Triff ..

I recommend a covered porch on the south side of the house, and shade trees on the southwest and west sides. This will block the sun from mid-morning on, which will make a huge difference. That and an attic fan are the cheapest ways to go!

The one thing that has not been mentioned yet, is the installation of a transom. Like the old school houses had over the class room door.

That's a myth. You're better off setting you AC very high when you're away from home (like 80 or 85) and then turning it back when you get home. Same thing with your heat in the winter, turn in down to 50 or so. Don't let the pipes freeze. Also, when you want to reset to a more comfortable temperture, set it at that temp. It's not a water faucet. Setting the AC at 55 won't get your house from 85 to 70 any faster than setting the AC at 70. It will, however, use more energy.

Victorian houses were designed with high ceilings and when possible aligned with the prevailing summer winds, with windows and halls lined up so that if you opened the windows on both ends of the house, you'd get a breeze going through along the high ceiling to suck out the hot air that would collect there.

Moopups, didn't see your post. GMTA. :)

Rosewoodfarm & callislamb beat me to it as did a few others...

Big window opposite each other in every room! And an attic fan.

We spent a summer in TEXAS w/o A/C & hope to not ever do that again. But we had an attic fan in the old farm house we were in & did NOT have an uncomfortable nite.

Patty

Here in South Louisiana, one trick has helped me more than all the others; every end of March I paint my roof white with cheap exterior house paint! The day I do it, the temp drops at least 5 degrees inside the house. (My attic fan doesn't help in this house, with this humidity; it is just too humid here). The big trees do the rest of the work! (I got the idea from living in arid Northern Calif where temps reached 111 every summer, where even the commonly available asphalt shingles were a bright reflective white). ldc

I agree with CJ, plus I would definitely put in a whole house attic fan and arrange the house so the fan is close to the center where opening windows will draw air into rooms from the outside and exhaust through the whole house fan. You will be amazed on how well the fan works and exhausts the hot air out of the attic and the house. I know a family that lived in Arlington,TX who did that and most of the summer never ran any AC. They used window unit AC's primarily in bedrooms if needed. The AC's were through the wall and didn't block the windows.

Bob

I think A wrap around Poarch with Screens would let breeze blow thru the porch. That way the air flow will help keep the house cool. And the porch being A large one Adds to the Value of your home. I think A few 20" box fans would help over running A/C. The temps right now over 98 degrees outside here with A 30% humidity. I Am useing 2 fans and the screens in the doors. The inside is about 80 degrees, A extra fan would help..

Do you happen to recall the thread? I searched for earth powered AC and AC bury pipes in that subforum and didn't come up with anything.

Search for geothermal cooling, that should get you some hits. Might ck in the MEN archives, I think I remember and article in that mag a few years ago.

Halo

Maybe I should have made handle, lot-o-stupid-questions....MEN archives? Being a male I didn't realize we had our own archives :p

MEN Mother Earth News

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=174595

http://www.homesteadingtoday.com/sho...d.php?t=166835

Thermal chimney
 

Thermal chimneys help propel the warmer air up and out of the house while pulling cooling air into the home.

If you can get a hold of a "New Shelter" magazine from August 1980 there is a feature article on cooling without AC.

I disagree with color of the roof on a house making a difference IF, and a big IF, there is a proper amount of super insulation in the roof or attic or ceiling.

New Shelter magazine featured super insulated and sealed homes that even in the northeastern United Stated needed no furnaces. Instead they relied on the heat from showers, cooking, lamps, and even body heat from the occupants.
The homes were insulated with R-40 in the sidewalls and R-90 in the ceiling--if memory serves correctly. The builder stated that the cost of the additional insulation was offset by a few years of no heating utility bills and the savings from no furnace installation. Of course the homes he built were so tight that air to air heat exchangers provided for proper ventilation.

If I ever get to build a new home it will be with the thoughts of no heating requirements other than a little passive solar heat.

Many years back in Miami, I did see prototype homes that featured a flat concrete roof with a 4 inch lip all the way around it. This was flooded with water, the inside was super cool on the hottest days. And Miami does not need much in the way of heating. Two candles and a cat if it plunges to 55F or so?

Shortly after hurricane Katrina devastated many of Louisianas historical homes the Louisiana Recovery Authority put together a Pattern Book as a helpful guide to builders involved in the rebuilding efforts.

The Pattern Book illustrates the different architectural styles that proliferate not only in Louisiana but throughout the southern states. The guide is meant to help with and encourage people to rebuild homes with some historical integrity.

The book was a giveaway, covers a great many architectural styles, lots of illustrations and discussion of building technique and the positive effects of landscaping, home siting etc. There are no out and out detailed plans to follow but if you are researching building techniques that would effect the heating and cooling of a home you are yet to build it's a good source. These are houses designed and built before AC came into being and as houses that work in a hot, high humidity environment (and aesthetically) they have stood the test of time.

I'm not sure if the books are still being put out but if you go to

www.louisianaspeaks.org/static.html?id=39

you can find information about the Pattern Book and a contact email address. If you can get hold of one they are well worth a look, an impressive line up of architects, local and international contributed to the book.