designing homes in an old-fashioned way?

Brewswain,

A bank barn is a barn that has a foundation that's dug into the side of a hill, or that has earth banked up against it for the same effect.

The lower level is usually used for animals. It's usually protected from winter winds, by the earth on the north, east and west sides.

The hill or berm allows road access to the second level for hay and grain storage, parking vehicles, tools and such.

Don

Donald Berg
The Country Home Journal

Buckingham Palace.

Don, any chance I could interest you in taking a look at our project?

A barn built into a hill, and/or with soil banked up on one side. Here's a link to a picture of one. Our house is currently a single-story ranch built into a south-facing slope with a walk-out basement along the entire south side. So already kinda like a bank barn.

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Phantomfyre,

I'm always glad to offer my opinions. Why not start a "Barn Home" post here and post some sketches of your plans? I remember that someone did the same about a passive solar home plan, a long time back, and got a lot of great ideas from forum members.

Don

Donald Berg
The Country Home Journal

There are some old books with house designs on this website: http://hearth.library.cornell.edu/cg...t;tpl=home.tpl

In some parts of the South, they built houses that were only one room deep to enable breezes to pass unrestricted through the house. It also made for a large facade, so people thought you had money! Southern homes generally have high ceilings and transoms over the doors to allow better air movement. I grew up in a very old house in CT, and it had very low ceilings, and had 4 fireplaces. The fireplaces were very shallow, had massive granite surrounds to retain heat, and had cranes to hold cooking pots. One odd thing was that the brick chimney was spiraled as it went up through the house, and on a perfectly still night, the smoke would have a slight spiral. I never did find out if there was a reason for this. The house also had a door at the bottom of the stairs, and on very cold nights, we would shut off the upstairs and camp out in the living room around the single large grate from the furnace.

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About your entry. If you have a small room at the front door, entry/foyer/vestibule/hall, it is meant to be an air lock. There is a door to the outside, and another door to enter the rest of the house. If you keep the inside door closed, the hot or cold air from the outside doesn't blow into your house (or leave it) when you open the door. Few houses are built with an air lock, but it is a great idea- had one in the house I grew up in. You can make the vestibule a little larger with one or two large coat closets and a small bench so people can come in, hang up their coats, take off their boots etc. before coming into the living area. You can also invite someone in to speak to without really inviting them into your house. Having one in the back to act as a mud room would serve the same purpose for your kids.

In very old, but large, houses, you'll notice that there is often a straight hall from the front door to the back, or to the kitchen. This is so air can be pulled through the house. People would live in the hall during the hottest part of the summer to take advantage of the breeze.

I'm not trying to pick a fight, but it is "Your Engineered House."

abebooks.com has copies starting at $2.70 plus shipping. I'm posting from work and went there to look up the titles to get the author's name right.

==>paul

Wow, all this information is GREAT! I've got lots of food for thought.

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I am WRONG and you are right.
Thank you Paul.
I got this book in 1973 and value it.
I recommend it to everyone.
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then it makes suggestions that cause you to think about things differently than usual.

Mother Earth News has a good book on the subject. I returned it to the library just yesterday, but I've already forgotten the title. If I get back to town in the next day or so I'll try to get the title for you.

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The Historic American Building Survey, by the Library of Congress and the US Parks Department, has thousands of downloadable measured drawings of old homes throughout the US. You can search by location and style.

Here's a page with links to a selection of their Saltbox homes, Cape Cods, Timber Frames, Bungalows and Log Cabins:

http://www.backroadhome.com/house.html

You'll also find dozens of illustrated articles on home design that I found in 19th century farm journals and home building books.

Don

Donald Berg
The Country Home Journal