Hobbit Home Progress.

It seems to me that this is going to be a moving target for some time.

First, you've just added huge amounts of moisture, and will add more when you do the finish layer on the floor, so consider the electricity to run the dehumidifier " a building expense"!

Secondly, have you done the earth berming on the upper walls on any sides of the house yet? That's going to affect the indoor temperature.

However, you appear to be making a  fairly well sealed house. Have you allowed for some sort of air-to-air heat exchange system, to insure your indoor air quality stays good?

Jay Angler wrote:so consider the electricity to run the dehumidifier " a building expense"!

Yes, but will only run the dehumidifier when absolutely necessary instead of for a heat source.

Jay Angler wrote:
Secondly, have you done the earth berming on the upper walls on any sides of the house yet ?

No, but 8 inches of foam on the walls OVERLAPPED by the 10 inches on the roof.  Earth may add a bit of R value, but not much.

Jay Angler wrote:
Have you allowed for some sort of air-to-air heat exchange system ?

ERV already planned.

Dave Lotte wrote:

Jay Angler wrote:so consider the electricity to run the dehumidifier " a building expense"!

Yes, but will only run the dehumidifier when absolutely necessary instead of for a heat source.

We use ours as a clothes dryer, but we're in a much wetter climate than you are. My sister in Southern Ontario in a 1950's uninsulated house just uses her furnace as her clothes dryer in the winter as she needs the extra moisture, and a clothesline in the summer.

Ecosystem is everything!

Jay Angler wrote: We use ours as a clothes dryer, but we're in a much wetter climate than you are.
Ecosystem is everything!

Plan to have a hanging cloths cupboard vented inline with the bathroom exhaust fan, with a circulating fan at the base...
Built in beside washer and dryer.
Cloths come out of the washer, get hung in the "closet", then turn the timer fan on for 30 min. Shuts of automatically.

I can see my floor !!

72 sand bags tied and stacked.

Now i can finish plate compacting that corner, then go over the entire floor with the compactor one last time, making sure it is within 1/4 inch of level - before installing the utilities.  Water, hydro and sewer.

Its coming along !

Update on the " how cold will it go "

You know its cold out when the Fahrenheit temps go into the negative !
Dropped to -20 ( -4 F ) last night.  No heat, just 2 ceiling fans running.  House dropped 1.2 degrees F overnight - just shy of 24 hours.

After touching base with the engineer - verifying it is safe to compact the sand with 100 tons overhead ( sand and snow ) - time to go onto the next step.

If you believe our Inuit, that's snow's adding some extra insulation. (0.5/inch or a bit more if it's fluffy, if you can believe the internet)

Jay Angler wrote: if you can believe the internet ....

Yup.  R 1 per inch of light fluffy snow.  Eskimo igloos use the same principles.  Made of nothing but snow blocks -  keep your cloths on, and warm enough to sleep in.

The " how low can it go " experiment has come to a quick end.

-22 last night, went in and noticed the frost and ice are moving into the house through the windows.
Time to crank up some heat,  just enough to keep the ice out anyways, don't want to ruin my windows !

Ran my kerosene heaters for 40 minutes - from 43 F. up to 63 F.
Plugged in the small ceramic heater - same as last year.  50 % settings - plus the dehumidifier.
Gained 2 degrees, now to try to gain a few more ...

Plugged the larger gaps in the front door with damp paper towel and will have to keep monitoring the temps and frost.

For those just joining in, this is where the temp sensors are ....

Can't please everyone ....

Had an interesting conversation with someone who believes this house is poorly designed, and leaking heat - because there are ice dams on each front corner and at the sides of the house. ( pictured )...  a sure sign that a " normal" house is leaking heat / poorly insulated.

Until i explained, that 2 months ago we had a 6 inch snowfall, followed by a warm sunny day - which caused the snow on the roof to melt and soak into the warm topsoil.
Then, the following night the temperature dropped below freezing again.

Here is the interesting part...

Heat / cold  travels through a mass at about an inch per hour.  So the temperature dropped to -5 overnight - WHILE THE DIRT WAS STILL WARM AND DRAINING - once the cold penetrated all the way through the 8 inch thick topsoil, ( 6 - 8 hours later )  it slowly stopped draining, and everything froze solid. Hence the ice dams. ( Drawing )
2 months ago i snapped the ice off on the front corner, and it has been like that ever since.

I am keeping 1,500 sqft at around 7.2 C.  Or  ( 45 F ) with a dehumidifier and 2 ceiling fans , overnight temps -8 to - 10 C. ( 13 - 16 F )
Ya, this is not a very efficient house .... 😂😂

On the plus side, once the house is backfilled and buried too the same 8 inch minimum depth all around, the water will be able to drain down the wall, and away,  with plenty of time before freezing.

Gotta love physics.

One more task off the list.  

Extending the sump pump pits up to the top of the proposed concrete floor.  Was going to use steel barrels, but worried they would rust out over time.

Before i can finish leveling the sand floor,  this needs to be done.

Expose and clean up the exsisting sump pump barrel.
Cut top out of exsisting barrel.
Find "level" 4 inches above footing. ( minimum depth of concrete floor )
Cut new barrel top - to fit - up to "level" and verify it is indeed 4 inches above footing.
Weight down the new barrel with 200 pounds of sandbags to keep it from shifting.

Repeat procedure for the back porch sump pit,  ready to continue.