! the first wofati - allerton abbey- version 0.7

That was never part of the plan, but the wall isn,t built yet so I suppose I could run a couple of pipes through it and cap them off.

It's also a great place to bring in an earth-tube. Once you tighten the openings into the WOFATI (the uphill and downhill walls) there will be a need for fresh air during the winter months. An earth-tube is ideal for this.

Jesse Grimes wrote:

I noticed there are no supporting boards under the window frame. If the plan is to use a traditional window, I would be concerned about the window frame sagging over time.

Now if the square bales will end up being packed tight underneath it or if the plan is to build a lightweight window, then it probably won't be a problem.

Jesse Grimes wrote: The purpose of the cob plaster in this application is not structural, but to provide a surface to be white washed, reflecting more light into the house.

I might have missed a stated change in the plans but I was under the impression that Paul wanted to avoid any heating due to solar gain. That way if the WOFATI is a success people can't attribute the heating to passive solar.

Tim Skufca wrote: I am curious as to how the cob will hold up on the log substrate. Wood is not the ideal material for cob to stick to, and would benefit hugely by putting a steel mesh onto the logs first. The wood expands and contracts with the humidity, and even a little amount will crack the cob. Hopefully this won't be true for you guys.

I kind of had the same thoughts. However, I would tend to trust Ernie and Erica's experience over my own...

Weston Ginther wrote:
I might have missed a stated change in the plans but I was under the impression that Paul wanted to avoid any heating due to solar gain. That way if the WOFATI is a success people can't attribute the heating to passive solar.

Weston,

(I just sent you an email in the hopes of getting you and Katelin out here for out rocket mass heater innovators event this october)


The effort for the bright color is not solar gain for heat, but for light.

I feel like we are already getting a lot of light into the space, but ernie made some good points about getting even MORE light into the kitchen space.

As for the earth tubes, I could be wrong, but I believe Paul wants to make the wofati concept work without the use of earth tubes. Ernie and I talked about putting storm Windows on in the wintertime, with vents at the bottom of the storm window and top of the inner window. This is why you can see the two boards at the top of the window buck with the vent space between. This will allow for a convective heating effect to happen in the gap between the inner and storm window, allowing heat and airflow to circulate into the house through the top vent, but not allowing heat to escape because hot air will not sink down through that opening. These vents also serve the important purpose of keeping the Windows from shattering during a heavy storms due to rapid changes in air pressure.

The window buck you see in the picture is unfinished, just installed for placenent. The plan is to have the window buck supported by the straw bales. There is concern about mounting the Windows solidly to the structure as the structure might still settle, putting stress on the Windows and cracking them. This is what happened to the old Windows.
As for the white plaster, yes Paul is opposed to any sort of passive solar heating effect in the wofatis in order to prove the concept of annualised thermal inertia. However, he is also very concerned about making the interior very bright. The white walls will have the effect of reflecting a lot of light towards the Windows, but since they are not oriented towards the sun they will not have a very large effect of actually reflecting direct sunlight and heat. Some parts of the wall will never receive direct sunlight but will reflect the ambient light.

Oops, I'm posting from Carol-Anne's phone and forgot to log her out. That last post was by me.

Ha, ha! And here I was marveling at Carol Anne's technical breakdown of the design features! Not surprised, mind you; just, well, impressed.

She's looking prettier every day. In the absence of straw bales for building the walls, I have been focusing my efforts on other aspects of the project. After filling in the dirt over the insulation/watershed umbrella, it was time to install a nice deck over the whole thing. The challenging part about building the deck was that there is not much room between the dirt layer and where the bottom of the deck needed to be, in order to keep it below the sill on the straw bale wall. Also, I didn't want to put screws through those lovely tarps we just installed so the deck couldn't actually be attached to the walls of the wofati. My solution was to build a floating deck, that is supported at many points by rock "piers" which hold it up above the dirt layer. The decking boards are supported along the walls by the 2x6s I used to secure the tarps, but they are not screwed in. The rest of the structure is all screwed together and supported by the stones on a 2'x2' grid. I decided to mirror the shape of the roof line and wing walls, which worked out well for the length of boards I was using, and I think it created a lovely looking deck. Before it was even finished the citizens of Ant Village were gathering and socializing on this new space, which is actually now the largest flat and level outdoor space on the entire lab. This becomes quite a commodity when the only place to sit is on the dirt, rocks, or pine cones of the forest floor.

Come and have a sit.

Oh, that is lovely. Good job!