I'm new to this forum but not new to the idea of building the way many of you folks are talking about. We have
land in N.E. Cherokee County, Ga. and want to build what's called a "high thermal mass" home. We have studied some of the other techniques and are most pleased with HTM construction. Our ideal is to have most of the house
underground on a
concrete slab with stacked & poured concrete block walls, a "framed with timbers" sloped roof (at near ground level at it's lowest point) with a full southerly exposure with all glass walls/roof, and other climate controlling techniques, like a
greenhouse might have.
The ideas are not ours but came from some folks who built their 1st HTM house at the 8500' level in the Colorado Rocky's. It's sturdy, solid, and has all kinds of options, just 1 of which is the slab with pipe inside to circulate H2O or cooled / warmed air. If you're interested in looking at this idea, search "Colorado High Thermal Mass Home" (sorry, I'm a fossil and not savvy enough to attach the link here) to check it out.
We intend to do most of the work ourselves and, of
course, will have to deal with permits and convincing the County that this is a sound building idea and not some "fly-by-night" scheme. We will use an architect and work with the County to assure them we're not out to lunch. I think our biggest concern is the size. We're told (and it may be listed on our deed paperwork, not sure) that we must build a minimum 1,000 square-foot residence. We'll have to see if we can work around that as for just the two of us (kids are already gone and making grands) 6 months out of the year, we don't need that much house...not with 6 acres, huge
trees, a full-time creek, and no level ground to enjoy and be innovative with!
Anyway, that's the plan. Lord willing, that will work. ; )
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