! the first wofati - allerton abbey- version 0.7

paul wheaton wrote:Wofati is aligned with the hill.

Passive solar structures are aligned with the sun.

This will be an attempt to demonstrate the power of annualized thermal inertia. So we are specifically NOT aligning this with the sun. I suppose that some folks will select building spots so they can have both. But for the first one, we had the discussion and I decided that I needed to find out the power of ATI without any additional help from the sun.

Oh, I see. So, the gable end is not facing south? What direction is it facing, then?

I think it is facing southeast

Are you going to be done before it snows?

E Little wrote:Are you going to be done before it snows?

almost. All of first layer tarps are up now and a whole lot of dirt. There will be a temporary umbrella layer added, to be removed when the snow melts so the layers can be thoroughly dried before next winter. Windows and walls are going in quickly!

This is cool! Thanks for the pics!

This crew has really been busting their butt to get this completed. What an incredible effort in such a short time period. I'm quite impressed at the wofati you're putting together. The idea of covering the dirt for this first winter is just over the top with foresight!!! We all wish it were on our land ;o) so we could live in it.
Thanks for the great pictures!

I'm a little surprised at how small the interior space seems to be, given the massive outer shell. What are the net dimensions of the habitable space?

There will be a temporary umbrella layer added, to be removed when the snow melts so the layers can be thoroughly dried before next winter.

That was a brilliant idea. Just don't forget to cover it when it rains next summer!

This year it will be cold since you have had zero thermal storage. Next year should be better, but most underground or thermal mass homeowners I have talked to say it takes 4 years for the temp to really stabilize--so don't lose faith.

Patrick Mann wrote:I'm a little surprised at how small the interior space seems to be, given the massive outer shell. What are the net dimensions of the habitable space?

The folks on the ground will correct me if I'm wrong, but based on my observation of the sketchup and going on the assumption that the RL version is somewhat similar, the posts are on a 10 ft. grid, meaning that the interior space is about 400 square feet, not counting the substantial overhangs.

Yup, 400 sf interior.