This Log House - Entry 3

The slope of the land and the foundation area of the original 1850s house on our site have allowed us -- with extra digging downward and out to the south -- to make a full-size, full-height, walk-out lower level for the new/old house to rest on. As a bonus: a wine/root cellar under the front porch on the north.

But just as important as the added elbow-room in the new lower level are the possibilities for utilizing the power of the sun for passive heating – and creating a more effective thermal connection with the earth around the structure to moderate inside temperatures year-round.

The components we’re using: insulated concrete form (ICF) walls for maximum insulation and strength to hold up the (heavy!) log structure; an 8-inch-thick concrete floor (tinted reddish brown to promote heat absorption); and a 4 ft. high by 8 ft. wide three-course brick wall inside the structure, using bricks reclaimed from a recently demolished house of the same vintage, to take in and slowly release the sun’s heat in winter.

Below the floor and between the ICF walls is a layer of sand on top of a layer of drainage stone (with a combined depth of 3 feet) to absorb excess solar heat on a succession of sunny days during the winter and to dissipate unwanted heat into the cooler earth in the summer months.

There are large windows on the south side of the foundation, but none (for obvious reasons) on the underground north wall and few on the east and west because those walls are set into the southward slope. Stucco will cover the visible portion of the ICF exterior.

To make this lower level look more like an integral part of the house instead of a 21st century add-on, we’re incorporating 100-year-old hemlock floor joists, a large oak center beam ("summer beam") from an old barn, and beaded pine wall board salvaged from the new/old house before it was disassembled and transported to our land.

Next: more on insulation