Seems to be some confusion about "thermal mass" - the only point in using your masonry as a heat store would be if you have a source of cheap/free heat which otherwise would be wasted such as a solar heat set up. If you are paying for gas electricity etc you don't want to waste it heating up the walls even if they are insulated outside. Much better to have high insulation within the building and only heat the minimum necessary i.e. the air and surfaces within the rooms used.
cheers
Jacob
If you rely on low grade but highly variable heat sources it is useful. For instance in a house with high solar gain it can moderate the extremely high room temperatures that might otherwise be attained with a low thermal mass house while "banking" the useful heat for later use. Adding active shutters or blinds to the windows and/or throttling venting of the interior then caps the heat input but the internal mass will maintain the temperature within a reasonable range for many hours.
You will probably need a top up from a conventional heat source but typically this would be much later in the day or even overnight, less important in the UK perhaps but in some other areas of the world moving your peak demand either for heating or cooling can be very useful.
It is, but assuming the same insulation levels a high thermal mass house will usually be designed for using solar gain (or passive cooling) to a much greater extent than conventional properties and so overall it's usually cheaper to run. Using only conventional heat sources with no time of use incentives and having high thermal mass on the inside makes little sense.
You can't. One of the first examples I saw was back in the mid 70's when Granada TV did a series "House For The Future" where they took a derelict barn near Macclesfield and rebuilt it as a low energy property. A fascinating experiment as a reaction to the oil crisis and way ahead of its time with many interesting technologies being demonstrated. But I remember throwing up my hands in horror as they added a foot of insulation on the outside and then clad it in high maintenance timber, turning a relatively pleasant stone built barn into something off Little House on the Prairie. But the upside is that it may enable the house to retain the stone on the inside which is probably what you look at more :-)
Please don't bother at all, ever.
Thanks for the explination, I see whay in some case it can be usefull.
Rick
flatulence wrote: > >>> >Best to have the insulation on the outside of the walls so the thermal
Lord Hall, high thermal mass homes are not usually designed for using solar gain (or passive cooling) at all.
Richard Cranium is totally wrong again.
Lord Hall, some timber is maintenance free.
Rick, you don't get anything for nothing. Thermal mass absorbs heat and then gives it back off slowly. So, the heat you purchased goes to heat the thermal mass. If a house is designed for passive solar, the sun can heat the thermal mass. Or active solar with panels and this can heat the floors (UFH).
Build one of these:
"The interior floor is exposed concrete, acting as a thermal mass, with
300mm of insulation beneath.""In its primary aim of reducing heating costs the 'zero heating' house succeeds, on paper, in reducing annual heating costs to £43.40 for a gas fired heating system. This represents an 84% saving over current 'standard' housing designed in accordance with modern building regulations, before discounting."
It costs less than a normal house and the cost breakdown to prove it.
I saw quoted in a weekend magazine some years ago that a total makeover of a london flat to 'modern standards' was £100 a sq ft.
That to my mind is incredible, but it places an upper bound on your project of £160,000.
Making it 'Barrat superhutch' standard yourself is probably about one fifth of that.
I mean do you want £25k kitchens and bathrooms, or £2.5k ones?
Will you floor it at £20 a square meter (£320) or polished limestone at £200 a sq meter? (£3200)
Will you stick in a central lamp pendant with a single switch and low energy bulb and a £5 shade for what - £50 a room...or 4 fully dimmable wall units , and mood lighting accessories at £500 a room?
Will you be content with 'magnolia' sprayed plasterboard lining, or want reproduction flock victorian wallpaper.
Is furniture included?
What about a drive and the garden?
All one can really say is that the barn is probably worth about £30-£50 a square foot, unconverted, plus the land value, and its up to you to settle on a budget, and then advice can be given as to the appropiate ways to spend it.
I would NOT tackle it without at leasts £50k realistically avialable.
Unless you are prepared to live in it 'as it goes' and just do what you can when funds are available...then maybe £20-30k would get it street legal for habitation, and you can settle in to many happy years of DIY...;-0)
What you must have is a weatherproof, properly glazed and insulated house, with at least one working toilet and kitchen, proper drainage of rain water and sewage, and electrical power coming at least to a deceent consumer unit..and a couple of rings laid in. I'd advise also a properly functional central heating system, and since it all has to go in before walls are finished off, the heating system. wiring and pipework at least laid in to where its going to be needed, even if its not connected up.
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