[Cob] cooling in the south

[Patrick Newberry]

Ah  what the heck, let me chip in on this conversation. I live in middle Georgia  (Mauk to be exact) and I live in a cob house so here is how I deal with it.

Early in the morning we open all the doors. My  house is an polygon shaped outside with a 22 foot dome in the center:

http://users.pstel.net/goshawk/newplan.htm


I have a opening at the top of the dome and it allows air to flow out. When we open the doors early in the morning the cool air flows in and cools the house off.

Once the temps start to rise, we close the doors and hold the coolness in via thermal mass. We repeat the process in the evenings. There seems to be good chimney effect with the doors open so it's pretty good about cooling off. However, come the worst part of summer when the evening cool off very little it can be a bit warm... We do use fans as needed and I sleep on a water bed which I turn off in the summer and way up in the winter.

Basically the house is absolutely great in the fall and winter. A bit warm in the hottest part of the summer and a bit cool in the worst part of winter (or what they call winter in middle GA).

Pat Newberry
www.gypsyfarm.com