[Cob] insulation idea

[Amanda Peck]

In most of the U.S., venting the moisture would be a problem if a waterproof 
surface was lying against the wall.  One of the people building an oven had 
pictures of his tarp to keep the rain off the cob while it was under 
construction held up with poles because he was having mold problems.

But a pool cover awning, the winter equivalent of a sunshade, sounds like a 
perfectly wonderful idea.
Might be enough warmth held in it so I could be outside drinking my morning 
coffee instead of inside banging away at the computer on this lovely--if 
cold--morning.

It also sounds rather like a trombe wall, a wall inside a sunspace of some 
sort (anything from "the greenhouse" to down around a foot), with vents for 
air movement to the interior of the building.

There's also something called a solar chimney (well, two things called solar 
chimneys, this is only one of them) that involves something like a chimney 
with a glazed sunward side, black inner surface--sometimes corrugated 
metal--vents towards the inside and outside top and bottom.  Depending on 
which ones you open you can get heated room air circulating, heated outside 
air circulating into the room, air being powered out of the room.  With the 
other kind of solar chimney, the pictures often show a free-standing tower 
that can produce enough wind through the chimney to run a wind-powered 
generator.

................
Brad Calvert wrote:

I was wondering how a cob or other heavy wall would go with a swimming pool
blanket over it, the stuff like heavy duty bubble wrap.  The idea is to
allow the sun's rays to still hit the wall, but to reduce heat loss from the
wall to the outside.  The cover would also act to protect the wall from the
weather.

I wonder what the R-value of the plastic cover is?  I believe they help
pools retain heat primarily by reducing evaporation, so maybe the insulation
value is not all that good, but it must be better than nothing, it would
also allow the wall to be more exposed to the sun rather than protected by
eaves.

I guess this would be very ugly, it is just an idea I'm throwing around.



_______________________________________________
Coblist mailing list
Coblist at deatech.com
http://www.deatech.com/mailman/listinfo/coblist

_________________________________________________________________
Worried about inbox overload? Get MSN Extra Storage now!  
http://join.msn.com/?PAGE=features/es