Energy Efficient

High PErformance Design

Tight,

Insulated,

Thermally Massive homes

because thin walled drafty buildings waste fossil fuel in our region

Tight, Insulated, Thermally Massive homes

This style of building uses the three dynamics of appropriate air tightness, very high insulation values, and thermal mass to maintain a comfortable interior temperature with very little energy input, even in 40 degree daily temperature swings. Special attention must be paid to humidity control and vapor permeability with the straw bales. With proper rain shed, Mento exterior wrap, and an interior permeable clay plaster, the straw bales create a strong insulation base and air barrier, bales are quite easy to maintain and will last for upwards of 9000 years.

Carbon Sequestration

This is really what it's all about. Building with straw bales to make tight, insulated, and thermally massive homes takes carbon out of the atmosphere in two ways. Using natural and reclaimed materials does not demand making products out of oil using energy from oil. Straw bales are a waste material from growing hay. An energy efficient house that uses these principals of being tight, insulated, and thermally massive also has an on going resource saving dynamic because it uses less electricity and natural gas to heat the home, sometimes even using sunlight or reclaimed wood for free heat.

Heres a chart about the importance of not only good house dynamics for long term energy usage, but ALSO embodied energy in our homes and buildings. Operational energy VSembodied carbon.

Here's how it works

TIGHT: Draft Prevention

On a super cold night, what would you rather sleep in? An igloo of huge Styrofoam blocks that you stacked or a car with the windows rolled up? The block igloo will most likely be very drafty and suck away all of your hard earned body heat unlike the car. Insulation is nothing without appropriate draft protection.

Rocket Stove Homes are built with attention to air barriers so that heat transfer is forced to go though the straw bales. A ceiling of painted drywall is a sufficient air barrier for the top and the slab is a big ol' rock that don't have no drafts. To protect the bales, the air barriers around the bales have to be able to lose humidity. One cannot surround a strawbale wall in plastic and expect it not to rot. Mento House Wrap can be use on the exterior and clay or lime plaster can be used on the inside of the bales.

Nobody wants to live in a house without fresh air, yuck. Rocket Stove Homes have 2 fans on either side of the house that spend 5 minutes going one way together, then switch. In the airways of these fans is a ceramic coil that stores or releases heat as air passes through it. For example, in the winter as both fans blow south, one fan is saving heat from the inside air blowing out while the other is releasing that heat as fresh air comes in. There is also a bathroom fan that can be programmed to run for more air control.

INSULATED: Two feet of insulation

R-Value is the amount of resistance an object has. Windows are r-5 at best, and the best camping pads are r-10. Conventional 3.5" walls are r-13 while straw bales are r-40. Having proper attic insulation as well as rigid foam insulation underneath the slab foundation is critical to maximizing the efficiency of the thermal envelope.

There are 4 instances of insulation in Rocket Stove Homes. They are blown attic cellulose, under-slab rigid foam, blown cellulose between the studs in the wall, and straw bales inside of the frame. Together, these forms of insulation completely surround the interior of the building. Air tightness at the transitions between walls and floors and walls and ceilings directs heat transfer to go through the insulation. This air tightness is achieved with taping or caulking every crack and transition.

Will straw bales rot? With proper moisture control straw bales can last upwards of 9000 years. Proper moisture control for bales installed in wall detail include a vapor permeable air barrior such as mento as well as natural clay or lime plasters. exterior siding should be installed with a small gap using strips of wood to allow the mento room to shed water vapor.

Straw bales can be installed on edge or flat. Flat installation allows for easier application of slip and scrath coats of plaster while on edge installation grants a few extra inches of interior living space.

THERMALLY MASSIVE: Slow release of stored heat

Similar to how a warm brick will slowly release it's energy over the course of an evening, the pieces of thermal mass in Rocket Stove Homes hold and slowly release heat, protecting the inside of the building from fast temperature swings. Thermal mass, when protected from drafts and well insulated, can store heat very well because of it's density.

There are three instances of thermal mass in side a Rocket Stove Home. The concrete slab, interior plaster, and a rocket mass stove. Because the slab is insulated on the bottom, it is thermally broken from the earth and therefore able to hold the temperature that the beings inside want it to be.

One and a half inches of earthen plaster covers the straw bales on the inside. This adds up to be a large portion of thermal mass that aids in the temperature stabilization. Earthen plaster walls provides the inhabitants with an aesthetically pleasing wall made from potentially local materials. Lime may be added to give it a natural white color.

Another added feature of some Rocket Stove Homes is a rocket mass heater. These types of wood burning stoves are very unique in that they capture a large portion of the heat energy from the burned wood and store it in the thermal mass of a cob or brick bench with the help of some internal heat exchanges. One should be able to hold their hand above the flue and not be burnt because most of the heat is being absorbed before it escapes the flue, unlike most wood burning stoves.

Carbon Sequestering

Build with plants, save oil, some sad numbers, some good numbers, the value behind this

Fireproof

2 hours at 1,850 degree's fereneight before it catches on fire. That is X amount better than drywall.

Efficient, beautiful, and natural

Here's How: bullet points of carbon sequestration. short sentances about efficieny and what that do for the earth with energy. We use regular air conditioning systems to meet with code. The real energy savings is in how much that system is used because of the temperature regulating abilities of this passive style house. It's much like a passivhaus in many ways.

Rocket Stove Home Values

Reducing ecological footprint
Budget friendly
Using natural and reclaimed materials for carbon sequestration
Meet city code
Ability to go off grid solar/electric and heat if needed
ADA accessible

Budget Friendly?

My goal is to build a 600 sq ft slab house with $45k that meets city code.

Specialty Systems

3 Ways of heating the home

Daylight Drive Hot Water

Water with antifreeze in black boxes on the roof collect hot air from the sun. A DC water pump hooked directly up to a small solar panel turns on when the sun is out, bringing the hot liquid down in to the house. The liquid runs through a heat exchanger in a cob bench or counter

Thermal Capture Stove

Rocket stoves are great for big houses. A smaller version is like this for homes under 1,000 sq ft.

Gas Hookup

For cooking and heat.

Air Conditioning

There's just a window unit in the bedroom in a window specially built for a window unit air conditioner.

Energy Recovery Unit

There are two tubes on opposite sides of the house that go through the straw bales with little quiet fans that change direction together every 5 minutes. In the middle of the tubes are a bunch of pebbles surrounded by grates that catch the temperature from the house as it leaves and replenishes it when the fans change directions.

Take me to the videos!

Contact me via email

tommy.fieser@gmail.com

for anything, except spam

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