Expert: Nazim Nice - 4/8/2011

Question
Hi Nazim. I am writing from Colombia (S. America). I am  planning on building a Green house in the mountains ( 2700 mts a.s.l). It is warm and Sunny (21 C) during the day time, very windy in the afternoons and  freezing cold at nights (5 C).   I am struggling on choosing the kind of materials to use and a roof design that helps the house to retain the heat during the day time. Keep in mind we don't get snow but strong rainy seasons. What would be your suggestions? Thank you!

Answer
Hi Adry,

Take a look at Durisol blocks. They provide good insulation but also thermal mass. Here is a PDF that explains this:

http://www.durisolbuild.com/Webdocs/Durisolthermalperformance.pdf

Page 5 starts the discussion on thermal mass. Basically what you'd want to do in a climate like yours is capture the sun that penetrates into the space. So you'd have high performance glass (perhaps triple glazed - ideally an R value close to six) on the walls that face to sun. Inside the house you'd want a floor like concrete and tile that can absorb the heat during the day and release it at night. The mass of the durisol walls will do the same, but because they are insulated they should not transmit too much of the cold from outside (like a concrete block would). If you cannot get high performance glass, then a system of insulating window coverings over the glass would help keep in the heat once the sun goes down. A system like this is called passive solar.

Regarding the rain, I would think you'd want to have sheltering eaves where you can to keep the rain away from the house. However, deep eaves may interfere with the penetration of the sun, so in some locations you may need to balance out the need to protect the house, and the desire to let sun in.

Hope this at least gets you started in the right direction! Good luck.

Nazim Nice
Principal / Architect
http://www.motion-space.com
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