Midwest earth sheltered home

[drainoil]

Anyone here either built and/or lived in one? Not talking about about an earth 'rammed" home, but rather a home built into the side of a hill with either poured concrete or cinder block walls. I'm looking to hear first hand pros and cons of living in this type of home in the midwest/USDA zone 4.

[JRMichler]

I toured an earth sheltered home in Illinois a few years ago. The builder claimed low heating bills. The home was originally built with hot water radiant heat in the floor, with the heat provided by a gas hot water heater rated at 40,000 BTUH. That was not enough, so they had to add a second hot water heater.

For comparison, my own above ground house is located in Northern Wisconsin. It only needs 13,000 BTUH to heat it in colder weather than is experienced down in Illinois.

[drainoil]

Originally Posted by JRMichler

I toured an earth sheltered home in Illinois a few years ago. The builder claimed low heating bills. The home was originally built with hot water radiant heat in the floor, with the heat provided by a gas hot water heater rated at 40,000 BTUH. That was not enough, so they had to add a second hot water heater.

For comparison, my own above ground house is located in Northern Wisconsin. It only needs 13,000 BTUH to heat it in colder weather than is experienced down in Illinois.

Yes you have the giant freezer known as Lake Superior to deal with lol. But maybe it also helps keep you cool in the summer months to??

Kind of surprised there isn't more first hand response to this thread. I understand not everyone likes the looks of a home buried in earth but in theory if built correctly, the energy savings could be much greater (and worth it financially) than a regular stick house.

In an aside, my great grandfather was in construction years ago. He built most of his houses with poured concrete walls. My grandparents lived in one of those houses and they never had air conditioning ever, didn't need it. I remember as a kid we'd go into the basement to cool off where it was always cool even when it was really hot and humid outside. That type of construction is rarely used anymore in my area but the energy savings potential seems to really be there.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by JRMichler

I toured an earth sheltered home in Illinois a few years ago. The builder claimed low heating bills. The home was originally built with hot water radiant heat in the floor, with the heat provided by a gas hot water heater rated at 40,000 BTUH. That was not enough

For comparison, my own above ground house is located in Northern Wisconsin only needs 13,000 BTUH to heat it in colder weather

If you build underground, insulation is paramount.

While it is warmer down in the ground than in free air in winter, buildings usually don't go deep enough to really gain enough from that heat. So if you're not careful, the heat will still leak away into the ground.

Done properly, a (semi)submerged building can benefit both in winter and summer.
Essentially, it means using the earth as an extra layer of insulation and for thermal inertia - but cold bridges must still be avoided.


Here (50° N, temperate sea climate) rather than build in the ground, people often use tubes sunk around 6-7' in the ground to draw in air : pre-cooled in summer, pre-warmed in winter.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by drainoil

In an aside, my great grandfather was in construction years ago. He built most of his houses with poured concrete walls.
That type of construction is rarely used anymore in my area but the energy savings potential seems to really be there.

After being used as a style element, poured concrete is now being "re-discovered" for use in passive houses
(houses that don't need heating, or extremely little of it)

The sheer mass of the concrete acts as a thermal buffer, preventing quick heating up or cooling down of the house.

[drainoil]

Originally Posted by euromodder

After being used as a style element, poured concrete is now being "re-discovered" for use in passive houses
(houses that don't need heating, or extremely little of it)

The sheer mass of the concrete acts as a thermal buffer, preventing quick heating up or cooling down of the house.

My great grandfather was building his houses out of poured concrete starting right after WW2 and continued this method through the late 1960s.

I'm not sure why this method of construction hasn't been utilized more in my area but there has to be a good reason.

In theory though, could poured concrete be the next best construction method (with future energy savings in mind) over an earth sheltered home?

I should mention 'my area' is the midwest area of the USA. Minnesota, usda zone 4. Yesterday we had temps in the low 60s and today we will be lucky to get out of the 30s. Winter temps can get as low as 30 below zero and summers can see temps into the upper 90s/low 100s.

[arcosine]

Dirt is really not a good insulation, r value is about 0.5 per inch, so an r value of 20 need 40 inches of dirt, and and that dirt has to be warmed up.

[JRMichler]

The earth sheltered house that I toured was a long rectangle shaped concrete box, with one exposed wall that had windows and exterior doors. This forced an inefficient floor plan with a hallway along the back wall.

The roof had about 3 feet of dirt on it. A parapet along the front kept the dirt in place. While the roof and side walls had exterior foam insulation, the parapet was bare. Concrete is thermally conductive, so the parapet acted like a big heat exchanger. That would explain the need to upgrade the heating system.

The roof had 13 penetrations, for plumbing vents, water heater exhaust, and solar tubes. I asked the builder about water leaks. His reply: "No problem, just dig it up, fix, put the dirt back".

I don't know if they insulated underneath the floor. That is also a significant heat loss.

My workshop is heavily insulated, but built on a slab without insulation underneath. I keep it 65 degrees. The highest temperature inside, during a 100 degree heat wave, was 69 degrees. The cool earth was sucking heat out as fast as it came in. And I don't get that heat back in the winter.

[arcosine]

My house is on a slab with the forced air vents in the concrete. The air is a lot cooler at the furtherest room from the furnace and the floor is always cold, except in a few spots.

[drainoil]

Here is an example of what a realtor has to say about listing an ESH (earth sheltered home):

Earth Sheltered Home Finds a New Steward

Anyone near Indy?:

Indianapolis, IN

And unfortunately here is an example of an ESH build that doesn't appear to have been done correctly:

Mankato MN

I stumbled across this while searching for ESHs. I'll ad this to as its pretty interesting imo.

http://www.missilesitehome.com/