Uggggh, Oil is up again!

[Tyler]

Wow, Charlene, that's really cool! I had no idea that there was anyone still dealing in these kinds of goods!
And I thought Mini building was archaic!

[Lorenzo]

I like a house made of materials that breathe. It'll still breath regardless of the additional R value in the insulation.

Mmmm ... not quite. In order for standard vat insulation to work it has to stay relatively dry. That means vapour barriers on the inner (warm) side. That means no air circulation without an additional air circulation set-up.

Right. Funny, because you'd think there's more moisture could get to the insulation from the outside. Standard vapor barrier on exterior walls are usually done in two ways: 1) plastic rolls attached just under the drywall; 2) rubberized substance mixed in the interior paint (primer). Seems to me the wall insulation would still be affected by humidity from the outside air as there's no vapor barrier required under the siding. Hmmm.

The exterior walls breathe from either side up to the vapor barrier, but not through. The walls also breath up and around any edge such as top-bottom-sides, window edges, and door edges because there's no seal (unless they're caulked). The house would also breath through the ceiling, mainly, but also through the floor if there's a crawl space. Vapor barriers are not required in floors and ceilings, but I knew a builder who did seal off the inside completely, and as you said, he had to install an air circulation system. The 12" of insulation would make a difference, esp for cooling in the summer...as the afternoon/morning sun bears down directly on it. I realize about 85% of the heat escapes out the top, 15% out the sides and uninsulated windows. I got the 12" wall idea from a guy in Oregon who is off the grid using wind and batteries. He claimed an all-round R 50 was the key to heating/cooling efficiently. Don't know that for certain though, just taking his word. He's an engineer and manufactures windmills for home use.

[Lorenzo]

Thanks Charlene for that link! Pretty cool site. Related...I've heard you can keep chicken eggs for up to a year, unrefrigerated, if you turn them upsidedown once every week.

[djm]

Lorenzo, building codes never cease to amaze me. Yes, you should insulate the floor and ceiling. Again, vapour barrier on the warm side. The idea is that the outside may get wet from time to time, but will dry out more and faster than the inside. Wet insulation does not insulate. That's why a good idea is to use a breathable house wrap on the outside - Tyvek, etc.

Another option to 12" walls is an insulated 6-8" outerwall, vapour barrier, then an additional inside 2" wall. This leaves a cavity for wiring, which eliminates the hassle of sealing around junction boxes. switches, etc. and reduces risk of puncturing the vapour barrier.

The savings in R value is related to the design. A wood-sided building (or similar) actually loses more heat through the basement/foundation - first place to insulate. A brick building loses more heat throught the ceiling.

djm

[spittin_in_the_wind]

I remember that during the gas crunch in Jimmy Carter's administration, the Amish communities were smugly going around with the air of "Gas crisis? What gas crisis?"
M

I have a horse; unfortunately, he would kick the $%#@ out of any cart I would try to attach to his body! It would be funny to pull up with him at work and try to take him in the parking garage!

[Lorenzo]

Like your horse, this vehicle is an herbivore too!

Fill 'er up with wood, then go

By Lisa Chiu
Seattle Times staff reporter
Monday, July 18, 2005

• Among the many SUVs, trucks towing watercraft and motorcycles jamming the parking lot at Ballard's Golden Gardens Park yesterday was a vehicle unlike any other.
  
  Owner Timm Dowden, of Silvana, Snohomish County, calls his modified 1985 Ford Ranger a biomass gasifier, but the sign he tapes to the hood sums it up more simply: "Runs on Wood."
  
  Visitors headed to the beach stopped to marvel at the concept and asked Dowden how he's able to get his truck, which has 188,000 miles on it, to run on wood pellets.
  
  "I think it's fascinating," said Grace Huus, 73, from Minnesota, who was visiting her grandchildren in Seattle. "I'm really glad I'm not buying gas here; it's 40 cents more expensive than back home."
  
  She and her husband, Jack, had planned to drive their trailer here this winter but will likely change their plans because of high gasoline prices, she said.
  
  "We have to do something about using renewable energy," Jack Huus, 71, said. "For the last six years, it's been a disaster; the government has not even talked about it."
  
  It was precisely that frustration with government that led Dowden, 40, to his creation. Disappointed by last year's presidential election, he said he mourned for a month, then decided to "do something."
  
  Last winter, using found materials and spending about $300, he started fashioning the truck, using his expertise as a metalworker. He finished in April and is driving it around to beaches, parks and other public places to show others how to make their own.
  
  Wood and charcoal-burning vehicles were mass-produced during World War II in Australia, Europe and Asia, Dowden said, but they never took off in the United States, which did not have widespread gas shortages.
  
  In 1998, however, the Federal Emergency Management Agency published an instruction booklet on how to use the fuel for tractors and trucks in the event the gasoline supply was disrupted.
  
  Dowden has two recycled oil drums attached to the back of his pickup, one for wood chips and one containing sawdust for filtering gases.
  
  The burning wood creates carbon monoxide and hydrogen, combustible gases he routes through filters to the engine. It's safe, he says, because all the parts are welded together, and a vacuum keeps the gases from leaking.
  
  The wood pellets are the same ones used for wood stoves and cost about $3 for a 40-pound bag; 1 pound can power the truck for a mile. Despite his modifications, the car can still run on gasoline.
  
  Dowden uses wood only when driving around his neighborhood, because the fastest the truck can go is 55 miles an hour. With gasoline, he can go 75 miles an hour.
  
  Dowden said he learned at an early age the importance of alternative fuels. In the middle of the fuel crisis in the 1970s, he would have to siphon gas from his mother's car to his father's truck because they were only allotted 5 gallons a day.
  
  A few years, later he came across a magazine article showing how to make a biomass gasifier, and he vowed he'd try it one day.
  
  While most visitors yesterday expressed support for his work, Dowden has heard criticism from tree lovers.
  
  "They say 'Stop burning trees' and think it's better to burn oil over trees," he said. "But burning gas is burning up millions of years of organic products. Fossil fuels are precious. They are a gift from the gods."

[Charlene]

Lorenzo - that must have been what the story on Northwest Cable News was about the other day.

Glad everyone likes the Lehman's link.