Thermal Mass Flooring For Passive Solar Shed

Welcome to world headquarters scott s current and back off i m still working on it conversion of an old existing garden shed to a cozy passive solar and some wood heated design office.

Thermal mass flooring for passive solar shed.

Floor plans features several functional basic layouts and commentary on design choices. Very high levels of thermal mass e g. Photo gallery is packed with images commentary and our free htm home tour video. Internally the concrete slab and brick walls provide thermal mass to stabilise temperatures all year round and the long roof extends out over the car port at the west side of the house providing additional shading from the hot afternoon sun in the summer.

I am building a home that will use a combination of a mini split and passive solar in the pacific northwest. In simple terms a passive solar home collects heat as the sun shines through south facing windows and retains it in materials that store heat known as thermal mass. The share of the home s heating load that the passive solar design can meet is called the passive solar fraction and depends on the area of glazing and the amount of thermal mass. Thermal mass is another vital and complimentary component of passive solar design.

Dry stack surface bonding cement construction photos and some block layout sketches. The sketch below shows the effect of high thermal mass on a building. Flooring choices for use over concrete slabs using thermal mass what finish flooring materials are best to use over a concrete floor slab to retain the thermal mass properties of the slab. Earth covered buildings can even out summer winter ranges if well designed.

Greater quantities of both thermal mass and passive heating and cooling are required to moderate temperature cycles up to one week e g. This is very important in a passive house in terms of heat control from solar gain as it moderates temperature fluctuations. I was planning on an engineered wood floor but my builder pointed out that this would prevent the sun from heating the slab. Objects that have thermal mass have inherent qualities for both heating and cooling.

A material that has thermal mass is one that has the capacity to absorb store and release the sun s heat energy its density and levels of conductivity help to keep the internal temperature of a building stable. For thermal mass it has a concrete slab floor with insulation underneath. Slab on ground with masonry walls or earth bermed. A solar passive shed house in the country.

Htm passive solar ebook table of contents. Questions answers about how to choose a finish floor to be installed over a. Introduction to high thermal mass pragmatic design low tech functions and materials. Flooring materials for passive solar floor slab designs where direct solar gain and passive solar heat storage are desired.

My question is about flooring. Thickness concrete slab floors should be 100 200mm thick for the best performance while thermal mass walls should be 100 150mm thick.