Posted by Trevor
on June 9, 2009, 3:13 pm, in reply to "Re: F & FG Photos"
Hi Lisa,
Sounds like a great project. I assume you will be changing the front porch into a sun room. With full southern exposure, this could work really well. Four pieces of advice -
1) Talk with your window supplier about using High Solar Gain e-coating on the south-facing windows of the house. (Use low solar gain e-coating on the rest of the windows) You will also get some nice passive solar gains from the loft window.
2) Consider constructing the sunroom on a concrete slab and cover with tile. This will give the floor a high thermal mass to store the suns heat from the day and radiate it at night.
If you can't use a slab because it is elevated off the ground, use a 1/2 inch (or more) concrete board base with tile, which will help add some thermal mass to the floor(although not as much as the slab)
3) Consider the thermal mass of the wall of the house in the sunoom. Ideally, it would be covered with some type of masonry like stone or brick. Alternatively, a layer or two of 1/2 concrete board under the drywall would help add some thermal mass.
4) Think about ways to share the heat in the sunoom with the rest of the house. This could be as simple as having a return air vent in the room or perhaps using a low speed high efficiency fan to draw air from the sun room and circulate it to the main areas of the house. You may get a better idea from your HVAC contractor.
Just some ideas to maximize the passive thermal effects. If you have any more questions, just send me an e-mail- trevor@smartcrafthomes.com. I check that everyday.
Good Luck.
Trevor
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