It’s now been a little over a month since we’ve been gathering temperature and humidity data from the still-not-complete and still-unconditioned house. I previously wrote that the early data seemed to show more stable, and generally warmer, indoor temperatures. That story is now even clearer.
Even when the outdoor temperatures dipped to 4 deg F, or stayed below freezing for the better part of a week, the temperatures in the house continued to hover around 40 deg F.
As a reminder, the following work remains to be done:
- Window air-sealing and insulating the gap between frame and window buck is not yet complete.
- Roof insulation is not yet complete: Rigid insulation has been installed, but the interior blown cellulose is still outstanding.
- Backfill / earth berming is not yet complete.
We will continue to see how the story unfolds—but I, for one, am further convinced about the great potential of earth sheltering, passive solar design, and a well-insulated airtight envelope.