How We Heat a Large House With a Single Wood Stove
(Page 3 of 5)
November/December 1976
By the Mother Earth News editors
AIR CIRCULATION
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In order to allow air to circulate as freely as possible inside our house land thereby avoid having the "cold corners" so common to homes in this part of the country) we decided to limit the number of floor-to-ceiling walls in our dwelling and—where partitions seemed necessary for reasons of privacy—put up fence-like room dividers instead. Thus, our two baths and bedrooms, the study, the art studio, and the utility area are separated from each other and from the rest of the house by seven-foot-tall "fences" built of weathered pine boards, cedar slabs, and/or pegboards. (The kitchen, dining room, and living room share the same open area and are separated only by the placement of furniture and rugs.)
The space above each of the fenced-off rooms is completely unenclosed. (That is, we opted for open ceilings.) The only areas of the house that are covered with ceilings are the clothes closet (which we felt should be protected from settling dust) and the pantry (which is completely insulated from the rest of the house to maintain the steady, cool temperature in the room that is more ideal for the storage of food).
THE WARM FLOOR
The heart of our air circulation system—and (we think) the single most important factor in the successful heating of the house—is the enclosed, insulated air space under our dwelling's floor through which we pass warm room air. (This is very similar in concept to the "ondol" floors used in Korea.)
When we were constructing the house, we nailed—to the underside of the structure's main support beams (Fig. 1)—a false floor consisting of one-inch lumber and chicken wire covered with three inches of commercial fiberglass insulation. Atop the insulation, we placed a single layer of aluminum foil (shiny side up) . . . and over that, a layer of polyethylene sheeting. The wooden floor we walk on, then, is 13" above the polyethylene (allowing 8" for the joists and 8" for the beams, and subtracting 3" for the insulation).
Warm air is drawn under our home's main floor and through the 13-inch-deep insulated air space beneath by a pair of inexpensive, kitchen-type exhaust fans set into the floorboards between two joists and on either side of the house's center-most support beam (Fig. 1). We then built an eight-foot-tall plywood column over each fan. This makes it possible for the blowers to draw warm air down from the building's open ceiling, through the columns, and under the floorboards . . . after which the air is vented back into the house via any of four 2" X 6' openings (Fig. 2) set into the corners of the structure's main floor. In this fashion, a continuous flow of warmth is created from the highest land warmest) parts of the house, down under the floor, and back up through the coolest parts (the corners) of the structure.
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