THE FLOOR-STORAGE THERMAL-LOOP HOME

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The task of forming the walls was simplified by the fact that the only windows in the building are on the south side. Because of this arrangement, however, the four bedrooms and the utility room are all without a single exterior window.

That lack of glazing presented both advantages and problems. On the positive side, the rooms have no energy-wasting glass, and we saved ourselves a bundle of money on materials . . as anyone who's priced windows can imagine. But on the negative side, we were faced with the challenge of lighting the back rooms without depending entirely on costly electricity. After checking into skylights, we decided against installing the expensive, leak-prone devices. (We weren't interested in shoveling snow from the roof-mounted glazing in the winter . . or having the sun bake down through them in the summer.)

Our solution was to install light-diffusing, translucent plastic panels in the partitions between the dark, windowless rooms and the very bright front chamber. In doing so, we used inexpensive but fragile 2' X 4' fluorescent-light covers, which run about $6.00 apiece. Since the panels are breakable, we fully expect that a runaway toy will come through one someday. Consequently, we made sure that they can be replaced easily. (As an added benefit, the fact that a person could — in an emergency — -break through the plastic without difficulty means that each room has additional potential fire exits.)

And just how successfully do the panels function? Well, we've found that they keep even the bedrooms twice removed from the south windows nearly as bright as a conventional north room with a curtained opening would be, and that the chambers immediately adjacent to the south living area are very well lighted indeed. It's a simple idea, but it works!

SOLAR HEATING

Drawing heat from the sun isn't a particularly difficult task. If you just put enough windows on the south side of a well-insulated building, it'll get toasty during even subzero weather. The real challenges in solar design are those of preventing overheating during the day and of keeping the building warm at night. And both heat storage and air circulation are necessary to meet the two goals.

So, guided by our budget and the rudimentary concept that warm air rises, we set about designing a passive circulation/storage system that would be both simple and inexpensive. We've not heard of another arrangement quite like the one we came up with, and we're delighted to report that it performs beyond our expectations. (We had standby plans, which included fans and thermostats, just in case.)

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