Heating and Cooling With The Sun
(Page 5 of 7)
"It's a lot more economical," Jim observes, "to pay for
good thermal protection today —especially
before a structure is completed—than to continue
shelling out money over the next 10 or 20 or 30 years to
cover the rising cost of heating. And if, after a period of
time, you should decide to add insulation, the cost will
always be greater . . . because of inflation and the extra
work involved in tearing a finished house apart to do the
job.
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"Profit and loss considerations aside, however," Harmon
points out, "the design of my home is based not so much on
the painful fact that energy costs are rising as on my
conviction that energy consumption is an ethical rather
than an economic issue. Energy waste, whether it proceeds
from senselessness or selfishness, seems to me downright
immoral . . . because it will adversely affect the lives of
future generations."
Sound Construction and Low Cost
Even though his chief emphasis was not on economy, as close
as Jim Harmon can figure his partially earth-sheltered,
1,000-square-foot octagonal desert home cost him about
$22,000 to construct . . . an easytoswallow $22 per square
foot. Of course, Jim is quick to point out that the price
would be difficult to duplicate today, partly because he
purchased much of his wood before the noted lumber price
increase of the mid-70s, and also because he and some of
his good friends did much of the work themselves.
But even with the sharp increase in lumber costs, Mr.
Harmon still believes that wood construction is a sound
choice. "Framing a house with lumber remains a good way to
go . . . mainly because if you use some of the synthetics
available on the market nowadays, you'll find they often
are just as expensive yet provide less quality and
longevity. I'd rather spend my money now and get it over
with, and have the satisfaction of a well-done job."
Another reason Jim chose to go with wood (in conjunction
with concrete and some of the materials native to his area)
was that he wanted his dwelling impervious to all but the
very worst earthquakes . . . phenomena which are often
problems in the Imperial Valley area. In order to assure
his home's integrity, he designed the structure like a
wagon wheel, with a central hub plate in the
roof—acting as a pivot—from which the "spokes"
(in this case surplus railroad trestle beams) radiate and
fasten to the eight corners formed by the walls of the
house. In theory, this arrangement distributes both
horizontal and vertical shocks evenly throughout the
structure with little or no damage to the framework. In
practice, Jim's design passed the acid test when a severe
quake hit the area and did considerable damage to several
local communities . . . while merely causing the Harmon
home to creak ominously.
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