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You may want to contact David Sands at Bamboo Living. He has built many permitted single wall structures on the Big Island. I have seen his personal home, very comfortable, dry, and he has no fans at all!! Rob Tucker at Castleblock also has very cool concrete structures. One advantage of bamboo is it can be totally moveable, a prime consideration in Pahoa these days.
samantha@bambooliving.com
castleb@aloha.net
Mahalo and happy researching
Bigseaal
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years back, I asked about SWC with ARGUS, he said he has a few plans, I can't really remember but I think he said to get it to pass code you have to use 4x4's in the corners. I thought that was odd but then, remember this is Hawaii.
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If you are working from a blank sheet of paper....
Orientation: To extent possible, have a deck on both e and w sides. When one gets too much sun in morning/evening, inhabit the other. Deck here is integral, roofed living space. It is not an add on for seasonal use.
Insulate beneath the steel roof for noise / heat. Otherwise design for airflow through house. No need for walls to reach to ceiling. Leave a gap for ventilation so no room ever becomes 'stuffy' and single windward room can ventilate entire house. 8' walls is plenty high.
Louvered windows are perfect. Cheap, easy to install, easy to replace when furniture flies through them, effective.
Single wall is only way to go below 2000 feet. Tongue and groove wood siding. Three coats of Behr stain and wood preservative outside. Inside posts and beams, 1 coat neutral color. Do not bother painting the wood walls inside. Just let it naturally darken.
Post and beam. No slab. No wood within 6" of ground contact, ever.
Hunt down and eliminate any and all standing water unless you are moving here as a source of food for mosquitoes. I had a mosquito problem, found their cities, eliminated them, population crashed.
That is just what worked for me but I am ignorant about many things.
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You can't fix Samsara.
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I built a single wall cedar/redwood house 20 yrs ago when it was still in the codes and recently sanded down the entire interior completely to bare wood so I could apply Cetol Sikkens. Looks stunning. One thing to consider with SWC is the house will not be as quiet as double wall.
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I lived in a single wall for a couple years. Acoustically it was like living in a paper bag. Otherwise it was nice except for the maintenance.
Assume the best and ask questions.
Punaweb moderator
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Here in Eden Roc at 1,700' I am putting in a wood stove. It is cold as heck here at night, at least during the winter. Also consider that I am in a shipping container. Maybe a 3/4" layer of wood is that much better than a sheet of steel.
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Mark P I hear you on cold as heck, and nobody on the mainland has any empathy for our cold little okoles! They just laugh and talk about what cold really is. Our walls are 6" with R19 insulation and it still gets cold in here; I think we are at 1800'. I wonder if you bought out all of the extruded polystyrene (think that's right) and put it on your walls if that would make any difference? I knew a guy who lived in a concrete apartment who finally put wool blankets from Mexico, those really thick, course and cheap ones, on his walls in an effort to be warm. He swore it made a world of difference! You might check Goodwill or Salvation Army for some cheap blankets. Best of luck and light plenty of candles. In a small space, I bet that would help warm you up, mentally, if nothing else
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i bought a Mr. Heater Big Buddy propane heater and that little sucker kicks some major butt. We're at 1600' and we feel like we're at sea-level. It was like $150, and you can hook it up to a big propane tank. Costs about $1 to run all evening til you get under the covers.
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Insulation helps to keep your house inside temperature from rapidly rising and falling with the outside temp. This helps to keep condensation and mold - from forming.
