12-28-2014, 01:08 PM
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.
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.
---------------------------
You can't fix Samsara.