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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Wingham Advance-Times, 1984-05-16, Page 15• r. t t a • • ••••1,1ik•...,.,•,.. • .• Serving over 24,000 homes in-Listowelo WitIghere, Mount Forest, Milyerton, Arias, Arthur, proton,. Harriston, Moorefield, Palmerston, 1310Orniegciettk Breslau, celestPg9, Elmira, Heidelberg,, U'ood Maryhill, St Clements, St. Jacobs, Wallenstein, Wellesley and West Montrose. • Wednesday, May 16, 1984 It ooks like we're returning to the earth 10k0,••• •AVA1,,,W..W4 0'01' ATRIUM DESIGN—The Tunkl residence has an atrium feature which allows more daylight in the home. 'It's very quiet. Nothing creaks or •gr by Maurice Pifher • '1•,-.4,..".41„,•••••••••• ••••-••••• • "" 1.• • A HOME UNDERGROUND—Viewed from the front. the Stacey house looks almost like a ranch house with a flat roof. The difference is that this wall is the only one exposed: the rest of the 60 by 30 -foot house is covered with earth and sand. Properly called. an earth shelter, the house takes advantage of the earth to shield it from the weather and ex- treme temperatures. while the large win- dows admit the sun for light and heat Earth shelter home combines conomy, om.fort and It's a little difficult to spot the Farlow residence as you enter the driveway, but knowing what to look for helps — it's the one with the chimney rising out of a grassy hill. For Stuart and Joyce Farlow decided • some years ago to try something different. The result: they went underground. • "In these days of energy, you just never know when prices are going to go up," ,says Mrs. Farlow of the decision reached hy she f and her husband to build an earth home, an experience in energy-saving residences that is attracting more and more attention. Living underground is nothing new, as our cave7dwelling predecessors would attest.. But transferring all the amenities of com- fortable, modern living underground, into several rooms which are cleverly .and tastefully laid out,. that is an added touch brought about by boldness in architectural and engineering strategy. "Is it cold? Is it warm? What holds the ceiling up there? How much heat do ydu save? .Is it light? Is it dark?" These are the questions posed by curious and maybe unconvinced visitors, and there have been many according to the pioneers of 18th century underground living. A first glance just after walking through the front door indeed clears up the big misconception about earth homes. There is an abundance of natural light, just as much as in a conventional home, and with certain added features, there can even be more. "People think you're going into a dark, dark home, but it isn't that way at all," says • Mrs. Farlow. The Farlows have been living in their home, located about five miles north of Mount Forest, for over three years and they have no regrets about the move under. "Actually, there aren't any bad points about it," says Mrs. Farlow In nearby Ayton, a village between Mount Forest and Hanover, Adi Tunkl and his family have been living in their huge un- • derground home since December, and they're loving every minute of it. "People think an underground home is a dingy place. But there are is morelight here than anywhere else we've had before," states Mrs. Tunkl. "They wonder if It's dark and damp, but anybody who comes in is very surprised." In Allan Park, a community just east of Hanover, Carl and Nancy Wideman have had their earth home since Thanksgiving of 1980, and they'd probably never return to a conventional home. • "Simply, when you go down under, it's warmer," says Mrs. Farlow. "And it's very quiet. Nothing creaks or groans." The temperature inside never goes below 50 degrees Fahrenheit, even when it is zero Fahrenheit outside, observes Mrs. Farlow Adi and Ann Tunkl note that the force of north, east and west winds (since their windows face south), can only be measured by looking outside at the sway of trees, so protected is their home against the elements• . The underground dwellers all did eon- A VIEW of the atrium from inside. siderable research on theirhomes before deciding to, go ahead. The Farlows, originally from Toronto, moved to Mount Forest about 10 years ago. They later decided to move into a new home in the country. Architect David McCauley hap- pened to ask if they had ever seen an inground home. They were intrigued. "We read a fair amount about it ... we both worked on plans," relates Mrs. Farlow. She had earlier purchased their country building site, 50 acres of picturesque property in Normanby Township. The site itself was a gravel hill, good for drainage and ideal for what they had in mind. • . The result is a 1200 sq. ft. home with two sides which have windows, the other two sides in the ground. One side has windows for the kitchen and livingroom, the other side with a sunroom that wasn't part of the original plans. It was an added feature,,one however, that has lent beauty and probably even more saving in energy in the home. "I like light," says Mrs., Farlow, pouring tea and serving cookies in 'her sunroom. Nearby, running water makes a quiet gurgle over a stone layout in the corner of this roan with windows 20 feet high. Mrs. Farlow points out that the windows are at an angle of 69 degrees, so as to catch the most heat from the 's**. Together with all the other specific designs for passive solar heat as well as the airtight con- struction, she says, "It's quite scientific and it does work." Energy conservation was also themajo; reason the Tunkls and the Widemans chose inground homes. And, adds, Mrs. Tunkl, "It's cooler in the summer." Mrs. Farlow says -with proper ventilation of her sunroom, even on the hottest day in summer it will, never go above 70 degrees Fahrenheit inside. ''It's a natural air-conditioning" is how Mrs. Wideman describes it. The Widemans first encountered earth homes in the pages of an organic gardening magazine They wrote for and received many different designs for inground homes from the United States, where had been built many more of the homes than in Canada. Eventually, they decided on a design by a Hanover resident, Their home is 1250 sq. ft. in area. One side only has a large front window, one to allow natural light in the livingroom, diningroom and kitchen, and a patio door for the main bedroom, in case the 'Widemans one day. want to build a greenhouse. The remaining three sides are under the earth of a hill. The Tunkls began work on their home in April last year and moved in eight months later, with the finishing touches, including landscaping, now left to be completed. Their home, also covered on three sides, is' a four-bedroom with a garage and an im- m,ense livingroom with two large picture windows, and another in the. diningroom. But the biggest contributor to the total area of 3,300 sq. ft. is esplendid atrium which allows light to pour into the rear half of the house. "The idea is to get light in the bedrooms," says Mrs. Tunkl of the atrium, with windows rising straight up out of the ground, making the highest point of the ceiling inside about 20. feet high. The Tunkls had considered simply laying the windows flat on the ground for more light, but felt that would produce too much heat in the summer sun. They had considered' an earth home for many years and went to the U.S. to look at a design of one home, but it was too small for what they wanted and was constructed of wood, which they felt was inappropriate for this location. They studied books and maazines but, says' Ann Tunkl, "There wasn't one we liked." They finally found one plan that had an atrium behind the bedrooms. They modified that design so that the atrium was in between the exposed side of the home and the bedrooms which are farthest inside the hill they selected. • The three homes, all within a stretch of about 32 kilometres (20 miles) may each be different -in floor design but they share common, necessary building charac- teristics. They were each built into the side of a hill, and all have windows facing south so as to gather the most light and heat during the day, as a passive solar heating system. The foundation walls are of poured con- crete, up to 26 cm. (10 inches) thick, with Continued on page 6 • by Henry Hess Open house this weekend Fro the beginning of time, archeologists tell. us, Min has lived close to the earth. Our ancestors found shelter and security in. caves, while more recently some of the early settlers on the prairies took refuge in shelters scooped_ out of the sod, finding at once protection from the wind and. from the bitter cold of winter and the burning sum- mer sun. • Such natural shelters had their draw- backs, of course: caves tended to be drafty and damp and. the sod shelters were crampedv dusty and dark. Technology enabled Us to raise ourselves above the earth in artificial caves of stone, brick and wood and we did, paying the price of con- venience in higher maintenance and heating and cooling costs. In recent years a new awareness of conservation and the advantages gained by living in harmony with nature has started a movement back to the earth, with a still small but growing number of people choosing to build their homes completely or partially underground. These new earth shelters bear scant resemblance to their forebears, however, sacrificing few of the comforts or conveniences of a conventional home in return for the economies of under- ground living. Several such homes are in various stages of construction around. Huron County, with one recently completed, except for a few finishing touches, right on the outskirts of Wingham. 'SOMETHING DIFFERENT' The Stacey house, built last summer by the late John Stacey and his wife Thelma, • grew out of an interest in conservation and a desire for something out of the ordinary. "It was John's, idea," Thelma said, and she recalls that it took some convincing to overcome her initial scepticism. "He was always interested in something different — to be the first." After having renovated an old schoolhouse and 'built two conventional homes in Lower Town, the Staceys were looking for some- thing which would allow them to live as self - sufficiently as possible on a small acreage. That meant low living costs, requiring a low - maintenance house with low heating bills. Initially they were not planning to build, but the acreages with houses' were all too expensive. Then one day when Thelma was out for a walk with her daughter Karla, now 5, she found a perfect site and suggested they could build their own house. At that point John got caught up in the idea of building underground, and the wheels were set in motion. Using ideas he gleaned through his reading, John drew up his own design and blueprint, had it checked by an engineer and set to work to build a 30 -foot by 60 -foot box of reinforced concrete, open at the front and with 10 -foot retaining walls at either end, set into a south -facing hillside. Construction started May 31 and they Moved in at the end of September. The house was still incomplete, but it was drywalled and 'painted and was better than the trailer ROOM WITH A VIEW—Most women like a bright and cheerful kitchen and Thelma Stacey is no exception. The large windows over the counter admit lots of light and also provide a spectacular view of the surroundingcountryside. The custom-made cabinets. which Thelma designed, match the knotty pine which panels the ,Walls. they had lived in all summer while con- struction was underway, having sold their previous house to finance the project. A FIGHT ALL THE WAY Building an unconventional house can have its drawbacks, the Staceys discovered, and Thelma recalls it was "a fight the whole way" to get exactly what theY wanted from tradition -minded. contractors and trades- men. . • Errors along the way cost them money, adding to the estimated $55,000 which the house will have cost, fully finished. • Financing initially was not expected to be ' a problem, since they used the money from the sale of their previous house, but when it became necessary to apply for a small mortgage to complete the project they found that banks also shy away from the unusual, even though the amount they were seeking represented only the value of the land. Eventually they did get the money 'they needed from the local credit union. On the other hand, building regulations were no problem. Turnberry Township•had no building code at the time, she said, and the inspector, aware the plans had been approved by an engineer, raised no questions. FROM CONCRETE 'BUNKER... During the early stages of construction the building bore more res,pmblance to a bunker than to a house, at least to an out- sider's eye. A grand total of 110 cubic metres of concrete, heavily reinforced with steel, was formed into the floor, three walls and — supported by steel posts and 'l' -beams — the roof. Only the front wall, facing south, was left open, to be filled in later with brick and glass. The strueture was then insulated on all sides, outside the concrete, with sheets of blue Styrofoam insulation, two inches on the walls and four On thr roof, and the resulting shell was wrapped in heavy black plastic to repel moisture and covered with sand. The roof slopes from about 10 feet at the front of the house to eight feet at the back to aid in drainage, and so far there has been no problem with moisture or leaking. ...TO FINISHED HOME The finished house today, however, belies its rough beginnings. Interior walls cleverly conceal the roof supports and finished. ceilings and walls and carpeted floors yield no hint of the massive concrete that lies just on the other side of them. .The slope of the ceiling from front to back is quite noticeable, but the effect, far from being oppressive, is at the same time cosy and airy. The disadvantage of having no windows in side or back walls is compensarZthe huge areas of glass — some 200 square feet in total — in the front wall and by the open floor plan. The kitchen, dining room, living room and bathroom all are open tokhe front of the house, while the bedrooms at the back, though they have no outside windows of their own, are open to the front at the ceiling, admitting light and air. A large ceiling fan in the dining room aids in the circulation of air, and its gentle hum emphasizes the almost uncanny stillness of the house. Sitting in the front room with its ceiling -to - floor windows yielding a spectacular view of the countryside around and the town almost a mile away, there is no sensation of being underground, with concrete and earth overhead. The primary impression is of peace and security, shielded from Any outside disturbance. LIVING UNDERGROUND What is it like to live in an earth shelter? Initially she was sceptical, Thelma said, but during the past eight months she has found the house to be warm, secure and very quiet. "It would take me a while to get used to a conventional house again." Shielded from three sides by the hill in whose crest it is buried, as well as by a stand of trees, you can turn your back on the weather outside if you want, yet at the same time the large windows maintain contact with the outer world. "It's just a perfect place for a house like this. "People aren't right next to you, but you can see the whole town." TW small electric heaters with cir- culating, fans built into the walls kept the house cosy all winter for an estimated $300 in hydro. A small wood -burning stove can do the job even more cheaply, but Ince she Continued on page 6