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roflwaffle · 04-05-12, 02:33 PM

I'm looking for something more specific than that. Insulating from the outside is going to happen sooner or later. If you'll check out the pdf in my last post, you can see data someone at MIT came up with when trying to compare different configurations and R-values for insulation and thermal mass. As it turns out, exterior insulation of ~R15 plus thermal mass on the inside is roughly the equivalent of a normal stick built home with insulation of ~R40 in this climate.

Construction isn't too bad either. Most of the front face that I'm insulating is above a deck, so moisture build up shouldn't be a concern there if it's properly sealed. The south facing side otoh does have a lot of dirt around it, so I'm probably going to dig that up and put in concrete so the water can drain, then build the exterior wall above that. It's a pain, but I should do it anyway, and it's not that expensive, just time consuming.

What I was wondering was, is it worthwhile to insulate the interior walls that are earth-bermed? I'm not sure about that, which is why I was asking people about energy flow. I have a feeling no one here would be able to answer my question, so I'm in the initial stages of modeling home energy consumption, which I thought was gonna be a bit more complicated because of the concrete. Fortunately, that MIT paper has a ton of information on R-value equivalent versus climate and thermal mass/insulation configuration, so I just need to figure out how to model all this stuff.

04-05-12, 02:33 PM	#14
roflwaffle Apprentice EcoRenovator Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 116 Thanks: 29 Thanked 12 Times in 11 Posts	I'm looking for something more specific than that. Insulating from the outside is going to happen sooner or later. If you'll check out the pdf in my last post, you can see data someone at MIT came up with when trying to compare different configurations and R-values for insulation and thermal mass. As it turns out, exterior insulation of ~R15 plus thermal mass on the inside is roughly the equivalent of a normal stick built home with insulation of ~R40 in this climate. Construction isn't too bad either. Most of the front face that I'm insulating is above a deck, so moisture build up shouldn't be a concern there if it's properly sealed. The south facing side otoh does have a lot of dirt around it, so I'm probably going to dig that up and put in concrete so the water can drain, then build the exterior wall above that. It's a pain, but I should do it anyway, and it's not that expensive, just time consuming. What I was wondering was, is it worthwhile to insulate the interior walls that are earth-bermed? I'm not sure about that, which is why I was asking people about energy flow. I have a feeling no one here would be able to answer my question, so I'm in the initial stages of modeling home energy consumption, which I thought was gonna be a bit more complicated because of the concrete. Fortunately, that MIT paper has a ton of information on R-value equivalent versus climate and thermal mass/insulation configuration, so I just need to figure out how to model all this stuff.