Rachel Preston Prinz's Blog, page 4

Links to AMAZING programs you can learn from - right here in New Mexico!

Traditional Living - Canning, making your own solar panels, making cheeses, etc. 
       ABQ Old School run by Leila Salim  Earthbag Construction Programs
       The Hive        UNM’s Sustainability Studies Program 

Permaculture Training Courses        Lama Foundation north of Taos        the Four Bridges Traveling Permaculture Institute in Española        Santa Clara Pueblo’s Flowering Tree Permaculture Institute  

Adobe Making        Cornerstones Partnership 

EarthPlaster        Carole Crews or join in at one of the traditional enjarres like that at the San Francisco de Asis church in Ranchos de Taos
Natural Building / Tiny Houses / PRACTICAL PROGRAM (not academic, but it is college!)        Green technology program at UNM Taos.  They cover how to build and install solar panels, how to make a horno or rocket stove fireplace, how to do electrical systems, how to do an earth berm, how to do adobe... They literally tear apart the building and put it back together piece by piece.

Other Courses you might be interested in (not in New Mexico)        Cob and Strawbale Building with Sigi Koko         Cordwood with Richard Flatau. 

Our friend Oliver Swann’s Natural Homes website is the largest online natural building resource in the WORLD, and he has a list of workshops that might be a bit closer to you.
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Feature Article in the Weekly Alibi!

The book got featured in the Weekly Alibi! yay! thank you so much Lisa!

Hacking the Earthship: Rachel Preston Prinz takes a fresh look at sustainable architectureBy Lisa Barrow
Nearly 8,500 feet up the side of a steep mountain half an hour north of Taos, a 20-acre cluster of slanted-
glass-fronted houses shimmers above the Valdez and Taos Valleys. Designed by Earthship Biotecture founder and green-living visionary Mike Reynolds, the Rural Earthship Alternative Community Habitat (REACH) has been a vibrant experiment in sustainability, permaculture and optimism since the early 1990s. Ideally, Earthships—structures typically employing one “light wall” (hence the south-facing windows at REACH) plus three exterior ...

READ MORE AT THE ALIBI


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Windbreaks and Snow Fences

Since people began building shelters, they have had to work with nature to address their thermal comfort. Part of these efforts extended into the landscape. The teepees of the Plains’ Indians often used skin or blanket windscreens to protect the entrance from wind and snow. The same technique is used by the Inuit Indians on their igloos. Windbreaks and wind fences specifically address wind issues. They are designed slightly differently than snow breaks and snow fences, due to snow being heavier. Here are a few tips:

 
Windbreaks are collections of trees or fences organized to minimize unwanted winds and maximize breezes. The best windbreaks are a mix of staggered evergreens and deciduous trees planted with berries and garden plants.

Evergreen trees offer year-round protection from gusting winds. Excellent choices for the evergreens in your windbreak include arborvitae, spruce, pine, or fir. Deciduous trees only work for hot summer winds, since they are bare in winter, but they do offer 60% of the wind protection that evergreens do.

Depending on your areas’ specific climate and the direction of the prevailing winds, you might need to adjust this rule of thumb, but windbreaks are usually most effective when located on the north and west of structures, planted away from the house at a distance no less than 10 times the height of the tallest trees and no more than 15 times that height. You also want to plan for about 3 times the height of the trees for open space beyond the trees in the direction the wind is coming from. Wind velocity increases as it flows around the ends of windbreaks, so curve the edges slightly towards the home to provide a sheltered interior and minimize this effect.

Place deciduous shade trees to the south and west of your drives, patios, porches, and sidewalks to keep them cool if you live in a hot climate. Place evergreen trees to the north of paving if you live in a freezing or snowy climate. Deciduous trees are fine to the south as they lose their leaves in winter.

Snow breaks 

To minimize snow piles and heat loss in winter, plant 3-5 rows of staggered evergreens in the in the north as well as the direction snow is coming from (if it is not the north), starting at least 10 feet away from the home.

To figure out the best direction for your snow break, pay attention to snowdrifts and leaves that fall from the trees. Where do they end up? Put the snow break in between these piles and the wind. Place the snow break in the same way you would a snow fence, as described below, using the tree’s full grown height as the multiplier.

 
Position a snow fence away from the home at a distance 35 times the height of your fence, in the direction the wind is coming from. So if the fence is 4 feet tall, you will want to place it 140 feet away from the home.

Standard Furniture Dimensions

While we are talking about getting furniture up to a second floor, here are standard dimensions of furniture, so you have have an easy tool to use for designing your home...
TABLES Height Width Length Bedside 26 15 19 Buffet 34-38 24 60 Card 30 36 36 Coffee 19 18 36-48 Conference 30 36 96 Dining 29 40 64 End 20 17 28 Hall 27 15 55 Kitchen 29 36 60 Picnic 28 36 72 Poker 29 48 48 Printer 26 22 26 Sofa 26 14 72 Typewriter 25 18 30 Workstation 26 30 48



MATTRESSES Height Width Length Twin (Regular) 6 39 75 Twin (Long) 6 39 80 Double/Full 8 54 75 Queen 8 60 80 King 10 80 80 King (California.) 10 72 84



CHESTS Height Width Depth Lowboy (7" leg) 36 36 18 Tall Chest (6" leg) 54 36 18 Bookcase (Paperbacks) 38 36 7 Bookcase (Hardbound) 50 36 10 Blanket 24 36 19 Cedar 20 40 19 Buffet 34 50 20



      Seat/Back CHAIRS Width Depth Height Barstool 17 17 30-42 Dining, Side 19 19 18-36 Dining, Arm 24 18 18-36 Easy 25 26 17/31 Kitchen 19 19 19/34 Kitchen Stool 12 12 27 Rocker 20 26 16/42 Upholstered 30 26 16/42



      Seat/Back SOFAS Width Depth Height 3 seat 84 35 18/30 Loveseat 60 35 18/30 Armchair 35 35 18/42

Stairs and Furnishings

Stairs provide a vertical means of moving through a space and are critically important to circulation for buildings with multiple floors. The design of stairs is so important because you need to get two things up and down them: your self/family/visitors, and… your furniture!

Towers have traditionally been used as communication spaces. They provide an easy place to locate stairs and even elevators for those that need this. Also, if you include operable windows at the top floor of your stair tower and open the windows on the side the wind is heading, the tower will act like a chimney, and will draw the warm air up from the lower floors, where it can be used to warm the space or allowed to exit through vents and create a fresh air flow through the entire house. Stair tower “chimneys” are especially useful tools in hot climates when we want to get that hot air out fast and naturally. 

The Building Code generally limits the distance between floors to 12 feet, and the final floor-to-floor height has a direct impact on the design of stairs because we want to make treads and risers all the same height and depth so they are easy to navigate. The best stairs are designed with a maximum of 7 inches of rise for every 11 inches of run. When we can, in our office, we do that one better and make it 7:12. It makes it easier for my big size 9 foot to fit the tread. It also makes the math easier. But, it does mean a longer set of stairs. We use that to our advantage though, and build in drawers, cabinets, closets, bookcases, and other storage into the space below.

The easiest stairs to build are straight-run type, but sometimes these stairs can be a little “long” and a landing at the halfway point is useful. These stairs can also take up a large amount of space. Another option is to use a U-shaped stair, which uses the least amount of space. When landings are used, they should be at least as deep as the stairs are wide. Landings at eye level or below are the easiest to use.

Winders are the angled steps used in some places in lieu of landings. These are difficult for children, parents with armloads full of anything (especially squirmy kiddos), and older people to navigate, so we recommend using a landing instead. Rails should be 2 inches wide, located a minimum of 1 ½ inches away from the wall, should be placed at 2’-6” to 2’-10” above the top joint of the riser/tread, and headroom above the treads should be 6’-8” or greater.

While many people use found stones to build short stair sections in Earthships, we have found that these are troublesome. They often have different riser heights, which messes with people’s equilibrium, and their rugged and uneven surfaces encourage tripping. A “dressed and finished” stone step is cut level. This much safer option can be well worth the expense, if it helps you to avoid having to call an ambulance when someone takes a bad spill.

Dual Staircases

Old homes often had a main and rear staircase, with the rear staircase being smaller in most cases, as it was mostly for emergencies and household staff (and teenagers sneaking in and out). These days, even though most of us do not have household staff anymore, everyone needs to get around equally easily, and Codes want you to have two ways out of the upstairs. Dual staircases might be a good way to go, just make sure that the tread width meets Code.

Spiral stairs use the least amount of space in plan, but they are often not allowed by Code because they are quite dangerous. They are also difficult to manage for long term regular use. If they are allowed, it is usually only as a secondary access to a loft space. Per Code, the spiral stair option only applies if the lofted space is 400 square feet or less.

We always try and avoid putting a single step anywhere in our designs, whether in the landscape, along a corridor, up to a room, or even out into the garage. Our minds just do not process spatial information in singularities - we do much better if there are two steps instead of one. How many times have you launched off a single tread step that you have used a hundred times before? Probably at least a few. Good design practice for small stairs is 2 risers minimum, with a 7:12 ratio of rise to run or riser to tread. In cases where only one stair is needed, you might consider using a ramp, with a 1:12 maximum rise to run and a non-slip surface.

Banisters and balusters

We love the creative railings used in Earthship designs. Just be aware that balusters and banisters on stair rails should be spaced such that a 6” ball cannot pass between any two members in order to meet Code. This keeps your kiddos’ heads from getting caught when they are playing around railings. For furniture, I offer this chart which I scanned into my computer several years back. I’m not sure anymore where it is from, but it’s a great design tool if you want to get that bed or sofa up to the loft or second floor.




 

Community Space: Assembly Occupancies

It does not matter if you design your space to be a home and then decide later to host tours or building workshops. Once you open it to the public, the space will no longer be considered just a residence and you will need to acquire adequate permissions and permits in order to continue using the space for public use.

An Assembly Occupancy is what the Building Code considers a space for public accommodation that is not a business, school, or industrial site. Usually the space will be deemed an A-3 occupancy, which is for public spaces other than restaurants without fixed seating. So, if you want to avoid having your classes shut down and avoid having to do a lot of expensive upgrades to the space later to make it meet Code, plan now for it to be considered an Assembly Occupancy (minus the expensive fire sprinklers). It will cost a little more. It may take a little longer in design. It may not look exactly the way you hoped. But, you may find that these accommodations will make your home perform better for day-to-day use anyway.

Plan ahead. Spend some money now. It will cost much less now than later.

You will likely have to design the structure according to stringent rules for occupant safety and accessibility.
To make a bathroom that is accommodating for everyone (and doubly so if the space will ever house a public function like parties, tours, or workshops...), use a 3 foot door, so people with crutches or in a wheelchair can use the space. Include a minimum 5 foot round empty space (5 foot is the spinning diameter of a wheelchair) and place the sink, toilet, and bathtub around the outside of that. Use a wall-mounted sink and make sure there is a 26 inch high clear space under it so wheelchair users can wheel up to the sink and use it. Add ADA-compliant hardware and include a floor drain in the center of the space with a beautiful cover on it. You may find that you will thank the Code for this requirement someday when you need to wash the skunked dog or dump buckets of mop water from some minor disaster and can hose the place down when you are finished. Put a sign on the bath noting that is a handicapped unisex bathroom.

There will likely be maximum hall lengths and maximum distances between the furthest corner in a usable space and an exterior door (usually 75 feet). Sometimes they will make you install mechanical ventilation and electrical outlets every 7 feet. There will likely be sewage/septic requirements and you will want to have a drinking fountain or a filtered water bottle available. The publicly-accessible parts of the building will have to be handicapped accessible. This is easier if you just plan a minimum of 3 feet clear floor space around every obstacle (like a curve in the planter), plan 4 foot wide hallways on the public corridor, and make all stairs at least 36 inches wide at the inside of the railing (That is about a 40 inch wide stair tread in most cases). The area on the handle side of a door will have to be open (without projections or walls in it) a foot or so beyond the door is wide. There will not be able to be steps between the public parts of the space and the exterior or they will require rails. If you plan on cooking greasy foods and not just bringing cold foods and using crockpots for your guests, that means big grease traps and expensive ventilation. (If you use crockpots you will want to have lots of counter space and extra plugs.) Smoke detectors will be required and possibly a fire alarm. You may have to install a fire sprinkler later. (It can be fed by the pond in some cases.) There will likely have to be a phone in case of fire so you can call the fire department. You will need a mop or service sink in the mechanical room, which you should have anyway if you really want the space to work as well as possible. Install exit signs to guide people back outside.

The key ingredient here is to make sure you use the services of a licensed architect either now or later to make sure you have all the things you need to meet the Assembly Occupancy requirements. We are not attempting to serve as architects here and do not claim to have knowledge of your local Code considerations or what your permitting authority will and will not accept. However, this area deserves some careful consideration and we are offering some guidance to make it as painless as possible for when you hire a local architect to help navigate the process.

There is a great mounting height diagram to help you make your bathroom ADA compliant from the outset at http://img.docstoccdn.com/thumb/orig/159038643.png

Humidification Matters

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Cool dry air is necessary for human comfort. Maintaining relative humidity below 50% prevents dust mite infestations, inhibits mold and mildew growth, and inhibits bacteria. Lower humidity also reduces the off-gassing of VOCs. In colder climates, wintertime humidity levels must be even lower - generally 30-40% - to prevent condensation on windows and other surfaces.

So part of what we have to plan for is dehumidifying wet air, and/or cooling down and humidifying hot/dry air. This process can be easily accomplished using a mechanical system, but when we do not use a system to manage it, we need to get creative. Some people warm up a crock of water on their wood stove to increase humidity. Others use misters in their greenhouse (though that can wreak havoc on your structural system if that system is wood-based). Some use fountains and waterfalls to serve the dual purpose of cycling the water in the cistern to keep it fresh while creating humidity within the livable areas. You might even use water walls with plants to increase humidification and oxygenation. Whatever you do, if you work with water, you need to make a plan for maintenance too… interior ponds and waterfalls require filtration and algae control to work correctly.

Alternately, people in humid climates may need to utilize salt de-humidifiers, using calcium chloride in most cases, which is readily available at your local agricultural store. This technique has been used by farmers for generations to keep hay from molding. You can also use air-based heating and cooling like stoves and forced-air systems to remove humidity from the air.

Note: interior ponds and waterfalls require filtration and algae control.

Designing for Thermal Comfort

by Rachel Preston Prinz, Pratik Zaveri, and Asha Stout
Thermal comfort has been one of the most difficult aspects of designing buildings since we started building them. Our earliest civilizations were more concerned about portability in regard to their buildings so they could move from hunting spot to gathering spot depending on the seasons. Once we started planting crops, we needed to build more permanent structures to keep our stores of agricultural products safe, at a temperature they could safely be stored at, and moist or dry depending on the product.

Using natural materials in their unworked forms makes achieving thermal comfort in cold climates more difficult, because natural forms are almost never perfectly square, which means they do not fit together in a way that can prevent air and thus cold from moving through the walls.

The stone buildings of our earliest major civilizations in Egypt, Mesopotamia, and Greece had sophisticated tools which allowed them to work stone. They also had slaves and mason/architects who could tell the slaves how to work the stone. They used stone, not only for its monumental qualities which we still get to enjoy to this day, but moreover because a massive stone building is a great insulator from the heat. The cliff dwellings at Mesa Verde similarly use their overhanging cave shelter to provide shade for the hot summer months, while allowing the low-angled winter sun to come in and warm the spaces naturally. The stone buildings there were able to be tightly fitted with minimal working because of the type of sedimentary rock that was used. It flaked off in linear chunks that were relatively easy to stack tall without mortar.

But stone was not always available, nor were the slaves that many civilizations used to get these buildings built. Pretty much everyone else, everywhere else, had to make do with less formalized massive structures made of natural, easily worked, materials. They just came up with simple solutions for filling in the gaps. In log cabins, they would add a chinking of mud between the logs to stop the biggest leaks. They would add lime if they had access to it. Then they would put blankets and animal skins over the insides of the walls to keep the heat in and act like insulation. Even the teepees of the Plains Indian are lined with skins and blankets to keep the heat in. Igloo builders would often build their entrance on a sloped ramp that accessed the inside space below the living level so the heat inside the space would rise and stay in the building instead of escaping out the access hallway. Using this technique, they could heat up a space with just body heat and the heat from a lantern or small fire.

Early farmhouses in the Midwest and Eastern U.S. had a double entry vestibule, which acted as a buffer to present the direct loss of heat.

Tropical buildings, like the amazing bamboo Green School by Ibuku in Bali, Indonesia, are often built in the treetops. Tropical architects design their buildings like this to get up into the areas that are shaded and have access to cool breezes. They want to stay away from the earth because in humid locations, being near the earth also means being near water. These raised buildings stay drier longer during seasonal and storm flooding, and they stay cooler in the heat too.

These are just a few of the many ways in which humans around the world have found a ways of achieving thermal comfort.

Some building scientists will build their research around the idea that comfortable temperature limits are around a low of 65°F (19°C) in winter and a high of 80°F (27°C) in summer. However, when people are asked what their idea of comfortable really is, they will say that it is 70°F (21°C) in winter and 75°F (24°C) in summer. Knowing what your own comfort limits are will help you to plan your home for what you really need.

To achieve temperatures in these ranges, we really need to understand what makes those temperatures comfortable, and why they might be different in the summer versus the winter. To get to that, we need to understand that human comfort is dependent on heat retention and heat loss, which is affected by:

CONVECTION – the circulation caused by temperature difference; when air temperature is lower than body temperature, we get cold. This can be exacerbated by air motion.

RADIATION – when heat transfers are caused by electromagnetic waves; we radiate heat to cooler surroundings and absorb heat from warmer surroundings. Glass in winter can be 25 degrees cooler than the inside temperature at windows. That is a form of radiation. This causes “cold spots”.

EVAPORATION – changes liquid to vapor; this is another way we dissipate heat from our bodies: through the breath and perspiration. We can get hot or cold based on how much water we are evaporating from our systems.

We also need to understand a little bit about the physics of heat. Heat flows from the upper temperatures towards cooler temperatures. Like everything in nature, heat is trying to find balance or equilibrium. Because of this, the greater the temperature difference between two spaces, the more quickly heat will flow through them.

Building materials and insulation slow the movement of heat though them at a rate that depends on the properties of the material. No two materials work the same way exactly.

While it may be tempting to build as massive of a wall as possible, it is also important to note that resistance to heat flow (insulation) and heat storage (thermal) capacity are not the same. Concrete, brick, and stone are poor insulators, but work great as thermal collectors because they hold the heat for hours until the air outside them starts to cool down below the temperature of the warmth stored, and thus the heat starts radiating into the space.

One of the biggest ways we can improve thermal performance of the building is to minimize the air volume in the home. This allows us to use small systems to control airflow. Minimizing your footprint is the first step, and we will cover how to do that in later sections. The other important thing to consider is ceiling height, as this is what gives you your volume. The higher your ceilings, the more volume of air you need to heat, cool, humidify, or dehumidify. So soaring ceilings might not be the best idea throughout the house, unless you live in a hot/humid climate where getting that heat UP and out of the living space is a great idea for thermal comfort. When we have clients who want the beautiful effect of a large space but not the hassle of the larger systems, we suggest that they choose one room that is most important and make that space tall. Leaving the other spaces at normal heights will save you money.

Using Windows for Ventilation

The first way we can invite natural ventilation in is one of the oldest methods of all - windows. We want to locate windows on opposite walls to facilitate natural cross-ventilation. We want to make sure that every room has a place for air to come in and a place across the room for air to move out. In climates with daytime breezes (and if you use the landscape techniques we offer here you will have those), open the bottom half of double-hung or awning windows on the side of the house that the breeze is coming from and then the high half of double hung or high awning windows on the opposite side of the home. This will encourage cross-ventilation.

If you have casement windows, which open vertically, you can use those to capture the wind in the evenings. Just open those that open toward the wind and also those that face in the direction the wind is traveling. If they do not open in the right directions, keep them closed, as they will invite warm air in and actually make it hotter inside!

One of the great things about living in a two-story or clerestory structure is that you can use the extra shade provided on the north side of your home and your basement and stairways to create a form of natural air movement called stack-effect, which can be effective for air circulation and cooling. This technique works by capturing the coolest, heaviest, air on the north side of the house and encouraging it to move through the house and take the overheated air with it. To use this technique, simply open the lowest floor’s north windows, and if you have double-hung windows, open the bottom sash. Then, open the doors and head upstairs to open the windows on the highest story on the south side of the home, or in the direction the wind is traveling to. If you have double hung windows, open the top sash on the upper floor. You can also open your fireplace damper for a similar effect.

In all cases, the windows the air will escape from (preferably a high window on the side the wind is GOING) should be open as wide, or wider, than the window air is coming INTO.

If a room is overheating, open the high part of the windows to let out the hot air!

Make this work for you! In hot and temperate climates, with cooler nights than days, close and lock your windows during the day to keep the cooler night air IN, and then open your windows in the evenings to allow the cooler evening air in to cool down the house again. Locking your windows is not just secure – it seals leaks!

Going Green during Construction

Or: by Rachel Preston Prinz and Carrie Christopher

Construction projects produce seven to ten pounds of waste per square foot. This is one of the reasons why construction projects are one of the largest contributors to landfills. To reduce or eliminate construction waste, plan your purchases so that you use all of your materials, then reduce waste, reuse, and recycle what is left.

Materials and products that are benign and can easily be managed through construction either by recycling, reuse, or other means, include:
Woody and plant materialsConcreteGravel, aggregate, stone and rockMasonry and rubbleMetals (ferrous and non-ferrous)WoodPlasticGlassDoors and windowsAsphalt roofingGypsum board (also called sheet rock)Carpet and carpet paddingCardboard and paperPlumbingLighting fixturesSuggestions for preventing building site waste:
Provide recycle bins for wood, drywall, cardboard, plastic, glass, aluminum, and metal (including steel framing).Store lumber on level blocking and under cover to minimize warping, twisting and waste.Set aside lumber and plywood/oriented strand board (OSB) cut-offs that can be used as fire blocking and spacers in header construction.Set aside large drywall scraps for use as filler pieces in small hidden areas.Reuse joint compound buckets for tool or material storage.Stack and cover loose brick and other masonry materials to prevent staining or loss.Branches and trees from site clearing can be stored separately and chipped for use as landscaping mulch and erosion control during construction.Clean concrete chunks, old brick, broken blocks and other masonry rubble can be used as backfill along foundation walls as well as in landscape gabion walls.When remodeling, separate metal radiators, grates, piping, aluminum siding, and old appliances for recyling.Use leftover insulation in interior wall cavities or on top of attic insulation. Collect clean sawdust for use in compost piles, around planting areas, or for outhouses. Avoid sawdust that might contain painted or treated wood. Use biodegradable trash bags for actual trash. Compost what you can!After construction is complete, donate unused materials to the local building component recycler (often Habitat for Humanity ReStore) or to neighbours.To maximize the recycling benefits of building materials, also consider:
If using a contractor to pour foundations, make sure that they use reusable aluminum forms rather than wood forms, which are most often thrown away after one use. Use the more natural 30-year roofing materials like slate, clay, or metal. Use finger-jointed wood windows, trim, top and bottom plate material, and studs (ask at your lumber yard).Avoid large dimension solid lumber.Minimize material cuts.Use engineered wood "I" joists for flooring.Use trusses or "I" joists for roofs.Use structural insulated panels for walls or roofs. Use engineered wood studs, beams, joists or headers.One of the more subtle ways we can have a positive impact on our sustainability footprint, especially when we are building the home ourselves, is to think about how we get materials to and from our site. The first instinct for most is to use the vehicle we have. But if our vehicle is a Toyota® Prius, that could be a problem. Many people buy an old truck for the purpose of the build. The issue with that is... lots of gas and exhaust in most cases. So we are building green but polluting during construction. That does not make sense, does it?

To combat this, we suggest that if an alternate vehicle is required, consider one powered by renewable fuels. Buying new is always an option, but if funds are not readily available for that, consider that many governmental agencies auction their fleet vehicles. Check sites like autoauction.gsa.gov or your state’s fleet services sites for public auction dates. Government fleet auctions are a great place to find a first-generation biodiesel truck for getting your construction materials to your site in the most environmentally-friendly way possible.