The week of January 31st was frigid cold with temperatures dropping down to -20 degrees (f) below zero on Tuesday and Wednesday in the Wild Point subdivision where our new LEED project home for Sgt. Johannsen is being constructed. The interior of the home is completed through insulation, drywall and texture finish and is being readied for all interior trim finishes to be installed.
The inside of the home during this entire time averaged 40 degrees (f) with minimal outside warm-up during the day to just a few degrees above zero.
Why is this of significance? It is significant because there was no mechanical heat of any typebeing used in the home during this cold snap! The home’s permanent ground source geothermal system is yet to be operational, and since no work took place in the home during those few cold days, no temporary heat was being used whatsoever. It managed to maintain its own inside temperature for at least 2 1/2 days some 60 degrees above the outdoor low temperature extreme! Periodically monitoring during this week showed our interior temperature averaging approximately 48 degrees above the outside ambient temperature.
As we began our interior trim and tile work we rented a small 75,000 BTU propane heater. Operating this portable heat source for approximately an hour in the main great room area, we observed the inside temperature increasesing 8 – 12 degrees through out the home.
This thermal performance is remarkable. Thus far, the home is demonstrating superior performance of its building envelope and insulation systems efficiency. We are pleased and excited with these results and will continue to monitor and report on our observations as the outside weather continues to fluctuates with snow and wind.
