Inside Joe's Solar Home

Inside the house

The entrance to the house is via the sunroom air lock. This is the area that collects the heat from the sun during the winter months when the leaves are off the trees.

Windows in Sunroom Facing South, the sun's rays come into the 10 triple pane heat mirror 88 windows and heat the air in the sunroom. The hot air is pumped via two plenum fans into the ductwork and through a 2-foot thick gravel bed under the house. The heat then radiates up through the tile floor into the living areas of the house. During the summer the sun is overhead and the trees shade the sunroom to prevent heat gain. During the night, we have the front window at the far end open and run the exhaust fan. The cool night air reduces the temperature in the sunroom and the plenum fans pump the cold air under the house and remove the heat from the gravel bed.

The door from the sunroom leads to the center point of the house. This is the tiled great room which is the living-dining room combination. Windows from the great room provide much of the interior light (Would you believe that all of this is underground?). Inside shot of great room

The second source of heat (after the sun) is our WESO Ceramic Tile wood/coal burning stove. (We use about a cord of wood; no coal, per year). Rated at 5,000 btu, the stove is tiled on its exterior so it radiates heat several hours after the fire is gone. Made in Germany for the alpine area, this type of stove is found in many Swiss chalets. We found the distributor in New Hampshire. Behind the stove is the office (shown previously). Our Wesso Wood burning syove

Great chair and dining area The great room is heated either by radiant heat from the floor or the stove. The large chair in the foreground is the dividing line between the living area and the dining area. The far slider window / doors also go to the sunroom.

From the dining area, a short right turn places you in our kitchen where you can see the "U" shaped counter areas and the double stainless steel sink. The apples in the foreground are from our trees.

That about ends the tour of the house interior. There are three bedrooms, a pantry, a wine cellar and a 2-car garage also underground.
Kitchen counters and apples

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	Facing South, the sun's rays come into the 10 triple pane heat mirror 88 windows and heat the air in the sunroom. The hot air is pumped via two plenum fans into the ductwork and through a 2-foot thick gravel bed under the house. The heat then radiates up through the tile floor into the living areas of the house. During the summer the sun is overhead and the trees shade the sunroom to prevent heat gain. During the night, we have the front window at the far end open and run the exhaust fan. The cool night air reduces the temperature in the sunroom and the plenum fans pump the cold air under the house and remove the heat from the gravel bed.
The door from the sunroom leads to the center point of the house. This is the tiled great room which is the living-dining room combination. Windows from the great room provide much of the interior light (Would you believe that all of this is underground?).

The second source of heat (after the sun) is our WESO Ceramic Tile wood/coal burning stove. (We use about a cord of wood; no coal, per year). Rated at 5,000 btu, the stove is tiled on its exterior so it radiates heat several hours after the fire is gone. Made in Germany for the alpine area, this type of stove is found in many Swiss chalets. We found the distributor in New Hampshire. Behind the stove is the office (shown previously).
	The great room is heated either by radiant heat from the floor or the stove. The large chair in the foreground is the dividing line between the living area and the dining area. The far slider window / doors also go to the sunroom.
From the dining area, a short right turn places you in our kitchen where you can see the "U" shaped counter areas and the double stainless steel sink. The apples in the foreground are from our trees. That about ends the tour of the house interior. There are three bedrooms, a pantry, a wine cellar and a 2-car garage also underground.