[photogoat]

its a 130 year old corn crib, (airy barn,) that a client wants turned into a sustainable guest house. I am attaching a greenhouse for passive heating, supplemented by a wood burning stove in the sitting room. ( N. GA mountains). Half of the barn will be a bedroom. It currently has 1x3 horizontal battens, spaced 1" apart, that they want to keep exposed for historic value. It is framed with rough cut 2x4's usually spaced about 20" apart. I'm thinking of cutting hardi board, that I pre-cover with a creamy white stucco, to place in between the 2x4's up against the battens on the inside. THis will create a chinked look from the outside. Then place a layer of 2"-3" foam on the inside to insulate between the 2x4's. Then cover with this with a stucco or plaster or hot drywall mud, then top with a clear coat. I would trowel on this finish and knife it up to the edge of the 2x4's. This keeps the 2x4 studs exposed on the inside, and actually on the outside too.

One of my biggest concerns is that the humidity and excessive hot and cold that this building might experience during times of vacancy could cause cracking, mold, flaking, etc. to the interior finish.

Suggestions? Am I going to get anything to stick to foam board? Do I need to use a wire mesh? Should the foam be textured or is a standard smooth finish OK?

How about another layer of Hardi for the inside? Or does drywall come into play here?

 

[Ivinni]

Man, I would love to see pics of that.

What about using rough timber on the inside and insulate good and use poly as a vapor retarder?

Finishing out with rough timber will keep the spirit of the structure but allow easier construct and may should add a integrity to the structure, if the exterior framing would hold it.

The hardy in between the battens sounds good I am not an expert on that. But, if hardy works on the outside, it works on the outside, right?

I am looking at a place in "the country" that has a barn on it that I would love to the same thing to for an office.


Please show some pics.:thumbup:

 

[photogoat]

here's the pictures

a shot of the inside and outside.

and a shot of a house interior finished in similar way. that is sheetrock and sheetrock mud, i guess with a clear because it doesn't crumble off easy. there are a few small cracks throughout but overall it looks good.

today I talked the clients into a humidastat controlled fan in the greenhouse and a A/C slash electric heater combo window unit permanently built into the wall of the bedroom. This will keep humidity down in the GA summer.

 

[Ivinni]

I'm thinking of cutting hardi board, that I pre-cover with a creamy white stucco, to place in between the 2x4's up against the battens on the inside. THis will create a chinked look from the outside. Then place a layer of 2"-3" foam on the inside to insulate between the 2x4's. Then cover with this with a stucco or plaster or hot drywall mud, then top with a clear coat

Wow! That looks awesome.

Cool structure too.

Will you keep us updated with pics?

Also, where did you get the idea for attaching the green house to use as heat?

 

[photogoat]

I stayed at a fellers house in Jackson, WY for a few weeks in January once, and his house was built inside of a greenhouse. Even when it was 10 below outside it was 85 in the greenhouse in the middle of the day. You just let in as much heat as you want to and we never cranked the stove once. So I am doing some cordwood walls and insulated concrete slab floors for a heat sink.

 

[photogoat]

A website with photos and updates

They want let me post a link to a website until I have posted 15 times.

So type this in:

picasaweb. google (dot) com/crunkbait/corncrib





Stay Tuned, this thing is going to be cool.

 

[Ivinni]

http://picasaweb.google.com/crunkbait/corncrib#

Very cool!:notworthy

I'll post some of the pics for you tomorrow afternoon.

 

[Ivinni]

Here are the photos

Sorry I was late with the pics. Got in from spearfishing late last night.

 

[Ivinni]

 

[photogoat]

thanks for posting those. I can't wait until Contractor Talk considers me a full grown man that can post his own!

Here's another question:

Should I put foam insulation under the gravel base of my slab, or in between the gravel and slab? think of a 3.5" pour for the greenhouse (10x30) and sitting room (10x30). Looking for high thermal gain from the sun, with minimal thermal loss to the earth below. It is in Dahlonega, GA, the foothills of the Appalachians. Not sure how to find out the perfect formula for keeping it warm all night. I got a wood stove as backup or course, but my goal is 100% passive solar. I wonder what the ambient surface soil temp is throughout the year? Any suggestions?

 

[Ivinni]

I looked a little and couldn't find it.

I would think that it would be in the range of + or - 10* of ambient (air), no matter the time of year.

Conversely, the time of day and exposure to direct solar may have a greater effect than anything.

Just thinking of how the ground temperature reacts to ambient when it snows, as that is the greatest "show" of how fast the ground temps can change, ie; you know the ground temp is below freezing when it starts to stick.

This ain't scientific though, just a guess.

I do not know about the best way to insulate, but I am interested in hearing about it.

 

[photogoat]

Some fellers over at the builders supply today guessed that any type of foam would expand and contract and "resonate vibrations" to the point that trowel veneer over top would crack and crumble over time. I don't know. But what about filling it in like real chinking? I just priced Log Jam by Sashco and it would take 75 gallons to fill 1500 linear feet of a 1"x1" gap. Thats $3000.

What about an expandable foam that I could shave off flush and then paint? And I could fill all 4" that way and shave the inside off at the front of the studs, then maybe trowel on a coat of drywall for the finish. This seems like the easiest so far but is there any foam that gets hard enough to stand up to an elbow down the road?

Someone also said that putting the vapor barrier UNDER the gravel base of the slab is unorthodox and might not be a good idea. He couldn't tell me why, so I guess I'll go for it. Seems like it will help the gravel hold more solar gain. Same guy also said that foam board under a slab is a bad idea, said that termites will eat it up and then my slab will sink. ? I can see them eating it up to make tunnels to get to wood, but we are talking about a slab here.

Any thoughts?


The client wanted pull down attic stairs to access the loft from the bedroom, and he wanted them easy to get up and down. In such a narrow room I had to make some adjustments with my ceiling joists. See Picture.

 

[Bodger]

Great work.
When I first saw the title to this thread I thought it was going to be about some sort of new selling technique...Closing In A Corn Crib.
Thought it sounded like a weird place to close a sale.

That's going to be a great space there.

 

[photogoat]

Thats funny Bodger