Energy Efficient Underground Home

Energy Efficient Underground Home FARM HOME Houses 4-5-27 The exhibit that drew the biggest' crowd at the recent Wisconsin Farm Progress Show was a 5-bedroom, $100,000 modern underground home that uses just 25% of the energy needed to operate a conventional home above ground. Built against a gently rolling hill, the home is entirely covered on three sides and the roof with at least 4-ft. of soil. Only the south side, lined with windows and solar collectors, remains exposed. Those_ collectors, along with a black linoleum floor inside (to absorb heat), and the constant earth temperature which both cools and heats, supply most of the building's energy. Back-up heat is electrical. "The outside shell is poured, reinforced concrete, with a 10-in., 4000 psi reinforced roof slab. The entire building was waterproofed and covered with a 11/z to 3-in. cover of foam 'insulation before being buried. Triple-glazed windows, insulatedsteel doors with weather stripping, and a brick southern exposure make the home nearly energy "leak-proof", says Robert Monger, of Coulee Region Caves, Sparta, Wis., a division of Davis Caves, Inc., the company that built the home. The 1876 sq. ft. home, with attached double garage, has two bathrooms, five bedrooms, a living area, kitchen, shop, a "mudroom", and a rock solar storage area to hold heat for off-peak hours. The building is 28 ft. wide by 93 ft. long, with no windows or skylights in the four bedrooms and bathrooms in back: Davis Caves has franchises throughout the country that can design a home to fit your farm, and do as little or as much of the construction work as you like. The first Davis home was built several years ago by Andy Davis in Arlington, Ill. (featured in FARM SHOW, Vol. 2., No. 4). For more information, contact: FARM SHOW Followup, Davis Caves, Inc., 200 West Monroe St., Chicago, Ill. 60606 (ph 312 346 9846). .

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