Huge wrote:
On 2006-09-14, Peter Lynch wrote:

As a reference have a google for the cave houses in spain, around
the town of Guadix. Briefly, they are dug out of the local soft
rock (shale) and have walls *at least* 5 feet thick. A lot of them
are over 100 years old and are still "standing".
The first thing you notice is the quiet - there's literally no noise
except that made by people/appliances in the house. A lot of people
find that too spooky, or claustrophobic.
They also tend to have much narrower temperature swings: staying
cooler in summer (even in Andalucia, where outside temps. hit 40+)
and very well insulated in winter.

Also the town of Coober Pedy in Australia;

http://www.gluckman.com/CooberPedy.Australia.html

The summer temperatures and the availability of free opal
workings are the driver there. That and there isn't a whole
lot to look at, so the absence of windows is no big deal.

--
"Other people are not your property."
[email me at huge [at] huge [dot] org [dot] uk]

Take a look at the climate data for Coober Pedy he

URL:http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/averages/tables/cw_016007.shtml

It's a desert. Subterranean buildings work well when it is hot and
dry.

There's an interesting set of examples he

URL:http://arch.ced.berkeley.edu/courses/arch140/2006/Documents/Lectures/PDFs/2006%20pdfs/04Lect_ThermalMass_GB_2006%20-%20slides.pdf#search=%22climate%20data%20guadix%22

Now there are examples of semi-subternnaean homes used in northern
climes: Viking Farmhouses in Iceland, pre-celtic stone houses in the
Orkneys; and even in modern times the Norwegians and Swedes do have
turf-roof houses, but subterranean houses where it is cool and damp
don't work well without a lot of expensive work to prevent water
penetration. For an example (perhaps overkill) try:

"Before the house was backfilled, specialized waterproof roofing
materials consisting of 3/16" thick Bentonite rolls, 18" wide rolls of
Bituthane, a felt-like drain mat, and finally two layers of protective
1" thick foam, were applied. Bentonite is a clay-like substance that
will expand up to 22 times its original size on contact with water.
Because of the tremendous pressure of the backfilled earth pressing
against this roofing material, the Bentonite (which is covered with
industrialized rubber) is so tightly compacted that, if any water was
to come into contact with it, the expanding effect will effectively and
permanently seal the leak. Any water that does make its way down to the
roof will be absorbed by the felt drain mat and effectively wicked down
to the French drain system that completely surrounds the entire
structure. The two layers of 1" thick foam sheets serves as a
protective barrier to prevent sharp rocks from puncturing the Bentonite
roofing."

This is from "The Ultimate Secure Home" - which is simply earth
covered, and not subterranean. Full details are he

URL:http://ultimatesecurehome.com/secure_home_amenities.htm

Don't underestimate water's ability to penetrate where you don't want.

Cheers,

Sid