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The Natural Philosopher

wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
wrote:
The Natural Philosopher wrote:
o Sewerage and waste water disposal becomes more difficult. Either
considerably deeper, and therefore more expensive, or widespread use of
S*n*f*o*s. Oh joy.
No..my solutiuon was to cut and cover and raise the average ground level
by say 50%..as long as the water course retained their places - usually
at valley floors - no problem with rainwater. Sewage is simply a matter
of running te sewers lower than the houses - as is done in london anyway
under the embankment - and puumping up to the works...thats standard
practice in any low lying aresa.

Not quite. The average depths of sewers will be lower, so cost more to
fault find later. inital installation may well be the same as now, if
you are cut-and-covering.

o Careful insulation required, otherwise heating bills will skyrocket
as you try to heat up the surrounding earth.
I think you should think that one through..carefully..I would say that
heat and moisture buildup, not cold, is the problem.

Been on the tube lately?

Of course, it depends how deep you go - far enough down and the rock is
molten! However, at reasonable depths, the temperature is relatively
constant, and lower than the standard 18-25 degrees centigrade many
people are most comfortable at. Humidity will be a problem, although
ventilation will help.

The earth does have large thermal inertia, so to start of with,
moisture will condense on the walls like crazy, unless ventilation is
adequate. After lots of heat input, the walls (and floor, and roof)
will have heated up to a comfortable temperature. The problem then is
to avoid overheating (like the underground, as you say). A lot of this
is climate dependant - in a hot, dry, climate massive walls and sunken
homes are an advantage. In a cold, wet, climate, a layer of sodden
earth at between zero and 10 degrees centigrade against the walls of
your dwelling makes it No Fun At All. Hence, decent
isolation/insulation is required, otherwise you will be trying to heat
the groundwater. You'll be looking at needing cavity walls, floor and
ceiling - not a bad idea for drainage anyway - increasing construction
costs. You'll need to ensure the drainage does not get blocked,
otherwise the cavity will become a nice cold water jacket. Allowing for
reasonable access for this will start to get expensive. Most of the
water in the UK is hard water, so the drainage cavity will start to
fill up with limescale deposits - even more fun to get rid of.

You don't understand about insulation do you?

Cheers,

Sid