Centex homes

[Cooler]

Technically, that's what insulation is.  Even the best insulation does not totally block heat conduction.  But you are right, concrete is not a good insulator.  There was an article in the local paper a few years ago about a local person who had a modern concrete home built.  I seem to recall that they used foam forms to cast the concrete but that the foam stays in place to provide insulation.  Not too sure of the details as it was quite a while ago that I read the article (i.e. I'm not sure if only the interior had the foam or if both interior and exterior or if only exterior, etc.).  

Paul

I view logs and concrete as "btu storage vaults".  They  absorb btu's and hold them for later use.  So a log cabin that goes through the winter will shed all the BTUs of summer heat.  And when the warm weather comes it will keep the room cooler for a few weeks, but once it has absorbed the heat it will transmit it into the house even when the sun goes down making the evenings hotter than they ought to be.  

The opposite occurs in the winter.  The logs have absorbed BTUs and will keep the house warmer for a few weeks, but after that there is absolutely no insulation.  It is a conductor of heat or cold.  Stand next to a log cabin's walls late in winter and you will feel the cold.  

It does even out the seasons.  And there may be a special wall that will serve the house well being a heat sink.  But mostly  concrete structures and log structures need insulation to  be insulated.  Everything else is a hoax.

[Cooler]

Another example of a BTU storage in stone is the Tulikivi wood stoves.




http://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can/news/Tul...een_Option


http://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can/products/TU2200



This Tulikivi stove is clad with soapstone and weighs over 4,000 pounds.  Instead of feeding it wood all day, you build one super-hot fire in the morning and let it burn itself out.  The heat from the fire heats up the stone that will then radiate heat for 24 hours.  

The following morning the old fire will have been long burned out and so it is easy to remove the old ashes and start a new fire.  

When you first build a fire you don't feel any heat from the stone for well over an hour while it starts to heat.  That is not insulation.  That is a slow absorb-tion and conduction of heat.  

These are popular in the Scandnavian countries and I was at a ski lodge once that had one.  A remarkable device that uniformly heats a room for hours and hours.  It is ghastly expensive and if it is not over a slab it probably will require architectural engineering and extra support posts.  

It makes more sense in Manitoba than in Georgia, but still a very neat demonstration of absorbtion of heat by a dense, heavy mass.

By the way the more typical Tuluviki weighs closer to 8,000 pounds.

Here is an article on the stove from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/21/garden...-east.html

[Cecil]

Walked through a new construction Centex home this morning.  Two story 3/2/2, probably 1400sf.   Tile work finished, walls sprayed, baseboard in.  All I can say is, "Wow".
 

Cracks in several of the wall corners already, baseboard job that makes the guy who did mine look like a stud.  It was bad.  But what really got my attention was the second floor and the job they did laying the OSB.  Oh my.  Several of the joints were fully 1/2" wide, filled with something (caulk or foam?).   Three or four places where one piece was higher than the one next to it were 'leveled' with what appeared to be the 'claw hammer method'.  Understanding they're working to a price point (entry level starter), I still can't imagine that floor would be acceptable to any potential buyer looking at it before the carpet was down.  

They even have a Wiki entry for that McMansion

[CLETUS]

Another example of a BTU storage in stone is the Tulikivi wood stoves.




http://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can/news/Tul...een_Option


http://www.tulikivi.com/usa-can/products/TU2200



This Tulikivi stove is clad with soapstone and weighs over 4,000 pounds.  Instead of feeding it wood all day, you build one super-hot fire in the morning and let it burn itself out.  The heat from the fire heats up the stone that will then radiate heat for 24 hours.  

The following morning the old fire will have been long burned out and so it is easy to remove the old ashes and start a new fire.  

When you first build a fire you don't feel any heat from the stone for well over an hour while it starts to heat.  That is not insulation.  That is a slow absorb-tion and conduction of heat.  

These are popular in the Scandnavian countries and I was at a ski lodge once that had one.  A remarkable device that uniformly heats a room for hours and hours.  It is ghastly expensive and if it is not over a slab it probably will require architectural engineering and extra support posts.  

It makes more sense in Manitoba than in Georgia, but still a very neat demonstration of absorbtion of heat by a dense, heavy mass.

By the way the more typical Tuluviki weighs closer to 8,000 pounds.

Here is an article on the stove from the NY Times:

http://www.nytimes.com/1999/01/21/garden...-east.html

Same idea as a stone hearth and fireplace. It takes a day to get the hearth heated up at our fishing club. Once it is, it keeps the great room at a nice temp.

[Cooler]

They even have a Wiki entry for that McMansion

[tomsteve]

a quick google search for "centex home problems" brings up quite a bit of not good stuff.
seems pulte is right there with em.

[woodworker2000]

Centex and a lot of the other national builders seem to adopt the "if you can't see the problems, there aren't any problems" approach to home construction.  They will put carpeting on the floors which will hide the gaps in the subfloor....problem solved.  They put a lot of lipstick on their houses and target newer homebuyers who are blinded by the "new " house.  They do everything they can to keep costs down.  If you can't see it, rest assured it is done as cheaply and as quickly as possible such as spacing 2nd floor wall floor studs 24" OC if local code allows.....it gets covered by drywall anyway, right?