Margali's Griffin Wood Ranch

[Margali]

Though, in my mind every door should be a pocket door. My absolute favorite door, ok that and a dutch door .

I like pocket doors but always worry about them falling off track and have to disassemble the wall to fix. We are still brainstorming our permanent house design. We both love European castle styles but they are no more suited to the weather here than the steep roof northeast designs everyone builds.

 

[Mini Horses]

falling off track and have to disassemble the wall to fix.

. I have one of those. Luckily on end over door opening, so, just trim removal

 

[Baymule]

I like pocket doors but always worry about them falling off track and have to disassemble the wall to fix. We are still brainstorming our permanent house design. We both love European castle styles but they are no more suited to the weather here than the steep roof northeast designs everyone builds.

Build a dog run style home with great room in the middle. Lots of windows for air flow. Kitchen, dining and master bedroom on one end, 2 bedrooms on the other.

 

[Margali]

Interesting. I was leaning towards a Morrocan / Iranian/ Turkish internal courtyard design. That's the closest climate match that I found research on.

Here are some nerdy articles on how and why central courtyards / wrap around porches work.

Sci-Hub | Shading simulation of the courtyard form in different climatic regions | 10.1016/j.buildenv.2005.07.016

Sci-Hub | On the microclimatic behavior of two semi-enclosed attached courtyards in a hot dry region | 10.1016/0360-1323(95)00018-2

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/333648587_Urban_Courtyard_Housing_Form_as_a_Response_to_Human_Need_Culture_and_Environment_in_Hot_Climate_Regions_Baghdad_as_a_Case_Study

https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/892b/296f9284714ae3b100beb79f7c8ec3dddf7f.pdf

 

[SageHill]

Oh the courtyard style - that's sweet. It's also seen a lot in old adobe homes around here. I wish we had one. While we have a lot of land we didn't do that as where ever we build had to be cut and fill -- that space would've required a major grading permit - $$$ and more time.

 

[Baymule]

In 1810, my great, great, great, great, great grandfather built a plantation home in Louisiana, north of Baton Rouge. It is 6 feet off the ground, brick walls in front, back and 2 in the middle, maybe 3, can’t remember. Outside and inside walls are 18” thick. Under the house, wood framed registers with wood bars, lined up evenly, to ensure air flow. Was there about 15 years ago. No musty smell, no mold or mildew.

There was a central hallway from front to back. Rooms opened into the hallway, doors opposite each other and windows lined up with the doors. Maximum air flow! Second story was the same and the attic was one big open room.

It is an amazing structure, bricks came from clay on the farm and all the wood too. The outer brick walls fan outward, staggered wider as it goes deeper. Don’t know how deep it went.

There was a breeze under the house and a breeze in the rooms.

 

[Baymule]

Dog run houses with the open breezeway in the middle operate on the same principle. People would sleep in the dog run in the heat of the summer.

 

[Alaskan]

I like pocket doors but always worry about them falling off track and have to disassemble the wall to fix. We are still brainstorming our permanent house design. We both love European castle styles but they are no more suited to the weather here than the steep roof northeast designs everyone builds.

My pocket doors, the top trim piece is put on with screws. Unscrew, the top trim comes off, repair door if needed... whatever, then screw it back together.

Even with our 5 boys, we only lost the little top wheels from one door, and because of the screws on the trim it was an easy fix. We have... uh.... 4 pocket doors. We have 1 barn door, I like that one too. The issue with the barn style door is that it does NOT block sounds.

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As to house plans and heat.. castle style is great if castle = super thick walls

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Deep overhangs are always important in my opinion. Since in all climates they will keep moisture off your walls and away from the foundation. But, in hot climates, deep overhangs are even more important since they protect from the heat. Shaded interiors are important in Texas.

Trees/ plants can also help in that regard, but you want to have the plants also funnel breeze, and NOT block the breeze.

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Steep roofs are actually very good in the heat....

The house above was built in the Texas hill country in 1860-ish. Note the deep front porch. What you can't see are windows along the top edge of the porch that were floor windows for the second story.

The second story had the floor windows along the north and south sides... no view, just looking at the porch roof... and then nice big normal windows on the east and west ends.

My grandmother said it was never hot up there... the floor windows meant that air always circulated up through the second story.

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I really like clerestories, since they provide fantastic passive cooling.

Here is a link to an article that has a good explanation of various way to incorporate passive cooling.

8 Passive Ventilation Strategies For Your Tropical Home | Architropics

Natural or passive ventilation is one of the primary concerns of a tropical home. How good the passive ventilation in your home is, will...

architropics.com

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For other hot weather ideas, I really like the windcatchers / wind towers from the middle east. You can put a wet blanket up there in the tower and tada, it is a fancy swamp cooler. I also saw a windcatcher in Australia. There the windcatcher was the courtyard, and the bottom of the courtyard, and I think one wall of the courtyard was waterfall/water feature. So... fancy swamp cooler.

Windcatcher - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

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I designed the addition on my house, and am very happy with it. I set it up with sight lines. So... every walking path has a window at the end. Wherever you are walking through the house, you can look outside. It makes the house feel a thousand times bigger than it actually is.

Also, I was very careful to line up windows for breeze. Yes, it is cold up here, but when it gets warm we are miserable unless we can get a good breeze... so, lined up windows.

I made sure all windows in the master bedroom suite are set so a fully naked woman can walk about and no private parts are seen from outside... even with zero window coverings. Yep.. bathroom, hallway, closet windows start at just above breast height. I gotta say, I like that!!

I made sure doors were placed to fully utilize wall space, and hide mess. Boy's closet is placed behind the bedroom door. I have a pony wall when you enter the master, so that the mess I KNEW spouse would put on the dresser top is not seen when you enter the room. It just makes the entire room feel more peaceful. Also, I made sure that the space behind the pony wall would fit our 2 dressers.

I made sure that door and window placement was most practical. So... I made sure the boy's bedroom, which is a 12x12 fits all 5 beds, a dresser, and a closet, and 2 big windows, with floor space in the middle.

That also means I was VERY specific and careful about outlet locations and light fixtures and types. I wanted to be able to have a line of nightlights between the boy's bedroom, their bathroom, and my bedroom suite. Also, I wanted to be able to plug in a vacuum wherever I wanted. I think standard to code means one outlet every 8 or 10 feet or some such, which means the outlet is almost always behind the couch or the bed. I made sure outlets were easily reachable and anywhere I might ever need one. So, I have an outlet ON the shelf across from the washer/dryer... in case I ever want a grow light there. I have a plug and phone jack on the shelf over the washer and dryer since I thought that would be a good place for a phone..or iron....or whatever...


I did somehow forget to put in a plug at the front door for Christmas lights. And the builders talked me into a battery doorbell instead of a hardwired one. Stupid. Get a hardwired doorbell!


I did very much want to slip into bed, and hit a button that would turn off ALL LIGHTS in the house. Such a thing was possible at the time, but only on a completely new house.... and this was an addition...

I think nowadays you can do that if you do a "smart house"? But then... I don't really like the "entire house connected to the internet" thing... but then I watch alot of apocalypse movies.

 

[Alaskan]

To show the screw placement on my pocket doors. The screws are on the top board that holds the door in place. NOT on the decorative trim that goes around the door opening.


I think the proper term is the "header trim"

Make sure you click on the picture to make it bigger... or you will not be able to see.

 

[SageHill]

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I really like clerestories, since they provide fantastic passive cooling.

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I think nowadays you can do that if you do a "smart house"? But then... I don't really like the "entire house connected to the internet" thing... but then I watch alot of apocalypse movies.

Clerestories are nice - we've got one from the front of the house and into the living room - BUT sadly it is so high up it's a fixed and not openable window - though the sidelights on the front door do open. The door and sidelights have built in heavy duty metal screens and the inside glass is framed and hinged to open in.
HA - yeah you can do it with the 'smart house' thing, and DH did that here. He gets a kick out of saying Alexa south hallway lights on, etc - me I prefer a regular old fashion switch. There was a scene on LA Law or maybe it was The Good Wife (heck some lawyer-type show) where the Alexa like thing spouted out some privileged conversation after the client left -- too funny then but I do remember it clearly!