Designs That Work
Cold Climate
Introduction - Climate Specific Design
Houses should be designed to suit their environments. In the
home-building industry, we have accepted that design and construction must
be responsive to varying seismic risks, wind loads and snow loads. We also
consider soil conditions, frost depth, orientation and solar radiation.
Yet we typically ignore the variances in temperature, rainfall, exterior
and interior humidity and their interaction.
The Habitat Congress Building America houses are designed for a
specific hygro-thermal region, rain exposure and interior climate. This
means that the building enclosure and mechanical systems that are
recommended in this package are generally suited to the Cold climate
region. You can find a description of the North American annual rainfall
and hygro-thermal regions on the climate maps that follow. Notice that
while there are similarities between regions, there are also differences.
It is cold and dry in Wyoming; it is cold and somewhat wet in Wisconsin.
Local climate may also differ significantly from the regional climate
descriptions, and if so, the differences must be addressed when
implementing the house design provided here. |
