Thermal mass is the capacity of a body to store heat (wiki!). Concrete, rocks, water ect, hold heat (and cold) very well. You can use this to regulate the climate in your house!
A floor is a great place to add thermal mass. Concrete floors with absorb the heat from the sun and release is slowly over the day; with shading, they will stay cool in the summer. Sometimes people put thermal mass in the wall, which is a good idea, but if you have too much the heat leaks out of the building! You can also build thermal mass into your a stove!
Check out Masonry heaters or rocket stoves. They use a small fire to heat alot of mass and stay warm for a long time. The Chinese use to build beds in the this fashion to stay warm in the night!
In this project they are testing a different idea. They have dug a sand pit in their greenhouse and are laying piping through the floor. Excess solar hot water will run through the pipes when it is not in demand. The sand will store the heat for a later date.
You may wish to keep people out, provide a visual boundary of your property or keep something, like pets or children, in. Fences are a wonderful addition to your home and they are a project that can be fun and simple to do if you plan out your project to begin with.
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Do you have a problem with co2 with this fireplace?
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