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Santa Fe Style


This Santa Fe Adobe style stucco home is a combination of Strawbale in-fill and conventional framing. It utilizes a parapet wall and Brai Flex rubber membrane roofing with canales to transport water off the roof.

One of the key elements of this home is its passive solar heating and cooling, saving on utility bills. The house has good south facing exposure with properly sized overhangs, which prevent the summer sun from entering the rooms. Conversely, when the winter sun is low in the sky, the sunlight is able to shine in below the overhangs warming the concrete floor. A radiant heat floor system was installed in the finished concrete floor to back up the solar heating.

In the summer months, the mass of concrete floors and plastered strawbale walls keep the house comfortable with no back up air conditioning. An integrated solar hot water system utilizes 400 square feet of collectors to heat water in a 1,000 gal. tank. This stored energy is then utilized to heat the pool in summer and all hydronic floors in winter, and domestic hot water all year long.

Location Atascadero, CA
Materials Strawbale and Conventional
Stucco, Santa Barbara Mission Finish
Brai Flex Rubber Membrane Roofing
Architect/Designer Semmes & Co. - Builders
Habitable sq. ft. 1900 square feet
Heating Radiant Floor System
Wood Stove