Here is a little chart I made that shows you the temperature, rain fall and humidity in the Guanacaste. This is important certainly to understanding the design challenges I will face. Clearly, I will not have to worry about keeping the home warm. The coldest low is almost 70 degrees. The challenge, therefore, will be cooling the house during the 95 degree days, and during the humid part of the season. Rain water will also be a challenge. nearly 12.5 inches will fall in the month of June. That will threaten erosion, leaks, and washouts. A huge roof is going to funnel a lot of surface area's worth of rain somewhere, and I had better think hard about where or else there will be problems.
I have considered man made wetlands, to absorb the runoff. I had also considered, though not with Guillermo, the idea of a sod roof, that would decrease the thermal shock of the day, insulate, and absorb rain. But the weight would be massive I should think and require a rethink of what I am doing. I doubt my budget will allow for it.
Guillermo and Sandra discussed with me cisterns for collecting run off. Not a bad idea. But the roof design will, one way or another, need to accommodate this rain.
In terms of cooling, already the house is oriented with the trade winds. There is a central breeze way, and one proposal would create multiple through ways. Both house proposals would use louvres and cloistery windows to allow the wind to pass effortlessly through. It is supposedly best to keep the bedrooms away from the wind as they need the least cooling in the day.
[apologies for the formatting, but Blogger auto corrects my attempts to maintain columns.]
Av. hi Av. Lo Av Rain Hum.%
F C F C inch mm
Jan. 91 33 69 21 0.04 1 66
Feb. 95 35 69 21 0.04 1 64
Mar. 95 35 71 22 0.35 9 61
Apr. 96 36 73 23 0.87 22 63
May 93 34 79 26 9.25 235 74
Jun. 89 32 73 23 12.28 312 84
Jul. 89 32 73 23 5.28 134 80
Aug. 89 32 73 23 8.11 206 82
Sep. 87 31 71 22 12.8 325 86
Oct. 87 31 71 22 11.22 285 87
Nov. 87 31 89 32 4.09 104 81
Dec. 88 31 89 32 0.51 13 72
Source: National Weather Services of Costa Rica
I have considered man made wetlands, to absorb the runoff. I had also considered, though not with Guillermo, the idea of a sod roof, that would decrease the thermal shock of the day, insulate, and absorb rain. But the weight would be massive I should think and require a rethink of what I am doing. I doubt my budget will allow for it.
Guillermo and Sandra discussed with me cisterns for collecting run off. Not a bad idea. But the roof design will, one way or another, need to accommodate this rain.
In terms of cooling, already the house is oriented with the trade winds. There is a central breeze way, and one proposal would create multiple through ways. Both house proposals would use louvres and cloistery windows to allow the wind to pass effortlessly through. It is supposedly best to keep the bedrooms away from the wind as they need the least cooling in the day.
[apologies for the formatting, but Blogger auto corrects my attempts to maintain columns.]
Av. hi Av. Lo Av Rain Hum.%
F C F C inch mm
Jan. 91 33 69 21 0.04 1 66
Feb. 95 35 69 21 0.04 1 64
Mar. 95 35 71 22 0.35 9 61
Apr. 96 36 73 23 0.87 22 63
May 93 34 79 26 9.25 235 74
Jun. 89 32 73 23 12.28 312 84
Jul. 89 32 73 23 5.28 134 80
Aug. 89 32 73 23 8.11 206 82
Sep. 87 31 71 22 12.8 325 86
Oct. 87 31 71 22 11.22 285 87
Nov. 87 31 89 32 4.09 104 81
Dec. 88 31 89 32 0.51 13 72
Source: National Weather Services of Costa Rica
posted by warnerk at
5:45 PM
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