MAISON ST. THOMAS HOUSE

Maison St. Thomas House was designed for a friend in Nova Scotia to be built into a hillside overlooking the Bay of Fundy. The concept was to build a small one bedroom house (960 sq.ft.) with both a southerly and easterly view. Originally, the house was not designed to super insulated principles, but has been modified - more insulation, triple pane windows, HRV ventilator. Materials and detailing would be similar those shown for the Maisons Cocagne and Grande-Digue Houses in earlier posts (see Archives and Construction Details in links).

The upper level of the Maison St. Thomas House is the public level of the home. the entry foyer can serve as both closet and pantry. The upper level plan is a large open space composed of the living room area and a kitchen area with a table built into the kitchen cabinetry. The wood stove would be a pellet stove with an outside combustion air source (a must in superinsulated houses) to be used for backup and/or tempered heating.

This is a similar upper level floor plan, but with an L-kitchen with separate table and chairs for dining. Wood stove would follow comments above or could be replaced with a few baseboard heaters. The projected heating load would be reduced by the super insulated features where supplemental heat demand would be low. Ground source heat pump could be overkill as the demand is so low, but a heatpump water heater may have potential for hydronic or fancoil heating.

The lower level of the Maison St. Thomas House is the private area of the home containing he bedroom and bathroom. This level would be sheltered by the earth on the west and north elevations, and open to a walkout patio or garden on the south and east elevations. The south and east patio areas of the lower level could also have a covered porch if so desired.