Arched Cabins

[hpinson]

I came across these this morning. Thought it was a neat concept for inexpensive shelter that is a little more permanent than a tent or RV.

http://archedcabins.com/

[MountainDon]

An A-frame sort of a thing with a little more usable space inside...   

It would still have a tunnel effect but I think I'd like it better than the standard A-frame. I guess it's an Arch-frame.

[bayview]

We used to call it a Modified A-Frame   It reminds me of the Quonset machine sheds my Dad built in the 1960's   Only smaller . . .

/.

[astidham]

I like it! 

[Don_P]

Sabu! Hey look Ma, the airline found the elephant's trunk 

Looks like a gothic arched dairy barn roof on the edge of the great midwest. In the ag extension plansets they have some drawings from back in the day.

[rick91351]

Sabu! Hey look Ma, the airline found the elephant's trunk 

Looks like a gothic arched dairy barn roof on the edge of the great midwest. In the ag extension plansets they have some drawings from back in the day.

[hpinson]

The company claims an R25 insulation option. I found a picture on their site of that:



Could that possibly be R25?

They have a slideshow gallery here:

http://archedcabins.com/gallery.html

The next button is at the top right of the slider - hidden until you roll over it. It shows a full build -- looks like somewhere in Southern New Mexico.

[Don_P]

I think they omitted a decimal point. It looks like foil faced bubble wrap in 4' rolls. The FTC has slapped those R value claims a few times.

[MountainDon]

I like their arched ladders!

I wonder about the thermal bridging with the metal ribs / studs?

I too seriously doubt the validity of the R25 claim. IF there is an air space between the foil and the next surface, such as the exterior metal or the interior sheathing/panels, then there is an increase in the bare stand alone R-value. But R25???   

I don't think you can find foil faced bubble wrap approved by any code authority nor by the EnergyStar folks.

GreenBuildingAdvisor has an article of interest.

[MountainDon]

Cypress TX is the location of their office, near San Antonio.

[hpinson]

We considered the bubble insulation for wrapping our external roof heating ducts when re-doing some of them last summer.  Read up on it and it was quite ineffective by itself, and somewhat effective if there was air space between the wrap  and the inner surface (metal duct in our case).  It did have the advantage of not holding on to moisture like glass insulation. Anyway, it was more like R8, and we decided against it.

I guess you could insulate those panels with spray foam.  You would have thermal bridging I would think, but for spring summer fall use, probably ok still.

[rick91351]

We fell pray to gross insulation claims in the early eighties or late seventies.  Little bungalow in the old part of town - cute little thing we owned.  Siding salesman sold us a siding that was supposed to be like R-30.  Siding went very well with house.  He set the hook.   He even sold us those 'classic' aluminum storm windows that everyone had back then.   Great siding job!  However soon after I came across several articles of buyer beware.  Lucky to even be R - 3.  The company that sold us the product was soon no more.  Declared bankruptcy - even though at one time they had a very good reputation there in the valley!

[Adam Roby]

The arches would make it more difficult to add conventional framing and insulation... unless you box it out inside, but then you are losing a lot of space inside.  My first impression was positive, but I think it would more be useful as a shed storage, or something without insulation and heating/cooling.

[rick91351]

The arches would make it more difficult to add conventional framing and insulation... unless you box it out inside, but then you are losing a lot of space inside.  My first impression was positive, but I think it would more be useful as a shed storage, or something without insulation and heating/cooling.

There are several companies that sell freestanding arched type buildings.  They sell them for everything from machinery sheds to wood shops.  The real cost of then is doing what you just said.  At least for the cold climates - by the time you box them in and insulate.  You might as well have stick built.