Grass on the Roof (1979?)

Heat. Heat. [music] [music] Heat. Heat. [music] [music] >> [music] [music] >> So, according to the provisions of your aunt's will, all you have to do to inherit her house is uh live in it for a week and learn all about it. >> Sure, that sounds easy. You uh haven't seen the house. >> No. Ah. >> Well, then I consider it my duty to inform you that the house is um shall we say somewhat unconventional. >> It is. Well, I'll take it anyway. >> I admire your courage. Bear in mind though that if you fail the instructional provision, this adorable cat of your aunts will inherit it all. Needless to say, I wish you the best of luck, Mortimer. And there you will stay until lunchtime, you naughty creature. >> [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. Would you tell me uh if Emma Clark's house is around here? Emma's place. You just passed it. It's down the road a piece. You can't miss it, buddy. Although you'll wish you had. It's built underground, you know. I've never been in the thing, but I wouldn't fool around with that molehole. I wouldn't fool around with that. Auntie, what kind of place did you live in? [music] H nice grass roof. Grass on the roof. Brass on the roof. Bet the place is a dungeon inside. [music] [music] And how wonderful. I thought you were dead. But you aren't. >> I'm afraid I am, dear. But call it cosmic retirement soon. >> But what are you doing here? >> Well, having a creme de. What does it look like? >> Ah, but it's great to see you, Auntie. >> Oh, stop gawking, dear boy, and take off your coat. You look soaked. >> You don't intend to haunt this place, do you? I wouldn't haunt my favorite nephew, now would I? [laughter] >> I think it's stopped raining. No, >> I'll just run out the car and get the camera. >> It hasn't stopped. >> See, I told you. >> What do you call this kind of house, Auntie? >> Earth sheltered. That means you use good old mother earth to keep out the cold in winter and the heat in summer. Look at those ceilings. How high are they? >> 14 ft. 2 ft higher than most conventional homes. >> I like that skylight. >> You should see it in the daytime. Or close your eyes. >> What? >> Do as I say. >> Okay. Auntie, [music] >> how'd you do that? >> Another advantage of cosmic retirement. Come, I'll show you around. We'll start with the kitchen first. [music] >> [music] >> Hungry Mortime Man. [music] >> [music] [music] [music] [music] >> Look at that glass wall. You are beneath good old mother earth right here. Does it feel like a mole hole? >> How'd you know I was thinking about this place as a molehole? >> Oh, I know. Sweetie pie. [music] What do you think of my guest bedroom? >> Aunt [music] Emma, it's beautiful. This all must have cost you a bundle. Auntie, [music] >> was I ever done with a buck? Mortimer, >> I'm going to like this. No, auntie. We never thought of you as dumb with a dollar. Fact is, we always thought of you as cheap. Uh, prudent with your money. >> You bet I was cheap and proud of it. This Earth's childhood house [music] cost me about the same as a conventional house would have. I made sure of that before [music] I started to build. >> Lena, I'd like to see the rest. [music] >> [music] >> And this is my home cozy corner. [music] >> How sweet of you, Aunt Emma. >> This is a master bedroom [music] and study. >> This certainly is beautiful inside. [music] I can hardly wait to see the outside. >> Well, close your eyes and I'll show you the outside. Mortimer, >> I'm ready. Aunt Emma. >> Aunt Emma, it's beautiful. But why did you decide to build this uh underground house? >> Earth sheltered. Earth sheltered, >> right? >> Very simple. Comfort and economics. >> Okay, I can see the comfort. What do you mean by economics? >> I mean saving bucks, honey. You save them in the summer like now. And then the winter heating season comes and you need even more heat. You see, three4s of your home energy bill goes to heating in the winter and cooling in the summer. But with Mother Earth taking care of you, you can cut those energy bills by 50 to 80%. Much of my heating can be done with a good, efficient wood stove. [snorts] >> How about air conditioning? >> Don't need any. While Mother Earth helps keep the heat inside the house in winter, in the summer she does just the opposite. She tends to draw the heat out. [music] Some folks in very hot climates use a small heat pump to dehumidify an earthsheltered home. But me, I don't need to mess around with that in here. >> Where'd you learn all this stuff, Auntie? >> Over at the U. Something called the Underground Space Center. They can explain all the theories. >> Mortimer pits to see Mr. Lane. >> Yes, he's he's right here. >> Hi. >> Hi. I came to learn about Earth Sheltered Housing. >> Well, I'd be glad to explain to you about Earth Sheltered Housing. Would you like to step back into my office? I've got a chalkboard. >> You see, the Earth because of its great thermal mass remains at a relatively constant temperature. >> And what would that be? >> Between 45 and 70° F at about 20 ft below the surface, depending on what part of the country you're in. >> But my aunt's house isn't that deep. Even at a few feet below the ground surface, temperatures are far more moderate than the air above and they are very slow to change. When you build your house into this ground, you can make use of this slow changing temperature. Now, Mr. Pittz, remember heat transfer is the greatest where the temperature difference is the greatest. >> Okay, but how does that work for me in winter? >> You have this great thermal mass of stable temperature. Now, the outside air can fluctuate all over the place. It can be below zero all the way up to over 100° F, but the Earth's sheltered house is only partially in contact with the fluctuating outside air. It is primarily sheltered by the moderate temperature of the earth, which is further heated by the house itself. Now, remember I told you heat transfer is the greatest >> where the temperature difference is greatest. Yeah, I know, >> right? But your earth sheltered house is not completely surrounded by cold air. Therefore, there is a small amount of wall and window area exposed to the cold air and therefore a small amount of heat loss. It is primarily sheltered by the earth, which is only a few degrees cooler than the house itself. So, the house's heat loss is less than it would be were it surrounded only by that chilly air. >> And how does that work for me in summer? Heat is coming into the house through windows and walls. Heat's being generated through cooking, people moving around, lights, that sort of thing. Now, remember, the ground around the house is always cooler than the house. So, the cooler ground draws the heat out of the house into itself, thereby giving you natural air conditioning. I'd like to show you a picture of the Andy Davis house in Arlington, Illinois. Heats this house with a couple of cords of wood in a wood stove. At one point, the Davis family was snowed in by a blizzard for four full days with no wood to burn. According to Mr. Davis, they lost only 2° a day. It was something like 25° below zero outside with a windchill factor all the way down to - 80. But in four full days without a fire, the temperature inside only slid down from 70 to 62°. Not only does an earthsheltered house protect you from the cold, but from the heat, too. Brush fires do not affect an earthsheltered home because the Earth blanket effectively protects it from the flames. The same protection is true from hail storms. Your home isn't exposed to damaging hail, nor is there a danger from ice backup due to snow on your roof. The special drainage and waterproofing techniques prevent any seepage into your home. And you'll be able to relax a lot more about wind storms in the tornado season. As you know, anything above ground and exposed is threatened. That good earth above and around your home is a great protection from all the elements whenever they turn threatening. Well, so much for the principles behind earth sheltered housing. We do have an excellent example of the commercial use of earth sheltering. I'll show it to you if you'd like. I'm with you. This building [music] is about 83,000 square ft. 95% of that is earth covered. The lowest [music] public level is 24 ft below this walkway. We'll go down there next. Hey, [music] this is quite a bookstore. Well, the students are having their exams right now. This place is usually quite a bit more crowded. You can see there's no trouble with light or space. I have a photograph, Mr. Pittz. I have a photograph here of another commercial use of earth sheltering. Set in an urban environment adjacent to a freeway is the terterate control data building designed by criteria. Two steel arches are separated by an open entrance court allowing all interior spaces to receive abundant sunlight. The inner court is a covered atrium and can be used year round by the employees for lunches and breaks. In addition, the earth blanket effectively reduces the freeway noise. Well, there are lots of examples of earth shelter buildings, but this should give you a good idea. >> Well, did you learn anything new, Mortimer? >> Come down from there. >> I beg your pardon? >> No. And not you. She's right up there. My aunt Emma, who passed away, poor dear. And she's making a nuisance of herself. >> Oh, I I see. That's too bad. Well, I must be going. >> No, no, no. Wait. Please wait. Please let me explain. >> Trouble with you, Mortimer. You have no sense of fun. Well, I was just having fun. What is cosmic retirement without fun? >> Well, not at my expense, that's all. And speaking of cosmic, where'd you get these wild space age building ideas in the first place? They're a space age's cave dweller's nephew because that's who first used Earth's sheltered housing. Cavemen. [music] A long, long time before I ever thought of building my house, man figured out that good old mother earth is a fine shelter. This cave in Alamira, Spain, was bustling with people, including artists, as you can see, between 10,000 and 13,000 years ago. These are probably the world's first apartment houses, nephew, and their earth's sheltered. They're in Capidoshia, Turkey. And some of them date back from the 3rd century AD. And in our own American Southwest, man was living in earthsheltered communities around 8,000 BC. This one, however, in Arizona dates from about 1,000 AD. And with European colonization of America, the settlers on the western plains built themselves sodous. Using [music] the earth to shelter you from the elements is no new fangled untried idea. >> What I want to know, Auntie, is how you build modern earth sheltered housing. Are there a lot of special new techniques? >> Not really. Let's see how one was built. This is a townhouse project. 12 units. Let's go back to the beginning of this construction. Mortimer, it went up something like this. >> How did you like that, Mortimer? >> Wonderful, Auntie. But could you go back and explain the steps in the construction process? >> Certainly. For this building, they dug down only about 4 ft. Then they built the structure and dumped earth over it. That's called burming. >> Wait a minute. What about the construction? The floors. The walls. What are they made of? >> The walls are concrete blocks. Floors and ceilings are pre-cast concrete planks. >> How about waterproofing it, Auntie? >> I'm getting to that, Mortimer. In the old days, basements were for storage. People weren't too careful about waterproofing then. We now know just how to do it, and we are very careful. Here, they're using sprayed on bentonite, which is flexible enough to bridge the movement of the house, so cracks won't let the water in. Oh, there are other systems of waterproofing available, of course. Then you put the insulation as you can see on the outside of the waterproofing layer >> and then you burn it. Right. >> Right. Inside heating is forced air but the backup heating system is forced air with the help of these active solar collector panels. Then the interior is finished like any other. >> M nice and quiet in here. Would you like to see some more earth sheltered homes? >> Would I? Let's go. >> The nice thing about these earth sheltered places is they're so quiet. >> Yes. You come home from a day at that dreadfully busy supermarket you manage, Mortimer, and you have a nice calm place to enjoy. [music] >> [music] >> Hi, I'm Mortimer Pence. >> Good. You're Emma's nephew. Please come in. I'll be happy to show you my house. We don't have much up here, but you'll be interested in what's down below. >> Daylight. I mean, you can see outside. I didn't expect it to be so light. >> My house here is lighter than my conventional home was in the cities. We face directly west and get a lot of afternoon sun and beautiful, beautiful sunsets. Derek, I want you to meet Mr. Pitts. >> Nice to meet you, Mr. Pit. >> Pits. >> Oh, I'm sorry. What is it? >> Uh, this is our only source of heat for our house. It's a wood burning stove. It is lined with fire brick, so we could burn solid fuel if we wanted to. But last winter, we burned less than full two cords, two full cords of wood at a cost of less than $100 >> for the whole winter. >> Yes, for the whole winter. This is our only source of heat for our whole winter here. The house stayed at about 75° in this living area. >> Come on, honey. Let's show Mr. Pittz the rest of the house. The family room and the kitchen are off here. Mr. Pitts, are you coming? Do you have problems with dampness? >> No. This is the driest house I've ever lived in. >> The waterproofing process is is bentonized and that's very satisfactory. Also notice the windows in each bedroom. Those are to uh code as the rest of the house is built to building code. >> How do you feel about living underground? >> Well, actually, we've never noticed. [laughter] >> Oh, Mr. Pits, may I offer you some tea and cookies? >> Oh, >> no. We have to. That is I have to be going. >> Oh, I'm so sorry. >> Well, thank you, Mr. Pits. >> Oh, you look. >> Thank you. >> You're very welcome. >> From that exterior, you'd never guess there was so much down inside that home. >> Want to see some different kinds of earthsheltered housing? >> Of course, Auntie. Let's go. >> Would you believe it? This beautiful home is partially an experimental station. >> It sure doesn't look it. >> Oh, people live here, all right, but these boys at the Underground Space Center [music] are running tests on its energy performance. Now, what say we get into the warm weather for a while. This is an example of sheltered housing in warm climates. This place near Austin, Texas, saves 50% of its utility bill. It has solar heating. Another reason the Bordies who own this house built Earth Sheltered is for protection from wind damage. Two tornadoes have passed right through this property in recent years. >> Which reminds me, Auntie, how about [music] the building codes? Yes. And financing our sheltered homes, >> the bureaucratic stuff, eh? Well, I know people who can tell you about that boring business. Well, codes aren't really a problem for us. Housing codes are being met by builders all over the country. What really concerns the banking industry is resalability of earth sheltered housing. At first, we had serious doubts about that, but now attitudes seem to be changing and we think resale potential is very good. As a matter of fact, both HUD and FHA are now underwriting housing and redevelopment loans all over the country. But why are you worried about that? I thought you inherited Emma's house free and clear. >> Not if he doesn't do his homework, so to speak. [laughter] Come on, Mortimer. Let's go home. >> Well, thank you very much for your help. >> Well, nephew, you've learned enough to own this house. It's yours if you're interested. >> Of course I am, Auntie. Of course I am. >> Oh, the kids. >> Daddy. Daddy. Daddy. >> Come on, Charlie. >> Daddy. >> Take care. Don't trip on the stairs. >> Watch out. Hi, sweetheart. >> Hi. >> Hi, daddy. >> Hi. >> Welcome, boy. >> Well, where are we going to eat? >> You're going to eat in a few minutes. What do you got? Cat. >> Where'd you get this? new edition. >> Oh, Mortimer, we couldn't wait to see the place. >> Come on, I'll show you around. >> Let's go look at the window in this. >> Oh, Mortimer. >> It's so beautiful. >> SO BRIGHT. OH, GOOD. She'll fall off the roof. >> Don't worry. We're part of the hillside. >> Okay, >> there's more surprises. Why don't you take a look around? >> All right. Well, nephew, the house will be well cared for, and so will my cat. So, it's time for me to leave. >> So soon? [music] Can't you stay a while longer >> in this bed? Are you joking? Besides, I have a lot of cosmic swinging to do. Take good care of Cleo for me. Oh, and give her plenty of liver pate. That's the only thing he's a lazy bong will eat. >> Are the kids up on the roof again? >> Uh, yes. >> Well, let them play. [music] [music] [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] >> Heat. Heat. [music] Heat. Heat. [music] >> [music] [music] [music]