A view of the completed pumice-crete block home south of Albuquerque which highlights the master bedroom entryway. The master bedroom suite has a private entrance, a large walk-in closet and a large bathroom. This private entrance allows for ultimate privacy.
Inside the master bedroom we applied custom tinted lime plasters to the walls for durability. A different tinted color of lime plaster was applied to the master bath area, which was necessary due to the waterproof qualities of lime. We laid radiant in-floor heating throughout the house, and in the case of the master bedroom, laid a tinted earthen floor (aka mud floor or poured adobe floor). All of the scratch coat (aka brown coat) of plasters, and the earthen floors were created using the clay rich soil in the arroyos found on this 40 acre property.
The pumice-block bricks used during this house construction have an insulation “R” value of 2.5 per inch. Given the bricks are 12″ in thickness, the total “R” value of this wall system is roughly R 30. Our client reported that during her first winter, she was plenty warm with the radiant floor heat and only used the small fireplace in the great room occasionally. Other supplemental heat and heaters beyond the heated floor were not used. This speaks well to the good design of the house and the efficiency of the in-floor heat.The south facing solar gain of the windows and the performance of the pumice-crete block system also added to the good performance during winter months.
