Analysis of a House with Mud Layer in Roof for Summers

Abstract

The brick & cement-concrete houses are not comfortable to live in the extreme weather conditions in many parts of India.  So an enormous amount of energy is needed for heating and cooling.  Here an effort is made to discover the outcome of using mud layer in the roof of a house on indoor room air temperature in summer season.  It was found that a lesser room air temperature existed in case of a brick & cement-concrete house with mud layer in the roof as compared to a brick & cement-concrete house without a layer of mud in the roof in May to September.  A maximum temperature difference of  1.04°C, 0.97 °C, 0.78°C, 0.70°C and 0.72°C is achievable in a brick & cement-concrete house with mud layer in the roof as compared to a brick & cement-concrete house without a layer of mud in the roof in May to September respectively.  Energy and money are also saved by using houses with a layer of mud in the roof. Energy savings are of the order of 506 units of electricity and money savings have a value of Rs. 2528 in summer seasons from May to September for houses with layer of mud in the roof as compared to houses without layer of mud in the roof.  Therefore the houses with a layer of mud in the roof are slightly more suitable for living in comparison to houses without layer of mud in the house in summer season in addition to savings in terms of energy and money.