At long last, the tile is going in on the bottom floor of the house. Most of it is sourced from local recycled sources or from flooring liquidators who sell on left over batches. Here we see the hearth tiles going in with the input hole cut to supply outdoor air to the woodstove. The roughly 1 ton of tile, mortar, grout and concrete backer board going in will add thermal mass to absorb heat coming up from below provided by the solar thermal system which will encompass domestic hot water and underfloor radiant heating. The added thermal mass will also help to moderate temps in the summer time reducing the need for AC. The posts visible here are locally harvested black locust and they provide support to the upper floor once supported by the walls that have been removed. Eventually the chimney will be cobbed and clay plastered with clay harvested onsite.