andyt@iddic.UUCP (03/27/84)
In response to your solar tax and 'structural' definition questions... According to the designer of our passive solar house, non-load bearing mass walls qualify. As an example of a non-load bearing wall, we built the sun room using 6 X 6 timbers as the support structure, and simply filled the 4 foot gaps between the timbers with the mass (bricks, fully grouted). Thus the brick work is considered to be for heat storage only, and the house could stand without the brick. The concrete slab floor or any further floor covering, ie brick, does NOT qualify, since it can be construded as a necessary part of the house...... Also, (unfortuantly) the glazing on the windows are NOT eligible for the credit. However, in our house, we included a new product called a 'Heat Mirror', which is a transparent film between the 2 pieces of glass that lets heat and light in, but prevents radiant from escaping. The Heat Mirror is eligible for the credit. Basically, parts of the house that added only for heat storage, and aren't used for any other purpose. Our designer admits the law is very vague, and isn't real clear on all the details himself. He said for us to use the above guidelines, take as much credit as we think is right, and hope if we're audited, we don't get a nit-picky IRS agent. Andy Tilp tektronix!orca!iddic