The starting point, here and now

Why have we decided to build another house in less than a decade?  And especially out in Ohio.

• Well first, my daughter has been after us to move close by her family in Ohio;
• second, we've had this burning need to do something a little different from the masses by constructing a house for the 21st century-and-beyond.

So what does a house that reflects the future look like?  We aren't the first to think about this so I've been poking around and reading up on the subject.  Sometimes its more efficient to simply pick up on what other leaders have done.  I'm intensely focused but also have a goodly dose of laziness.  We hoped to be able to buy a nifty, need-satisfying design and just go about having the house built for us.  Dream on.  Passive house designs are tough to find these days.  [What is a passive house "PassiveHaus"?, listen here...http://www.wbur.org/media-player?url=http://hereandnow.wbur.org/2010/11/29/passive-house/&title=Building+Homes+That+Withstand+The+Cold&segment=passive-house&pubdate=2010-11-29&source=hereandnow&utm_source=Newsletter_Vol7_Issue+01&utm_campaign=Email+Vol7_Issue1&utm_medium=email] 
Each is an intensive and personal project.  Some day finding what you want will be simple, but not now.  What we've discovered is that all kinds of efficiency break throughs have been going on for a long time and especially in the current decade.  

I think my hot button was pushed in the mid 1990's when we went to a cast party at about the winter solstice in Carlisle, Massachusetts.  I recall the host standing at the wide open front door.  I offered to close it when entering and he said not to bother despite the outside temperature hovering in the mid teens Fahrenheit.  I found out why in less than half an hour.   Soon over 40 folks [forty 98.6 degree furnaces] were partying and the house quickly became unbearably hot and humid, approaching the high 90s.  Party-ers were stripped down to undershirts and mopping brows whilst fans had been placed in open windows with the front door ajar.  I quickly learned that the house did not have a furnace and was heated by sources like people, light bulbs, stove and the like.  The house was built by its owner in the late 1970s, well ahead of the current topical curve.  He did simple things like doubling the thickness of the walls with heavy insulation, installing rudimentary heat and power gathering modules on the roof all while retaining the standard and lovely looking colonial style, New England house design.

THE VISION

With this as our guiding beacon, we've launched our design effort with an architect who is like-minded, Joe Ferut, Elyria, OH.  His portfolio includes other buildings with the characteristics we're seeking. www.ferutarchitects.com will take you to his digital world.  Joe is a leader in passive design who has actually been there and has worked with trades that have also been baptised in the new ways.  

Several, now well known, guiding principles need to be included in any structure that reaches toward passivity.  They are:

• orientation [northern latitudes: southern exposure; southern latitudes: northern exposure]
• extremely heavy insulation
• air tightness
• air recirculation/ventilation system to include humidification controls
• thoughtful window placement, sized right with high thermal resistance 
• interior window-cover treatments

We've added a few more needs to this list to include, 1)  a fire proof exterior and 2) tough enough to withstand force EF5 winds [live in tornado land].  These also reduce home insurance costs meaningfully.

And, in appreciation of the LEEDs [leadership in energy efficient design http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leadership_in_Energy_and_Environmental_Design] guidelines, we're also thinking to include a rain water retention system to hold significant volumes of rain water gathered from our roof.  Our need is to be as independent from normal regionally delivered homeowner services as possible.  Thus we're hoping to include photovoltaic and, perhaps, some solar hot water capabilities.  We're not too fussed about having a LEEDs certified house though generally we embrace the direction and detail found there.  We are mindful of green initiatives and are wondering how we might incorporate a pervious paved drive, this becomes relevant as at some point planning board code will probably penalize folks who aren't paying attention to water run-off.

With these things in mind, I've been asked to keep family and friends informed as to our progress.  Seems a blog is a decent way to go about this process.  Hope you agree.  I'd be happy to field questions and entertain ideas as I go along.  This will be a sequential arrangement  with entries based upon our progress over time.  Understand that once we've set the design in stone it won't be possible to go back and rearrange things with this particular house.  Thus, read up, consider the consequences of the actions taken and ponder what you might do that would be different.  Mostly we're hoping to have a new house that pretty much meets the way we live our lives and, once beyond the construction and decorating steps, does so efficiently with a minimal impact on our children's future.

Many thanks to our mentors,  Joe Ferut and the McDaniels whose acquaintance we've made recently.  Their enthusiasm for living by leaving no footprints matches our own.  

More as the days march by.

DaveE

WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON THROUGH AND UP TO TODAY?
Sunday, 23 January 2011

Okay, so we've been working with Joe and his associate, Lee on what this house will look like.  Some initial matters that we covered:

• Structure orientation - as luck will have it, the War of 1812 has helped us a lot.  Huh?  Well, because the fledgling United States didn't have the finances to pay its soldiers during and following that war, the state was carved up into five mile square plots and portions rendered instead of cash.  Thus, our lot is oriented on an east/west, north/south coordinate with the rectangular shape laid north/south.  Result; the layout is perfect (almost) for a solar solution.  Not perfect because we're on the north side of our street and we want to have views of Meg's family home which lies north of our lot.  The point, a northern phalanx of windows needing thermal control, a challenge.
• How we live our lives - yeah, well we like to: 1) make music (brass instruments); 2) Olivia has these kettle bell thingys and I need to move my bod to keep from turning into a rusted turnip; 3) we want dawgs (have had 'em, want 'em again, they help to control the local wildlife); 4) we enjoy hovering around our guests when they come to us from elsewhere and looking them in the eye when we cook; 5) we want a constant and steady temperature around 68 degrees plus or minus maybe 4 degrees, and; 6) we want to use as little of natural resources as possible.  We'll call this a needs assessment.

Alright, now from this we have had some initial drawings created during a very thoughtful and deliberate Charette session guided and implemented by Joe.  Here we just threw ideas into the air stimulated by Joe's questions.  He listened and then began using pencil and paper to create a rough set of ideas, through drawings, on paper.

Since, we've had several additional sessions, each one becoming more detailed.  At this point the program has reached the initial pricing stage.  As well, designing a house is important though actually putting it up is yet another kettle of fish.  In hindsight, luckily, we've had to wait going on three years to get to this stage of our dream.  Luckily because the state of the building trades' readiness and the nature of passive construction products and lore has progressed a lot in this short time.  We're the beneficiaries.

I'll pick up this stream of thought in a few weeks as stuff is going on around the project that we need to attend to.  

STUFF IS BEGINNING TO HAPPEN

Monday, 21 March 2011

Okay.  Now for some of the things that are starting to count.

POWER AND MECHANICALS

In the last several weeks we have been paying attention to the inter-relationship between our power generation vs power consumption:

• appliances.  We need them as we pretty much got rid of everything in our move.  We have to focus on the amount of power each uses.  Think sip juice rather than drink it.  
• mechanicals.  Again we're looking for as little equipment as possible in the smallest appropriate size.   If the building envelope is as tight and insulated as we're led to believe, it won't take much to stabilize the temperature around 70 degrees.  Someone joked that a hair dryer should be sufficient to heat the house.  In reality I think it will take a bit more than that.
• Solar Panels - PV
• Looking at www.DawnSolar.com for their integrated solar solution.
• Checked in with www.third-sun.com as they provide PV solutions using http://us.sunpowercorp.com/ panels, among others.  This product claims the highest efficiency rating which is relevant given the perpetual winter cloud cover around here.
• An initial assessment of our building plans has them recommending a 12 kWh system which is clocking in at an estimated $82k before 30% federal tax incentive.  This may be a little more power than we're imagining we'll need.  Checking around, a more likely sizing would be about half this amount, maybe something in the $42k range before incentive.
• Important to keep in mind that solar panels have a half life somewhere out at about 25 years and will need replacement.  With the hefty current price tag one would have to use somewhere in the vicinity of $3k of electricity per annum for a 25 year payback.  At today's rates the PV doesn't seem to make economic sense.  
• Solar Panels - Thermal
• As we want to create our own hot water the thermal panels seem important and letting the sun do it would reduce the drain on our PV electric capacity.
• Geo thermal vs Heat Pump
• We're pondering the differences inherent between these two systems.  Both have at their core heat pumps/  
• Geo thermal (ground or water heat pump) is more expensive to install though more efficient.  
• Heat Pump (air heat pump) is less expensive to install.  Not as efficient though only marginally so.  These come in whole house and individual room sizes (mini-splits).
• In either case continuous ventilation via a Heat Recover Ventilator or Energy Recovery Ventilator (includes humidity control) needs be looped into our heat pump of choice.
• Domestic Hot Water
• We've chosen domestic hot water via a hot water booster  added to our heat pump and, as well, a solar thermal rooftop system.   The heat pump is effective during the summer and winter months when its working hardest, not so much during the spring and fall.  Solar thermal will provide plenty of back up during the swing months.

BUILDING ENVELOPE

Next we're pondering the shell of the house.  Have touched bases with various folks on this since Joe Ferut has suggested several high insulating value options.  One GC is and has been building with an ICF product that is producing even temperatured and quiet houses.  He is a solid advocate for this method of construction and, unless otherwise specifically requested, builds using an ICF product branded Reddi-wall. 

HEATING AND COOLING STUDY
An engineering study has been done detailing how this structure will perform regarding heat gain and loss; done to vet the architect's estimations.  

It is all about blending these insights and products together in an affordable package so we're waiting now for pricing packages from the GCs we've selected.

Next time I'll share notes regarding selection of appliances, mechanicals and materials.


BEEN A WHILE SINCE THE LAST POST...WHY?
Wednesday 12 Oct 2011


The best things in life take time, apparently.


BUILDER SELECTION
Early in Q2 2011 we were able to cull our candidate builder list of four down to the winner, Mike Strehle, All Seasons Builders, Inc.  Reasoning?  He's built houses of the type we're planning and is a Reddi-Wall certified Insulated Concrete Form installer.  This is important as this ICF material is the guts of our project.   Of equal importance are his credentials as a builder...couldn't find anything but laudatory comments from folks who have worked with him and he has built several of these houses.


BUILDER ALLOWANCES: REALITY SETS IN
Having got this task behind us, we've been spending our time working with his allowances and with our want vs need list.  Casualties include: 
-  change of metal roof to fiberglass/asphalt shingles though these will be GAF special long life Energy Star shingles;
-  put off of photovoltaics...just too expensive for the anticipated benefit; as well the industry is going through significant change so the jury is out on the best way to create electricity from possible alternatives.  Things might come a little clearer in the next several years.
-  reduced expectations from special windows where we'd angled for R9-11 windows, we're settling for R7-8 windows from Serious Industries http://www.seriouswindows.com/residential/insulated-windows.html
-  cabinets and countertops also are being squeezed by the limited allowance.  We could put up cardboard boxes for the figure allowed though this doesn't quite fit our expectations.  Thus, we're having to work this area hard.


HEATING/COOLING/HOT WATER
We've been pondering how to provide heating/cooling/dehumidification to the house's interior and after much thought and conversations with those who profess to know, we've decided to augment the passive solar gain interior with a 3 ton geothermal-with-domestic-hot-water-boost unit.  We'll be coupling this with a solar thermal roof-mounted unit to cover the fall and spring months when the geothermal may not be functioning (hot water is only available when the geo is either heating or cooling).  


ALTERNATIVE POWER GENERATION?
There is a school of thought that says we'd be better off to install a bit more solar thermal and then put a steam generator in line to create the electricity (as well as augment domestic HW).  PV efficiency is about 11-18% vs Solar Thermal's 60-70%.  Battery storage seems like a good idea as well to cover those periods where grid outages occur.  We'll be working this idea hard.  By the way, batteries are really quite something to see these days.  They're compact and unobtrusive.


BUILDING HAS BEGUN
Amazing!  We've signed the contract with the builder and he's begun site work.  We have gravity fed drainage pipes put in for the patio declivity and roof runoff as well buried power and communication from Symphony Way.   The driveway has been cut in with balast more or less in process.  The house footprint has been cut with sod and loam piled in profusion.  


Sadly the Reddi-Wall ICF people are unable to immediately fulfill Mike's order for foundation and exterior wall expanded polystyrene material due to supply chain issues at the manufacturer level.  Not clear why this is given the downturn in business.  One envisages that this would clear up backlog issues and make manufacturers eager to quickly fulfill a product request.   We're awaiting further updates from Bob Martin (Reddi-Wall owner) as to when we can anticipate delivery.  


Turns out our lot has plenty of water in soil, too much in fact as excavation for the work already done proved that foundation holes would cave in much the same as that hole one might dig at the edge of the sea in the sand.  So, we must wait.  In the interim the weather is beginning to cloud up and temperatures are falling.  We're fussed by this.


PROGRESS PICTURES
I've put together a picture album in Google's Picasa at
https://plus.google.com/u/0/photos/116566583498785018051/albums/5674317477807739649


This may or may not take you to the site.  If it doesn't let me know your interest in seeing what has been aggregated there so far.


More later.  Thanks for checking in to take in what we've assembled so far.



STATUS UPDATE...IN A WORD, DELAYS
Saturday 29 Oct 2011

The latest.  Winter is breathing down our necks and we're having to wait, and wait and wait some more.  For what?  We're probably paying for our inexperience in this process by continuing to come up against things we hadn't anticipated.  Here is a list of the latest issues.

• Home Owners Association:  The development is relatively new and with the housing bust the developer is, of course, in a tough financial situation.  He handed the controls over to the HOA board which has been striving to implement cleanup measures to get the association processes in order.  The board's first new build review is our house which, of course, isn't a typical house.   It's required that all houses in the complex have the boarder between foundation and frame siding covered with stone or brick.  In our case the ICF rises from footings to roofline.  We're having to install a line of faux material at earth level over the ICF rather than continue our siding of choice, stucco, right to the ground.  Other than this, though, the board has been helpful and understanding.  Ahhhh... finally got their written approval to move ahead with the project.  Work on the project had been stopped in part due to the lack of HOA approval.
• Reddi-wall ICF product:  Because of the construction downturn, the company has had to curtail inventorying of product and has moved instead to special orders which means the manufacturer puts each request into que.  Result; delay.  At this point it looks as though our materials will be manufactured in early November.
• Bank:  First Place Bank https://www.firstplacebank.com//mortgage-loan-process.html is grinding away at the paperwork details and has issued a stay order on construction until all details are in hand.  At this point we're waiting on; i) appraisal and, ii) loan underwriting.  The appraiser is up against a first of its kind/no comparables situation and certainly the loan underwriting people are going to be looking at the house through bent lenses as well.  We're reading this to mean more delays.

Our builder is getting antsy as each day further toward winter will add cost to the pouring and proper seasoning of the concrete footings and floor.  Special handling = higher costs.  This makes us antsy too.  At this point all we can do is lean against the bureaucratic pile and push in a friendly way.  So far this has netted us no gain.

CONSTRUCTION IS UNDER WEIGH
Monday, 28 November 2011



Some changes in direction have enabled us to get on with the construction.  


First Place Bank was grinding away on our application for construction loan support for a long time, as noted above, with no performance date evident and Mike, our builder, wanted to get launched on our house as mentioned.  Result; Mike offered to move our project into the spring while he moved on to another job for the winter.  The Bank won't allow construction to begin until all parts of their package were in place...of course.  So, what to do?


We gave our apologies to First Place Bank, declined their pending offer and gave Mike our approval to move ahead with construction.  We are graced with being able to do this.


At this point you can follow progress by clicking on the Picasa album mentioned above 
(https://picasaweb.google.com/116566583498785018051/PASSIVEHOUSE?gsessionid=zEOpyAeh1KTL6ESOa0firw#)


Mike and crew have built what you see in just a little over 3 weeks despite rain on about 65% of the construction days.  The preparation of the site and attention to the foundation detail have been intense.  Subsurface piping, backfill and ventilation pipes have been the order of the day (water and radon mitigation) and the first-of-two levels of Reddi-Wall Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) is in place.  Mike is taking his crew off for a Caribbean cruise vacation in about two weeks so they are working diligently to get the remainder of the foundation in and ground floor interior rough framing and first floor rough cover in place to enable structural support and completion of the second tier ICF before holiday. 


I'm interested to see the ways in which our construction is similar to though changed from standard building methods.  The ICF wall is intended to provide tough, high insulation value and the exterior foundation cover is designed to ward off climactic moisture, that's the brown cover on the outside of the foundation.  You can learn more about this stuff by clicking on http://www.cosella-dorken.com/bvf-ca-en/products/foundation_residential/dimplesheets/products/ms.php


To ensure insulation levels achieve the temperature resistance we wish, once the ICF is done, a more traditional 2x4 house will be built within the ICF envelope and then insulated as well .  You will want to be visiting us during either the colder or warmer months to truly feel the difference between this and a standard home.  Actually, having you with us during the winter is especially beneficial.  We could use your body heat to keep us properly temperate.  Well, I mean warm...you could also enjoy some terrific Great Lakes Brewery product for a different kind of temperance experience.


At this point, we're into watching the building process move ahead and assessing what we are seeing Mike do.  We're struck by just how much of the building Mike does personally.  Daily its pretty much Mike and one or two helpers.


Come back frequently to see just what it is we're having done.





ROARING ALONG
Sunday, 5 February 2012



Wow!  Since November many things have happened, as one would anticipate.  

• The house "skin" is up
• roof is shingled with an energy star rated, coated fiberglass/asphalt product
• solar thermal unit for hot water purposes is half up 
• four geothermal horizontal "loops" are in, 7 feet down
• geothermal furnace is installed along with whole house ducting 
• Energy Recovery Ventilation (ERV) unit should be in and linked to the geo furnace by the end of the coming week
• windows are due in by Friday
• electrical work is in process, and
• we're anticipating a continuation of some exterior siding and decking carpentry.

Two matters requiring thought include our cathedral ceiling and venting.

1. The cathedral ceiling, it turns out, has been built with a substantial ridge beam which has blocked what was to have been a roof vent.  Due to this we've had to deal with what was to have been a "cool" roof (exterior air passage from soffit to roof top) as a "hot" roof instead.  Meaning: an impermeable barrier has to be installed between the underside of the roof and our primary insulation.  Thus, an inch of closed cell spray-on foam will be applied as soon as our electrical and plumbing is completed.
2. Venting kitchen and baths is required.  We'd thought this would be handled by individual motorized site specific vents.  Upon closer examination we see that the ERV is fully capable of handling all aspects of air recirculation including removing odors to the outside and balancing moisture to a predetermined level within the house.  Thus some minor ducting modifications will be made and air will be pulled from the bath locations as needed via instrument controlled, increased air draw from the ERV.  We're still doing what is necessary to ensure building inspection will endorse this solution and that it meets code.  We've settled on a recirculating, activated charcoal cooker hood vent to take the worst of the grease and oils out of the air with the roughly hourly whole house air change to take care of the rest.

We're actually getting down to selecting colors for: exterior, doors and decking.  Before long we'll be doing the same for the interior.

More later...