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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 10/17/2008 6:50:57 PM
The front of the house will face north. I intend to have window wells in the north basement wall heavily shaded by landscape plants.
The belvedere should act like a solar chimney and cause hot air to rise and exit the open cupola. I will mount a weather vane on top of the cupola to identify prevailing wind directions. This way I can only open the windows that will encourage airflow out of the house. With all other windows and doors in the house closed, the replacement air should be pulled into the basement through the much cooler north side window wells. The air entering these windows will go through a HEPA filter before entering living space. The basement room this air enters will likely be equipped with an energy efficient dehumidifier. [I hope they will someday commercialize the solar recharged dessicant dehumidifying water fall used in the University of Maryland's Solar Home. Such a dessicant waterfall would be ideal for this room.]
I am hoping that with cool air entering the basement and hot air rising that it will not only passively cool my house but also help passively dehumidify my house as well. Antebellum architects relied on this solar chimney effect to passively cool and dry southern homes. The rising and exiting hot air holds more moisture than the entering cooler air. The net effect was supposed to be a reduction in indoor humidity as compared to outside.
The house has an open airflow path along the center of the house from the north main stairwell through to the south and all the way up to the cupola.
During the winter, I can close off the doors separating the north part of the house from the south part of the house on the 1st and 2nd floors, and allow the solar heated south side air to rise to the attic and the north side cooler air to fall down to the basement, creating a natural convective air flow through the house to more evenly "passively" distribute the passive solar heat gathered in the solarium.
The primary daytime living spaces are in the well daylit and passively winter heated south side of the house. The northern rooms are rarely used special guest rooms (dining room, parlor, and foyer, and the sleeping areas of bedrooms. The west wall of the house is buffered with a garage, laundry, mud room, pantry, and with one of the master closets. The north and east walls of the house are buffered with wrap-around porches. And the south wall is buffered with a screened in porch in the summer which becomes a glassed in solarium in the winter. The 2nd floor screened porch should make a very comfortable, "traditional southern" summer sleeping porch as well.
I want an extremely tight and energy efficient envelope with an ERV system with humidity controls. If the energy calcs show I need supplemental "active conditioning," I will be very careful not to oversize my HVAC unit(s). Ideally, the house will behave like a large scale PassivHaus and the ERV system can have supplemental heating and cooling built into it, with no additional need for a full-scale HVAC, but maybe I'm dreaming...
I don't plan on cooling the basement, but merely dehumidfying the air. The north wall of the basement where the window wells will draw in air for the solar chimney (when the cupola is open), will be an empty basement storage room, where I hope to add the dehumidifier and any required HVAC eqipment. When all the windows are closed, doors can be strategically closed and opened to cause the cool northside air to drop into this "conditioning chamber" for dehumidification prior to recirculating across to the southside of the basement and then rising back through the house in the planned, natural convective air flow.
If I have to have an active HVAC system with forced air that is separate from the ERV, then I am considering having the cold air returns dump into this basement conditioning and utility room for dehumidification prior to entering the HVAC for cooling and forced air recirculation through the house. 50% of the energy cost of cooling a home in Alabama is dehumidifying the air. There are cheaper ways to dehumidify air than using an HVAC compressor to do it! Additionally, if the humidity is controlled separately, the frequency of HVAC cooling becomes less critical to the health of the home.
I am considering putting radiant pex flooring in the south end of the basement slab and out in the pool patio slab as well (eventually I will add a retractable pool enclosure which will increase my winter solarium effect). I will pre-plumb the pipes and possibly add the manifolds and SHW heaters for the radiant floor system later. This radiant floor heat in the basement can help further drive the convection cycle of hot air through the home when the house is closed tightly.
Note: I will have to carefully ensure the comfort of the theater room without over-heating the air and thereby disrupting the natural convective flow. The theater room's radiant floor defintely needs to be zoned so that I can carefully control the temperature of this room to prevent the convection cycle from stagnating or reversing back up into the foyer. When the basement north window wells are opened as replacement air for the "solar chimney," the theater room will also be the first room to circulate exterior air brought in to passively cool the house. Will the theater get too cold in moderate weather months, when the cool air is being pulled in by the solar chimney in order to flush heat from other parts of the house???
Thinking about this, the basement theater room will likely be the hardest to keep passively comfortable. The south side attic bedrooms may also have a tendency to passively over heat. I think I can keep most of the rest of the house passively comfortable.
The ERVs will suck air from the bathrooms, pre-condition the replacement air with the energy from the exiting air, and blow that air into the nearby bedroom closets to then circulate into the bedrooms and out to the center hall of the house. The replacement air for the bathrooms will be sucked from the center hall of the house. With a bathroom adjacent to every "closed" room in the house, and jumper ducts from each "closed" room to the center halls, there will be no room in the envelope of the house subject to stagnant air, nor any unconditioned space.
I am considering installing a direct fresh air replacement supply line (with its own HEPA filter) positioned next to the powerful kitchen downdraft fan mounted in the island in order to prevent it from causing negative pressure on the nearby fireplace. With the downdraft fan pulling high volumes of air out of the kitchen, this outdoor "fresh," but unconditioned air should mostly be sucked back out of the house to limit energy losses. To limit the use of the powerful downdraft fan just to usage while cooking, I am also considering installing a seperate lower volume ceiling vent fan to purge remaining IAQ issues from the kitchen after the cooking is over and additional humidity is not being actively added to the room. This secondary ceiling vent would be operated with a timer so as to limit "wasting" conditioned air.
Likewise, I want a humidistat controlled ventiallation fan that is separate from the ERV in the most commonly used shower enclosures to limit the amount of humidity that is released into the envelope of my home.
The other principle source of IAQ problems is the laundry room. Ideally, the laundry room should be in the garage outside of the conditioned envelope. However, my wife and most other comfort obsessed homeowners prefer doing their laundry from a laundry room conveniently within the conditioned envelope. So, I've designed a compomise. I'm building a tightly sealed laundry closet inside my laundry room, with an air intake from outside to provide make-up air for the dryer exhaust, so that I won't be wasting conditioned air. We have energy star, very efficient front loading washer and dryers.
But I'm also considering the possibility of building a "drying closet" (at least once solar recharged dessicant systems get commercially available and affordable). As dry as an efficient front loading washer gets clothes, they can be hung afterwards on a clothesline and they actually dry quite quickly... But noone wants to go outside to hang a clothesline, and quite frankly my neighborhood restrictions "ban" clotheslines. But what if the clothes are hung up damp inside a drying closet with a dessicant dehumidifier and a basic fan to circulate air. Presumably, within a few hours the hung clothes would be dry and ready to take to the bedroom closet without the higher energy expense of a drier. [I'm thinking ahead to when I convert my house to a grid-tied but net Zero-Energy Home [ZEH].]
I also hope to design a fresh air intake into the basement conditioning room to replenish the lost air from showers, the kitchen, and possibly losses from the laundry room; this intake will be designed to always maintain positive pressure in the home. I'm thinking that a pressure monitor could be the "switch" to turn the fan on... Pressure tends to stratify in a closed house with the highest pressure in the attic, and the lowest pressure in the basement. If sustained negative pressure were to occur, it would generally be measured in the basement. I want the fresh air intake into the basmeent conditioning room to kick on automatically when the measured pressure drops below a pre-set... This would keep the house always under positive pressure and would also actively assist the desired air flow when the solar chimney is in use...
One last thing about interior air flow... I also intend to install a whole house attic fan in the cupola, to help actively flush the house with cool evening air (when the solar chimney effect doesn't work as well)... I want a hygrometer measuring the outdoor and indoor humidity levels, mounted next to the attic fan switch so that it isn't turned on in unfavorable conditions. [Note: flushing with cool evening air is only a good idea if it is also not high humidity air! Otherwise, the energy consumed to dehumidify the air back to desired levels may be greater than the energy that would have been consumed to merely cool the house.]
The whole house envelope (walls, slab, roof, doors, and windows) will be carefully engineered and selected as investments in energy efficiency.
For energy efficiency and as preparation for becoming a ZEH (or at least near ZEH) home, I want to use all energy star appliances and the most energy efficient ones I can afford. A conduction electric cooktop will be used to limit unnecessary heat from escaping into the home during cooking. Likewise, the microwave will be sized as a primary cooking oven because it releases less heat than a wall oven. I will still have a full sized oven for occasional use, but will get the rapid cooking version.
I will have solar water heaters for domestic hot water use, as well as for radiant slab heating in the basement. If I end up with an active HVAC system, it will likely only be for a short period of supplemental cooling use each year. I will strongly consider a geothermal heat pump (but with our other energy efficiency investments, the opportunity for a payback on a geothermal heat pump becomes significantly lower...), if I can make the numbers work. With the reduced loading requirements from the tight envelope and from a properly deisgned ERV with humidity controls (hopefully resulting in PassivHaus performance levels), the smaller sized HVAC requirements (if any are actually needed) may still make the heat pump cost affordable. We shall see... If I have a geothermal heat pump, I will also consider a heat recovery unit tied into the hot water system.
Eventually, I will add PV panels which will make sense as panel costs go down with volume and with technology advancements, and as utility rates increase with rising energy demand. The day will come, and probably not to far down the road, that PV will be a financial no brainer, even in Alabama. In preparation, I am pre-wiring for PV, and I intend to install a 16" standing seam metal roof at an 8:12 slope for quick and easy addition of PV panels in the future. I can either go with roll and stick PV sheets in the troughs, or I can simply clamp higher capacity panels directly to the standing seams. I will design the roof to handle PV panel loads and SHW loads as potentially needed.
Depending upon budget constraints, I am considering adding earth tubes from the basement conditioning room to the heavily shaded ravine or creek areas. With the long distance from my house to the ravine, the air should further cool and somewhat dehumidify before entering the house. Additionally, with the steep slope, the moisture should naturally condensate, drain, and keep the tubes clean and healthy. They could be easily flushed and disinfected regularly when in use. If budget doesn't permit at the time of construction, this is something I can add later with minimal disruption and relatively minimal additional costs using trenchless pipe installation methods. With the earthtubes further enhancing the passive cooling and passive dehumidification, PERHAPS an active system beyond the ERV and dehumidification won't be needed. At any rate, on the few "unbarably hot" weeks a year, if the thermal mass and ERV system can't keep the house sufficiently comfortable, the basement would still be comfortable with only dehumidification.
The upshot is, this house will be capable of "passive survivability" with relevative comfort, regardless of public utility failures.
I've got lots more thoughts on this, but I'm out of time for now.
I'd love to here some constructive criticism regarding my theories and how to improve my plans to achieve my goals.
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| The inspiration and concept... |
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 10/10/2008 6:47:53 PM
One of my good friends from our high school days is an architect. I've watched his career progress and I like his work. He lives on the other side of the country now, but he was in town for his 20 year high school reunion this weekend and we met for breakfast.
I showed him my house design plans and I will be emailing them to him. We walked my 3 acres and discussed my landscaping and design ideas. He had some great suggestions on how to accomplish my goals, and our friendship translated well into an architect/client relationship.
His parents still live here so working on my project will give him a "business reason" to visit home a little more often. (It already gave him a "business reason" to come to his high school reunion.) Also, I told him that if he helps me get this house built affordably, we will have plenty of space to host he and his wife and 8 kids, when he wants to visit his family here in Alabama <grin>.
As I won't break ground for ~18 months anyway, I suggested he only need to work on my project when he doesn't have other billable projects taking priority... He can fill in his otherwise unfilled billable hours with my project as gaps develop. Needless to say, with all of the advantages the project provides to him, and our longtime friendship, I'll be getting a good rate. It won't cost me much more than hiring a draftsman and I will be getting an exceptional architect and get to work with a friend.
Additionally, there is a retired General Contractor in my area that works as a draftsman and as a consultant to Owner Builders in finding good subs. My architect friend and I plan on striking a relationship with him to draft the plans at a lower rate than my friend's firm can charge, and we will utilize the local draftsman's contacts to help me O-B.
During the ASES Alabama Solar Home Tour, I met up with a solar consultant with very reasonable rates and extensive local experience, who we also intend to have assist with the solar hot water system lay-out and the pre-planning for the future PV system.
In other words, I've just found my architect, and as soon as the proposal is official, he'll be hired.
regards,
Grant
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 9/25/2008 9:37:31 AM
Alabama is currently recovering from a 100 year record drought. My property is up on a ridge and apparently the lowered water table has distressed many of my trees. A sourwood (comparatively shallow tap root) at the highest elevation on my property died early into the worst of the drought. I new what was coming, but didn't know ho wbad it could get. Trees will continue to die for 3 years or so after a drought. Another sourwood slightly down hill from the first to die, almost died this year. All of the tops are dead, but the trunk is vigorously sprouting new branches and I am going to try to save it. Another 50+ year old oak across the yard from the sourwoods has also died, along with quite a few scraggly red oaks of 40 to 50 years old that I didn't really mind losing.
Somewhat surprisingly down in the dale by the creek I am also losing trees. My historic Indian Marker tree died during the last month. Its companion next to it, a 100 year old or so white oak my granddaughter calls "the potty tree" (it used to have a twin trunk that died decades ago and has left a hollow toilet bowl shaped stump attached to the tree) is also dying and will be removed at the same time. Another 100 plus year old oak in the general area has also died...
Whether drought or construction trauma to roots, you never really know which trees are going to die for about 3 years afterwards.
regards,
Grant
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 9/24/2008 4:26:15 PM
With the current thread about the kitchen design in the Planning Forum, I thought I'd update my floor plan here in my Journal.
Most of the changes have occured in the attic and basement areas. I'm still trying to determine the best floor plans for the various bathrooms. I want to reduce plumbing costs by lining up the bathroom plumbing, but it ain't easy!
Among the updates, we've eliminated the dormers on the sides of the house. At the request of my wife, I have added an attic level loft above her master closet with a ladder for access.
I am toying with widening the center dormer, but can't decide if it unbalances the house and looks bad, or not... It would allow a pass-through to a balcony play area in the dormer essentially 3 stories straight down to the foyer below! The older grandkids will love it!
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| Attic [To be finished post-CoO]
[Note: I intend to put a "green roof" over the garage structure. The vine covered trellises will help add backyard privacy from the tall house to the west. |
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| Basement [To be finished post-CoO] |
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| 1st Floor [Garage may be added post-CoO if budget requires] |
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| 2nd Floor [Guesthouse above Garage to be finished post-CoO] |
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 9/6/2008 5:11:39 PM
Are Zero Energy Homes Possible? Practical? and do they provide a Payback?
A LinkedIn Discussion group [Energy Priorities "Thought Leaders"] posted the above question and I thought I would share my answer here, particularly since I referenced this website.
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ZEH is possible. The biggest key is actually not the on-site energy production part of the equation, but energy conservation. However, even with the highest energy efficiency possible, ZEH does not have a direct monetary payback in most parts of the country. Distributed energy costs are still lower than on-site production.
It does pay to build a home capable of becoming a ZEH home, however. The energy savings of a high efficiency, "near ZEH" will have a monthly payback, as well as being a naturally more comfortable place to live. Additionally, the majority of the cost of living will be "fixed" into the mortgage payment allowing the home-owner to secure thier standard of living into retirement, without having to fear future changes in the cost of energy. Such a "near ZEH" can be built today with a lower monthly cost (mortgage, insurance, taxes, and utilities) than for a less comfortable traditional home.
I am designing a high-efficiency "near ZEH" with a tight envelope and high solar mass. I am incorporating solar tubes for daylighting. I will be using CFL fixtures and the MOST efficient "energy star" appliances. I will be installing solar water heaters (a solar technology that provides payback today). I will be using a "home run" PEX manifold system to further conserve hot water (despite the essentially "free" solar hot water) and water, in general. I hope to also install a grey water system and a cistern for irrigation water. I also intend to rely heavily upon xeriscaping principles to control life-cycle costs of the landscaping. Additionally, I am considering using pervious paving to reduce the stormwater impact of impervious surfaces.
I am going back to antebellum architectural principles with a wrap around porch and a belvedere and cupola. Antebellum architects here in the south knew how to make a house as comfortable as possible with minimal energy consumption. Combined with modern advances in tight construction and humidity control, antebellum design can lead to exceptionally energy efficient homes today.
The belvedere (above the living areas) will have windows on all 4 sides to intentionally heat the air and cause it to rise out of the cupola. With all other windows in the house closed, this "solar chimney" will pull air in from the cooler north basement wall windows and circulate the air throughout the house for passive cooling. I will also install an attic fan at the base of the cupola to actively flush heat from the house during cool summer evenings. (One word of caution about such passive cooling and ventillation with exterior air... air quality concerns can frequently override the reduced cooling load benefits. Exterior humidity levels and allergen concentrations must be considered prior to "open" ventillating with exterior air.) Such passive cooling measures will significantly reduce the total number of active cooling days for my climate.
The south side porch of the home will shade the interior during the summer as a screened porch (windows opened), and will be closed in the winter to function as a solarium (passive solar thermal collector). I've designed the air flow of the house to permit natural convective air circulation when all of the windows are closed. This will cause cool air to be pulled from the basement as the solarium heats air on the southside causing it to rise. Replacement air will be pulled back into the basement from the relatively cooler air falling on the north side of the home. In this manner the thermal energy collected on the south side will be able to naturally, convectively circulate to the whole house. The solar mass in the home will help moderate the temperature (prevent uncomfortable temperature swings) and reduce maximum required cooling and heating loads when active conditioning systems need to be used.
While I am incorporating passive heating and cooling design, here in the southeast, humidity control will be my biggest energy consumption obstacle. 50% of the cooling loads of a home in the southeast can be attributed to dehumdification of the air. To avoid mold and mildew issues from high interior humidity, systems must be sized to run long enough to control humidity. Also, once air is dehumidifed, you don't want to let in high humidity air. Even if the evening is cool, it may actually cost more conditioning dollars to open the windows to let in cool night air, that also happens to be high in humidity. You really have to put some thought into it before you use the whole house attic fan if you are trying to save money. Often, it is actually cheaper to leave the conditioning system running and keep all of the windows closed and the house sealed even if it is a "comfortable temperature" outside. Only when the conditions outside are favorable for extending periods (weeks or months) may it make sense (cents) to turn off the conditioning system and open up the house.
Unfortunately, even with efficient passive cooling design, humdity control (which is required for a healthy living environment) in the south still demands active energy consuming cooling systems. This is our biggest obstacle to achieving a cost-effective ZEH in the southeast. Dry climates such as the southwest can have significantly lower costs for climate control, and can more readily take advantage of favorable ambient air temperatures which makes such climates more practical today for achieving a ZEH. Many areas of the southwest and the coastal regions also have abundant (and relatively cheap) wind energy and/or geothermal energy available. The southeast only has solar energy and that requires careful siting taking into consideration our obstructive rolling hills and forests.
With the rising hot air which exits out of the cupola and which holds higher moisture content than the cooler entering basement air, I will receive some passive humidity control, particularly in the summers. (Antebellum homes were not air tight and many were designed to pull cool (lower humidity) air from the crawlspace which would warm up and exit out of the attic cupola taking additional humidity with it. The high air infiltration and air exchange rates of these older homes thereby helped to control humidity and provided healthier interior air. Many an antebellum home has been ruined by insulating and sealing it in the name of energy efficiency. Many "modernized" antebellum homes have had to contend with rot, mold, and mildew caused by resulting higher interior moisture content.)
I'm hoping the new solar thermal recharged dessicant waterfall technology (University of Maryland research project) will advance sufficiently before I build to provide a commercial, near zero-energy solution to the humidity problems we face here in the southeast. With such a system, a ZEH would become almost as practical in the southeast as it can manage to be in the southwest. (Although we still don't have as many on-site energy production options as the southwest.)
I am considering pre-plumbing a PEX radiant heating system into my basement slab and into other floors as practical. Pouring a stamped concrete floor instead of using stone tiles may make the poured concrete flooring cost-beneficial to enable the radiant floor. My house design has plenty of south facing roof to enable solar thermal collectors to heat my radiant floor system. While heating loads aren't as critical as cooling loads in my climate, every bit of energy savings is a plus in a grid-tied home. Unfortunately, on-site energy production will still need to be sized for the controlling cooling loads in my climate, so additional heating load savings won't reduce the expense of on-site energy production needs.
My house will be rear southern facing with an 8:12 roof slope (ideal for solar collectors in my region). I will install a metal SIP roofing system with a 16" standing seam metal roof. I will pre-wire for photovoltaic panels, even though I won't install them at the time I build. Power here in the southeast is still among the cheapest in the nation and the payback isn't there for installing PV today. (In locations where windpower is available, wind energy can be surprisingly competitive. Unfortunately, we don't have adequate wind resources here.) However, with the roof at the proper slope and the house properly oriented to an open southern exposure, I can adhere a sufficient number of PV sheets to the standing seam metal roof in the future to handle most of my on-site electricity generation needs to someday make this a zero energy home. While the standing seam metal roof will cost more initially, it will have a lower life-cycle cost than most other roofing systems, and the relatively inexpensive future mounting of PV sheets versus expensive racks with heavy PV panels, makes it a wise upfront investment in my opinion.
Because my home will be so energy efficient in its design, the payback for super-high efficiency systems such as a geothermal heat pump and an energy recovery ventillator will be even longer than for a normal home design. I have yet to decide if the cost/benefit will be there over the life of the home. If I intend to someday make it a ZEH, then the resulting smaller on-site energy production costs will more than pay for the higher costs of such energy saving features.
One thing I am discovering is that General Contractors charge a premium for the "learning curve" for doing such non-traditional construction. Building such a home, being an Owner-Builder pays even bigger equity dividends than with typical construction. I am looking at using highly engineered, pre-manufactured systems that provide greater quality control and reduce on-site labor costs. I am considering Owner-Builder friendly technologies that simplify residential construction project management. So far, I like either TF Systems' vertical ICF or AllWAll Systems for my exterior walls. I like metal SIPs for the roof. These systems can be pre-assembled (and better quality controlled) in a warehouse and rapidly constructed on-site.
In certain states with significant government incentives for investing in renewable energy the homeowner's return on investment for a ZEH can at least come close to happening today (but this is via a government subsidy and not reflective of "true cost," but then again the "true cost" of our distributed energy is also government subsidized!). Unfortunately, my state has no incentives beyond the national incentives that may be expiring soon.
I know of several owner-builders on the OwnerBuilderBook.com website who have already built near ZEHs that could easily be converted to ZEHs once the payback is there for investing in on-site energy production. The OBB website also has a handful of owner-builders who built ZEH homes in off-grid sites where the "payback" and "practicality" of ZEH wasn't the biggest consideration. In their case, gaining access to distributed energy would have cost more than investing in on-site energy production.
So to summarize a very long comment... Yes, ZEHs are possible today. They are currently only practical in a few select environments. But it is immediately practical to build a house so that it can be converted to ZEH when the payback begins to make sense as energy prices continue to rise. Energy efficiency has payback today and makes future conversion to ZEH practical. (For every dollar spent in improving energy efficiency you save multiple dollars in the cost of on-site energy production needs.) Besides, energy efficiency is already environmentally preferable and has additional immediate indirect benefits for all mankind. But building such a home takes a personal commitment and a somewhat impractical learning curve and significant owner-builder involvement and oversight, unless you can afford to reduce your payback by paying a premium to have an expert do all of that for you. Unfortunately, the average architect and general contractor are not prepared to design and build such a home. I've had to do most of the research and design work myself. I couldn't afford to pay someone else to do it. It is understandable that not everyone would have the time or commitment to invest in learning such things the way I have. It has become my most time consuming hobby.
I hope to break ground within 18 months. I will be meeting with my architect in October. I will get a return on my initial investment immediately [a much higher appraisal than cost to build, a lower composite monthly expense (for mortgage, insurance, taxes, and utilities), a rising resale value as the energy efficiency is proved out with annual energy bills, and additionally the payback of an extremely healthy and comfortable home], and do not plan on adding PV to make it a ZEH until I am able to get a comparable return on that investment as well. So yes, I will see a return on investment from my house from the day I build it and I expect my ROI to continue to grow into the future.
Society needs to understand that more can be done to conserve energy via energy efficiency in our homes and buildings, than by energy efficiency in our cars! Energy efficient homes are a much smarter investment for consumers and for the environment than the much hyped hybrid and alternative fuel cars. Most greenhouse gas concerns are driven by increasing coal consumption which is largely for architectural energy use. The principle means available to solve the energy and climate crises is architectural energy efficiency. It's time we all stop building energy glutonous McMansions that will be unlivable within 50 years, and build for sustainability and energy efficiency.
regards,
Grant Whittle
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 9/5/2008 10:21:54 PM
An O-B, such as myself, who is financing a project through a construction loan should do everything possible to control labor costs. And even an O-B who out-of-pocket finances is subject to lost opportunity costs when they "waste" their own labor to save up-front material costs.
How much additional equity can you "create" with your own labor without having it eroded away by financed "time?" In contrast, how much equity can you "build" by managing the labor of others? There is a real reason why managers generally make higher salaries than laborers, and the reasons hold true for O-Bing as well. If you can "build" a comparable house in 6 months with hired labor and then immediately leverage the equity you have created to generate more wealth, versus taking 18 months to construct as a DIY laborer, can you ever really regain the lost opportunity cost of the extra 12 months?
Labor costs, hired or DIY, have embedded "time expenses" including additional financing costs (or lost opportunity costs), project management costs, mobilization/de-mobilization costs (including daily arrival and departure costs of construction workers). Labor costs also include an hourly percentage to cover payroll taxes, benefits, and insurance costs.
Furthermore, labor costs are also subject to the most uncontrolled "cost creep." Weather delays, supply/delivery delays, equipment breakdowns, difficulties controlling produtivity, etc. can cause labor costs to escalate. Labor "just-in-time" availability is also difficult to project manage. There are frequently "down days" that cost financing time as a result of labor unavailability. And perhaps most importantly, the "hired labor" requires additional inspection for quality control (and depending upon the DIYers skill level, so does DIYing).
I see value in "designing" my house to limit the influence of "labor" as much as I can. Comparatively, material costs are relatively fixed and will actually go down if you find an unexpected bargain. Controlling quality with pre-manufactured materials rather than relying upon on-site construction, also enhances construction quality assurance.
Unless a labor saving technology is outrageously expensive, the added material expense will generally pay significant dividends towards O-B equity. If the O-B is financing the project with a construction loan, then the added material costs will generally even be worth saving the DIYer's time. Time really is money when a project is being financed. In many cases, DIYing can cost you more than hiring a pro who can get it done faster and thereby save you all of the "hidden costs."
Where I am qualified to consider to DIYing the labor, I intend to balance saving direct material costs with saving the "hidden" time costs. Even if I am hiring laborers at a fixed project cost, it is frequently worth investing in materials that provide better quality control (particularly if it is a home you plan on keeping for many years, as is my case) and that reduce labor costs. A higher percentage of material costs will be reflected in the ultimate appraisal and homeowner equity, and higher-end materials and enhanced quality will only improve the appraisal. In contrast, the appraiser doesn't care if I paid less for labor or more for labor costs than someone else. They only care what "comparables" in the area cost to build.
Since a high percentage of labor costs are indirect expenses that don't directly improve the quality of the property (i.e. payroll taxes, insurance, mobilization/demobilization, daily travel, equipment depreciation, etc.), paying for labor doesn't get as high of an equity return as does paying for materials. Thus, when I have the option, in my opinion, quality materials are almost always a better investment than labor.
Whether it takes 6 months to build or 18 months to build, the time expenses are completely lost and do not reflect in the appraisal, but time expenses significantly erode homeowner equity. I want to "design" with materials that will allow me to build as fast as possible, get my COA, and rol-over into a permanent loan.
Thus, I am considering the following:
A FastFoot foundation from Fab-Form goes in faster with less waste material and higher quality control. Relatively unskilled labor can properly prepare the fabric forms. For any structural columns I would also consider using their fabric forms for columns.
Alternative envelope construction technologies frequently improve quality and reduce labor costs. Where non-specialized labor can be used to construct these alternative envelopes, the labor savings frequently re-coup the increased material costs. Where these alternative envelope technologies are more energy efficient, the monthly cost of ownership (mortgage, insurance, taxes, and utilities) of such a home is generally significantly lower than a traditional "stick built" envelope. SIPS are definitely a viable technology. However, I am wanting to achieve the thermal mass effect in my wall system, therefore, I am considering AllWalls, ICF, and Omnicrete. Some ICFs are more user friendly (require less skilled labor and less technical oversight) than others. As far as ICF's go, I like what I've seen with the BuildBlock method and the TF "vertical" ICF method. The vertical ICFs provide standard vertical attachment beams to make other subsequent trade work more "standard." I believe this is likely a HUGE advantage in dealing with a smaller learning curve for sub-contractors.
I also think the AllWall System is well engineered and should be very user friendly. I like the more "accessible" thermal mass on the interior. I am a bit concerned regarding the difficulty of retrofitting AllWall in the future. ICF's can have conduits and wires embedded in the foam insulation at any time in the future. AllWall requires pre-installation inside the wall prior to pouring the concrete. This means investing in a comprehensive wiring conduit system to enable easy future upgradeability of wiring. And heaven forbid everything wasn't right before the concrete poured. With AllWall I'm afraid that fixing a mistake won't be easy after the pour! As a newbie O-B, I'm a bit too afraid of missing details and having to correct mistakes.
Pre-manufactured i-joists make sense to me, because they save considerable time and greatly enhance quality control. Look for i-joists with trimmable ends and which will be easy to put in mechanical, electrical, and plumbing.
Whereas I am likely to pour a concrete wall, pouring a concrete roof is exceptionally expensive. Instead, I am looking at metal SIPs for the roof. The metal SIPs are light weight thereby reducing labor and equipment requirements (and injury risk) for hoisting them up to my very high roof. Additionally, the metal SIPs are sufficiently structural to form a cathedral ceiling making finishing my attic much easier. Although not a beautiful finish, the metal SIPs need no additional finish on the ceiling. This means the metal SIPS can provide a cathedral porch ceiling with no additional finishing expense required. Unless I want to add additional insulative value, I may not even sheetrock the ceilings in the attic, as these will not be primary living space (grandkids playroom and grandkid guest bedrooms), nor will the finish have as much impact on my appraisal value since I won't be finishing the attic as part of my mortgage anyway.
The biggest key is, the metal SIP roof will go up fast allowing quick dry-in and significantly reducing on-site labor costs, weather delays, etc. The metal SIP roofs are also wind rated comparable to my walls. Research i currently underway to determine the most secure method of connecting a SIP roof to an ICF wall. By the time I'm ready to build the academic consensus should be in. With the roof and the walls fire and storm rated, I will achieve additional savings on my homeowner's insurance. With the higher insulative value of the metal SIP cathedral roof, I will also achieve reduced energy bills.
I haven't done the cost/benefit analysis yet, but I am likewise intrigued with SpeedFloors. It seems like a very efficient way of pouring a suspended concrete floor. I'd love to install a speedfloor above my basement. I definitely want thermal mass flooring in the southern half of the first floor and on the southern (rear) porch/solarium. (I intend to use cork flooring in the kitchen and bamboo flooring in the dining room, foyer, and parlor.) Stained and stamped concrete might be a suitable alternative to a stone floor. Saving the cost of the installation of the stone floor and the flooring on the wrap-around front porch may make the cost of the SpeedFloor make sense. As an added bonus, I can pre-plumb the SpeedFloor for a PEX radiant floor heating system. Regardless, the significant thermal mass across the whole first floor will help stabilize temperatures in the home and reduce the maximum cooling and heating loads for the house.
Few O-B's can frame as fast, as efficient, and as plumb, square, and flush as a professional framing crew. This is one of those areas where it almost always seems to make sense to bring in a professional framing sub with a large and fast crew. I have a brother-in-law who used to supervise framing crews at a pre-manufactured home facility, but despite the expertise among friends and relatives, I will probably still hire a sub to mobilize more people and get this time consuming job done faster. The framing sub can generally also hang and properly seal the windows and exterior doors. It is critical to ensure that the envelope is properly sealed. If you are not an expert in hanging windows and doors, this is not a DIY project. Too much risk to the house health and integrity if improperly installed and leaking. Pre-hung windows and doors provide manufacturer quality assurance and faster installation. IMO, this is worth the money! Provide extra special attention to the quality control of the framing. All subsequent finish work will be more time consuming and expensive if the framing crew does a lousy job. Also, framing that is not flush can cause seam cracks in the surface finish over time causing a lifetime maintenance hassles.
For those financing their build with a construction loan, getting to "dry-in" allows a significant "draw" to occur. The roof, walls, windows, and doors are a HUGE percentage of the house value. Quickly "drying in" reduces weather delays and the significant risks caused by moisture entrapment in the home. You want to get to "dry-in" as quickly as possible.
For this reason, as well, I will hire professional crews to QUICKLY put on my roof, and to install my windows and doors. While a DIY O-B can stack ICF blocks themselves over a period of time, hiring laborers to get it done faster saves numerous hidden costs. One of the reasons I like the TF vertical ICFs and the AllWalls is that I can use laborers to pre-fab the walls with the window and door cut-outs in a warehouse, if I so choose, and not be subject to weather delays or excessive moisture exposure prior to dry-in. Instead I can efficiently pre-fab the panels at our equipment shop (without extra men standing around waiting to do their part), assemble quickly on-site, pour the walls, and then quickly put on the metal SIP roof and install the doors and windows. Dry-in is achieved quickly and the suppliers and subs are able to be paid quickly and kept happy. Furthermore, the time of the construction loan is significantly reduced saving me equity eroding interest!
So far, this plan sounds exceptionally logical to me. Maybe as I continue to research I find compelling reasons to do it differently...
I haven't done the cost/benefit analysis yet, but I am likewise intrigued with SpeedFloors. It seems like a very efficient way of pouring a suspended concrete floor. I'd love to install a SpeedFloor above my basement. I want thermal mass flooring in the southern half of the first floor and on the southern (rear) porch/solarium. Stained and stamped concrete might be a suitable alternative to a stone floor, if my wife agrees. Saving the cost of the installation of the stone floor and the flooring on the wrap-around front porch (which also must serve as the roof for part of the basement) may make the SpeedFloor cost make sense. As an added bonus, I can choose to pre-plumb the speedfloor for a PEX radiant floor heating system.
Plumbing labor costs are VERY EXPENSIVE. This is one area where DIY frequently makes sense. PEX manifold plumbing systems are exceptionally DIY friendly and go in very quickly. A significant savings can be achieved by an O-B DIY over a weekend without slowing down other trades and creating "hidden costs." The drain traps, drain pipes, back-flow prevention, and drain vents will still need to be installed the "old fashioned way" with PVC pipes and fittings. This is a little more complex for the DIYer because slopes and angles are critical and fittings must be properly sealed. Although I know "how" to do these things, I will hire in the drainage plumbing work, because a professional can install it so much faster than me and without having to constantly double check every detail of code complaince regarding the layout of the pipes.
As long as an O-B is installing a PEX manifold water system and pouring concrete anyway, consider the relatively minimal added expense of putting in PEX tubing for a radiant heat system in the poured concrete floors. As I see it, the PEX tubing is not that expensive to pre-plumb, even if I don't plan on installing a functional radiant system at the time of construction. Radiant hydronic heat can be exceptionally energy efficient and even "fueled" by solar thermal systems. It may not make sense (cents) for the whole house, but why not at least pre-plumb the basement slab? If I do my first floor with SpeedFloor then I will probably also pre-plumb the first floor and solarium with PEX radiant tubing. I'd love to also install PEX radiant in my Master Bathroom, but may settle for an electrical radiant supplemental heat system, if the SpeedFloor cost doesn't make sense on the second floor.
Hanging electrical boxes and pulling wire can also be done by a DIY O-B over a weekend without slowing down other trades and creating "hidden costs." Grunt labor can be hired to assist as needed, and can also help pre-connect simple outlets and single pole switches. DIYing will enable better placement of outlets and fixtures to suit our needs and will make putting in excessive outlet convenience affordable. I will bring in a skilled electrical tradesman as needed to double check the work and to make more complex electrical connections. I just don't want to pay an electrician to pull wires, drill holes, and use a screwdriver! Their time is too valuable for that.
That's enough of my musings for tonight...
regards,
Grant
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 9/1/2008 10:24:44 PM
Bad news! I went out to my property for the first time in a month to show a visiting friend my Indian Marker Tree.
Unfortunately, sometime since last month, the tree has succumbed to its own weight, split at the 45 degree angle where it goes skyward, and died. I guess I'm going to get to count the rings and find out exactly how old this tree really was, but it is unfortunately lost to posterity.
Now, I'm not half as excited about building on this property one day. I am REALLY going to miss this tree!
regards,
Grant
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 8/11/2008 1:14:52 PM
I finally managed to scan in the picture of the house that inspired me. Just in time too. As you can see, the picture won't survive much more abuse from my grandchildren...
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| The inspiration for my Dream House |
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 8/8/2008 4:51:40 PM
I'm attaching a Google Earth image of my land and the surrounding neighborhood.
I have the 2 empty lots at the end of the circle visible in the bottom right corner of the picture.
regards,
Grant
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| My 3 acres |
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| The Lots |
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 8/3/2008
Walk-Out Basement
The Walk-Out basement will eventually be the social center of the house.
The basement will have a 2 car garage with counter space for projects such as gift wrapping and bulk food storage preparation.
The food storage room will be surrounded with shelves and will have a dumb waiter that transports food to the kitchen area.
In the northwest corner of the basement, I will eventually build a home theater. There will be a basement egress window up to the western yard of the house.
I will have two bedrooms in the basement each with a fireplace sharing the same chimney as the breakfast nook, and masterbath fireplaces.
I may put a basement egress window in the western bedroom , whether or not code requires it with such easy access to the walk-out basement area. (With a walk-out basement are egress windows required for bedrooms??? I wouldn't think so from other houses I've lived in that had walk-out basements, but codes may have become more strict in recent years.)
During initial construction I will finish at least the basement bathroom that has an external door, so as to provide a bathroom for visitors. I will pre-plumb/ pre-wire for the second bathroom. I will pre-plumb/pre-wire for the basement kitchen/bar, but will wait until later to finish.
The downstairs family room will be large and wide open prior to adding the future kitchen. I'll leave it like a garage when we first build but will eventually finish, paint, and make it a nice room. With the garage door opening to the pool patio, the inside and outside should be married very well for parties and family gatherings.
I hope to be able to budget to build the pool, the waterfall, and the sunken outdoor kitchen during the initial construction, but we will see how much money I can save up prior to building... I don't want to have such a large mortgage payment that we become financially strapped! And I'd rather wait and do it right if need be.
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| BAsement Draft Concept |
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| Basement Draft Concept (cropped) |
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Posted to SouthernEcoHome by Grant in Jacksonville, AL
on 8/3/2008
Third Floor.
The Third Floor may not be finished at the time of construction. I need to determine whether it is more affordable to finish bedrooms and bathrooms in the basement or the attic. With the complex angles of the ceilings in the attic, the basement should be cheaper. Besides, I may construct most of the basement walls from AllWalls which would make wall finishing quite inexpensive in the basement.
I will close in the various rooms and finish the hall and the belvedere balcony.
At any rate, I will rough out and pre-wire and pre-plumb the rest of the attic for easy finishing later.
I need enough bedrooms and bathrooms finished at the time of the certificate of occupancy that I can get an appraisal higher than my mortgage requirements to avoid PMI. But to keep my taxes as low as possible, I don't want to finish additional rooms until AFTER my tax appraisal. I figure I'll get my tax appraisal, move in, and then finish additional rooms with sweat equity. After I've done all I can afford to ultimately make mortgage |