Numbers

I recently gave a presentation to the Super Insulation class at Yestermorrow Design/Build School about building and living in our house. This presented a convenient opportunity for me to take stock of the building process, consider our experience living in the house so far, and to put together some performance numbers. We've been in the house just under two years and have established a track record for firewood consumption and are starting to get some reliable numbers on our propane and electric costs.

When our home was completed Efficiency Vermont (the state energy conservation organization) tested and evaluated our house for energy performance and determined a HERS number, which was presented as a part of their evaluation. HERS stands for Home Energy Rating System and is the standard methodology for comparing performance across buildings and regions. Many factors go into the rating system, including air-tightness, window performance, efficiency of the appliances, lighting and heating systems, as well as design specs like insulation R-Values and so on. The rating is adjusted for climatic conditions in a given location.

This is a generic chart showing the HERS rating scale. The "This Home 65" has nothing to do with our home.

In the above chart, 100 equals the energy use of a new home built to conventional standards in 2006. This is used as a base line by which to evaluate the spectrum of performance across buildings.  A rating of zero means the house requires no energy at all, while a rating over 100 means the house is sub-par in relation to current norms.

Our home earned a HERS rating of 38, which is a "5 star +" in the star rating shown below.  The scale somewhat curiously goes from 1-5 stars and then has a + category.  (Maybe they needed to add a new category as more efficient homes are being built -- I don't know.)

The HERS rating laid out estimated energy use predictions for our home as follows (calculated in 2011):  

             26.6 MMBtu heat  $990

             10.1 MMBtu hot water  $375

             17.9 MMBtu lights & appliances  $704

             HERS estimated annual energy cost:   $2,188

Based on our actual usage, these are our costs:

           $100-$150/yr firewood

           $750 propane hot water/cooking

           $768 electric

           Our actual annual energy cost:   $1,668

In the nearly two years we've been living in the house, we have only heated by wood. There is the radiant system in place should we ever choose to use it, but for now we like heating by wood; it's easy and feels good.

Although we know from experience that our heating expenses are tiny, it is useful to see them laid out together with the other home energy requirements. We plumbed the house in preparation for installing a solar hot water system, and seeing these numbers is a good motivator for costing out the completion of that project. It would feel good to bring the hot water energy numbers down. 

Venting issues

See that white thing just above the back object? That is the boiler vent. The object just above that is the water spigot, and if you look up toward the corner along the same wall you can see the woodstove air intake. Still buried is the intake/exhaust for the HRV unit. I was able to stand on the snow and easily touch the roof

Our car. We got a near record amount of snow for a March storm

This morning we were awoke by the not-quite-full-on smoke alarm signaling intermittently. Not smelling smoke we quickly opened the doors and a bunch of windows in case it was a CO alarm, which it actually seems to have been.

We quickly ascertained that the boiler vent had been covered over by the prodigious snowstorm we experienced last night and today. The boiler is able to detect when the vent is blocked and will shut itself down which would prevent an accumulation of CO.

I suited up and went out to shovel the vent out. The amount of snow covering this thing was stunning. What was curious was the fact there seemed to be a bit of a bubble, for lack of a better way to describe it, around the vent. In other words there was a non-snow space that I shoveled into when I got near the vent pipe. What this makes me think is that the heat of the boiler vent gas was kind of creating its own little pocket under the snow and perhaps this was the reason the boiler seems to have not actually shut down, hence the CO alarm.

With the vent cleared and the house thoroughly aired out we shut the doors and windows and felt okay about the situation. It was a bit later that it occurred to me to check the HRV air supply duct as well. Like the boiler vent, it was also burried, and like the boiler vent it seemed to have it's own little air-space pocket in the snow once I reached it. Like the boiler vent it is venting warm-t0-hot air, so it makes sense.

We take this stuff absolutely seriously; I was aware of these potential problems when the installation work was done, but I got a bit of resistance and didn't push further about locating the venting higher up. I wish I had. The task now is to correct it.

To that end I'd already put in a call last week to the plumber about the situation, so we are going to correct it. On the upside, we are grateful for the alarm system and glad it works.

Chilaxing

Sunday Times by the woodstove after a ski

The gang chilaxing

Our first official meal. Hooray!

This weekend we had the privilege and the pleasure of hosting our first house guests in our "new" house, and it was a terrific experience.

Michael, Anu, and Scott arrived late Saturday morning for a lunch before we all headed out on either a back-country ski or a walk. The weather has been blustery and cold and after a few hours out, coming back from the surrounding hills we found house was as welcoming and warm as we could ever dream. A small fire in the woodstove and warm-up shower thoroughly defrosted as needed.

Anu cooked us an excellent Indian diner and the kitchen served us well. There's still lots of organizing and such to get in place, but the basic experience is solid.

In a really neat twist of fate, Michael and Anu were some of our first guests when we moved into the yurt almost eight years ago. We were glad to have them here again celebrating with us.

This week I'll continue working on the various small projects required polish things off for the final inspection from the appraiser. This includes a shelving unit in the kitchen, some finish work over the stairs, a cap on the railing and some trim work around the t.p. holder/storage cubbies in the bathrooms. Oh yes, also I'll be working on light fixtures.

Keepin' warm

Sunlight on cabinets

The stair railing

The thermostat control

Today we decided to turn our thermometer down to 50 degrees--effectively turning the heat off. It's been in the back of our minds to do this for a while but with our efforts concentrated on just getting the house done it's been easier to let the boiler/radiant system keep the place warm. With the wood stove hooked up and a little more available attention to spend on our wood supply and lighting a fire as needed we thought we'd nuke the back-up heat and see what happens. Mind you it's been unseasonably warm the last couple of days, but it's supposed to cool back down again tomorrow and stay that way for a while. I'm fascinated to see how the house performs.

I got the railing mostly built today. There are some odds and ends to finish up and the whole thing needs a finish railing cap to top it off, but it came out pretty well. To do it again I might make the triplets of balusters a little closer together to accentuate the groupings, but basically I'm happy with it. Moreover, it's great to have a railing in place to do it's job of keep us safe.

Signs of domesticity

I completed the countertops today and that pretty much finishes off the kitchen for the time being. Phew! In a matter of hours Nancy and I were slicing up hors d'oeuvres and making diner in our fancy new kitchen. It feels so good. After dinner I loaded the dishwasher and cleaned up while Nance made a little fire in the woodstove and we shared a little Valentine's Day treat for dessert while we got all sleepy from the fire. We are feeling a lot of gratitude for such a comfortable home.

I'll be working on the stair railing tomorrow.

...and we continue on...

The very first fire in the woodstove

Nancy doing some more of the painting following Adam having completed the trim inside the bathroom

The appliances sitting in place in the kitchen. The stove and the fridge are soon to follow, although nothing is actually hooked up yet, I just need them there so I can install the trim to match up correctly

This section cabinetry is very close to complete. A few more vertical trim pieces, fit the drawer fronts and that'll be it. Oh yes, we'll need knobs and pulls.

We've been making steady progress. Adam has been working through all sorts of trim-out projects that includes all the doors downstairs, a couple of doorways upstairs, a single step down into the guest room and coming up in the next couple of days the finish work on the the main stairway from first to second. Nancy patiently did a super nice job finishing and sanding the stair treads five times over. They look great. Also, I think its fair to say that the painting is all done. There'll be some touch-ups here and there, but all the significant stuff, and most of the insignificant stuff is now done.

I've been continuing on the cabinets and am almost ready to start on the counter tops. In fact, my plan is to go get the material tomorrow and begin fabrication later this week. I'm feeling quite happy with how the whole cabinetry project is developing; as I've said before, this is new and fussy territory for me, so it is satisfying to see it work out well.

Oh yes, we've started lighting fires in the woodstove and it is just great. It's quiet, beautiful and puts out nice heat. We had to carefully light a series of small fires that "season" the stone and burn off the fumes from the new stovepipe and stove enamel. It's wicked cozy. Last night the temperature got down to around -16 below zero, so it feels good to have the stove going. Even with the cold it just feels good to be in the house. The experience of this whole super-insulation thing so far is just an even, comfortable, and stable environment.

Dedicated Air

Air to supply the woodstove comes in through this duct hood...

...then passes under the first floor and up to the woodstove...

...then into a little add-on air-supply box under the woostove where the stove draws it's air. Once combusted, the fumes travel up the stove pipe...

...into the insulated pipe in the second floor living space and up through the roof...

...and back out to the great outdoors, having never mixed with the interior air

A key element required of a super-tight super-insulated house is insuring a dedicated air supply to all combustion. Likewise all combustion needs to have a dedicated vent route, also isolated from the interior air.

Two examples of this principal are the propane boiler in the basement which has a short in-and-out combustion air supply and the woodstove on the first floor. The woodstove, unlike the boiler, is located in the middle of the house so there is a good measure of ducting running from the outside supply hood to the woodstove and then exhausting from the wood stove up the stovepipe to the insulated stovepipe and through the roof. I've been quite careful to make sure the whole run is tightly sealed so that the woodstove is only pulling air from outside and only venting to the outside. I don't want any leaks.

The not-really-resolved aspect of this equation is the propane-fueled gas stove-top range. The air supply is the ambient household air, and the venting, such as it is, will be a hood mounted over the stove top. This will all work okay, but it isn't ideal. If we run the hood, we'll need to open a window or door to allow air in so as not to create a negative air pressure in the house which could then result in a back draft in the woodstove. We have carbon monoxide detectors on both floors even though they are not required by code since there will be a small amount emitted by the stove.

Cabinet drawers

The drawers, in parts

First door mounted

The drawers assembled

I spent the latter part of last week shaping and building the cabinet drawers, seven of them in all. I also worked on coming up with a jig to facilitate the orderly mounting of the cabinet doors to the cabinets. This took some careful planning and a practice run or two, but my first try on the actual door worked quite well. Its worth taking some time because once you start drilling mounting holes and such it is hard to relocate that hole over ever-so-slightly if it's not quite where you want it.

Over the weekend Nancy has spent a bunch of time sanding all the cabinet drawers and doors and together we are putting the final pieces in place to complete the installation of the woodstove. It was slightly challenging, but everything is where it needs to be and with a few more odds and ends to do we'll be able to fire it up.

Sealing the Slate

Nance applying the slate sealant

Something of a before-and-after view showing the effect of the sealant

The woodstove and the sawhorse table are approximating the actual location of our dining room table and the position of the stove

With a great day off to celebrate Christmas and enjoy some great time with family and friends (including a surprise visit from Joe), we were back at it today.

We spent a bunch of time cleaning up and working out the precise location of the woodstove and then worked on a pattern for the slate that will go underneath the stove. We also mapped out the slate plan for the west door entrance.

Our main hands on work today was sealing the slate with some mystical milk-like sealing stuff that needs to go on before we grout the floor. If we didn't seal the stone first, the grout would adhere to it and we'd be in deep trouble. This sealant will allow us to wipe the extra grout off the floor and leave it looking like it should.

It's been fun doing projects with Nance. Our need to be done is pressing and Joe is doing other things, so she's been spending even more time than she already was helping to get things done.

Light and Stone

Frosted blue Mason Jar light. We envisioned this as a possibility for the garden end/west wall door way exterior lights

The stools and table caught our attention in addition to all the amazing lamps

We were inspired to maybe do a series of insulator lamps that would hang over the dining room table at varying heights

Today was an adventure in the world of stone and illumination.

First off we went wandered around the sales yard of a stone retailer envisioning possibilities that would serve as a hearth under the woodstove and firewood storage. It was a lot of work trying to balance the variables of color, texture, and size. In the end we selected two 30" x 30" stones that seem good but we're pretty sure the bluestone color is not quite what we want. Luckily they are returnable. We narrowed down the options, which is a start.

With stone pieces in the car I asked Nance is we "had the marital strength to go to a lighting store" knowing we'd be faced with another big round of decisions that could prove to be stressful. We decided our marriage could handle it and headed north up route 7 to a general service lighting store which we found a bit overwhelming but informative for dipping our toes into the choices we need to make.

Having not made any firm commitments at the first store we headed up to Conant Metal and Light in Burlington, where we immediately felt inspired and at home. After a few hours of imagining possibilities we left feeling like we could envision the road forward, if not the light at the end of the tunnel. I also left feeling confident that I could make a bunch of our light fixtures and plan to start ordering parts to start piecing together ideas.

Trip to Bristol

The lumber stacks

Our load of maple being loaded onto the feed table to the planer

The planer

The lumber then being run through the table saw edger and onto the feed table from which I loaded the lumber onto the trailer

Night view of the house with moonlight

Today I made a journey over the spine of the green mountains with my trailer in tow to pick up the next load of maple for our window trim project.

Purchasing lumber can in fact be pretty stressful because you need to be clear on how you are going to achieve the finished product from the rough form the lumber is available in. Its a bit like reductive sculpture where you take away the layers to reveal the completed work.

Despite the stress, I enjoy the trip to the lumber yard and appreciate the latent beauty of the materials found within the confines of a drab industrial setting.

Once I've selected my lumber, Jody the guy who I deal with at the yard comes and picks up the pile with a fork lift and drives it over to a massive industrial planer that can plane massive amounts of hard maple in seconds. It is an astounding machine. What's cooler is that I get to help in the process by unloading on the outfeed table. From the planer the wood gets driven over to an industrial scale table saw that holds and edges the board in quick order.

Having the planing and edging done at the yard saves us massive amounts of time doing the same work here, so it is well worth the nominal charge.

More stress comes into play when I load this large pile of lumber on to the trailer and strap it all down. Though I've never had a mishap in all my many journey's carrying lumber atop my car or lately on the trailer, I still take it quite seriously and am somewhat anxious until I arrive back home.

I also made an abortive attempt to select some slate or bluestone slabs for a hearth to put under the woodstove but gave up just when I thought I'd selected the right ones. I was plagued by concerns about a few variables that I didn't quite have a handle on, so I punted and decided I'd go back with Nancy, hopefully this weekend.

Making Decisions

Checking out dishwashers. We happened to purchase the second one in from the end...

...after we discovered that this "last one" had been sold while we were in the store.
We were indecisive about going with the black look versus the stainless look.

Today was spent trying to decided on which of the major home appliances we want to purchase for the house. This includes the range, the dishwasher, the washing machine, the woodstove, the light fixtures, and the plumbing fixtures. There's a lot of stuff to make decisions on and there are always the factors of cost, features, aesthetics and technical appropriateness.

Our first stop brought us to Bouchard-Pierce in Barre, a supplier of home appliances. We were impressed with the way the salesman's information actually informed our choices. Sometimes the choices are mostly surface deep, sometimes not. In the end we left having purchased a Bosch dishwasher that was on sale (thank you very much Dad and Tia Maria!) and feeling pretty well equipped to make further decisions. That said, there is something a little bewildering and humbling when one finds one's self faced with an array of similar but incrementally different objects that you are going to live with for a long time.

Taking a look at kitchen cabinets

We became a bit stumped with making a decision about cooking ranges. As the kitchen is currently designed, we have a window over the stove. This means having a backsplash control panel will not work and need to find a suitable slide-in unit with controls on the front of the stove. We have to do more looking.

Our future woodstove?

After an informative but non-conclusive stop at the lighting store, we ventured to the woodstove store to make arrangements to purchase a stove we'd already researched and decided on. This was going to be easy, or so we thought. The size of our stove is a major consideration and needs to be really small. Additionally it needs to be equipped with an outside air supply for combustion. It turns out that the stove we'd thought we were going to get was super tiny and we just couldn't get our heads around this being our future woodstove. Beyond that, this particular stove comes with a dubious "fresh air kit" that is not a dedicated supply. That killed the deal.

We then sorted through the other options and are now leaning towards a Hearthstone model, made in Vermont.

We left the stove store and called it a day. There's lots more to do and we're almost doing research as much as buying at this point.

Oh yeah, Vermont is holding a "tax holiday" on March 6th, so we're trying to line up our purchases for that date. It great this is happening because it's disciplining us to make these decisions.

Climbing the stairway...

Today I spent the day getting to work on the stairs. I've held off for a long time because I wanted some time to think about what they would look like. At this point I want have a few projects going because I need to be able to switch around in case I get held up with any one effort.

I started off the day close to the woodstove doing some calculating and drawing. I'd like to get the stairs right first time around, so it pays to take the time and be careful.

There will be a landing a little over halfway up the stairs, so once I'd determined the height of the platform, I set about building it. That pretty much took the rest of the day, but before I quit I removed the temporary plywood flooring over the opening, which was very exciting. We get to see and feel what this is going to be like in the house, and I have to report that its good.

One thing I've sort of known for a while but confirmed today is that I'll have to lower the window at the landing. Since I knew it was coming, I'm not bummed, but it'll be some work.

All in all a good day's work. Maybe some actual stairs tomorrow.

Installing boxes

Today involved installing electrical boxes where I'd located the marks throughout the house. These are the housing for the outlets, switches and lights that will eventually inhabit them.

The boxes that are mounted on an exterior wall come with a rubber flange that helps to seal the connection between the electrical box and the sheetrock that will eventually be installed around it. This is an infamous point of entry for air infiltration and I think I might still try to get a little caulking in around this connection if it doesn't seem like its going to snug up.

The blue boxes are located within the house, so do not require the rubber flange.

Whats becoming apparent is that we need to make decisions about things that we haven't dealt with yet, such as what fixture do we want to have in the bathroom over the mirror? There's a million details like this and its a little overwhelming. Any eager interior designers out there?

Slightly off topic: I figured out today that by placing my stainless steel coffee cup on the woodstove I could reheat or keep my coffee warm. Also had a brief and friendly visit from two women who wanted to introduce me to the lord. I let them know that I'd already made his acquaintance in my own way and so no introduction was needed.

Root Cellar

Today we wrapped up a couple of day's work with me building the door and Joe building the shelves for the root cellar. Previous to this we insulated the shared walls between the basement and the root cellar to isolate the warmth of the basement, such as it is, from the root cellar.

I'm quite happy with the both the door and the shelves. My inspiration for the door was the typical design of a walk-in refrigeration unit such as you'd see in the back rooms of a restaurant or supermarket. They are big insulated doors which have a really wide flange around the perimeter of the door that mates with the outside wall when the door is closed. We installed the door and it worked smoothly; when you are in the root cellar you see nary an inkling of light, so it seems to seal pretty well. With a couple more tweaks it'll be just right.

Joe's shelves are beautifully crafted,industrial strength, and sized nicely for the various canned goods we will be storing. At this point we have shelves on two sides of the root cellar with room for more should we decide at some point we need more storage space.

I'll build a sliding latch for the door at some point, but for now I'm just glad we have a functioning root cellar that allows us to finally store our various goods such as saurkraut, olives, canned tomatoes, ketchups, chutneys, carrots, beets, cabbage, potatoes, celariac, and many other goodies. It is a treat to finally have the root cellar in operation. The temperature in there this evening was 37 degrees. The temperature outside is hovering just around zero. Fun.

Oh yes, we also put in the door on the west end of the house facing the garden. It looks great with the funky green color we've chosen and it sure beats the plastic tarp we were getting by with.

The wood stove has proved to be a godsend. With very low temperatures it makes working in the house bearable, if not quite pleasant if we get it really fired up.

Upcoming: The electrical panel goes in; the roofers come to install the standing seam roof; Joe and I begin building in our secondary perimeter walls along the inside of the house.

Stay tuned...