Starting anew - what would you do?

 

After my question regarding a hot water heating system, I'm wondering:
If you were building a new home for 4, with perhaps a $150,000 - 200K budget
(materials and subs, not primary labor), what would you build?  How would
you heat/cool it?  Given a good well, with water at ground level, how would
you draw this water and pressurize it to a sufficient level?  And how would
you heat this water?  Greywater system . . roof catchment, etc?
I'm hoping to hear about what works for you and the things that seemed like
a good idea but you would never do again.
In my own situation, we live in central NC.  No hydro power, 2 m/s wind
maybe, lots of sunshine.  Biodiesel is local.  I would love to be off-grid
but at the same time, don't really want to be the only house in the
community with power when the grid goes down.  The community is 15
households on 64 acres (http://www.bhfarm.org/ ) slowly working towards
sustainability.
I look forward to reading your responses.
Hannah

 



Well, I don't have anything like that for budget, but have been pecking
away at my project for a few years, and learned a few things.

I chose to go with 8" Structural Insulated Panels for walls - I'd do
that again. R34 or so, and the walls for a 2-story 24x48 building went
up in 5 days (with another 5 building the floor, on top of the first
floor before the second floor went up) with a volunteer crew. Would be
faster with well-equipped subcontractors, we were doing it with staging
that had to be set up and moved by hand for the second floor walls.

If doing it again, I'd skip the second floor and cover more ground,
because the height and staging really slow things down once it's back to
the one-man labor force and the "barn-raising labor pool" has gone away.
Also, a fall from this roof will probably kill me, and a fall from a
lower roof probably would not. Stairs and access to stairs eat a lot of
space under the roof without being space you can live in.

I got lazy and went with the fact that one can get away with not knowing
where and what size the windows are when erecting SIP walls, as you can
just cut the holes later. I did this because I had a hard time finding
windows to suit me, and eventually went with windows that don't,
exactly. I would not repeat this - would have been faster and easier to
cut the window holes before erection. Some SIP companies will provide
all the panels fully pre-cut (then the foundation needs to be very
precisely correct) - might be worth doing, I just had problems with the
local vendor who does it that way, and the other local vendor I went
with does not offer that service.

I wanted to go with a standing seam metal roof, but could not afford it
at the time I needed a roof - figure I might be able to when this one
gets replaced - on your budget, you can. They last a long time.

I went with exposed rafter (truss top chord) tails. In hindsight, this
has made a lot more work than enclosing them in the typical eaves
fashion would have.

I went with large eaves and gables - two feet all the way around. This
provides a lot of protection to the walls, even though it adds to the
job of roof framing. It's worth it, and could even be larger. I also
made sure to use hurricane ties, etc - obviously you need them if they
are local code, but even if they are not, they are cheap and easy to
install when building, and add extra security to the building for chump
change.

Where you are, cooling is a "need" - where I am it's very much an
option. With the walls as well insulated as they are, the first floor
stays very nice even on hot days. The second floor gets roasting, but
that's because I have not yet insulated the trussed roof (I am a one-man
building crew at present, and I'm slow - plus, subs worth hiring are
hard as heck to find) - I did not choose to go with SIP roof on this
structure, primarily due to cost considerations - you probably could
with that budget.

I'd look long and hard at ground source heat pumps in your area. I'm
looking at some solar and diesel, with the diesel being water-cooled and
feeding radiant floor and hot water heating in a co-generation setup to
get more use from the same fuel. On sunny days there will also be solar
input for hot water and floor heat.

I've got no idea what's "suggested" for insulation in your area, but as
I see it, better than suggested costs more up front, but saves for the
life of the building - makes no sense for spec builders, who will always
skimp, but for a builder who intends to own the building for along time,
doing it well in the beginning is worth it in the long run.

Details matter, so you want to be careful about leaving them to subs - a
sloppy job sealing around windows, for instance, can put a big hole in
your insulation, and/or rot your walls out with water infiltration.
Insulating foundations on the outside is a pain, but brings the mass of
the foundation into the building envelope. Putting drainage in around
foundations is trivial while the foundation hole is open, and
prohibitively expensive once the foundation hole is filled in again.

I cannot yet offer any useful comments on solar heating, hot water, etc,
as I have not bought them, though they are planned for. I can say that
if you pour any concrete floors, it's worthwhile to reinforce them extra
well (buy and place more steel than the minimum, and get fibered
concrete as well), insulate & vapor-barrier them, and put in radiant
heat tubing, even if you think you won't be heating that area when you
build it - very cheap to do when building, impossibly expensive to do
later.

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

 



     Thanks for that good write-up "Ecnerwal".

     There are some relatively new code considerations for windows.  Even if
they do not yet apply in your area, they could bite you in the ass in the future
if you don't think of them now.  The first is "egress".  Many areas are
requiring at least one window in each room (with some exceptions) to be at least
some arbitrary size and minimum height over the floor to allow for easy egress
from the structure.  This usually means that you have to use "slider" windows
unless you have very tall window openings.  Another is storm resistance
requirements in the southeast.  You must either have windows of "impact"
strength, or have conforming storm shutters.

     Even though existing structures are typically grandfathered for new codes,
you can run into problems if you wish to add additions or other improvements, or
(as is happening here in Florida) a new buyer may get scared away when he/she
discoverers that it is hard and expensive to insure the non-conforming house.

     I just replaced the 50-year-old windows in my typical 3-2 home with storm
impact-rated units.  The cost was nearly $20,000!  I went with sliders on the
front and rear of the structure to comply with the egress requirements, and sash
units on the side walls so I could keep my window units (we often use one-room
cooling rather than cooling the entire house with central air).

Vaughn

 

 



windows

Casements can also meet the (national, anyway - local may vary) egress
codes. A nominal 29Wx43H casement window is the minimum (national)
egress size, at least from the window vendor I ended up with. Sill
height is actually a maximum (44 inches), so that you can expect to get
over it and out of the room - the minimum sill height is for whether or
not you need tempered glass (you do if the sill is less than 18" above
the floor) You can fit through a smaller window, but a firefighter with
air-pac on being able to get in and rescue people is (to my
understanding) the intention of the egress size. I happen to like
casements .vs. sash (double-hung) types. If I opt to put in a room air
conditioner, I'll probably cut it a dedicated hole in the wall (or try
and track down an afforable split system, and just have to drill one or
two small holes).

Speaking of tempered glass, consider specifying it in windows that don't
"require" it - not usually a very costly option, and it takes a lot more
to break it (but it breaks completely when it does break). Hurricane
windows are not something I need to worry much about, fortunately.

FWIW, the problem I had finding windows to suit is that everything I
could find in the US was Low-E-II (suitable for hot climates, cuts way
down on solar gain), and in Vermont, Low-E-I (more solar gain) (or
triple-glazed - similar numbers) would be better - but I was looking at
importing those from Canada at twice the price, and ultimately decided I
could buy the locally available Low-E-II windows and some dedicated
collectors for less money (and hassle) than importing windows from
Canada. They are "Energy-star rated", but not sensible for the energy
needs of the local climate - go figure...

--
Cats, coffee, chocolate...vices to live by

 



     True, I tend to forget about casements for some reason.


     I don't like dedicated holes for "window" units because 1) The replacement
units never seem to be the same size, 2) The future buyer of my home may not
share my love for individual AC units & may not appreciate large, extra openings
in the walls, and 3) I can pull my window units inside in 5 minutes, shut the
window, and be storm-ready.

     Mini-splits are becoming better options all the time, but you still can't
buy one at Home Depot for $130.00 as you can window units.



     A good tip.

Vaughn