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Net Zero Off Grid Prefab House Kit Update: Finishing Around Foundation

In previous posts I mentioned not only the importance of having an energy efficient, insulated house (our passive solar prefab house kits, are made with structural insulated panels, or SIP) but to remember to not only have energy efficient walls and a roof, but to also insulate underneath.

So before we poured our concrete slab foundation, we laid down foam.
(Which you can order from the factory if you like...)

Now we haven't yet infilled back the dirt from the home site, and it is time to finish the final insulation not only *under* the foundation, but *around* it.

With temperatures in the 50's, we headed out to the off grid, net zero passive solar prefab house kit for a weekend of work.
Here is what we're doing:

1. Self-adhered rubber against concrete (or waterproofing paint) will be applied to the exposed *sides* of the foundation (underneath is already lined with foam) then lined with foam.

[In case you are reading this years from now, this winter was The Winter - snow snow snow, wet wet wet, and because of that we're taking extra steps in waterproofing so that the next Hundred Year Dumping Of Slush will allow us to remain dry and clear of the wetness that came down from the fields this time and against our unfinished / unsealed foundation.]

2. Attach rigid board along the sides, all the way down as possible, which will be held in place by infill

3. Flashing will cover up aesthetic appearance of the insulation

4. You can also dig a trench around the house kit so that any water that would fall off the roof would fall into the center of the trench. Infill with gravel and soil, and even better- put some perforated drain pipes around edge.  To prevent dirt from filtering down the gravel and into the pipe, after you add a layer of gravel cover that with landscape cloth before adding the remaining dirt and gravel.

5. Grade slopes minimum 6” down within ten feet.

Here's pictures from our lovely but hard working weekend:
Make sure you read the captions, it explains more what is going on in each picture:


And more detail on site work:

Explanation of what the heck he's doing.

I busied myself on the interior of the prefab house kit, using an exacto knife (and fondly remembering my art school days) to slice off the foam we added around the window and door frames to further seal the house kit and aid its energy efficiency.

All these little things you do when under construction to add to the air tightness and energy efficiency of your home really will add up to long term savings and success!

In getting the gravel for the site work around the prefab house kit, we had a quarter of the load dumped near the prefab and used the rest of the load to be dumped along the trail we have driven over the fields.
So now, after YEARS, we have a road.
We are VERY excited - it's kind of like Follow The Yellow Brick Road except it's the Magic Gravel Road, OUR Road, leading to the off grid net zero passive solar prefab!
Yay.

We have a ROAD! And it leads to a modern prefab house kit!

Well, we're now back in Richmond, happy and sore and the dogs are plumb wore out and will sleep for days...

Last night we had a lovely, LOVELY dinner with our friends Steve and Chris Ault, who have a natural farm down the road. (Check out some of the home made cheeses we ate for appetisers on the right, here!)

They took pity on my recent Sickness Postings  and not only fed us a *delicious* dinner with great company, in their cozy warm wood-stove heated home, but sent us home with a care package containing a young rooster, home made cheeses, and lard!

We are so grateful to have so many close friends here, it always makes the drive home so hard - you're happy from a weekend of hard work, feeling the sun on your face, happy exhaustion, the feeling of having "Gotten Things Done" - yet as your car drives, your heart saddens, you already miss the winter sun against the fields and trees and even though you return to a house with systems, with heat, it's just not the same as the crisp reality of being on the land, with good friends.

Over dinner, we pored through pictures of Steve and Chris's renovations to their farm house which they bought in very poor condition (see right picture here) and have restored themselves into a happy, beautiful home.

Fortunately, Steve and Chris were able to take this farmhouse and REBUILD it over ten years, from the foundation up, adding insulation, new windows, all kinds of structural work, and refabbing it to current standards. I'll go back and take some pictures of that renovated farm house soon - I didn't get an opportunity to do so last night.

We may still have no systems, but on the drive back to Richmond I thought about how so many people, especially in rural homes, are still in structures with no insulation. Driving home, we pass so many homes where generations of families live, in trailers or drafty 1800s farm houses and you know: there is NO insulation.

Our prefab house kit, even with no off grid systems yet installed, can get us through a winter - but think of the conditions of so many of these rural homes... even with no heat, our house kit only got down to 49 last night (it was in the 20s outside)... Under a down comforter, my bed was cozy and yes I will be happy when we have systems but... to go from 49 to 60ish with systems? Isn't such a strain. And to then maintain that temperature? Easy, because the prefab house kit is tight.  

Thanks to the structural insulated panels, passive solar design, and all the little extra things we, as house kit purchasers, do to accelerate its performance: foam around the windows, the door frames, and around and under the foundation, we should have a happy, warm home for (hopefully) generations to come.

 

Vintage Hat Friday!!! Mod Girl vs. Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm!

This weekend we will camp in the prefab house kit...
With all this snow and rain, it became apparent we need to focus on the north side of the home site when I spied some water on the edge of the house kit on our last visit and *freaked*.  You may recall we haven't infilled yet, haven't finished grading as we instead focused on the house kit construction and systems.

My horror was put to rest when the contractor told us it came from the water splashing up from the roof when it hits the ground, which is why we need to get those scupper boxes and drain spouts installed asap.

As you know, it really has been UNUSUALLY wet this month; normally this north side wouldn't be an issue. But it's a good excuse to get back on track with the home site grading and plantings, and finishing that exterior area.

SO, this weekend we will be swinging pick axes, shoveling gravel, and grading... manually.
I mean, at least if I had committed a horrible crime it might be worth this Chain Gang weekend...
Well, who am I kidding.
Our prefab house kit is worth doin' the Chain Gang Moves more than anything devious I could ever plot! Plus I need the exercise!


So... think of us this weekend as you relax... we will be busy, again, makin' Something Outta Nothing.

Also: Today I sow the spinach seeds and break out the cold frames.
That can only mean one thing: Vintage Hat Friday ends soon!
In the meantime...

Amy: Red and Blue and Mod All Over

I wore this out today. Oh, oh yes I did. And I’ll have you know I’m going by the hardware store today after work. Good thing I don’t mind expanding people’s horizons a bit at the expense of my own perceived normalcy ;)

Fabulous mod 60’s dress was acquired at (surprise, surprise) the St. Catherine’s’ Theater Sale. Navy blue, red and cream polyester with lots (and lots) of buttons. It took me half an hour this morning just buttoning this thing. Red and cream striped Jean Michelle scarf from Paris was picked up at goodwill YEARS ago. I wanted to wear the dress and had NO IDEA what headwear to pair with it, til I lucked out in my big box o scarves and realized that this one matched perfectly, right down to the off white background colors. Hilariously, I’d always had trouble wearing it with things because it was off white and not white. But today it alllll fell into place.

Bright red tights from Target, chunky brown/black leather shoes from goodwill. I keep that place in business, I tell you.

The whole outfit was less than $20 by a long shot.

Vote for me. Because I brushed my bangs in a new direction and didn’t wear a coat because it simply ‘would not go’. Fierce.

Copeland: Copeland Of Sunnybrook Farm
So, as I shovel and swing a pick axe tomorrow, I will get through it by reminding myself that this outfit portrays the look of success one might achieve through hard work, thrift, and somehow resolving to emanate a feminine demeanor.It is also a good journeying outfit, and these days we embrace new opportunity, so why not be at the ready with your bags packed?
(Note: Our prefab house kit work is even taking me to Switzerland this month, unless I can push one of the architects on the plane instead.)

One can project a sophisticated, feminine, pulled together look merely on a dime or two. 
You don't have to tell the world that...

• the blouse is from a suit bought for $3 at an estate sale
• the hand made, hand knit skirt was purchased for fifty cents
• the hat is often used in Vintage Hat Fridays, a $4 purchase from a vintage shop this summer
• the heels have tripped and wiped out in more nightclubs than you ever should know about yet add that "I can match my dog" touch o' class.

So.... Vote Fer Meeeee!

 

Prefab House Kit And Considering: A Farm House In The City.

We were busy this weekend but it wasn't on the land visiting the prefab house kit...
And more weather worries: This afternoon? It slushed.
Not downy snow, not sleet, but this weird, heavy, wet... slush falling through the sky like slowly pouring a Slurpee through a beat up colander.

Near the land, it seemed to crystallize a bit more - here is our friend George's farm in the snow...




We shall see if we make it to the prefab green home this coming weekend or are snowed out AGAIN!

We couldn't visit the prefab house kit this past weekend because I volunteered for Children's Home Society at The Byrd Theatre, showing "Angels In The Outfield" to highlight adoption and foster care...


And explored an urban farm house. THIS HOUSE is in the center of our city.

It was great to consider how we might spend the next few years in Richmond before we move to The Land- in a more urban setting, closer to our friends...The reality is that Handsome Husband is not able to telecommute as easily as I (yet) from the land, and our children are in a special program they would have difficulty achieving anywhere else (which ends in 5th grade).

I reflected:

• After weeks of a bad cold, I look around this beautiful mid-century house, with a HUGE back yard where my children, dogs and chickens roam and think, "Well, they aren't SO lonely even though there's no children around during the day..."
  
• I'm frankly wondering if I'm too tired to move. We have ENOUGH going on with the net zero passive solar prefab SIPs house kit construction and the land, which will take us *years* to accomplish our goals...
  
• I spoke with a contractor I know well from Green Drinks.
  
  I asked, "If we refabbed and restored this old farmhouse which is without insulation, I would ask you for a proper quote, but just off the top of your head, what would you Guess-timate it would take to properly get this house to insulated, updated standards?"
  
  He paused awhile, then answered,
  "To do this properly, I would show up with a truck.
  I would demolish the farm house and cart it off.
  Then I would install one of your energy efficient prefab  house kits.
  And THAT would work, properly."
  
  Ummmmm...
  I'm a HUGE preservationist... but his point was taken.
  (And I was honored, but also sad my dreams of an Urban Farmhouse seemed to fade when considering how inefficient it is... OH the sunflowers and garden I would have planted!)
  
  
• I have $70 worth of seeds to plant, starting in the cold frames this week.
  How can I move after I sow seeds for the season?!?
  

I could *totally* picture our family being so happy in that urban farm house... 
Everything in walking distance...surrounded by old friends... AND CHILDREN.
Yet I'm strangely content in the solid mid-century this week...

But edge-of-suburbia, don't you get comfortable:
We all know what these boots are made for...