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.

 

We. Have. WALLS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I could either stay in Richmond and be sick, achy and contagious, or I could go to the net zero off grid modern house kit and be sick, achy and contagious.
Easy choice.

I just could not bear to be away another week, knowing that Bobby Hirsh, the carpenter, had reused and built actual WALLS out of VMI's old basketball court. Honeychile, this t'ain't yer Chinese drywall...

So I grabbed a box of Kleenex and headed out, sick and feverish, to the net zero passive solar SIPs house kit.

We rounded the drive and saw the field was still covered with snow... yet in the distance, the house kit shone happily, a beacon for our car to aim for through the mud.

We tumbled out, and the children and dogs proceeded to do exactly what I feared: splash through the mud puddles, roll in the snow (and no dry change of clothes with us), and chase each other, slushing through soil and ice, round and round the prefab. *Sigh*

As I surveyed this certainly disastrous scenario, Handsome Husband slipped away to peek inside the house kit and returned quickly: "Wow."

I hurriedly went to inspect. 
So: A year ago we had purchased VMI's basketball court, and now here it would be in our prefab as walls? Creating rooms with recycled, beautiful 100% maple floorboards instead of using drywall?!? Handsome Husband warned me that due to our carpenter, who is a Mennonite minister, being called back to Haiti (where he and his family lived for five years before moving here), he had not been able to completely finish the walls. But who cares, I just want to SEE the walls!

I could tell you all about it, but... c'mon and see it for yourself.
I was taping when I walked in for the first time, and it probably conveys to you more than anything I could type. 
(I love how I keep trying to be informative, glib, and then I see the walls and GASP...)

Prefab Green Home Update: Recycled Reused Wood On The Walls!


Prefab House: Interior Walls: Recycled Reused Wood: VMI's Basketball Court!

We told Bobby to cut wood inside since the temperatures have been so frigid this month, and to leave any scraps behind so we could recycle them.  In preparation, Handsome Husband had moved all the furniture in the corner and covered it all with a sheet. So we spent the day in the prefab house kit sweeping, sorting wood scraps, sweeping some more, dragging back the furniture piece by piece, and... sweeping.

Y'know, all we do out there are chores it seems, but we are all SO HAPPY, so busily content, feeling the sun on our faces, smelling the crisp air  that only happens when it has touched snow, seeing progress as we proceed on every little thing we do in the prefab house kit.  We are so grateful to all of the craftsmen who have helped us, and it is so satisfying that we also have a hand in it, that our children will remember this slow process as we move towards our sustainable goal.

 

To refresh your memory of this journey: We started with purchasing land, then awhile later bought a 1960s camper where we would brave the spring ticks, the summer heat, the late autumn frost (all with our children still in diapers)... then the house kit was erected and suddenly we had shelter, REAL SHELTER.

And now we have walls.
And even CLOSETS.

For the first year ever, we have been out there in 1. January and 2. February, and out there, in the dead of winter, 3. *comfortably*!

If I hadn't been so feverish I would have suggested we stay and spend the night.  But I also know I need to get better and that the better thing to do is install the ERV / off grid systems so we can seek respite even more efficiently and comfortably than the makeshift ways we've been visiting for years.

But in the meantime...? We appreciate every. single. thing. 
And don't miss what we lack in the prefab house kit, because we've never had it there.
Makin' something outta nothin' is not a hobby, it's a philosophy.  I am fine with my children being raised how to be comfortable, knowledgeable and practical in raw weather and conditions, and I think these experiences make them better for it.

 

Prefab Green Home: 1st Energy Audit Of The SIPs House Kit!

This is the FIRST of two energy audits.

Energy Audit #1, today's energy audit of the prefab modern house, is as we're at the "This is the modern house kit + cladding + the homeowner sealing around the windows stage", the second will be once we're "done, finished, kaput, as in done, done, done, done, don't ever want to think about anything construction related for at least another week DONE."


Our mission is to create tight, energy efficient, gorgeous passive solar house kits.  I admire rated, certified, even more stringent approaches, like Passive House standards, maybe we'll do this in the future, but we achieve what we want in an energy efficient home while incorporating great modern design on an average, reasonable budget.

Some highly energy efficient homes incorporate two door chambers to prevent temperature loss.
I picture the way I live, and it is just too chaotic and messy to make such an entrance successful.  Can you imagine a couple struggling with the stroller, dogs still on the leash, juggling a bag of groceries and a baby on one hip, getting the key in the door lock then screaming to the spouse...
"Quick honey, seal the chamber, we're losing LEED points!"
Obviously if you live in a severe climate, it makes sense. But we're in Normal Rest-o'-Tha-World here.

We're a muddy, raggedy bunch here... why do ya think we're bandits?
You can increase the thickness of the house kit panels, choose even more efficient doors and windows (our casa ti prefab green home is spec'd for Jeld-Wen and our, SIPs house kit with two stories, The R1 Residential, is spec'd for Marvin Integrity), seal it up even tighter... but my focus is on affordable energy efficiency in our prefab green homes, so we chose great solutions that fit within a moderate budget.

The average quote for the casa ti windows is currently about $9,000-$10,500. If you would like to spend more on windows to make 'em nano-crazy-efficient, go for it, we can adjust the shop drawings. But expect the added cost.

We hired energy rater Guy DuBois, of No Energy Loss, to come out and inspect the modern prefab house kit. 
These are the notes I jotted down during his cell phone call to me en route from the land. Mr. DuBois will guest blog later this week with more real data, but here are his initial verbal impressions of the still-under-construction, still-not-completely-sealed house kit:

"Well, we certainly smoked up your house quite a bit, there was nowhere for it to go!"

(Copeland's note: Ummmm, I assume he means it was some kind of smoke air test thingy? I hope he didn't mean he smoked in mah house?!?)

Ok, on to Mr. DuBois:

"Those windows - they are worth the money, they were very well sealed."

Copeland's note: Handsome Husband also sealed around the frames... OK FINE I will just stop commenting and just TYPE what he said!

"Your husband did a good job of sealing around the windows... there are two areas he also could look at if he wanted to seal further- along the south eave and that back door threshold.

It is surprisingly tight. I don't know why I say surprising, but I guess I didn't expect it to be so tight, even though I should have."

[Copeland's note: Um, yeah, thanks Mr. DuBois... ; ) OK, OK I'll stop commenting!]

"I'll go back at completion and run more tests.  This was a good time to go out there because if there were problems you could address them before everything was closed up.

As you know, it's so tight you really must have mechanical ventilation, which you will be installing (HRV), which is critical in these energy efficient homes. Most homes, most traditionally-built homes, leak willy-nilly so you don't ever have to worry about air quality, but in energy efficient homes like these they're so air-tight that air-exchange is imperative.

I saw very little air leakage... there is some thermal bridging you can address if you want but you certainly won't have a problem heating and maintaining good energy efficiency, that's for sure. How does it compare to a "normal" house? Superior!"

To continue to seal even further, concentrate on the areas where there is lumber vs. SIP (structural insulated panels)- the doorway header, add insulation around wooden framing, and if you're in really severe climates, you could add an exterior seal.

Mr. DuBois makes a good point:

"But you have to consider the climate- maybe if you're in Alaska or really south Florida you would want to consider that, but... we're in Virginia, how much gain will you really get by doing all that?!? You already know that with your off grid systems, comfort will never be an issue.

I will be punching in everything I did today and coming back with some data next week... you're not trying to get this house certified, so this is just more FYI info, but it will be cool to compare today with when you're done at the end of the project."

He also said that the amount of leakage currently (we're still not done sealing) in the prefab SIPs passive solar home is equivalent to about 6 x 6 inches, smaller than a basketball. Handsome Husband is chasing that number, with sealant in hand.


Later, Handsome Husband arrived home, and I had all these pictures and video to look at... and share with you now.

HOUSE KIT ENERGY AUDIT VIDEOS:
Mr. DuBois sets up...

SIPs House Kit Energy Audit #1 of 2

They start do to the smoke test and pressurize the modern house kit. SUDDENLY, a clerestory window pops wide open!  It had looked closed, but hadn't been closed totally, which certainly that had also contributed to our loss of temperature this winter at night!  It is securely locked now... : )

Smoke And Open Windows In The Affordable Prefab SIPs House

So, they pressurize again...

Energy-Audit-#1 of 2 In The Affordable Prefab Green Home

And then....they freakin' fill mah house up with SMOKE!
Note the comment about the south edge- later they discovered that when the door was installed they didn't put any sealant under that south door.  You as a home owner can seal that more if you live in a severe climate area. I knew the windows worked really well for our budget, but am pleased with how impressed he is! : )

Energy Audit 1 of 2: Smoke And Windows

Here Handsome Husband decides he's going to track down that durned elusive number.


Energy Audit 1 of 2: Husband Wants Passive Perfect

Then they go tramp around outside looking for leaks.
If there were gaps, you'd see the smoke drifting out.

Energy Audit #1 of 2 of the Prefab Net Zero Energy Green House

Check out what it looks like when they crack the door (and how hard it was to open because of the pressurization - because the house kit was so tight!).

Energy-Audit-Of-Green-House-Kit

...And then they start calculating...
Which Mr. DuBois will go into more in his guest post soon.

Energy-Audit-01-16-2010-36 from Copeland Casati on Vimeo.

And thaz it, the latest from our passive solar green home!

Here is Handsome Husband's summary:

"This wraps up the initial test of the house kit. We now know what simple steps we have left to optimize the envelope of the SIPs house, and we look forward to the final testing after construction is (finally) completed. The general goal and idea of the casa ti has passed Mr. DuBois's testing with flying colors, as we already suspected in the prefab house kit's performance over the last few weekends where the design and structure were able to give us relative comfort in a hostile climate.

The great thing about the delays in this project is that we're able to thoroughly test the house kit without further improvements, this allows us to confirm the performance a passive solar house kit built with SIPs."

 

The Insulation Post: Outside The Prefab Net Zero House, It Plummeted To Eleven. Eleven Degrees.

It plummeted to eleven degrees outside the net zero prefab SIP house last night.

And we're on a windy hill so... I... I just can't imagine what it was. I don't want to, honestly, as we still have not installed our off grid systems that would ordinarily keep us comfortable during these frigid temperatures.
Even with the kit house built of structural insulated panels, there is more you can do as a consumer to insulate and make your own house kit more tight... I encourage you to do so.
(And you will really appreciate those extra efficient touches in this weather!)

I previously mentioned how you can also order foam from the factory to put UNDER and AROUND your foundation:

"Insulating your home is not just about the SIPs panels that come with our Green Modern Kits SIPs house kit.

As the weather turns cooler, think of being outside on a frosty day:
Bundled up with a hat, scarf, nice warm coat... and...

No shoes? Bare legs?!?
Think of the exposed skin losing heat as it gets sucked away in the wind and cold...

Your house is like that too- despite the SIP insulating properties to ensure your home is tight, don't forget to add insulating foam underneath (and around) the foundation!"

We will start wrapping the exterior foam around the foundation next (we already added it below the foundation before we poured the concrete), but first we are sealing around the doors and windows (vs. paying someone to do so).

Each of Green Modern Kits / Green Cottage Kits / Green Cabin Kits' prefab house kits are different, and on this passive solar net zero casa ti there are a few areas that your contractor builds in that were too narrow for a SIP: obviously around windows and doors (to leave room for  framing); but on the north windows there is some higher framing to connect the SIP panels above the window, and between each clerestory window.

(Reference this picture, above - the vertical white to the right window Handsome Husband has just added foam to, and is now measuring between the next clerestory to cut his next piece of foam to add and therefore insulate between the windows that are not SIP. You / your contractor may choose to insulate there another way if you prefer.)

Sealing The House Kit Further:
Adding Foam Between Clerestory Windows

Still without systems, the net zero prefab house has been amazingly comfortable throughout the seasons... until now.
In Virginia, these extreme teen temperatures are not encountered often.  Until our off grid systems are installed, we are now relying on portable temporary heat to help the passive solar house kit maintain a comfortable level once the sun goes down and the temperatures plummet to such an extreme. 

We arrived mid-day Saturday to the interior of the prefab house kit reading 50. Outside, it was in the 20's. (The high was 28. And it was windy - gusts of 30mph. Mmmmmmmmmmmm, niiiice.)

Regardless of having no systems yet installed, having the energy efficient shelter of the prefab house kit shell has enabled our family to be on the land in January for the first time ever. Before, we would wait out mid-December through March... and only imagine what the land and community was like during that time. We are grateful to be there now even in these frosty conditions, and excited to see how cozy it will be once we hook up the solar / radiant heat / rainwater collection / etc.!

We met with Mr. H., the carpenter who will be building the interior walls now that Ron is retired.  When I explained our desire to not use dry wall and that we will instead reuse VMI's basketball court where possible, then that the house is off grid, then our general "pay as you go" philosophy and ended with,
"Maybe we're The Crazy Family in the area..."

He responded assuredly, "I always say, 'The customer is always right.' "
[Waaaaaaaaaait a second!
; ) ]

We also have news on the wood stove issue:
The one we purchased was not certified for residential homes but a garage and so it was returned. 

Dejected (and knowing there is a perfectly good unused residential wood stove sitting in my parent's basement three minutes away from our house in Richmond that has now been promised to my dear brother who lives on the border of South Carolina... here I will end those mentions... just remember we were with our children in eleven degrees this weekend...), after spending the week making phone calls in a rural area trying to get someone (anyone?) to install my now imaginary wood stove... the phone rang.

"Hey. I hear y'all are having some issues with heat."

Early in my life, I learned a valuable lesson: Be a good friend, have good friends.
My. Friends. Are. Awesome.

Shawn Stanley offered up a cool, mod fireplace (still making those phone calls about installation).
We dragged it out to the prefab house kit and daaaaaaaaaanged if it didn't look perfect inside.
(Note: I am still looking for an installer. What is great about this fireplace is not just the coolio design aspect but that a conventional regular-sized wood stove would easily overheat the efficient, small footprint house once the radiant heat, etc. is working! Keep your fingers crossed. We shall see.)
[Should I insert ominous laughter now or be positive? I will do both. : ) ]

Regardless, with the portable heat we turned on after dark we were able, without systems, in freakin' dire temperatures, to get the house from it's natural passive solar 54 at dusk to 63. With a 15,000 btu heater. Outside at dusk it was... 20ish? (High was 28 that day. And at dusk it plummeted outdoors to 10, 11ish degrees.)

When we awoke, we could see our breath: it was 49 degrees.
At first, losing that much in one evening (about 1 degree per hour) shocked us.
Until we saw what the outside temperature had become.
With no systems installed. 
And not finished insulating the crevices.
Handsome Husband makes a good point: "Inside, it's uncomfortable. But what this proves is that you can survive, without systems, without freezing, in dire conditions. Outside? You're dead."
Ok, ok, but what about art?

So... I warmed up, drank some coffee... and then... I hung some art.
It's crooked.
That's ok. I'm also leaving it in the plastic it arrived in from the framing shop.

Y'know, (scoffs) 'cause at least I know that we're in a construction zone. ; )


(Contractors take a look at 0:45 and 1:20ish in this clip...)

To further vex Handsome Husband, I hung some old cuckoo clocks. They turned out to unexpectedly work. Which... shockingly... thrilled him!

[Cuckoo ... we are...]

I tried to throw a clean sheet over the Danish day bed to give it a crisp modern look, but somehow all the dogs and chillunz associated it immediately with "A Great Place To Nap And Jump!"

With the southern sunbeams shining invitingly directly on the frickin' day bed, I can't say I blame 'em...

Really, it took me about 24 hours of repeatedly re-attempting crisp hospital corners and re-smoothing it until I finally realized how futile it was and gave up.


Here, I finally hung some art as well, solidifying the reading corner (where you can then stretch out in the sun on that day bed to read)... and leaving the art in the pouches it arrived in to protect it from construction dust.

It's rewarding to be out there despite the cold, alternating relaxing with progressing on the prefab house kit even before the professionals return to finish the next phase of the net zero prefab green home.

In about two weeks the interior walls will begin to be built (yet leaving one side open so the electrician and plumber have access without having to redo anything).

In the meantime I am calling and calling around trying to find someone to come speak to us about installing the modern fireplace in the energy efficient green home (an issue, as a SIPs house has some considerations - as always, air exchange and proper ventilation are important...).  But that fireplace, if installed, will provide good heat as back up, yet without over heating the energy efficient and tight house kit.

Really, I just want to be hot and cozy even without systems installed... is that too much to ask when temperatures are in the teens? ; )

...Stay Tuned. We'll be out again this week in the net zero prefab green home... still with no systems!

 

Prefab Green Home Takes On The Wind Chill. And The Passive Solar Net Zero Prefab Fabulously Triumphs.

Wind chill of 14? Actually, I was corrected: The wind chill was FOUR. 
It's a windy day at the prefab green home.

As long term readers might notice, during extreme weather our favorite game in the net zero modern prefab (still with no heating / power systems installed) is to compare the outdoor temperature with the indoor temperature.

We have no heat. We have no electricity.
But we certainly have fun measuring the effectiveness of the structural insulated panels + passive solar design in the prefab house kit on a dinky (one arrow missing that's supposed to indicate humidity) thermometer.

A Lovely Lady From Leeds : )  asked,

Mel, I don't know. We certainly can (and should) have someone measure it, but because it is our private home despite my being the founder, well, I previously thought, "Eh. It's more fun doing the dial-y thermometer thang."

Your interest has prompted me to take it more seriously and add it to the "to do's."

[I have a similar attitude towards LEED accreditation. Don't kill me! (The firms are all LEED accredited; I just don't see the benefit for the consumer to certify a house they don't intend to sell, and am approaching this house as an "average" consumer of my own house kit. ]


This is all stuff we as professionals know, documented by passive haus, passive houses, SIPs manufacturers, etc., but when I (even though we intelligently know it) put it into practice by turning a thermometer into a family game... oh, it's so much more fun. : )

In summer, we marveled at 100° harsh heat in the fields, yet inside the off grid prefab green home, it was a comfortable 85°, and the cross breezes from the open windows made it even more pleasant.  Now we test the prefab house kit in icy, bitter temps with a few intermittent days of overcast skies.


Handsome Husband reports: "Windchill is 4°.  Last night it went down to 18°, today's highs will be 27°.  Yet the prefab green house kit is 45° on arrival."

Yes, that's cold.
But it has been overcast for days in temperatures in the teens and twenties. This proves that despite daily temperatures being such, the interior of the prefab green home will not freeze.  This is great news.


After spending a day researching modern supercoolio wood stoves after discovering the promised family wood stove was mine no longer, I admit defeat: Why would I spend $1,500-$3,500 on a modern, cool  wood stove we will use so little in the energy efficient, passive solar SIPs house?

Yet the wood stove is comforting as back up once our solar systems are installed, there to dry wet mittens and sopping snow clothes and to cook on if need be.

It's 11:00. Handsome Husband calls to say the prefab house is already 49-50° from him just moving around. Imagine how fast a big wood stove would heat that efficient, insulated space...and then overheat. If it's easily 50s inside when the temperature outside will not rise above freezing today, our original concern is correct - we would easily overheat the house with a big stove.

I researched battery-powered heaters, but they were either too small or not exactly safe for indoor use. [Understaaaaaatement!]


So... we bought a wood stove.
It's ugly. It's not a nostalgic family hand-me-down.

It's definitely not modern. 
Handsome Husband is consoling me with, "Well, you could kinda cook on it..."
*sob*

After spending the past 24 hours frantically researching what new products have come on the market since I last looked (a lot of nice modern wood stoves now), in the end I said, "Fine, solve the issue NOW, let's pay someone to install this NOW, so we can freaking enjoy our prefab modern house kit NOW."

Each dollar we spend on something unexpected (like the unexpected cost of a $1,000+ wood stove) is a dollar that should be going to off grid solar systems and hiring local labor to install them.

We will now bemusedly note how many years the original, "free" wood stove given to me will sit in my parent's basement until Mr. Wil "I Will Sue You For Everything You Own" Sakowski claims it... IF he ever does.


[Readers: Please bear with me in these last two posts as bitterness tinged these references... My life, and my dear, lifelong friends are an entirely happy different story. It's all good. : ) Besides, being a bandit is much more rewarding and adventurous. ]

Handsome Husband calls:
"I'm leaving! And in the prefab house kit it's 54 degrees." (3:40 p.m.)
Me: "What'd you do?"
[Understaaaaatement!]

He...

• Met with the roofers
  
• Unloaded the modern bed and put it together
• Installed the Danish mid-century daybed
  
• Drove to Appomattox and bought a wood stove
• Examined the scouting camera (Awwww, Bambi!)
• Sorted some of the VMI basketball wood
  

Y'know. That's all... ; )
Stay tuned...
The next post is where I rearrange all the furniture.

 

Prefab Green Home Net Zero Off Grid Systems Post #3

An astute reader took me to task yesterday regarding our prefab net zero green home, the casa ti. : )

Correctly, they observed,

“Just read the #2 on systems. It brings up what I was saying - where the heck are you going to put two 80 gallon water tanks? The plans shown on-line do not have space for 1 much less 2 water tanks. Are you putting them outside? Where are the PEX tubes for the floor terminated (meaning where do they come out of the concrete? In a closet somewhere or outside the house)? You'll need a pump for each loop and they take up a fair amount of space also (about the size of a coffee machine mounted on the wall).

Thanks,
B”

Handsome Husband (who is responsible for our prefab’s off grid / net zero systems) responds:

“The green building architect David Day's prefab floor plan shows what I am using as a system cabinet as kitchen storage.

Here is a detailed view of the cabinet that houses our net zero, off grid systems.

We are keeping the footprint the same but are converting storage to system space to accommodate the prefab house’s added solar tanks and radiant heat needs.

Space needs vary between different heating and DHW solutions and in our case where we are off grid we are dedicating more space to the system needs than others might. 

But then again, we are going off grid all the way and are willing to create that lost storage in furniture instead.

I will post the corresponding system specs over the next few days once I have transferred them to digital media.”

So, like many other consumers, we took the prefab architect’s suggested floor plan for the prefab house kit and modified it for our own needs with our contractor.

Not only did we move the kitchen from the west to the center of the south room, but we also adjusted the green building architect’s suggested dimensions for closet space to accommodate our net zero off grid needs.

Here are some pictures so you can see how easy this is to do with your contractor as the bedroom dimensions are currently just laid out / framed:

 

Here is a link to the green building architect’s suggested floor plan of the prefab so you can see what the architect envisions, which you can compare with what we’ve done as our own prefab house kit consumers…
Enjoy!