The Wife Interjects: Heat. Addendum To Hi-Falutin' Handsome Husband's Systems Posts.

Honeychile, let's talk about heat. I'm frickin' freezing and I want to go enjoy my prefab net zero modern green home NOW regardless of being without systems in this frigid, gorgeous, wintry weather.


Originally, despite my *completely* falling in love with the Amish Baker's Choice cook stove, (old practicality and function yet with simple, even modernist edges) we decided to eschew a wood stove because

1. it would overheat the energy efficient, passive solar prefab green home
2. we would need it *so* little, if ever, a year, because our modern SIPs home is so air tight and insulated that we need less systems, and we already would have radiant heat so it just didn't seem worth it
3. and relying purely on solar energy / radiant heat is more environmentally friendly, even if we might be a bit cold a few days a year when it was direly bitter.

I went into more here, about how and why we changed the prefab architect's floor plan by moving the kitchen, and spoke in more detail about why we had decided not to use a wood cook stove.

Before we came to that conclusion, I asked my parents if we could have the working-perfectly-in-great-condition wood stove we used growing up that has now been sitting in their basement about twenty years. 
And they gave it to us! Oh the nostalgia! Oh the frugal-ness and reuse!

Then we hit upon our more cutting edge, solar / radiant off grid systems plan and Handsome Husband decreed the wood stove was overkill in such an efficient, prefab house kit.

Well, that was before we decided to be even more pay-as-you-go in building the net zero off-grid house this year.  Despite our great credit, we're trying to not acquire a loan to finish it because now is a great time to put our (literally) money where our mouth is and see how adverse-to-accruing-debt and frugal we can go.



Another winter is passing, another turn of the seasons where, despite the prefab SIPs house's ability to maintain steady temperatures due to the high insulation and passive solar design, I realize that after a few weeks of frosty, consistent cold without any systems / heat at all... it will be chilly in the house kit.

I don't want to be cold, I want to be cozy.

The reality is that it makes good economic sense to add the wood stove. It's free, and we can affordably add it and enjoy winters *immediately* even without solar heat. Let's face it: we are clearing fallen trees regularly, stacking them in piles for wildlife habitat. We certainly might as well use some of it to keep our family warm, for free!
Vive la practical, re-usable, *always* in style frugality! : ) 

...

Well.
I just got off the phone with my parents.
Unfortunately, I just discovered that since we settled on Better Technology Plan B, my brother asked for the stove. They gave it to him.
He lives in Wilmington, North Carolina and certainly desperately needs it for that frigid environment!
: )
[ I discovered this now because I am staying back with sick children while Handsome Husband goes to the land, having more room in the car than usual, therefore a perfect opportunity to pick up the stove from my parents, cart it out to the prefab, and enable us to enjoy the prefab house kit in these icy conditions. ]

So, NO nostalgic, this-was-passed-on-in-our-family-happy-memories-of-childhood 1980s wood stove to heat us now in the winter cold.

Square One... Again!

[It's ok. I'm used to it. After they gave away the family farm, what's a wood stove?]

So, I'm now doing research.
There's something about the whole concept of pellet stoves that doesn't sit right with me.  I get it, but... burning corn? And even when wood... it's like rabbit food when you could feed yer pets the garden vegetables about you. Pellet stoves are also expensive, the pellets, inconvenient.

I know you're thinking, "Well what about the federal tax credits?"
To qualify for tax credits, it must be 1. an existing home and 2. your principal residence. We need to  live here until our children finish 5th grade. AND regardless, new construction and rentals do not qualify.

Honeychiles, we'z gotz no handouts. None from mah fambly, none from tha' guvament heah. ; ) Good thang we're into self-sufficiency!


I found an old cook stove on Craigslist and my heart fluttered.
Me: "Oh please oh please oh please?"
Handsome Husband: "No."

Then, I found a new, barely used (ok, that's what I usually mean by "new" when I call something "new"... ) wood stove in a nearby town. It's the right price, right functionality... but... well, if we're not nostalgically getting the wood stove from my family then do we need to stay with the traditional wood stove?  However, on the inquiry, fate intervened- by the time I was able to speak with the owner, it had been promised to another.

Let's face it: from a design perspective, these stoves are not exactly sleek and coolio kickin' modern design. Technology has improved since then.

And this is our "forever" sustainable, off grid house we're (slowly) building. 
Design matters.

I briefly reviewed the old information I researched years ago: modern masonry heaters, Malm stoves, etc. as well as newer offerings and they were either puzzlingly inefficient or would literally heat-us-out-of-house-and-home, much less cost-an-arm-and-a-leg!  They're still super-cool though... *sigh*

And then... I discovered... via mocoloco / stylepark...
Turn.

Simple, sleek, effective, efficient, modern, whimsy-less, practical, edgy, warm, happy, cozy, sophisticated, stylish... perfect for a net zero prefab home.

Oh, thaz right, Turn.

I've fallen in love before. We shall see, we shall see.
But believe me, I'm used to marching on.

 

Prefab Modern House: Walking Around Systems And Closets

Earlier this week I posted on the modern prefab house kit's list of systems. Here is a video where Handsome Husband walks through the prefab zero energy house and gives you a sense of its space, especially in regard to closets and systems areas.

Prefab House Kit- Explaining Closet and Off Grid Systems Spaces from Copeland Casati on Vimeo.

I have noticed Handsome Husband has more detailed insight into the "hows" and "whys" of the systems and space. I also noticed he envisions several things I did not know about- like the bookcase / closet in our east bedroom? Wow, that was a surprise, especially as I have already collected two cool mid-century bookcases to use in the house...

By the way- we have a new label for our blog category list, design fight, in case you would like to follow it.
; )

We are currently getting the quotes to install the systems... and then apply for the bank loan to finish the remainder.

For those of you that want to tour our modern prefab house kit just to see how the structural insulated panels and passive solar works, there will be an Open House in central Virginia for an off grid zero energy prefab passive solar casa ti from Green Modern Kits the weekend of September 26th / 27th.

More on this later, I am still organizing it, but if you are interested in touring this prefab off grid zero energy modern house kit, there is also a wonderful bike tour going on: Bike Heartland. Bike Heartland is a fun bike tour that goes all weekend long through a gorgeous, historic area of Virginia. Make sure you contact Nancy Carwile on that site to let her know you're coming / register so she can prepare for you.

I am also working with some local farms to have other activities like tours of natural, community supported farms, and a winery that will be open for you to enjoy, and more, so pack your tent or secure lodging and come on down!

Gene and Evelyn McCluney own Springfield Creek Wine Cellar, and know people will be stopping by, (they are open that Sunday, not Saturday, as they will be at a wine festival that day) but if you're a largish group you might want to give them a call:

Our hours of operation are from 1:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. Groups by appointment.

To find us take Route 460 to Pamplin City. Take Rt. 47 South (Thomas Jefferson Highway) approximately 2.5 miles and turn left onto Rt. 663 (Baker Mountain Road). The winery entrance is one half mile on the left. Tasting Room is located in the back. We can be reached at (434) 248-6981. E-mail info@springcreekwinecellar.com

For accommodations, see here (camping at the Heartland Bike Tour), here (Charlotte Courthouse bed & breakfasts), here (Appomattox bed and breakfasts), and here (Farmville lodging); and also be sure to visit Miss Emily's, where Necia and her husband will show you great English hospitality.

To attend, you will need to send me your 1. name and 2. email so I can send you directions and the program schedule as it shapes up. If this interests you, shoot me an email here: copeland [at] greenmodernkits.com

 

Prefab Zero Energy House Kit: Interior Framing Begins!

It is morning in the prefab zero energy house kit, and I am sitting here, in the middle of nowhere, typing on a laptop.

It's a little weird, good, sad... by having better internet connection (remember the boat battery hookup with the blackberry??? I'm no longer on the new boat battery for power, I'm on the old tractor battery! AND have an added device, a "personal hot spot" to better telecommute.), I can work from this rural area for longer periods of time.

However, let's face it: shouldn't I be outdoors right now?

Well there's plenty of time for that: I'm just on my first cup of coffee, so while I wake up I'll update you guys on the prefab interior framing progress!



So, now you can now walk around the inside of the prefab house and finally "see" the dimensions of the rooms. Several people have asked me if "there is enough mechanical / closet space." And, as I trace the spaces, the dimensions, I can't help but think, "who the heck needs more?!?" Seriously, folks, not only are the closet dimensions adequate, in my opinion they are generous- don't forget the ceilings are really tall so you could use that upper space for even more storage. (How many shoes do you need? ; ) )

I wondered what the spaces would feel like with framing. I do not feel confined, in fact, the front area, even with the addition of the dining table that seats eight, feels open and airy; the bedrooms are ample. The air mattresses we currently sleep on are Queen-sized; so you can now see, with the framing outlines, that there is plenty of room for desks and dressers.



But then again, I'm the owner. Of course I think it's perfect! However, yesterday Dolores, a house kit enthusiast, paid us a visit. So this was our first real-live non-biased non-family/friend visitor who wants to build a prefab casa ti in New York but wanted to check it out first. (Don't forget we're having an official Open House the weekend of September 26th & 27th to coincide with a lot of fun stuff in this historic area if you want to stop by! More on that soon, mark your calendars!)

So, dear readers, meet Dolores:
Here is what a total stranger thinks about our prefab off grid house: (she doesn't want to be seen so until I can get the sound off the video I'm just going to put her text here- just imagine her talking with a cool New Yawk accent : ) :)

"Hi, my name is Dolores. I'm visiting the casa ti because we're interested in buying it, and it's a lovely place.

They have dogs around (laughs, dogs amble into camera view)... and they've delineated quite nicely the space (sweeps arms)- You can see where the rooms are, the doors, closets... and it's enough closet space for people who are not pack rats. (we laugh)

Um... (looks up) the ceilings are quite high, so you can add extra storage up above you... and (starts walking through the rooms) it has a nice feel to it. (looks down) The concrete is beautiful. And the bathroom is an okay size (nods)... I'm from New York so I don't require too much space, this is a nice house for people who want a simple life and a clean slate to come to or live in.

(sweeps hand to front room) Out here is a living room/ dining room / kitchen combination that's not complete yet but it's quite lovely- you can see the windows and doors drape across the front of the house, there's also a side door for extra light and another entrance... and it's an angled ceiling so it gives the space a greater feel.

It's quite gorgeous, I think that you'd love it!"
(Thank you, Dolores!!! We do love it!!!)

Now, 'round here parts, strangers don't stay strangers long. So after Dolores got her fill of the house kit I said, "Hey, I'm going to go find the Amish, want to come?" She did.

Everyone told me where it was (remember the original stand we visited moved), but in these parts the directions are, "Well, you go down route X and then by the guy who sells shotguns, then look over near there on your right and They'll. Be. Right. THERE."
Oh.. of course.

So Dolores and I headed out down the road until my internal navigation system suddenly deemed that "this feels close." We slowed, and there was the Amish saw mill. Dolores turned in. "Oh, no, you can't do that!!!" I warned, but Dolores is from New Yawk : ) and dismissed my being-raised-with-farms-rules with a, "Maybe we can ask some one..." and there was no one, so she turned down a drive and as my protests rang further we saw a woman by a barn. I apologetically grimaced as we approached, and as we neared, I saw she was Amish. Not only was she Amish, but she was hitching her horse to her buggy, which was loaded up with her family.

"I am SO SORRY we couldn't turn around and are lost and are trying to find the stand to buy bread..." I quickly apologized, but thankfully was met with a smile. "That would be my mother, Lydia Esh, and they are just the next road down. " We thanked her profusely, apologized again, and headed off, where we then found her mom. Now you know you can't take pictures of the Amish, which is why the house kit construction pictures never showed the crew that built our prefab house. But I wonder if Mrs. Esh will let me take a picture of her store; I will ask her next time to show y'all how nice it is... there are quilts, wooden chests, children's toys, jams, relishes, breads... and even a pet chicken named Betty, yours for $5.

Both of their homesteads are beautiful: solid, immaculate homes and structures, bountiful gardens... happy farms. And when we passed Emma in her buggy on our return, we all waved at each other... Turns out her brother, Lydia's son, with others, were the ones that helped put together our prefab house kit! Thank you, Dolores, for going with me!

Now, one thing you need to know about farms: If you do not know the occupants, whatever you do, do not go on the land. This is why I so strongly protested when Dolores turned down the drive. One of my friends almost shot an encyclopedia salesman a few years ago similarly: seriously, think about it: You're in the middle of nowhere, on hundreds of acres alone, and a stranger is trying to access your house? What would YOU think? (The poor salesman- he was peering into windows at dusk when my friend showed up behind him with a rifle at the ready... )

However, if you KNOW the farm, around here it is the opposite: People come a-callin'. Telephones are often out, cell phone coverage is spotty, so when you know someone is "at home," well heck you just go and visit 'em.

So we had several friends stop by yesterday, including James Scott, whose family used to own this land and whose parents still live two doors down. Mr. Scott tells us so much history about the area, about the land we now own, and what he thinks we should do with it, and we listen: he knows all about the things we have discovered, and more. He thinks we should put a pond in near the old tobacco barn and knows all about the spring-fed stream and old breached pond...

We were all sitting there, enjoying nice breeze and the view inside as we discussed the prefab construction (he was very interested in the structural insulated panels) when, suddenly, there was a buzzing and bumping heard against the clerestory windows.
"Dag," I thought, "that's one big horsefly!" It wasn't.



We then decided to install the rest of the window screens...

...Our adventures continued further yesterday, but I wouldn't want to bore you.

It was an unusually cold summer evening, so we closed the windows.

I awoke this morning, then, sleepily, after awhile, thought out of curiosity to check and see what the temperature was inside the prefab house kit, it read 75. (Handsome Husband says the weather service said it was in the 50s last night...) And that's with NO SYSTEMS installed yet to heat the house other than the energy efficient SIP and passive solar design!

Now I have finished my coffee, so am off to play outside this prefab-ulous house. : )
...Off to pick blackberries for breakfast!

P.s. Interior design:

• You may have noticed we added a reused dining table originally from our local modern design store, La Diff, to the house kit - it seats eight, and we also are reusing some Xylon chairs by Giancarlo Piretti, which we bought after being used originally in the cafeterias of Circuit City. We picked them up for a very good price to reuse in the casa ti!

• ...Handsome Husband also nailed up more sconces to the walls. #designfight

Ok, ok, maybe they're looking rather cool now... and heck, we only have one camping lantern and no lights yet, so any illumination is welcome...
Hmmmm...

 

Zero Energy Prefab House Kit Update: We Look To The Land.

The zero energy prefab house kit exterior is complete.

In about 2 weeks we move on to the next steps: interior walls of the modern house, off grid systems (solar energy, solar heat, and rainwater collection and filtration), and with it all, stepping back for a larger view: the land, and how we will encourage its health while bearing sustenance for our family.

Heather Barber, ASLA, of Topos met with us last week to discuss the land, and landscape architecture.

From the beginning, here are my thoughts about the land:

• I love the fact we did not have to cut down ONE TREE for the home site.
• However, we are big believers in crop tree release to help the woods become healthy. What that means, in short, is removing weed/competing trees to let the native, desirable trees grow strong and healthy. Along the field we have a mixture of poplar, hickory, oaks, walnut... mixed in with cedar, red bud, pine, a few dogwoods and... non-native evil ghetto palms! Ghetto palms, I'm out to get you!
  
• The 8 acre field can be rotated with
  
• cover crops of warm season grasses that encourage the quail habitat (as well as leaving strips here & there in the fields, and other quail / wildlife management practices)
• potatoes, garlic, onions: With friends we can plant the field, then harvest it together, keeping enough for our families and donating the rest to the Society of St. Andrews. I mean, why glean (although I do look forward to doing that with my friend Peggy, what fun combined with hard work on a gorgeous weekend!) when you could actually plant a field for hunger? (Also note: store bought potatoes have one of the biggest carbon footprints as they often travel quite far to reach the consumer. They're so easy to grow, try growing your own in your back yard!)
  
• eventually move to the Rodale Institute's cover crop roller. Currently we have a tractor with a bush hog and blade.
  
• There is a smaller field downhill from the home site we could irrigate with rainwater... we've tossed around ideas of growing some kind of crop there, like asparagus... but the reality is that as it is much deeper in the woods it will be much more accessible to wildlife... but it's something to think about...
  
• I would love a root cellar in which to store food.
• ...and, I admit, we have a hankering for mid-century coolio functional cooking grills- purposeful practicality with kickin' design. YES I realize this is a murky area, in which I struggle. Half o' me is survivalist (heck my family has survived here for hundreds of years), half of me is forward thinkin' design, and half (fine I never said I was good at math!) o' me wants a third option from the solar cooker and propane marine stove. I mean, if the weed tree is felled, why not use it? (Or not? Considering.)
  
• Handsome Husband and the casa ti green building architect, David Day thought it would be plenty fun to have our friends hang on the slope next to the east side of the house in the evening and project old movies onto that north-east side of the house. They were even tossing around words like, "amphitheater." We'll see.
  They're such romantics. Which is why I love 'em. Which is why they're both more talented than I. : )
• We've already planted apple trees around the shed, and I was pleased to see they are all in bloom and healthy! In a few years we can invite friends over to pick apples!

Now I also must remind myself that we are on a STRICT BUDGET. So maybe most of these ideas will not happen for years. But in the meantime, here are a BUNCH of land pictures, so that the Virginia landscape architect Heather Barber can get a better feel of the entry, field, and area surrounding the modern house kit. I commented on many of the photos, so if there is something that interests you, click on it to see it larger, and with commentary.



We also met with Ron Bernaldo, also known as The Most Fabulous Contractor In The History of the World about our next steps. I can not re-iterate enough how critical having a knowledgeable, experienced contractor has been to the success of our house kit completion. The house kit itself erected easily; but the decisions we had to make as consumers, making the modern off grid house kit "our own"- could not have been affordably or successfully achieved without a contractor like Ron.

Regarding our green building progress, as I mentioned we start again framing the interior, then move on to solar and rainwater collection integration. And THEN we move to interior design of the house kit. Married to a fellow design enthusiast, living our role as house building consumers, I suspect there *might* be design fights ahead.

The first hint came when Handsome Husband nailed up some old sconces. Yes, they do help light the interior of the unfinished SIPs - exposed house kit, but... um...
Fortunately they dribbled wax onto his pristine-just-polished concrete floor so I suspect that will be that. But we shall see... never underestimate Handsome Husband.

So maybe I should start a new blog category, called, "design fight" just in case...

In the meantime, here are a few more pictures of the zero energy modern house, it was a *lovely* weekend on the land!