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.

 

Oprah Disses A Modern Practical Home, I Rant About It, It Ends Up On TreeHugger! Which Brings Us To The Kitchen.

For the record, I do NOT have time to watch television.
*Ahem.* Ok, I do not have time to watch television a lot.

Honeychile, I found this video of Oprah touring a modern home on twitter, bay-bee!

I was so floored and embarrassed by Oprah's reactions to her host's tour I couldn't stop talking about it.  I admire Oprah - how can you not admire someone who overcame so many odds to become one of the most powerful people, ever?  And she really does SO much good. BUT her reactions throughout each frame of this video make me *cringe* - not only was she impolite to her host, it is clear she did not even try to understand the practicality and beautiful design of small footprint living.

Small footprint living extends beyond architecture. And this is where TreeHugger's Lloyd Alter brings us back to the modern, green living kitchen... read it all here!

Ironically the fridge we will have in our own prefab green home is the same size (maybe even smaller) as the European family in this clip. Like them, we embrace small footprint living, and that is reflected in the kitchen: we cook our own food, and cook daily, purchasing much of it from the Amish store or friend's farms or grow it ourselves... so no need for a big fridge. The fridge is for mostly any leftovers of a meal + a few items.

The freezer, however, *WILL* be much larger... why?
Not because I intend to stock up on frozen pizzas and buckets of hors d'œuvre from Costco ; ) (um, yeah- right) but because when I buy lamb, I buy A LAMB. And there will be venison to store.

Mr. Alter also sums up some aspects we embrace in our own line of prefab passive solar house kits:

From the article:

"1. Bedrooms are for sleeping.
This is an extreme example, but there isn't even a master bedroom, the parents make up a sofa bed in the living room. The kids share a very tiny one.
2. There is storage for everything.
If you can't hide it you don't own it.
3. Minimize the use of drywall
It appears that every surface in this apartment is either glass or a built-in with a laminate face; almost kid-proof. Drywall is really a paper faced wall with a hairy surface that collects dust and mould; glass and laminate clean up easily."

I also agree strongly with Mr. Alter's fourth point, that you have much to gain by living in the city.  But we have land in our blood, in our heritage, and focus on preservation though purchase of rural property.

I just can't stop watching this video...

The dining room view, stunning, and the host modestly introduces the view with,
"We like to spend time together as a family here..."  Oprah responds, "Well that's wonderful. That's all that matters..." (as if she were implying, "well, 'least ya got *that*...")...


More:

"But this is their whole bedroom? This is their whole bedroom. You're kidding me."
"That's your whole refrigerator?" ... "But that was your whole refrigerator... right there."
"Is there another floor? Where do you sleep?" ... "I saw the bed? This is the bed! That was just...charming...?"

I could never imagine Oprah walking into a low-income row house and making these same comments.  

Why is it okay to question people so who choose to live efficiently?

 

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!