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.

 

Off Grid Passive Solar SIP House Kit Construction, Day 2!

Our zero energy off grid modern house construction update from our wonderful contractor, Ron Bernaldo! Here he explains the progress and his thoughts, as a contractor who has not worked with structural insulated panels (SIP), or a house kit like our passive solar casa ti house kit.

"Eh, I would say it doesn't take a lot of technical expertise to put the panels together but there are quite a few steps involved, so it's not a speedy process.

We got the 44' wall done, and the one 16' wall done, and the first piece around the corner... it wasn't a wonderful day weather-wise, and I had to take care of some things on another job... but all-in-all we've got one guy filling in the framing, 2 setting panels, and the most experienced carpenter following us just framing in the doors & windows.

The factory rep checked in with us... and I had some questions that they walked me through.

I prefer screws to nails or staples, so I deviated from traditional instructions on that.

I put up a 44' wall today.
Normally we have braces all over the place, and there overnight.
I went up to that wall today, and we couldn't shake it.

It's a neat design, I'm really happy with it.

The panels go together EASY. But you do have to do things as you go along, and that's what slows you down.

One more solid day could get us all the way around the perimeter.
If I can get the perimeter done in 3 days, I might do this in 7 days. (That's my goal.)

One of those interior walls will need to go up first to set the roof panel... so that will slow the perimeter/exterior down.

The only thing I'm unhappy with is the amount of material that did not come with the kit. We need material for the clerestory, for the framing of interior, etc. - so I need to account for that.

But I am still considering in my mind the framing for the extending of the roof on one side... that will eat up time.

That's about it!"

Copeland's note: The house kit is *just* the SIPs and SIP parts, of which I had been clear. I will ask him tomorrow why or what he thought would else have been included- they do come with a window and door schedule, but we are very clear about our "bare bones" - which makes it affordable and flexible for the consumer, who could then make their own decisions according to their style and budget.

There is rain in the forecast, which will certainly slow them down... and I also rescheduled the cladding delivery (it was supposed to be delivered Friday) for next Friday (they only deliver on Fridays), because of the rain. Remember, in a rural lot, you do NOT want to get a truck full o' metal modern cladding stuck in the mud!

I am really looking forward to spending the first night with our children in this house, and sharing it with our friends and family. David Day Design did a beautiful job on an affordable, passive solar house kit for Green Modern Kits.

 

Our Modern Zero Energy SIPs House Kit Has Arrived!

Please welcome our handsome guest blogger, our fabulous contractor, OUR HERO!:
Ron Bernaldo of Giant Oaks Construction!
Here is his account of our SIPs modern house kit arrival!

"The truck is 70 feet long.
I did not anticipate that.
The biggest issue was getting it in the driveway - this is a rural property and it took them over an HOUR to make that turn.
We took out the driveway posts, and fortunately there were no large trees that we had to cut down in order to get the truck onto the site.

You don't want a large staff the first day - we used three: myself and two Amish.

The last pictures show everything is staged- they just came bundled, not sorted, so we had to sort everything out (another reason you don't want a lot of people on hand the first day because people might stand around while you're organizing).

We stacked in reverse order so the top is the so when you bring your bigger crew in, it's all ready.

They don't weigh much, but I would have preferred to have a forklift with the forks further apart, and longer. (Because the packages are so big.)

Tomorrow we will not work as there is an Amish wedding.

We're going to start on that long wall, and work our way around, clockwise.

The weather forecast does not look great for the later part of the week.

So we will be keeping an eye on it, because if the cladding arrives Friday we certainly do not want a truck full o' metal being towed out out of the mud at our expense."

Thank you Ron! Finding a *super* contractor who is passionate about efficiency saves YOU money. We are *very* grateful to Ron Bernaldo, and Giant Oaks Construction, in making this project such a success.

 

SIPs Modern House Kit Construction Continues: Smooth Sailing With A Great Contractor!

You know your contractor is awesome when the entire day sails by and suddenly, you stop and realize, "OH MY GOSH We poured the foundation today!" Choosing a great contractor for your modern house kit makes all the difference between SMOOTH SAILIN' and STORMY SEAS! (Ok, forgive my analogy, I'm a pirate! I can't help the comparisons!)

Any-hoo, *That's* how much I trust and am confident in our fabulous contractor, Ron Bernaldo of Giant Oaks Construction.

Here's his account:

"At 5 a.m. The crew showed up.
The plumber had pressurized the radiant heat tubing yesterday and I checked on that and the gauges, it all looked good.
The first truck arrived at 6, and they came one after the other, we never had to sit around, but worked continuously.

I felt like there would be enough cement, so I called the factory to put the last truckload order on hold. It *was* enough, and I was able to save you the cost of that truckload- $1,000.

(Copeland's note, yes, at this point I kissed him!)

...And by 8 a.m. the trucks had left."

(Here's a picture of Ron and his wonderful wife dining with us on the land at our picnic table last year, he's looking over the casa ti elevations in this photo.)

I asked Ron if he had any advice for working with a contractor.

RON'S CONTRACTOR TIPS FOR WORKING WITH A HOUSE KIT:

• He recommends working with a contractor that has a variety of experience, not just residential, as commercial / light industrial skills also come in handy with modern SIPs homes
  
• He enjoys the fact that when constructing a house kit (vs. a developer with modern house plans) you have a LOT more contact and decisions with the home owners, so make sure the contractor you hire is interested in your journey, and enthusiastic about SIPs, your questions, and your education as a home owner building their dream
  
• And in that regard, if you feel like there are ANY reservations in ANY of the people involved: the wife, the husband, the contractor: Don't do it!
  
  Without a successful team your house kit journey is much more difficult. You must deal with and enjoy dealing with other people.
  (Copeland's note: Our interaction with Ron underscored the many, many decisions we all had to sit down and make together, and the education we had to go through with Ron as we, like most of you, are not architects but home buyers.)
• He also emphasized contractor's experience. In his opinion many younger contractors don't yet understand the importance of promptly returning phone calls, showing up (and your crew!) to the job site on time, coordinating the flow of trucks and people and materials so that it is seamless... which then saves YOU time and money.
  
  Now I know I'm going to get flack for this ; ) ... but in Ron's opinion he thinks a contractor needs fifteen years of experience to have the depth of conducting all these pieces (cement trucks, crew, SIPs delivery, cladding...) together into a final symphony!
  
• And don't forget the subcontractors! Ron says he has never been happier with the people with whom he's working on these projects.

Anyway, we will post more pictures and videos this weekend... in the meantime, please cross your fingers that the bears won't walk on the foundation tonight!

(Although that *would* be kinda cool, no? Immortal bear tracks across an otherwise smooth-as-glass surface?)

 

Craft... and Crafty. Affordable house kit find- natural, reused, recycled wood.

From the second David Day's fabulous casa ti house kit design was laid before me, I have dreamed, imagined myself in my future home. Which bedroom will be whose? Where will the dining table go? How to furnish it?
(Luckily, for myself, an avid thrift-er, I have kept an eye out for good finds and amassed a basement full o' furniture over the years with which to trick out our prefab-ulous house. Here's an example of just a few o' the things I've collected & reused over the years!)

I have imagined all sorts o' frugal, crafty solutions for the interior wall. See, drywall just doesn't "do it" fer me; I like natural, I like patina, and, even the green alternatives for drywall were a little too smooth for me. (Watch out, there's Bryan Adams in them thar link!)

So when a friend on twitter messaged me that a historic college, Virginia Military Institute, had torn up it's maple basketball floorboards and was auctioning them on GovDeals.com, I *jumped.*

Let's just say... those salty builders bidding against each other had no chance. In the last 12 seconds, I swooped in and stormed off with over 5,000 square feet o' solid maple history.

So our casa ti interior will now be lined with beautiful, durable, historic maple boards, reflecting my passion for history yet maintaining a natural, modern design.

Now lissen here, you crafty VMI alumni or lovers of reuse: I am not going to need 5,000 square feet o' boards. Certainly I can find ways to use it all, but if anyone is interested in adoring the history and natural beauty of this maple in their own home, direct message me. : )

 

Foam Again, Foam Again, Jiggety Jig!

Foam Again, Foam Again, Jiggety Jig! 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?
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 the foundation!

So, our house kit construction begins:


My handsome husband took the morning off of work to drive out and receive our foam as it was delivered by truck from the factory. And when he returned, I asked anxiously, homesick, "Was the land beautiful?" "It was."

To save costs and be more "green"/not using a delivery for a single purpose, we asked the factory to use "Piggybacking."

Think of Piggybacking as carpooling for freight products! Instead of truck one (and we're talking eighteen wheeler trucks!) driving Cargo1 to North Carolina, it can make stops along it's way and drop off packages 1, 2, 3... that reduce its wasted space during a drive, making delivery more efficient.

Piggybacking is more efficient and less wasteful for the company, while usually decreasing the cost for the consumer! (And that ain't no pork I'm tellin'!)

Keep yer eyes peeled, because yes, finally, it all begins.

 

Free Money!

Bear with me, this will have a bigger point...
: )
I finally have the mod geometric hair cut I want. And we had the best time. The owner, Mary Lou, and stylist, Corrinne, hovered over my bangs, getting rid of fringe to form them into a blunt look. (Ok in this picture I had played with my hair so it's all messed up. In real life it looks cool.)

I go to Mary Lou's for many reasons:
They give fantastic cuts at a great price (my hair cut today plus trimming my daughter's bangs was... $27!), I like supporting another small business owner, they're super nice, work hard, and they're right down the street.

As Mary Lou guided the angle, we spoke about her trips to London to study at Vidal Sassoon. She finished her tale with, "And then we'd return, it was such a great experience, and we'd start saving for the next year's trip!"

Exactly! Her trip was *paid for* by the time it arrived, and she then pursued her next year's goal throughout the year by careful saving- what a reward at the end of a year!

We spoke about coffee, which she had recently cut back on:
"I stopped when it started costing more than $3- when it was $2 and change, I'd go in twice a day, spending $5 daily. But once it went over $5, I realized what a waste it was!"

She took it a step further. Now, when she doesn't have coffee, she pays herself. So every day she puts $5 in a pot. And suddenly, when it comes time to visit a relative in North Carolina, that gas is paid for. When she wants to purchase an unexpected item, that money is there.

Is there something we all can cut back on?
I immediately think of easy things from the grocery store or home that are regular "treats"- what if, every time I skipped over that bottle of wine, that gourmet cheese, that coffee, I threw it into a jar, used later for something bigger?
And paid for?

As we journey through our own house kit process, I take similar steps. Over the past year each time I had a bonus, I put that money directly towards the house.

Ironically, while achieving our goal of less debt, it made us much more frugal as that money did not enter our household. So, while working diligently to reduce costs we will incur as we build, we have never been more "poor", but oh, so rich in determinedly moving towards fiscally responsible, debt-free freedom.

 

Honey Do!

This is the fun part: Finally, I am creating the "honey do" list of... stuff my HUSBAND needs to do so that as soon as the casa ti is finished we can put it all together in the interior quickly. Interior design choices are an area where people can take deliberate steps to reuse, recycle and reduce their lifestyle while creating a welcoming environment they will happily share with friends and family.

(Ooooookay, maybe I'll help him a little... : ) )

Fortunately, through years of using eagle eyes while thrift shopping and scouring local yard sales, we have squirreled away some fabulous, recycled finds. But now we need to buff 'em up, and have 'em ready and waiting for the move.

Recycled / reused items include:

• A precious 1950's blonde desk/drawer for my daughter's room $15
• A long, simple yet formal Owen-Suters mahoghany dining table $150
• Dining chairs - you won't believe 'em till ya see 'em but they're so simple and mod and beautiful $15 a pop
  
• Knoll couch found in an antique store that specialized in "Virginia colonial" $65 Bwha-hahahaha!
  
• Two matching coooooooooool open ended rounded corner bookcases, veddy mod $30
  
• A Danish 1950s china cabinet $100
• 12 piece silverplated flatware- an entire set from the 1960s $65
• A plethora of assorted dishes / serving pieces / bowls etc. Hmmm... I have no idea the actual cost as I've been collecting that stuff for years but I assure you they were cheap, cheap, cheap!
• Various recycled lamps (I'm sure I can spare a few in here ; ) ) $10-ish bucks a pop
  
• Awesome coffee press of unknown origin but makes like 18, yes, 18 cups! Woo! $5
• Cool 1970s fabric art piece I bought at a yard sale for $15
  

And now, to look for and try to find in our local reuse stores like Habitat For Humanity's Restore and Caravati's:

• A cool tub (more on that later because there is a feature David Day designed that I need to be careful of when choosing a tub plus it needs to fit with a composting toilet in that space)
  
• Plain sink for the kitchen island (more on that in a later post)
• Marine stove top (propane powered since the house is off grid)
  
• Juice glasses for thirsty-clamoring-for-water children!
• Wine glasses for, um, thirsty-clamoring-for-wine adults!

So... sweetie-my-dearest-husband... that's all we have to do!
Get on it!
; )

 

Crazy Interior Finish of SIPs Walls Idea: Recycled "Art"

This is what happens when my husband goes away... he really does keep me sane, you know.

Until recently, I could brag that our office only used *at the most* three reams of paper a year.

And then the children went on a drawing binge.

It's driving me bonkers- on one hand, I cringe, "Don't waste paper!!!" then cringe at myself: "How dare you call their artistic pursuits wasteful?" So I stack the drawings in a corner, guiltily...

Today I was pondering over how to finish our casa ti interior.
I've always envisioned it with sleek, organic, simple plywood, which I thought would look really good with the more industrial concrete floor.

But I like to consider all options, and even published a post on how to make SIPs stew.

And then I thought... "Why not recycle those drawings?"
They are mainly scribbly ink drawings on notebook paper left over from college days, or grabbed from our office shelf.
So the overall effect would be clean, white, but with scribbles and occasional bursts of color...
I could easily attach it directly to the SIPs walls, then maybe minwax / add beeswax over it once hung... just for... fun!

I still see the end result eventually being plywood... but to reuse the paper and childrens "art" for our house? Fantastic!

 

Get Yer Windows!

In my green building business, my mission is affordable housing. As you (and I) make decisions on what kind of foundation, systems, and other considerations for the construction of your home, I always look at the financial figures and think,

"Where can I save money?"

When I started this quest, often those"great" cost-saving steps instead cost me money.

• Remember when I bought those great windows at Habitat for Humanity's Restore and Craigslist? Great cause, great idea, recycling and all, cost $600, now I can't use them for my modern house kit. (Note to all: I will reuse them, somehow, maybe in a future barn. But in the meantime, they collect dust in the garage...)
• Remember when I spent five thousand dollars on shop drawings with a vendor for a metal house where I would then have to insulate and pay for the labor to do so... and then I discovered SIPs (structural insulated panels- strong, incredibly insulated panels) for the same price/less than the metal price quote? Ouch.
  

Oh well, that was before I founded Green Modern Kits.com so someone else wouldn't have to make those mistakes! ; )

So whenever I find great resources I will add them to my "resource" tab on the site, and whenever I find great tips I will add them here under "money saving tips".

And here is my latest money saving tip:

Windows and Doors:
If you have time, know that your local Home Depot/Lowes, etc. have regular sales. Wait for one. Even better, strike up a conversation with the guy with whom you'll be placing your order and ask him to help keep you informed on special deals.

Our prefab kits come with a window and door schedule. I took that schedule to my local XYZ Hardware Store to get the original price quote for my budget, which ended up being around $9,000.

Well, guess what? Next week my local store is having a 15% off sale.
15% off of $9,000 is... appreciated!

You can then ask them to take it a step further: Ask them to send the bid to the buying headquarters. They then go to the manufacturer who will often take off another 5 to 12 PERCENT! Woo!

Hope that helps someone else in a similar situation in this internet ether.

Keep your fingers crossed as I wait for the final price!
(Which is posted in my "final costs" post)

 

SIPs Tips: I think I'll call this one SIPs Stew.

As our prefab modern kits are made out of SIPs, I have been thinking of fun ways to finish off my own casa ti house kit that we're building this spring.

I will have a poured smooth concrete floor (with radiant heat embedded), and considered hanging plywood on the interior walls to give it a nice natural finish-- I enjoy the juxtaposition of industrial and natural.

But I love to consider all sorts of interior finish possibilities, so here's the latest one for those on a budget and finish-little-details-yourself adventure.

If you'd like to explore another method than just finishing the interior with drywall, consider these alternatives:

1. Just painting over the SIPs- however, it will give you a rough feel as the panels are particleboard. I kinda like that; however, my husband nixed it.

2. Hanging plywood as I mentioned before

3. SIPs Stew:

• Treat the SIPs wall seams first so they're smooth
• Create a mixture of drywall compound and latex paint, until it's the consistency of pancake mix, and apply with a thickly knapped roller.
• The result is a thick, thick paint that should smooth the particleboard feel while adding color and consistency to your wall!
• If you want to take it a step further, finish it by "knocking down" which will give it the similar appearance of stucco!

Sounds messy but do-able.
I just might do this so others can see how it turns out.