Cold Day, Warm House

Know what makes me happy about this picture?

In addition to being a sweet moment with my boy, this picture makes me happy because we are sitting in the HUGE window sill of our dinette. Outside this morning, the temperature was 12 degrees. The temperature on the window sill? About as warm and toasty as the rest of the house. Generally, big windows mean big heat loss. Niels and I marveled at how warm it was there. We actually were sitting there awhile before it occurred to us that we should be freezing our bottoms off! I am tickled pink by how tight and toasty the insulated concrete forms make our home. If you need more proof, check out our first utility bill.

Since receiving the first bills for our almost-done home, we have had a little bit more sealing. For example, here is the heavy duty insulating...tape. It's a nice upgrade from the open hole we had before, and cuts down on the draftiness in the foyer. We look forward to our permanent lock going in soon! :-)

Another outward sign of the inner difference of our full ICF home is that the snow on our room is still on our roof. This means that we aren't losing a ton of heat through our room. The part of the roofline, as seen through D's room, is above the dining room which has that huge window, a sliding door and a large transom window. In theory, if any room in the house lost heat, it would be that one. We are pleased.

One last just-for-fun shot. One of things that first caught our eye about four years ago in a Charis home was the deep window sills. At the time, I knew nothing about construction. I just thought they looked pretty and it would be fun someday for the baby in my belly to crawl on them. Today I got to see my three-year-old "baby" play on the ICF sill on the coldest day of the season, and he was perfectly warm. I am so happy to move HOME!

Utilities Report: January 2012

As we move closer to our move-in date, Niels and I have been thinking about new post ideas that relate to our earth-friendly, energy-efficient, universally-designed home. Our hope with this blog, in addition to reminding us how we came to the decisions and selections we did, is that our posts provide valuable information to others who are considering their own home building project.

This week we received our utility bills, and we are quite pleased. One of several advantages of insulated concrete form (ICF) walls is that they have a high R-value, which means that the temperature stays more consistent than in a stick-built house.

To provide some practical evidence, we will share our monthly utilities on the blog.

As a bit of background, our previous house was a two-story colonial built with traditional stick construction in 2003. With the finished basement, it was 2,582 square feet. We had an energy audit last summer and the report showed that we had a very tight house, which means we didn't have a lot of heat loss because our windows were well sealed. In fact, we were told not to do anything else because then we'd need mechanical ventilation. We were already using all CFL bulbs, so the only changes we made were to add aerators to the faucets. So, in summary, we had an above-average energy efficient house according the the expert.

Our new house has 2,885 square feet of  (almost) finished living area (first and second floor). The unfinished basement is 1,700 square foot, for a total of 4,585 square feet. We have four heating and cooling zones, which gives us the ability to keep unused area cooler (or warmer, depending on the season). Of course, our house is still under construction, so we aren't using any appliances, and only a few of our lights are hooked up. Also, our house isn't completely sealed yet so we still have a few holes were cold air is getting in, the zones are not set up yet, and our front door and garage doors are open quite a bit as the crews are going in and out.

That said, here's the first month's comparison.

In January of 2010, our Dominion (gas) bill was $168.65 for 17. 6 MCF (old house).
In January of 2011, our Dominion (gas) bill was $90.93 for 12. 1 MCF (new house).

Since the vast majority of our gas bill is for heating and cooling, we were very happy with this initial look at savings due to the ICF construction.

In January of 2010, our Ohio Edison (electric) bill was $135.27 (old house).
In January of 2011, our Ohio Edison (electric) bill was $20.81 for 135 kilowatts (new house).

Unfortunately, since we moved, we can't get the kilowatt usage for last year. Obviously, we expect our bill to go up once we get lights, appliances, etc., but I highly doubt it will be anywhere near $135.

January Totals:
Old house: $168.65 + $135.27 = $303.92
New house: $90.93 + $20.69 = $111.62
total savings: $192.30!

Granted, this is not an apples to apples comparison since the old house was smaller and the new house isn't complete, but in terms of our utility budget, this is a huge difference! And hopefully, gives those curious about the impact of full ICF construction some real-world information.

If money were no object...

Today I had an hour of babysitting in the car watching our son sleep while my wife was running a couple errands. I put together some thoughts on what decisions we did not make simply because of the cost associated with them, projected pay-back period or not a real priority for us. I'll wrap up the post with some of decisions we did make and we will never regret.

Items that didn't make it, here we go...

• Geo-thermal: the extra cost after rebate was still almost $8000. With an Insulated Concrete Form (ICF) structure you get a very high air-tightness (not a lot of heat loss) dropping our projected gas usage to under $400/yr, meaning you end up with a 20+ year pay-back period.
• Under-slab foam: Simply didn't know about that. Not sure about the extra price but it sure sounds nice...
• Mineral foam insulation for the attic: Spray-foam application in the US Mid-West is still a niche market and so are the prices, then you add the mineral foam to it and the price goes up even more.
• ICF flooring and roof structure: ICF-like concrete flooring and roof panels are VERY expensive and add almost $10k to $15k per floor and no one local had any experience with it.   Was on my wishlist as in my home country basically every floor is concrete and makes for a very silent house. 
• (Hydronic) Radiant heat flooring: When the Geo was ruled out we also eliminated the hydronic radiant heat option. We can still do electric for specific pieces of the house later. 
• Radiant Barrier on the roof: Mainly useful for cooling dominated climates. Ohio only qualifies 2 months out of the year.
• Metal roof lined with solar panels: The price difference of the metal roof over a good 30yr shingle is already significant. Just imagine adding the solar panels... 
• Sound-barrier/dampening in between floors: When ICF flooring went out we looked at other sound-deadening products but with carpet upstairs and sound-absorbing cork flooring and carpet on a majority of the main floor we decided it wasn't a wise investment.
• 10" Concrete for the ICF walls: We have 6" already but its nice to kind of feel you live in a VERY solid house. Debated using it for the basement, but our GC (who built 75+ ICF houses already) convinced us it was overkill.
• > 2 1/4" EPS foam for the ICF walls: The thicker the EPS foam encapsulating the ICF, the higher the R-value of the wall. The law deminished return applies here. Yes, it's better but more expensive than the extra value.
• Room-by-Room zoning: We settled for a 4 zone setup. More than adequate.
• HEPA filter: Very good system, but with mechanical ventilation the cost of the filters will be significant. Since we refresh the air in the house a lot more than normal (due to the forced, mechanical ventilation) the HEPA filtered air is less of a requirement. We also don't have a medical need for it (yet)...
• Grey-water system: Simply won't pass code around here. 
• Excavate under the porches and garage: Was cost-prohibitive...
• 10' ceilings (after finishing) on all levels: Would have added a lot of cost for trim, doors and kitchen (venthood extensions required). We settled for 9' on all levels. 
• Triple-pane / dual-gas filled windows for the north-side: Best possible insulation windows are VERY expensive. We settled for dual-pane with an EnergyStar rating and Low-E 366 glass instead.
• High Solar Gain windows for the south-side: To let in the sun (in the winter) to assist with heating the house. Didn't have the time to fully investigate. We used the same windows throughout the house (see previous point).
• Trellises over the south windows to block the summer sun but allow the winter sun: Goes together with the high solar gain windows. We might get this in a few years after seeing how the current setup behaves.
• Sun Tubes for all rooms without windows: Natural light is always a positive, but the extra thermal breaks in our structure and the cost (incl. installation) versus a good 6500K artificial lighting solution nixes that idea.
• Remote (roof-top) blower and make-up-air system for kitchen vent hood: We want a vent hood that is as silent as possible. The best way to achieve that is by relocating the blower motor away from the hood. We were too far into the building process for that to be a good solution for us. 
• Cork flooring throughout the house (for dry areas), ceramic tile (for the wet areas): This will remain the goal for us. The wet areas are pretty much there already and we are only 3 areas away on the main level from achieving that goal for the dry areas. A little further away from that goal on the upper level... ;-)

The above list is a bit fluid on which items would land on it but I guess it's a good sampling. The total extra cost for the dream house would be easily somewhere over $100,000. 

However, we also made a couple of important design decisions - some of which are hard and/or expensive to make afterwards or were simply on our must-have list - that we will never regret. They include:

• Full ICF with 6 1/4" concrete plus 2 1/4" EPS foam
• Heat-pump with dual-stage 96% furnace
• Low or No-VOC paint
• Dual Master suite design to assist with Age-in-Place and Universal Design
• Design the main floor full bath with a 5' turning-radius for a wheelchair
• Easy access into and out of the house
• Open-to-Great-room staircase with half wall instead of balusters
• Amish-built kitchen with quartz countertop vs store-bought with granite
• Large, walk-in pantry
• Cork for the dining area, kitchen and pantry
• All WaterSense fixtures
• All EnergyStar appliances
• All rockers instead of switches
• Building it in a neighborhood we truly like with sidewalks, friendly neighbors and a quiet street

Overall, we probably spent a larger percentage on some of the invisible things such as the ICF than the expensive tile / hardwood floor and commercial-grade appliances. Function-over-form where required, but definitely both where possible... ;-)

Build - Day 22 - August 2, 2011

Today they finished up the last ICF block stacking (bit of a rite of passage almost...) to form the 2nd story exterior walls in preparation for an afternoon concrete pour. The also covered the back porch, added the great room and kitchen arches and framed the 4th bedroom upstairs.

At 9am they had finished stacking the ICF blocks. 

Great room view of the stairs, upper window and 4th bedroom.

And they call Montana 'Big Sky Country...'. 

View from the kitchen to the great room.

Close-up of an ICF wall. Solid, solid as a rock...

4th bedroom framed

Our covered back patio. Gonna spend a lot of summer and fall evenings here...

Build - Day 21 - August 1, 2011

A new month and a new floor to complete. August will be the month where the build will reach its highest point and also when the progress will start to slow down. After having our stairs issue resolved we can get full-speed ahead with the 2nd story and roof structure.

First look at 8:30am

Lunchtime progress

End of day.

The great room forms have been completed.

The beam has been removed from the stairs.

First peek at the second floor

Tomorrow the crew will pour the walls in the second story.

Build - Day 18 - July 29, 2011

Today is our anniversary and the progress today seemed to celebrate that with us. Here's the rundown:

• Main level walls have been cured
• Interior framing has been completed
• Stairs are installed and usable
• I-joists for the 2nd floor hung
• 2nd floor sub floor laid
• Wall placement for 2nd floor drawn

All-in-all a very large amount of work got done today. Since the majority of the walls are all up now, we've also taken the opportunity to add some personal touches to them. 

Speaking of personal touches, we've also found a potential issue with our design regarding the stairs. We've envisioned them as being open, but maybe that got lost somewhere in the idea-to-plan translation. We've send some pictures of the 'idea' to our GC to see if we can still realize that. Carefully optimistic that we can... ;-)

After talking with the foreman it is his prediction that by next week Friday they might have the roof on!! As a testament to their work-effort, they normally have a ranch under roof in about 2.5 weeks, but since we have a 2-story it will take 'm a little longer. Still, under roof in about 4 weeks is unheard of in Europe, especially with concrete exterior walls. Oh, and the building crew is only five guys... and no, not the burger-kind... ;-)

I know I've been slacking a bit with the photo sets and later tonight those will go up as well. They are available on FB already for those with the right access. Below is a sampling of the progress over the last 36 hours.

Start framing the in-law suite

The in-law bathroom

Looking at the kitchen wall. Cooktop will go where the
sheet is standing. The in-law suite is in the back and covered.

The 'store', a.k.a. the pantry. Large, but could double as elevator
shaft in later years if necessary.

The cured cement inside the ICF blocks and the sub floor of the
2nd story.

View from our bedroom. Due to the well on left, it will be
permanently green.

This is where the 2nd story walls will be.

Build - Day 17 - July 28, 2011

It was a bit of a much-deserved quiet short today for the crew. Niels stopped by the lot early this morning to drop off our fireplace ideas, and chat with our GC about venting for the cooktop and bathrooms. The main task today is to pour cement into the first floor forms. Just wait what is in store for tomorrow...

The mixer was already at the lot at 7 am.

Street View around 9:30a.

Finishing up the last wall, a little after 10 am.

While the cement cures, the crew will start framing the interior walls tomorrow.

Build - Day 15 - July 26, 2011

Start of the third week of construction. As mentioned yesterday, the basement work - including the main level sub floor - is done, the lot is graded so no more moat and the main level ICF stacking has started.

Today, having the window casings ready we hoped to see some higher walls as a result. See for yourselves what the actual result was...

At 9:30am the main level walls are almost up. Nice progress, again...

Lunch-time progress. One more course and the main level ICFs are stacked.

Delivering lumber for the interior walls and I-joists for the 2nd floor.

Front of the house - main level ICF stacking complete

Back of the house - main level ICF stacking complete. Gorgeous sky...

Great room - ICF will go up to 14' high here. Just see the framing for the higher windows.

On the photo set page we've been grouping the pictures by week. I've added the 3rd week set and any pictures from today until next Monday will appear in that folder around 10pm each day.

Build - Day 11 - July 22, 2011

Temperature remains in the 90s. Humidity levels aren't far behind. Afternoon thunderstorms are the norm. Welcome to building a house in North East Ohio in July. Yet, the build keeps progressing at a break-neck pace. Today the main level sub floor (Advantech) was laid, the water proofing was added, the basement inspection passed (yay!) and the guys starting stacking the first couple rows of the main level ICF walls.

In the afternoon we had a meeting with our builder to the select our windows and doors. This was either perfect timing or simply well-planned because our castle/moat becomes a house on Monday morning when   the basement walls are back filled. Also on deck for Monday: the work crew will be assembling the wood casings for the main level windows so they can stack the ICF blocks around it and thenvmaybe late Tuesday or early Wednesday, they'll pour the main level exterior walls.

But first: have a great and restful weekend, guys! C U Monday.

As always, more pictures on the 'Photo Set' page but here is a sampling of today's progress.

Laying the Advantech sub floor

Basement water proofing, back filling on Tuesday

Amish-built... Immense respect for their work in this heat 

Starting to rise up like a phoenix from the flame (sure feels hot enough!)

View of the front porch, office window and front door

Back-porch with floor supports and slider-cut-outs

Only 9 building days and this is the progress 

Build - Day 9 - July 20, 2011

First of all, I have to say that I am blown away by our construction crew. Historic flash flood lifting our dinette off the foundation? No problem, just a three hour delay. Record breaking heat wave the next day? No problem. Hard at work, as usual. I am seriously in awe of their ability to work THIS fast in such energy-draining conditions. There may be a popsicle delivery sometime tomorrow.

We had expected today to be a nice, slow day mainly letting the basement wall concrete cure. But, much to our pleasant surprise the crew started on the non-ICF walls today under the front and back porches as well as the garage walls.

When we arrived around 9 this morning, they already had a great start on the garage.

Cement quietly curing.

When we left, about 10 minutes later, these guys were getting blocks ready to start the front porch.

Back before lunch, the front porch is done, and the three-car garage was almost done.

Men at work.

View from the driveway, at 5pm.

Garage is done, and I can finally start to see the size of the house in proportion.

Getting ready for the subfloor!

Our future front entry.

Back porch foundation is done.

Coming up: sub floor.