Flower & Patio Show (Landscaping)
It was the flower and patio gardening show this weekend at the fairground pavilion and I talked to a few people that went. I did not make it to the show (there's a bug going around and we got it), but I shared with my friends some of the outdoor ideas we have for the time when we build our house.Subsurface IrrigationOne idea that we would like to implement is to install subsurface irrigation on our property. A provider I happened across, as I was perusing www.ownerbuilderbook.com, was KISSSUSA. They provide a system of hoses with special fabric "wings" (for lack of a better word) that wick moisture out horizontally to where it can then seep up to the roots (as opposed to down) where it belongs. This is a more efficient means of watering, so you use less water. They even have a means of using gray water - the water that leaves your house - so that you get an even more efficient use from your water.The system also has a means of adding fertilizers to your system for an easy way to fertilize your lawn and/or gardens. You can create zones to effectively segment your property and water/fertilize each area as appropriate to that area. If it reduces work and makes it easier, then I am all for it. If it reduces work, makes it easier, AND saves you money (through reduced water and fertilizer usage) in addition to being better for the environment (through less run-off), then the system is a no-brainer.Geodesic GreenhousesThe property we are currently paying on has two forty foot diameter grain silo pads that we will have to figure out a use for if we build or determine some way to get rid of them. The posters on Cougarboard and Ownerbuilderbook were nice enough to share ideas, including his and her helipads, painting eyeballs for planes flying overhead, pads for wireless signal towers , pads for gazebos, etc., but I think the idea that we may end up implementing is to build a geodesic greenhouse similar to the ones found on here. Unless we come into a large sum of money, I think I may just build the structure myself (put that workshop I want to build to good use). I have a few additional links bookmarked that provide helpful information about constructing one.It would be awfully nice to grow year round. I think I would prefer a greenhouse to a garden so space is used more efficiently, I can extend the growing season, and I can elevate beds so I do not have to bend and kneel so much. I very well might even be able to make some money off the produce I raise. Forty foot pads are VERY large, and I have two! That's a lot of produce. I don't think I or my family are going to be able to eat all that. Granted it doesn't all have to be produce, but it could be a good way to help the kids raise some money. I am sure we will also raise decorative plants and other items.Radiant Driveway HeatingIf radiant heating is good enough for your floors, why not install it in your driveway so you never have to shovel or plow the snow off it in the winter? Makes sense to me. If you can save enough money installing the radiant systems and the geothermal systems yourself, then why not use those savings to make your life that much easier? The installation costs are an obvious factor to consider, but what of the energy costs to run a heated driveway? First, I believe the system does not run constantly. Only as warranted to keep the driveway at the requisite temperature. Also keep in mind that energy is required to run a snow blower or even a shovel. I am not sure how the costs compare, but if it keeps me out of a hospital room, or from having to down muscle relaxers for a week at a time, then a little extra cost is worth it. I am all for a house that works for me - not the other way around.Labels: fertilizing, geodesic greenhouses, heated driveway, landscaping, radiant heating, subsurface irrigation
Radiant Floor Heating
Concrete floors? Brrrr! Cold. Impersonal. Hard. Yuck.Not so fast! In and of itself, a concrete floor is everything described above. Guilty as charged. However, floors are rarely a system unto themselves. Nobody walks on wood floors. Wood is simply the substrate beneath the tile, the linoleum, the carpet, etc. Similarly, concrete simply serves as the base beneath the walking surfaces in your home. Concrete can serve as the walking surface. There are excellent treatments for concrete to create some incredibly beautiful surfaces. Check out the Concrete Network for some incredible examples of what can be done with concrete.A beautiful concrete floor is still a concrete floor, and barring an adequate heating system, it's still going to be cold and hard, but it doesn't have to be. Coverings are going to help with the issue of hardness, but a system that can help significantly with temperature in concrete floors is radiant floor heating. Radiant floor heating (RFH) in a concrete floor is generally a network of tubing running back and forth through the concrete. A fluid is pumped through the tubing to heat or cool the floor of the room through which the tubing is run. This type of heating is considered by those who are familiar with the heat to be a more comfortable form of heat. The reason this form of heating and cooling is more comfortable is because the heating and cooling are delivered where it is most needed. Generally, this is around the feet (where we are more inclined to need the heating and cooling) versus the head where we generally prefer it to be cooler. Additionally, the heat is radiated rather than blown. Blown heat dries nasal passages and fills the air with dust and other allergens. If you reviewed the Radiantec link above, you'll note that it does not have to be run through a concrete floor. It can be run under a wooden floor, even an existing wooden floor. If you are a DIY'er there are even systems where you can install this yourself. www.radiantdiy.com is a site where such a system can be found. Currently, the site is not available and I do not know when it will be available. It is a sister site of www.geothermaldiy.com that I will review at a later time. I think you might even be able to buy a system and install it yourself through Radiantec and other radiant floor dealers as well. Besides being comfortable, RFH requires less energy to deliver more comfort. Combined with an energy efficient system (EE water heater, solar, wind, geothermal, etc.), RFH can provide significant energy savings. More comfortable, healthier, more energy efficient, and more economical - it's a winner anyway you slice it.Labels: concrete floor, geothermal, radiant floor heating
Concrete Floors
As long as we're building the walls of the house out of concrete, how about building the floors out of concrete? Difficult, you say? Maybe not as difficult as you think it is. Check out Speed Floors from New Zealand. They have a pretty slick means of creating concrete floors and it can be used for residential building as well.
Labels: Concrete, SpeedFloor
Structural Building Methods - ICFs
I think the first priority in making a home work for the owner rather than the other way around is to build the home right so that it minimizes the amount of money the owner has to lay out in order to keep that home going. To the degree that the outlay of cash can be eliminated, so much the better. Probably the largest single outlay of money for most home owners is the outlay for energy costs. I know. I currently live in a home that costs WAY too much to keep comfortable. It was built in the 70's in the fine tradition of crappy spec home stick builders.
When we bought the house, it was me, my wife and a small child. The home seemed like a fine starter home for us and we were ignorant of what our options really were. Hindsight is 20-20 and if we had to do it over again, we would have saved prodigiously until we could afford to build a house that works for us instead of the abode we currently have that requires hundreds of dollars in utilities every month, not to mention the myriad maintenance requirements.
For this entry, I am going to just review construction methods I have explored and offer my opinion of what I consider is best. Beyond the stick framing that most everyone is familiar with, the industry offers a wide variety of building methods to construct a home. Even within the conventional stick framing there have been numerous improvements made recently that improve upon the age old model.
Within the model of stick framing, new methods of insulating offer a much improved home over yesteryear's offerings. There are still a number of builders that use older staid technologies, cutting corners wherever they can, rather than building to the benefit of the consumer. Given the options available, it amazes me that builders still insist on use fiberglass matting for insulation instead of some form of spray on insulation. You can Google spray foam insulation to see a number of available options, including DIY options. These are great for retro-fitting existing homes to a higher standard of insulation, however, I want to focus on methods to build the home correctly in the first place.
There are a number of energy efficient building methodologies available including geodesic, rammed earth, straw bale, ICF, SIP, and earth bermed and earth sheltered homes, as well as a number of variations on each of these. Of these technologies, the two I like the best are ICF (insulated concrete forms) and SIP (structural insulated panels). I am sure the other building methods are very energy efficient and offer their own set of benefits, but the benefit that puts ICF and SIPs over the top for me is their re-saleability. In other words, they look conventional without being conventional. If I ever needed to resell the home, I would not have to find that unique individual that would be willing to buy my unique home. ICFs and SIPs have fewer barriers of perception to overcome.
Insulated concrete forms are forms comprised of two insulating pieces of thick foam with plastic webbing between the foam pieces to keep the pieces at a consistent width apart and provide a seat for rebar placement. The forms are Lego-like and can be stacked in a staggered fashion to form walls. Concrete is poured in the cavity to form reinforced monolithic concrete walls. The foam of the forms stays in place to serve as an effective insulation. Besides providing superior energy efficiency, the houses are as air tight as they are going to get, they conserve natural resources, they offer superior noise reduction, superior protection against damaging forces of nature (including hurricanes and tornadoes), superior fire protection, and they are SOLID. If they are done right, that means less maintenance for hundreds of years, where the standard stick built home is geared to last maybe 100 years tops (with loads of maintenance). I like no maintenance. That's the home working for me. Maintenance is me working for the home.
Here are the benefits cited most frequently in the industry by ICF dealers:
- Superior strength
- Inherent resistance to destructive natural forces
- Excellent sound attenuation
- Impervious to rot, decay, and termites
- High fire resistance
- Energy savings of 25-70% depending on location
- Consistent indoor comfort due to high thermal mass and low permeability
- Structural longevity
- Consistency in product and application
- Maintenance-free
- Architecturally "substantial" appearance due to thicker walls vs. traditional 2x4 or 2x6 construction
- Negligible outgassing - no use of formaldehyde during manufacturing process
Comfort, noise reduction, strength, and energy efficiency are the four top benefits cited by owners of ICF homes. You can read more about ICFs at http://www.builderswebsource.com/techbriefs/about_icfs.htm.
Outside ease of construction, I do not know that one ICF offers much benefit over another. When I select an ICF, my primary deciding factor will probably be what my builder (or myself) is comfortable with and price. I am certain that if I had all the time in the world on my hands, I might be inclined to try and build an ICF home "myself". The Lego-like appearance of the blocks gives a deceptive impression that these would be easy to build with. While that is true to a certain extent, anyone considering this course of action is well advised to remember that you are dealing with concrete here. Your mistakes will be immortalized and as such, you cannot afford any. If you do decide to build with ICFs yourself, I would encourage you to hire an experienced supervisor to manage your crew. You will need more than just yourself at the very least when you are doing the concrete pour. It is impossible for a single person to run a pour.
The main features of an ICF form that I would look for are reversibility (the form is the same forwards, backwards, upside down and rightside up), interlocking (keeps the forms together, particularly during pours), and plastic webbing that extends far enough into the foam and creates a furring strip to which you can attach drywall and exterior siding. Here are a few of the ICF dealers that I have researched. You will not find a lot of pricing, so you may have to get a number of bids when you are ready to build.
Rewards Walls
BuildBlock
Standard ICF
SuperForm
There are other forms and I would encourage you to check them out as well. These are the ones that I have bookmarked and will most likely look at when the time comes for us to build.
Labels: ICF
Welcome to Dallydoo!
Welcome to Dallydoo! Dallydoo is the new blog home of my interest in home construction and improvement technologies (as opposed to my interest in drill and testing technologies found at www.blawblawblog.com). You will find a number of "green" technologies on this site. I do not include them for the sake of being green. I include them because they offer some benefit that I find intriguing (beyond being good for the environment). Sorry if it sounds selfish, but the bottom line for me is...well, What's in it for me? Most technologies I will feature will improve aesthetics, improve comfort, increase my income or decrease my outflow (in time or money), or in some fashion or another improve MY life. If it helps the environment and mankind - all the better, but that is not my overarching motive. However, it is nice that a great number of these technologies achieve both. Environmentalism is coming into its own when a conservative old dinosaur like myself can promote the wares of environmentalism.Labels: home construction, home improvement, Welcome
