Darrel Kelly, John Rider and Joel Lemons arrived at our project site promptly at 11:45 am this morning to verify that the sun was now just starting to enter the house.  Bryan was there exactly at that time as he was returning from a site visit to an ultra-green residential project up the pennisula.

Bryan ordered the remaining roofing materials from Ford Wholesale, and picked up sufficient materials to get started until the bulk of the materials are delivered to the project site tomorrow (Friday) afternoon.

Visiting An ‘Ultra-Green Project’

Bryan was fortunate to visit another project up the pennisula that is being completed.  This project is very ‘green’ and has many similar construction components as our project, albeit on a larger scale.  We are particularly interested in the finishing materials being used in this project and the mechanical systems layout.

One of the challenges with sustainable construction is identifying and procuring materials and products that are produced locally in a sustainable manner that do not contain harmful compounds.  With our project, we need to specify the finishing materials and products that we require.  For example, we need to prime and finish wood surfaces throughout the house.  Also, we need fixtures and other products.

The surface area of the finished surfaces will be significant, so any off-gassing of volotile organic compounds (VOCs) is not acceptable.  Identifying and procuring zero VOC adhesives, primers and finishes is important for maintaining high indoor environmental air quality.  Essentially, we want to prevent pollutants from entering our home by not using products that contaminate the air inside our house.

Finding such products is difficult as the manufacturers of many products and materials bury the contents of their products in the MSDS (material safety data sheets) and it is time-consuming to research and identify acceptable products.  And, then one has to procure those products locally.

it is much easier and faster to visit a project where robust research has been conducted already to identify and procure acceptable materials, including adhesives, primers and finishes.  Bryan was fortunate to leverage such research on another project up the pennisula.

While at that project, Bryan reviewed the layout of the mechanical rooms.  The site he visited has a ground source heat pump using geothermal heat exchange and a mechanical system that uses multiple heat recovery ventilators.  The clothes dryers have booster fans and there is a whole-house water filtration system.  All components that we require for our home.

The mechanical rooms were well-lit with waterproof fluorescent light fixtures.  The layout of the room was simple and all pipes were labelled clearly.  Interestingly, the ground loop had a filter system to ensure the water flowing through the system was clean and had no particles in it.

The ceiling was constructed such that sound (vibrations) would be isolated to the mechanical room and not transmitted to the occupied areas above.  We need to consider sound deadening our West Mechanical room as our daughter’s bedroom is above the West Mechanical room.

Verifying the Effectiveness of Our Solar Design

The autumnal equinox occurred yesterday and our Green Rater, Darrel Kelly, came to our site at noon today to verify how much direct sunlight was entering our house through the windows.  John Rider and Joel Lemons, both from Jrider+Design, joined us to review the construction progress to date.  John did the original sun studies, using ArchiCAD.

Although Darrel, John and Joel subscribe to our construction blog and receive updates via e-mail, Bryan provided a brief overview of the status and project schedule.  To understand if the timeline was acceptable, Darrel simply asked, ‘Will you still be married at the move-in date?’ 

The group went into the lower level and noted that direct sunlight was entering the building through the sliding glass doors on the East side and the casement windows on the South side.  Bryan explained that we require solar gain in these locations because the earth is colder than the indoor desired temperature and, consequently, there is a heating load.  Importantly, the direct sunlight makes the lower level much more pleasant and immensely more habitable.  As the sun gets lower in the sky, the amount of direct sunlight entering the house in the lower level will continue to increase until the winter solstice.

Joel noted that the group should verify the amount of direct sunlight entering the house on the winter solstice.  Everyone agreed.

The next stop was the roof, to review the construction details for the top layers of the gable roof.  Bryan described the components and dimensions of the remaining layers of the gable roof (e.g., Cor-A-Vent, aluminum flashing, 1×3 furring strips, SecurRock, etc.).  Everyone agreed that the design and materials would result in a robust and enduring roof, that would be easy to maintain and have a long life.

Walking on the roof to the front of the house, everyone observed the crickets and how the flat roof had a slight pitch in all locations that will direct water to the drains and eliminate ponding.  Also, the brightness was observed and Joel commented on how this roof reduces the ‘heat island effect’ that is a problem in most urban areas.

Standing in the overhang of the gable roof in the Kitchen (over the garage), Darrel verified that a sliver of direct sunlight is now starting to enter the Kitchen.  As the sun gets lower in the sky, more direct sunlight will land on the concrete floor in the Kitchen and create some solar heat gain.  This is desired as the degree days increase after the automnal equinox.

Having verified everything at the site, the meeting moved to another location to discuss the subsequent construction activities and material selections.  Bryan showed the group the sample of ducting manufactured by Zehnder that we are evaluating and considering for our house.  The benefit of the ducting is that it is, like a plumbing system, very ‘tight’ and will allow us to use a heat recovery ventilator while utilizing displacement air ventilation.  Ken Martin, from Silicon Valley Mechanical, is working on the design of the system.

Picking Up Securock from Ford Wholesale

To ensure the team from Earth Bound Homes can start first thing tomorrow morning, Bryan picked up 22 sheets of 1/4-inch Securock and three rolls of 20-inch aluminum flashing.

We’re ready to start the gable roofs tomorrow.

The filter (green) and pump (red) for the geothermal heat exchange system. Note the unstrut materials used.

Mythic multi-purpose primer in a 5 gallon container.

Rubio Monocoat Oil Plus finish, with 0% VOCs.

Joel Lemons (left), Darrel Kelly (taking photos) and John Rider (right) reviewing construction to date.

The supply and return lines on the West side of the house split into two ground loops, containing six piers in each loop.

John Rider reviews the work to date on the roof.

Roof access will be much different when the gable windows are installed.

Everyone liked the sidewalk repair on Winchester Boulevard. The pedestrians were happy, too.

Picking up Securock from Ford Wholesale in San Jose.

We completed several tasks on our critical path to completing our SIP roof today.  An important task was to have all of the beams on site so they could be graded.  Having our beams is critical so the structural framing can be completed on the ground floor so we can move the SIPs onto the roof with the crane on Wednesday.

Picking Up Our Reclaimed Beams After Milling in Watsonville

Dave Merchant, from Out of the Woods, loaded the three beams that we milled to size on Tuesday at his site in Bonny Doon.  Dave met Bryan in Watsonville at Jackel Enterprises, where we loaded the remainder of the beams that were being milled.  From there, Bryan followed Dave up Highway #1 and over the hill to our project site.  There, our framing crew unloaded the beams by hand and staged them for grading.

Charlie Jourdain, from Redwood Inspection Service in Pleasant Hill, arrived on our site as planned and the beams were ready for him.  Charlie examined and graded each beam, then stamped the end of each beam.  He will be sending us a certificate stating the grade of each beam.  Note that Redwood Inspection Service is a division of California Redwood Association, of which Charlie is the President.

Loading our recently milled reclaimed Douglas Fir beams in Watsonville. The beams on the truck were milled by Dave Merchant in Bonny Doon.

Bryan followed Dave's truck back from Watsonville. Dave is going up Winchester Boulevard with our reclaimed beams.

Dave backed the trailer into our site so it could be unloaded quickly and easily.

Charlie Jourdain, President of California Redwood Association, came to our job site and graded our reclaimed beams. Charlie is measuring the grain of the wood as the grain runs diagonally in this beam.

Charlie measured and graded all of our beams on site, which were just delivered a few hours ago.

Making Insulated Headers

On the West side of our house we have two bathrooms.  The beams that support the SIP roof at the front and back of the house extend through the building.  However, we have two bathrooms on the West side and, even with exhaust fans, these bathrooms will have a high moisture content.

To provide greater protection from condensation, our durability plan requires insulated headers to keep keep the surfaces of the exposed beams warmer and prevent condensation from occuring. 

From two of the reclaimed Douglas Fir beams, we had Jackel Enterprises cut two 1-3/4 inch wide planks.  Using these planks, we sandwiched 2 inches of rigid R-10 insulation.  Thus, we end up with an insulated header that is 5-1/2 inches wide and over 19 ft long.  This insulated header will be over the windows in the two bathrooms.

Similarly, we require a small insulated header on the East side of the house, above the exterior Kitchen door.

Francisco makes the insulated headers by sandwiching 2 inches of rigid insulation between two planks, cut from our reclaimed Douglas Fir beams.

Completed insulated header. The two pieces of reclaimed Douglas Fir are held together by a number of 4-1/2 inch galvanized Simpson Strong Tie SDS screws, countersunk into the planks.

Moving the Temporary Steel Beams

The temporary steel beams supporting the existing East and West walls of our house were moved clear of the structure today.  Several inches of the concrete haunches were removed so the existing walls are now free and clear, and are entirely supported by the house once again.

We’re ready to remove the temporary steel beams from the site on Wednesday, February 24.

Reducing Construction Waste

Renovation and construction projects can generate a tremendous amount of waste that goes to landfill sites.  According to the LEED for Homes Reference Guide, ‘Construction and demolition wastes constitute about 40% of the total solid waste stream in the United States.’  For our project, we are targeting to create as little construction waste as possible.  When our Green Rater, Darrel Kelly, came to our project site on Tuesday, February 16, he was surprised, and delighted, to see how little waste we were generating as we were using three 35 gallon garbage bins to hold our framing debris.

Earth Bound Homes delivered a trailer to our job site today that will be used for all the framing debris.  All the framing waste on our job site was dumped into the trailer as it will be taken for recycling.  We will obtain tags on the debris removed with the trailer.

This is the trailer from Earth Bound Homes, which contains all of our framing debris to date. Note that a number of the pieces in trailer are reclaimed wood, which would otherwise be landfill. This debris will be taken for recycling, not landfill. Reduce, reuse and recycle (redirect).

Overview and Inspection of Progress this Week

Given the days are longer now, Jo-Anne was able to drop by the job site at the end of the day today to inspect our progress. 

Our first major shear wall is in place in Kate’s bedroom (formerly the Master Bedroom).  Having the shear wall in place prior to Jo-Anne’s inspection showed significant progress. 

In line with that shear wall is another shear wall adjacent to the Atrium.  Scott Andersen, who did the conceptual design of the remodel, specified during his most recent job site progress review that we include recessed art niches in the wall behind the glass bridge to the Master Suite.  Three recessed art niches were framed in today and the plywood will be nailed in place next week.

Jo-Anne walked the property and was smiling as she was pleased with our progress this week.

Completed SIP walls on either side of our doorway at the front of the house.

Same view of the foyer, taken on September 29, 2008 when the roof was being deconstructed. Note the diagonal brace on the temporary site fence through the door - it is the same diagonal brace in the photo above. Way cool.

Three art niches that are framed in the shear wall behind the glass bridge facing the Atrium.

Example of recessed art niches (not in a contemporary style house).

Example of recessed art niches on a large exposed wall.

Plywood 2x6 shear wall between the Living Room and Kate's Bedroom.

Jo-Anne, standing in Kate's Bedroom, smiles as she walks the property inspecting our progress this week.

Our flag is flying and our Insulspan sign is posted. The site is buttoned up, ready for the rain that is forecasted through the weekend.

Given the wet weather and limited on-site work underway, we scheduled a meeting today with our LEED evaluator, Darrel Kelly, so we could understand our Title 24 report.  We engaged Davis Energy Group to certify our house under the LEED for Homes program and they assigned Darrel to our project.  He is with Builder’s Energy Services, Inc.

Our Title 24 Report was prepared by Meline Engineering.  They modeled our house using Energy Pro software (by EnergySoft) and, with that model, evaluated the projected performance of our house.  Based on the model that Meline Engineering developed, our house came in at an amazing 72.9% better than the standard, or baseline, design.  In California, if a house is 60% better than standard then it will receive the maximum points available under the LEED-H program. 

Graph showing how a maximum of 19 points can be earned by exceeding Title 24 by 60%.

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