Carol's House Build Thread

Carol Reed

In Memoriam
Messages
5,533
Location
Coolidge, AZ
Since it is official, I will begin this thread and see how it goes.

The septic system has been approved. It will be a Presby System. http://presbyeco.com/ if you are interested. My lot is only ~5100 sqft, so a special system was required. To my knowledge, this will be the second of these systems to go in in San Diego county. The county is quite interested as are 8 of my neighbors with sub-standard lots size-wise. The company is eager to break into San Diego county because of the scarcity of land and the lack of sewer systems. So an engineer from the company, my civil engineer, and the county health department all got together via Skype and got my systems designed and approved. 21st century technology. You gotta love it!

The normal setback on my lot would have left me with ~110 sqft of legal building space - hardly enough for a pup tent! That was the observation of the county planner when I came in to apply for the variance. He was for the variance from the git-go but bureaucratic paperwork grinds out slowly here. They of course, are setting a precedent for the neighborhood and they know it. Speed is not on their agenda.

While the paperwork is not yet physically in my hand, the planner did give me the green light to 'proceed with the permitting process.' Get the plans done and in and we'll go from there. This will not be a speedy process either.

The house will be small ~700 sqft on two levels. The first level will be a walk out with garage entry and naturally be the shop area. The second story will be the living area, pretty much all open spaces with the only interior walls defining the bathroom and bedroom. As the design is drawn, I will post my drawings and you all can chime in. I am sure you will have a lot to teach me!

I want to build a passive energy, aging in place, cost-contained house. Other new' systems will be incorporated. The first is the house will be built of SIPS panels, rather than the customary 2x4 stick construction. My panel company also had to be on the approved list for the county. They consider this construction as prefabbed (which is stretching it) and their concerns include seismic stressing and wildfire safe materials. I am going with Premier Panels (http://premiersips.com/about-premier-sips/). They have built houses and commercial buildings in San Diego county and there are local contractors that are approved to put these things up.

The Premier company does all the engineered drawings for both the county and the manufacturing plant. No need for an architect. I have designed it. I may need some foundation drawings, but I can probably do those myself. I was given the name of a architectural draftsman if I didn't want to do them.

One other feature that I got a green light from the county on is the earth tube air system. (http://www.phius.org/NAPHC2012/Morosko_EarthAirTubes.pdf) This will also incorporate a solar chimney and computer operated clerestory windows. The air temperature here at 5-6' down is estimated at a stable 50-55º year-round. I only need to heat/cool air from that temperature and I have a constant air exchange rate in the house, so no radon issues.

So now the ball in my court. When I return from vacation, I will send my drawings and lists to the structural engineer. Then my job will be to find all the money necessary! :eek:

I do have a septic installer contractor who will also dig the foundation and the trench for the earth tube system. I will find other subs as I need them.

This is a complex, exciting project. Come along for the ride.

The goal is to be completed before the end of the first quarter next year (Easter). I would love for it to be sooner but there still is a lot of waiting before the first dirt gets moved. Tentatively planning the 2017 FWW Gathering at my new place next summer. Start saving your shekels.

looking east.jpg lot interior.jpg SE lot corner.jpg SW lot corner.jpg Canyon Dr property line.jpg
 
Very cool, looking forward to the build and glad to hear things are moving along. I'll have to look more into that air system to see if it's being used around here, even as an air exchanger system since we do have high radon levels. I had looked at the sips system a while back looking at a steel framed house covered with them (at least on the roof). I never got to the pricing stage, still interested in them for a retirement home project.

:lurk:
 
:lurk: Just leaving this popcorn here in case I run out later.

I love the idea of the earth tube system. We recently picked up a book on a similar idea (mostly the same idea I guess) but for greenhouses:
http://www.chelseagreen.com/the-forest-garden-greenhouse
Fascinating stuff.

The solar chimney design has been used since ancient times in parts of southern europe and the middle east:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_chimney
I'm really at a loss why they aren't more commonly used, its a brilliant design as well!

My overly complicated hypothetical perfect greenhouse design uses both plus a partially subterranean pond/waterfall as an air moderation system partially designed after some southern european designs that used the cistern for moderating the air quality.

Our last house was a real education on the importance of properly designed roof lines and overhangs in how much it changed the livability of a house. Probably slightly less important where you are than it is further north as you don't have as much variance in the sunlight angle. It could certainly have been improved and some "green wall" designs around the outside would also have made a significant difference but even the nod in that direction was hugely beneficial.

One thing to be aware of with the earth tube system is getting an engineer who can design the thing so you don't end up with condensation issues - this is surprisingly easy even in dry climates to end up with some areas cold enough for moisture to drop out and the accompanying problems.

A few articles in increasing scienciness, the last one in particular is pretty interesting.
http://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-021-thermodynamics-its-not-rocket-science
http://www.powerknot.com/how-to-read-and-use-a-psychrometric-chart.html
http://ijlct.oxfordjournals.org/content/4/3/150.full.pdf

I was hoping BSI would have something more useful but all I could find was this rather interesting article about an engineer almost killing his parents by not understanding airflow and then creating a mold hazard in two houses after he "figured it out".
http://buildingscience.com/documents/insights/bsi-076-great-moments-in-building-science
 
Thanks for the links, Ryan. I will design the earth tube system. Engineers go deer in the headlights when you mention it. :rolleyes: I know enough to provide slope for drainage and filtration on the intake J-pipe. Same principle as getting fresh air below decks of a ship. I once found a link to calculate the length and diameter of the tube. Will have to find that again.

The cliff dweller Indians in the Four Corners area of the US used solar chimneys to lift cool valley air through their cliff dwellings and then up though a hand cut chimney to the mesa above. It all works on the 'hot air rises' concept.

I did forget to mention the interior water feature which will provide evaporative cooling, humidity adjustment, and maybe even a few fish. Thanks for the reminder. I need a water source and pump power in that are. A floor drain is probably also a good idea. Greenery growing around the water feature will be pretty and provide air freshening elements. Maybe an indoor herb garden.
 
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Yeah, my main concern with the earth tube is the hot air entering the tube, then cooling and condensing inside the tube, that's the "moisture goes from warm to cold" part of the first BSI link. There may well be other concerns, but that seems like the obvious one :) The risk there would be mold formation inside the tubes and the airflow bringing that into the house (when you go back into the house you're going from cold->hot and small->large mostly and so it should dissipate pretty well). I'm quite sure a well designed system can still work really well, but its a fairly challenging bit of hydrodynamics.

I fully admit its past my pay grade to try and figure most of that out on my own, so any other sources you come up with I'd be really interested in seeing.

The oxfordjournals link has a bunch of information on the tube sizing and design, I'm not sure how good it is because I lack the math to prove them correct or not :D. Its the best I've been able to find so far though - the greenhouse book was pretty decent albeit a bit on the hippy dippy side and somewhat lighter on the engineering details. He seemed to mostly be dealing with it by maintaining sufficient airflow using fans, and admittedly greenhouses have somewhat different moisture issues than a house :)

And a water feature! :thumb: I'm going to need more :lurk: for sure!

Our vastly oversized pond pump takes close to 19kwh/m to push water up about 8' (based on an average cost increase of $10/mo at 5.3c/kw; electricity is really cheap here!) That pump is around 3x the size it needs to be though, I replaced it when the original burned itself up and kind of "went big". I haven't measured the flow rate but its well above 10g/m which is likely a lot higher than you'll need.
 
Carol this going to the top of the list to follow. You are going into an area most of us don't understand but would like to learn. I'm sure your learning curve is going to skyrocket. Best of luck.
David
 
If you are interested in earth tube systems, here is the site that got me started.

http://www.builditsolar.com/Projects/Cooling/passive_cooling.htm#Other

Now gathering all the criteria for my lot to consider. Likely, I will not complete the system when I complete the house. I will have to phase in some of this because of the cash outlay issues. First comes the basic house. But I will design the infrastructure to readily install it later. Same with the roof solar system. That means window placement and attachment points in the roof and walls.

Its kind of interesting. The more people I talk to about this to get information, the more interested they become to help. Also kinda cool! Guess everyone likes to be challenged once in a while.
 
Congrats Carol. Just catching up. Ton in this thread i need to read will bank it for later.

Would love to see a drone view of this land of yours. Seems awfully small chip of land. Here i thought us Canadians lead the way in tiny lot category. Not for me. I don't want to even see my future neighbours.

You taking this on sure is inspirational. Every now and then you need to remind us young uns just how old you are so we don't use "getting old" as an excuse for not following our dreams.
You sure are my kind of gal.

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk
 
Good news! Got home form picking up the Craigslist shed. Checked email. Written confirmation of the variance approval! And of course they need more money. So having some lunch and then going to San Diego to pay them. Then there is a 10 day waiting period for whatever reason I cannot fathom. Then they will mail the written letter and drawings.

Yahoo! :thumb:
 
Then there is a 10 day waiting period for whatever reason I cannot fathom. Then they will mail the written letter and drawings.

Cooling off period. Wouldn't want someone going off and putting in a septic system without thinking long and hard about it first.:rofl:
 
Good news! Got home form picking up the Craigslist shed. Checked email. Written confirmation of the variance approval! And of course they need more money. So having some lunch and then going to San Diego to pay them. Then there is a 10 day waiting period for whatever reason I cannot fathom. Then they will mail the written letter and drawings.

Yahoo! :thumb:

:headbang::highfive::thumb:
 
The cooling off period is standard in all municipalities. It gives people a chance to slowly release the pent up frustration resulting from wading through the sometimes caustic bureaucratic process imposed on property owners before being able to do what you want on your own property. ;):p
 
Just for this newcomers education, is this the end of the line for approvals and permits? I have come to feel this lot of yours has been a roller coaster ride so i an nervous to get excited for you in anticipation of the next municipal requirement.

So once you got this piece of paper are we G for go to start and complete the entire project?

While i am asking what may be stupid questions let me add another, are other states and their municipalities in the US equally as onerous as California and your municipal area has been thus far?
 
The short answer to the permitting process is 'no'. Much more to go. As to other states, I have no experience and it is a mute issue. I ain't moving!

This simply determines the legal building envelope. I still have to come up with a house plan that fits, makes sense, complies with the rest of the county's building code, and is affordable. More roller coaster rides to come, I'm afraid. But I will take my victories as they come.

We have seismic and wildfire hazards that are accommodated in the local building code. Ain't as simple as slapping 2x4's up. In the end. the house should be as destruction proof as modern materials can make it.

Thus far, the septic plan is approved in writing. The setback variance is in its 10 day waiting period and the fees are all paid. The I get the written and stamped building envelop plan. Then the design process can be fine-tuned to fit. That is all I know for sure at this point.

Like eating the elephant. But we gotta get it done. There is a party here next July! Am arranging a Friday tour to the Sam Maloof compound and the Gamble house in Pasadena and a quilting event for those interested. And who knows what else. If you're coming, I want to make it worth your while. My personality isn't that scintillating.
 
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