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Yearly Archives: 2013
LEEDing Ideas
What do we have to do to get LEED certified? I had given up on LEED soon after our Design Charrette, but Energy Logic and Carissa Sawyer stayed with me and encouraged me to continue. So far we have tried … Continue reading
Posted in LEED Project
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Hot Town in the Summertime
Denver has a particularly temperate climate but it does get hot and even humid there. Last summer there were several stifling days while I worked tearing out the walls. So I was planning to find a cooling solution for this … Continue reading
Posted in Deconstruction, Energy Efficiency, House Systems
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Slab Edge Issue
I was determined that insulating the slab would take precedence over esthetics. Despite Alberto’s misgivings, I was convinced I could solve this slab edge problem by covering the edge of the extruded polyurethane insulation in some manner after the floor … Continue reading
Posted in Construction, House Systems
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Shutterfly Book
This is an online copy of a book I created to show off the house and commemorate the major milestone of getting the broken floor in the house replaced. This link will open a new window that will take some … Continue reading
Posted in Design Style
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Radon Report
I picked up a Radon test while browsing in Home Depot. Just thinking that it might be good to see what the concentration was before I bought expensive radon vent fans and sealed up the sump hole. I followed the … Continue reading
Posted in Construction, House Systems, Radon Mitigation
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You Stain, You Gain?
Alberto introduced the idea of staining the concrete several months ago and I panned the idea, did not want to think about extra expense at the time. But when the concrete was finished and Alberto said the next step was … Continue reading
Posted in Design Style, LEED Project
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Boiler Struggles
Planning for the boiler install has taken quite a bit of study. Similar to installing the radiant system itself that required learning about pex, radiant pipe layouts, Manual J, heat loss calculations, flow rates, btu’s per square foot, etc. etc. … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, House Systems, Radiant Heat
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Videos of the Concrete Pour
I’ve been taking a few videos of parts of the construction progress. I used iMovie to create files that are small enough to load here. These are “mobile” size snippets of the concrete pour. I’m one day off on … Continue reading
Posted in Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil
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Boiler Flue
The boiler flue and air supply need only plastic pipe to connect to the outside. Most new furnaces use PVC now instead of metal flue. I didn’t want to put another hole in the roof so I ordered a concentric … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Construction, House Systems, Radiant Heat
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May Snow!
Denver has an interesting climate. Snow tends to fall most often in the spring. This year it snowed on the first of May (and the second had more flurries.) This snow does not tend to stay around long and in … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Efficiency
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USGBC Denver Rocky Mountain Green Conference
This is the roof we toured at the conference! It is “semi intense”, planted in trays and suffering a bit from the extreme conditions in Denver, cold, heat, wind and sun. Also has suffered from lack of maintenance. But it … Continue reading
Posted in Design Style, Green Building Interests, Local Products
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Work Truck
Bought this truck to carry construction materials for the remodel. Found that renting a truck was getting to be trouble and UHaul seems to keep raising its rates although they do have nice work trucks. Car rental companies don’t have … Continue reading
Posted in Tools
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Arvada Rent Alls
We are fortunate to have a tool rental agency so close to our house. Arvada Rent Alls has been a great resource for temporary use of expensive tools. Each spring our son-in-law rents a tiller to get the garden started. … Continue reading
Posted in Tools
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Triangle Tube Boiler
We first heard of small, highly efficient, condensing boilers from Melissa when she did our Energy Audit. After some research, I found many recommendations for the Triangle Tube boilers. They have stainless steel heat exchangers, and copper piping. They are … Continue reading
Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Energy Efficiency, House Systems, LEED Project, Radiant Heat
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Radon Mitigation
Zone 1 has the highest concentration of Radon in the ground. Radon has been found to be a naturally occurring cancer causing element that is concentrated in homes that have direct contact with the earth especially in Level 1 (Red) … Continue reading
Posted in House Systems, LEED Project, Planning, Radon Mitigation
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Radiant Installation
Unfortunately the pex roll was unweildly and as the first zone was unrolled, the pex became extremely tangled. The 1000 ft. roll came in a box and did not have a plastic sleeve to hold it in place. Several crimps … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Efficiency, House Systems, Radiant Heat
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Radiant Design Revisited
Since the excitement of the new floor is out of the way, time to go back and talk about the actual layout of the oxygen barrier Pex used in the radiant floor. The references and calculations used to design the … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Efficiency, House Systems, Planning, Radiant Heat
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Water Loop in Action
The water supply trunk loop is connected and stubbed out. This is the longest above the concrete connection. The pipe near the wall will connect the washing machine and the other connection will run to the guest bathroom. This long … Continue reading
Posted in Energy Efficiency, House Systems, LEED Project, Plumbing
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De Floor, de floor!
The concrete was poured on March 18th after six months of work by Alberto’s crew to remove the old concrete and dig out for the waffle boxes. Then the installation of the vapor barrier and the boxes, the insulation, the … Continue reading
Posted in Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil
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Really Rebar
The engineering plan from Crown Jade uses rebar instead of post tensioning cable to reinforce the concrete in the floor. The computer program that the engineers used to design the floor system was a Post Tensioning Insitute product. Post Tensioning … Continue reading
Posted in Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil
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