Twinsprings Research Institute

A Spring List

Posted on April 29, 2015 by ellen

I’m making a spring list that will follow us into summer I’m sure. The rule of making a new list is to put something on it that can be crossed off right away, especially if it was not on a previous list. So number 1 is install new electric box, and number 2 is install new windows: check and check.

Spring List

The new list is made just as I think of things, not in order of doing. Here we go:
1. ~~Install outside electric box~~
2. ~~New windows~~
3. New doors (will be replumbed and leveled today)
4. Insulate remaining openings
5. Install battens
6. Install membrane/air barrier
7. Polyiso in crawlspace joists
8. Plan ventilation system
9. Resolve door issues
10. Get insulation inspections
11. Foam sheathing cracks/tape
12. Drywall exterior walls
13. Patch concrete (floor) and caulk edges
14. Clean and polish floor
15. Interior walls
16. Pour concrete slab
17. Install spa
18. Excavate spa slab area

It is kind of obvious that sometimes I think backwards! So this list is obviously not in order. Can’t install the battens before the membrane for instance. Or pour the concrete slab before excavation. Nevertheless there is plenty to do these next few weeks.

Posted in Construction, Planning | Comments Off

Next Steps–Not These!

Posted on April 28, 2015 by ellen

What are the next steps?
We still have the membrane and the furring strips to install throughout the house. That is left over from the fall list.
Dave and I both had bad colds these past few weeks. Felt miserable and not up to much in the way of construction. I had a few leads for craigslist finds, being sick in bed and having time to read the ads, but they all seemed like way too much work.

This was an 8 x 10 gazebo that we could have moved for $200. We couldn’t use the deck though, it would not hold the full spa–not hefty enough and it was too big to fit on the truck in one piece.

Gazebo for spa

This was a free toilet that I picked up and broke the tank trying to get it behind the house. I was sad as it was a pretty toilet and I can’t find a replacement tank. It is only a Home Depot Glacier Bay brand made in China. I’m supposed to buy water sense toilets but I could not pass up free. Now it is just trash I guess.

Glacier Bay Victorian toilet

I waited for these folks to close on their house to view and make an offer on this solar system. The equipment is pretty old. One of the pumps had been replaced. It used a temperature differential between the pumps to determine the rate of flow. The pipes coming out of the storage tank were quite warm given that it was completely overcast that day. The former owners had told them not to get rid of it but that was one of the first things they were doing! Kind of odd I thought.

Glycol solar hot water system

While I was there I asked if they wanted to sell the greenhouse and they said sure, but then I had to ask Dave if he wanted it, or would help with moving the solar system. As I was leaving another man came to see the solar hot water stuff and I suppose he bought it as I have not heard from the owners. There were three panels and a frame on the roof.

Solar hot water panels

The greenhouse was cool but not quite wide enough for our solar space.

Greenhouse

None of these things are part of the larger picture and we can’t put effort forth to make them happen right now.

The concrete slab for the spa does have to be poured. Would like to have that done in the next couple of weeks.

I have been thinking that while the weather is cooler, I should cut and fit some of the extra polyiso into the outside joists in the crawlspace and caulk it. Maybe even spray the exposed wall with foam from one of those little two part kits.

Once the membrane is up we could get the ceiling and exterior wall drywall installed. If that were done, the rooms would look brighter and cleaner.

I need to plan for the ventilation system–design the ductwork and decide where the intake and outflow will be.

Also the concrete floor needs to be patched, caulked at the edges, cleaned, waxed and polished.

Then the walls could go in! Wouldn’t that be nice?

Posted in Construction, Diversions | Comments Off

Piper Electric

Posted on April 28, 2015 by ellen

Piper Electric did an estimate for us in the fall of 2013. That was to rerun all the existing circuits to the new walls when they were built. But it did not include installing an outside shutoff. The code now requires one for the whole house electric service for safety’s sake. A fireman could turn off the electric service from outside if the building were on fire. The existing box is in the garage.

I had gotten another estimate back in 2013, but when I called that company to come back and redo their estimate, they were out of business in our area. My daughter used Piper with great results when she was selling their house and had to get the garage up to code before the sale could go through. They were reasonable, prompt, had cost-saving suggestions and are well regarded as a local company in Arvada. So I was glad they were available to do the work.

They did a new estimate just for the outside box, upgraded service making room for new circuits, the new meter box install, and a sub panel and 50 amp circuit for the spa. The new box is 200 amps instead of 150 so Xcel had to approve the upgrade and install the new meter, the Xcel workers turned off the electricity at the pole while the electricians disconnected the old incoming wire and installed a new pipe and box for the new meter.

Xcel truck

The old box located in the garage is now the subpanel. It will hold most of the circuits except for the new circuits for the spa and kitchen. More circuits are required for kitchens and other electrical appliances now. The circuit breakers will have to be upgraded to arc fault breakers so all the half size breakers will now be full size and the new box will also be used for those extra circuits.

Old box

Piper had two trucks on the job–tons of materials on hand for the project.

Piper trucks

The new box is located outside just behind the old box so that wires can go through the wall between them.

New box

The guys pulled a new 50 amp wire through to the master bedroom and out the wall for the spa motor and heaters. The box is outside on the wall and a new 15 amp outlet is also installed below it. They were glad the wiring chase allowed them to pull the wire pretty easily.

Spa subpanel and outlet

The job took two workdays, Friday and Monday. Next steps are up to us.

Electricians at work

Posted in Electrical, House Systems | Comments Off

Door Difficulties

Posted on April 23, 2015 by ellen

As much as I like the new windows and the LOOK of the new doors, the doors are not opening and shutting correctly. These are Therma Tru entry and french patio doors that Alpen purchases and then installs their high end glass into. It is the Smooth Star line that when painted the same color as the fiberglass windows, match their style and appearance beautifully.

Smooth Star Doors

I spent some time working on one of the french doors that was left not fully installed because the issues with the doors showed up right away when they were installed. The Therma Tru doors are shipped to an assembler as slabs and a jamb kit and they are put together by a local manufacturer. In this case the guy who came out to figure out the door issues was from the Trimco company. Also the Efficiency Matters sales person, Mike Rodriguez, and the EM owner whose name I forgot, the AE Building Materials rep, Todd Collins and the Alpen rep Riley Dennig were on hand to figure out the problems. The Trimco guy checked the level of the french door sills and determined they were out of level by a hair. He worked on the jambs on one of the doors himself, but said it was probably ultimately my fault (who would have guessed?) by not having perfectly level sills. They recommended tearing out the doors (at EM’s expense I suppose) and putting in level sills.

So I thought about this for a night and started to think it seemed bogus. What house has perfectly level sills? Even a new house doesn’t. That is what shims are for. So I wrote Mike and told him they could just come out and plumb and level as much as possible with shims. The Trimco guy said that the jambs should be screwed on the outside mid jamb which I was not too happy with. In fact the directions say the doors ship with clips that should be removed AFTER they are plumb and level which would mean drilling holes in the exposed part of the jambs. The problem with that is introducing an avenue for rusted screws, water, and ugliness on the jambs of the doors. The installers used regular door hanging instructions, i.e. they screwed the jambs level and plumb in the hinge area of the doors. They did not replace a hinge screw with the longer screws provided though.

After I worked on the door myself, I had it exactly level at the sill and jamb and still could not get it to close properly. Plus I found that the hardware I was trying to install didn’t fit, and then when I put another set of hardware on, the door’s three point locking system wasn’t working properly. I started to get annoyed. Why did I pay thousands of dollars for doors that don’t work as well as cheap Jeldwens? Plus the paint job on one of the doors is rough like they painted with dirt on the door, and another one is chipped at the lock set holes. The locksets are made in China and the bolts are just sprayed with the dark color so that the act of screwing them in chips finish off in the phillips head area.

So I had read that people had trouble with the Benchmark Therma Tru series that Lowes sells, but that the factory Therma Tru doors were much better. After my issues I read further that installers have used these doors for years with mostly good results. They blamed misfitting doors on the assembler more often than the manufacturer. Although complaints about moving to Chinese manufacture for the hardware were found. In 1999 the door hardware was made in the USA and installers thought they were of better quality.

Mismatched lockset plate on right

I also read that dark painted doors with a southern or western exposure were likely to warp, especially if storm doors are installed. I missed a statement on the Alpen quote that said the warranty for the doors was not in place if they did not have an awning that covered at least the top half of the door. Of course that upset me when I finally read it–the Therma Tru warranty does not state this. So of course it means they had trouble with the doors warping before. The whole business about not being able to order outswing doors was based on what they were willing to warranty and this NEVER was mentioned. So I complained to Mark but it was too late to change the order to outswing–without warranties.

I’m pretty sure the doors are not closing well enough to be airtight. So that impacts my blower door results pretty strongly and means that I have purchased high level doors with performance that will LOWER my HERS rating, not improve it. I’m waiting for Efficiency Matters to see if they can re-level and re-plumb so that the doors actually close tightly against the weatherstripping evenly all up and down the jamb.

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Energy Efficiency | Comments Off

Moving the Fish

Posted on April 22, 2015 by ellen

So today was spa moving day! We hooked up the new trailer, stopped by Arvada Rent-alls and rented a Gin Pole and a set of 8 ton rollers. We also had filled up the truck with tarps, bubble wrap, tape, rope, strapping, a saw with a new blade for the fiberglass edges, wire to wire them on, bungees, a metal pry bar, both hand trucks and dollies, and the motorcycle lift that we had used for the heavy wood stoves. I also brought a few lengths of pvc pipes but didn’t use them, also didn’t use the hand trucks, and the dollies didn’t really work, but the gin pole and the pry bar and the motorcycle lift were great. The owner also had a floor jack that we used. It was quite a job and I was so involved I didn’t get any photos!

But here is one of the spa on the trailer after we got home.

Spa on Trailer

I had a general idea about protecting the spa for the ride home by using an old pool bubble cover over the top and then putting on the fiberglass edges. But the pool cover was not big enough so we covered the top with a tarp first, then put on the bubble wrap, which I cut into two strips for two sides and then draped the rest over for the other two sides. We used regular packing tape to wrap around and hold it in place.

Then we used two full size fiberglass edges for the long ends and cut two to fit between on the short ends. I bought a non-metallic carbide tipped blade for the circular saw that worked well on the fiberglass. The top fiberglass edges were wired to each other across the spa top to hold them on. Then the bottom edge was covered with fiberglass edges by screwing them into the frame that held the siding. We jacked the spa up to take out the 4 x 4s and cement blocks that were underneath it then we used blocks just at the middle to keep it high enough to put on the edging.

Once the edges were protected for travel and to keep the metal from getting scarred from dragging on the cement, we jacked the spa so that it was lowered to the heavy roller blocks. They were difficult to keep under the spa. Maybe pipes would have worked better here. The rent on the rollers was rather high. Might have been able to buy more pipe to use instead. The spa frame kept slipping off the roller blocks when the cement dipped and rose so we had to keep stopping and put them back in place. The gin pole really helped redirect the front of the spa so it would go up to the trailer evenly.

When we got the spa to the end of the patio, some neighbors came over to help! Boy that was fortunate as getting the spa up onto the trailer took a lot of team work. The guys lifted at the sides with 4 x 4’s while the rest of us pushed it from the back. We also had a couple of tries at putting the roller blocks under the front to roll up onto the trailer but they wouldn’t stay in place.

We hooked up a winch to the back of the truck to help hold the hot tub and keep it from slipping backwards. It wanted to pull the spa to one side though and after it was on the trailer that was not helping. Eventually the 4 x 4 prying from the sides tipped the balance and we were able to use the motorcycle lift to get the back of the spa up high enough to push it the rest of the way onto the trailer. Once on far enough the trailer was pretty easy to tilt up into place and shove the spa the rest of the way down the trailer.

Then we just had to use the ratchet straps to hold it down and an extra rope to fasten it front to back and we were ready to roll out the driveway and home! Took some coaching to back it up through the gate and be on our way. We didn’t get home until almost 5 p.m. so not remembering the hours of the rental place I hustled the borrowed goods back to the rental agency but made it with plenty of time to spare, as they closed at 6. It cost $72 for both items. So that made the spa move part a total of about $800. But we still have to move it into place once the cement pad is poured.

An amazing thank you to the owner for lending us tools and helping with the whole process and his two neighbors who just came over to help and really put their backs into it as well as figuring out the side 4 x 4 pry technique.

We will leave the spa on the trailer until the slab is ready.

Truck with Spa on Trailer

Posted in Reduce Reuse Recycle, Spa, Tools | Comments Off

Give a Man a Fish–or a Spa Mover

Posted on April 16, 2015 by ellen

Yeah, I was so going to have someone else move the spa. But then they gave me grief, maybe we can get to it, maybe there will be access at your house. I sent photos, I sent specifications. That tub will be heavy–less heavy than most foam filled and wood spas, but it would need two guys. Really? How do you move a spa with one and insure safety for your employees and the spa? The bottom line was expense, more than I anticipated.

I looked up how to move a spa, I watched the spa dolly videos, I decided not to buy a fish but a fishing pole. That is a tilt trailer. Well, one just happened to come up close to home on craigslist. The guy was nice, obviously took good care of his stuff, and the price seemed reasonable given that we would not use the spa mover.

Tilt Trailer

It is 8′ x 8′ and the spa is 7.5′ x 9.5′ so it will only hang over a bit. It has the flip down axle wheel so we can leave the spa on the trailer and move it around until the concrete is ready. We also will be able to pick it up and pay for it before the sellers get too impatient!
We think we can use this trailer to move objects that would be difficult or impossible to get on the truck bed, like taking the mower in for service etc. I needed to find one that had the entire bed above the wheels so that the spa could be loaded straight on.

Trailer rear

The trailer is rated to 2000 lbs and has good tires plus a spare so we’ll be moving the spa ourselves. Learning to fish so to speak.

Posted in Diversions, Spa, Tools | Comments Off

Windows and Doors Installation

Posted on April 16, 2015 by ellen

New windows and doors are the most expensive and largest change to the house since the new slab was installed. And it is finally happening! We ordered the Alpen windows and ThermaTru doors with Alpen glass inserts from Mark Attard at AE Building Systems and he recommended the Efficiency Matters company for installation as they are trained in Alpen window installs and also the Siga air barrier systems. Alpen is a local window, manufactured in Longmont Colorado and the most energy efficient made in the USA.
Last week the Fort Collins based crew arrived to take out the old and put in the new. After installing a couple of the master bedroom windows just to get started, a separate crew came to reframe the door openings. The first area they tackled was tearing out and reframing the large southern window exposure for french doors.

Middle French Door

The door crew was not quite up to speed, although more experienced, they first framed the large door area for the 36″ doors! I was out and about and when I returned and saw the framing I said WHOA. What is going on here? Before I left I had told the head guy that the new doors would fit in the opening with more than one 2 x 6 between them. I wanted to be sure he understood the spacing and reinforce what I discussed with the Efficiency Matters folks. Instead, he asked the guys to give him the door measurements and they must have measured one of the front doors, so he assumed that was the three doors to install!

I told him there were 201 inches of rough openings for the doors and 211 inches available in the full opening. Obviously he was not really listening to me! Don’t know if it is true, but there were a couple of other instances where he seemed reluctant to follow my knowledge of the construction and I just got the idea that it was because of my gender. Maybe that was too quick to judge, but I have seen it before and it makes me feel the same way, or maybe it was because I am “just the homeowner”. But it was definitely a communication barrier that I didn’t have with the window crew.

Dining Room Window

While the door crew was doing their thing, the window crew continued with the window install. Here they have prepared the dining room opening with the Siga tape wrap.

Wrapped Window Opening

This is the door crew working on the tear out from the former front door and window area.

Mud Room Door Reframe

Before long we were looking at a new scene from inside the house.

New Doors

We ran into a problem with the north bedroom window. Somehow it was ordered ten inches too wide! That was a shocker. I checked my spreadsheet and it was an error that I didn’t catch. An earlier quote had the correct size and although I double checked the measurements for the final order, I noticed that my spreadsheet was overwritten on that particular measurement.

So I can’t tell where the larger measurement came from but it was a problem for sure. The solution was to just tear out the larger opening! We are lucky that the original construction is post and beam and the builders had used the roof support beam for the window header so the opening was not limited to the original size of the window. There was an insert in the concrete walls that was dry walled. So the crew just cut out to the cement sides and framed for the new window. It fit the space perfectly! Like I had ordered it to do so. Very weird and fortunate.

North Bedroom Reframe

This crew was willing to make it work too. No complaints and they stayed until 7:30 that night getting the window in because we had overnight guests using the room!

We Can Do It

This window crew was the great. We were very happy with their efforts and the windows are working perfectly.

Successful Crew

Some of the windows were huge and they were able to carry them up over the back of the roof, resting as they went to get them in place.

Family Room Window Openings

And finally a panorama of the new southern window and door installation.

Southern Installation

We are not yet fully sealed up around all the perimeters where new walls were created and the crew has to return for issues with the door installs. But the new look is nice. Even our grandson approves!

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope, Local Products | Comments Off

Another Distraction

Posted on April 6, 2015 by ellen

Colorado is spa country. There are several great hot springs spas in the state and we may need to visit all of them. So far we have been to three, Glenwood Hot Springs–huge pools–lots of locals; Mount Princeton Hot Springs–mostly adult access except for their public side but a very nice family cabin; and Pagosa Hot Springs, over 20 smaller soaking pools of various temperatures, plus a nice large swimming pool and all located right next to the river. Beautiful and friendly, probably my favorite so far.

So to emulate these treasures at home, many folks have hot tubs. They are to Colorado what swimming pools are to Arizona–in most backyards. I always wanted a hot tub in addition to our pool in Arizona but we never bought one. Didn’t really fit into the yard very well there but we have tons of yard in Colorado. I shopped on craigslist for a long time looking at everything from free to a fortune and got to thinking I’d like a swim spa instead of a hot tub.

The other day I was looking and saw a posting that was only an hour old–and I called. It is an exercise spa, not quite long enough to swim in but deep and with a good jet system on one side. About 20 miles away but just off the highway so not in the boonies or far up in the mountains. An elderly couple (more elderly than me) were selling their spa because the lady’s arthritis and his bad knees have meant they cannot climb into and out of it anymore. Actually buying advice for hot tubs say NEVER buy a spa that has been emptied and you can’t see operational. So that is what I am doing. There is something about this couple and this spa that seems right, despite all the effort it will take to get it moved and installed.

It is a Rio Spa–I was lucky to read the website before it went down. The founder was an early manufacturer of swim spas, Carl Meyer and his wife Carol, and claimed to have built some of the first, if not invented the concept. I found at least a couple of fiberglass pool patents under their names.

First Meyer Swim Spa circa 1968

They used to make slides and other fiberglass pool accessories but sold most of the business several years ago, retaining only the swim spas. Now there are so many other swim spas on the market and Rio stopped manufacturing sometime in the last couple of years. They don’t respond to inquiries and the website just became unavailable this week. I’ll post in resources the documents I downloaded before it went away. The Facebook page is still there and the last post is in 2012. There is another vendor online that makes Aqua Swim Spas to the same dimensions but they also didn’t respond to my inquiry. So the line is no longer made but I’m confident it was well-regarded product for a long time.

The shell is very similar to a fiberglass pool and it could be installed in the ground, but the couple purchased the support frame for above ground installation. It has a wood skirting around the frame but because it is so tall it is not the typical redwood cabinet. I tried to talk myself out of buying this spa several times but each time I kept coming back to the idea of owning it and working with the couple who I liked as soon as I met them. Today I drove out there and put down a deposit.

Rio Exercise Spa

So here is the diagram of the model. It is 9.5 x 7.5 in dimensions and about 8 x 6.75 at the water surface, it has steps on one side and slopes in so that it is a 4.5 ft. square at the bottom. Steps are integrated into the side for access and the couple has a step system to enter from the outside.

Rio Swim Spa A-9

The handrail is not included, however, this gives a good idea of the design of the spa. In 2009 when they bought the spa, the equipment it came with was made by Acura–that is a pretty good name in spa equipment. And they have an online store with replacements for anything in the mechanical system.

And this is another diagram of the interior and exterior–actually from the Aqua Swim Spa site instead of the Rio site, but the tub is the same although it does not show the filter.

APT9 Exercise Spa Diagram

Now we have to get started on the cement slab and contact the movers to set a date. Once the electrician gets the new box in and runs wire, we will have an unusual spa that I hope will last us many years.

Posted in Diversions | Comments Off

iConf

Posted on April 5, 2015 by ellen

iConf Logo

I thought this was a cool way of “checking in” attendees to the conference sessions. Continuing education is important in all fields these days and in order to get the credit for being at the sessions, the attendees were checked in at the door by scanning a “data matrix” barcode on the conference badge.

iConf is an iPhone app so volunteers used their own ipad or iphone to help with tracking conference attendees. The app download is free and the organization pays for an online account to collect the data and read reports.

Ellen Dibble Matrix Barcode

I thought it was an interesting use of the internet and technology for conferences.

Posted in Green Building Interests, Tools | Comments Off

I meet Peter Ellis!

Posted on April 5, 2015 by ellen

Peter Ellis

This is a bit embarrassing because I was kind of a groupie fan when I met this man at Rocky Mountain Green. When I found out he was registered for the conference I was hoping I would meet him. Then it kind of became my goal for the day.

I met one of his employees who told me he would be there later in the day. I asked Mandy who had told me she knew him to scout him out for me, but then I also went around at happy hour looking for him and finally I read his name tag and introduced myself! Mandy had told him I was looking for him, so at least he had some warning.

Peter did his undergrad work at Carleton College (1995). This is one of those very good small schools across the USA that has a balanced liberal arts and science curriculum. We have a very good friend who also graduated from there in the late 60’s. And our son-in-law went to Grinnell in Iowa, a similar great school.

Peter Ellis wrote an excellent paper about trombe walls for his Master’s Thesis at University of Illinois in 2003. He compared the data from the seminal Los Alamos Trombe wall experiments in the late 70’s with the models in Energy Plus. (which he pronounces TROMB–how I originally thought it was pronounced but was corrected, he said it is French and he is pretty sure it would not have a BEE at the end!)

Energy Plus is energy modeling tool from NREL. He chose data from the Los Alamos experiments by narrowing it to just four consecutive days of sunny weather and reproduced the outcomes with the analysis provided by the Energy Plus software thus verifying both the software model with real data and the energy performance value of Trombe walls.

The paper is so well written that a non-scientist can follow it and understand the importance of the verification process and outcomes. He concentrated on unvented walls and showed that these walls do indeed work to capture indirect heat. I told him about our wall, that it had the selective surface but it has the same problem as the Los Alamos walls in that the surface is not as well adhered as it should be. He said we could eliminate the selective surface but I told him that would mean we would have to buy double glazing. He laughed and said I might know the paper better now than he did!

But not only did he write this great paper on Trombe walls, later when he was employed by NREL, he co-wrote a handbook for Design Charrettes and what makes them successful. Since I kind of considered my design charrette a bit of a failure, this was also a very interesting paper. Also at NREL, he was the principal developer of Open Source. Released in 2008, the program integrated Energy Plus with Google’s Sketch Up to allow modeling with architectural renderings. It is the front end used now for Energy Plus modeling.

Open Studio 2009

Not too shabby! He started a software company in Denver that helps people use and interpret the data from the Energy Plus software called Big Ladder Software. And because of Rocky Mountain Green 2015 I was able to meet him.

Posted in Green Building Interests, Trombe Wall | Comments Off

Rocky Mountain Green 2015

Posted on April 5, 2015 by ellen

April 2, 2015. I really can’t help loving this conference. Even though it is really aimed at planners, architects, and commercial buildings, it is exciting to hear the youthful, intelligent, talented people involved in the energy efficient building movement.

The conference was very well attended and all of the sessions I helped with were full to overflowing. I only attended the first day. This one was about Greening the New Marijuana Industry in Colorado.

Full Session

I also attended most of the track one sessions–skipping out for just a bit to look more closely at the vendors.
Secrets of Successful Monitoring and Verification (for commercial buildings)
The Boulder Path to Net Zero (path to more and more stringent energy building codes–reminded me of No child left behind though–good idea but difficult to balance with other building needs.)
10 Bad Decisions You’re Making from Energy Analysis. I didn’t write these down but this was a true to life scenario of how data can close its eyes to reality by failing to consider human behavior etc.
The Vendors had cool stuff–new LED lighting, lots of consultants, SIGA membranes and tapes had a booth. A power fan for de-stratification in large warehouses. Some interesting window ideas that I thought to photograph.

Automatic Shading

Translucent glazing

Variable Tinting

After the sessions, there was a nice happy hour with great finger food. Folks seemed to really be enjoying catching up with one another. These are very hard working people who are trying to change their corner of the world and there is comfort in seeing others working toward the same goals. I thought I might like to do energy modeling. I find it fascinating. But I would need a better PC computer. My mac doesn’t run most of the programs that are used in the field.
So great to be there. I told Mandy, an engineer I met who presented at the last session that I would like to help with next year’s conference. As a USGBC Colorado board member, she told me she is the chair next year.

Posted in Green Building Interests | Comments Off

Windows Arrived

Posted on April 5, 2015 by ellen

The windows and doors arrived on March 30th just one week later than the original date .

Alpen Truck

Although they didn’t fill up the truck, the unloaded windows took up pretty much space in the garage.

Window Load

Windows in Garage

Three guys took about an hour to unload them all.

Unloading

And the performance stickers are impressive!

Performance Sticker

Posted in Air Intrusion/Thermal Envelope | Comments Off

Anatomy of our Trombe Wall

Posted on March 29, 2015 by ellen

We removed the battens and glass from the large thermal mass wall on the south side of the house to get ready for the new window install. This Trombe wall had a solar glass covering that was deteriorated and needs to be rebuilt.

Glazing Removed

The question has been whether rebuilding as a trombe wall is energy efficient. We had the architect use a stone covering in his drawing to imagine what that might look like instead of the glazing.

Dibble Residence with Stone Facing

After visiting Amory Lovins house in December, I did some research on the thermal mass wall to determine what “effective R value” the mass wall would have vs. just the actual R value from the masonry. The south facing passive solar windows in the Lovins house are in a deep masonry wall that has a lining of insulation in the middle so we could add insulation to our wall and side it. With or without insulation, the total “effective R value” of a thermal mass wall is more than the sum of its parts due to the heat holding capacity of the masonry.

A trombe (TROM–Not trom-BEE) wall is an indirect passive solar device (as opposed to direct, where the sun shines through south facing windows and directly heats the space) that has glazing on the south facing surface to increase the heating capacity of the thermal mass wall. The heat slowly travels to the cooler side of the wall and releases its heat into the building. That balances the direct solar heat and delays the indirect heat for several hours. The thermal wall is usually masonry but water and phase changing walls have also been used.

Trombe and a fellow researcher, Michel, built several of these walls into residences in France in the early 70’s. The original design was vented with openings at the bottom and top of the thermal mass wall so air would flow by convection into the heating chamber and back into the house. Later, it was found that the air flow did not add significantly to the total heat capacity and unvented walls were recommended.

Many trombe walls in the literature are still described and tested with venting, but our house has an unvented wall. So I concentrated on literature that covered this type.

Vented Trombe Wall

Unvented Trombe Wall

Not only is the wall unvented but it only had a single layer of glazing. Normally the wall is painted flat black and a double pane glazing is installed, but a study in Los Alamos in the early 80’s determined that a “selective surface” on the wall with a single layer of glazing was more efficient.

Selective surface membrane damaged

This is a metal, which may be a thin copper or other metal membrane that is coated with a “blackbox” coating. The coating has high emissivity so light is not reflected back to the glass and it absorbs most of the light that shines on it. Selective surfaces are still made by MTI Solar in New Jersey. The membrane was coated with an adhesive on the back and should make very close contact with the wall. Our membrane is dusty because the glass had lost its airtightness. We need to clean and reglue the membrane where it is loose, replace a missing pane, and re-install the glazing with an airtight space between the glass and the wall.

Solar Glass from Trombe Wall

Piece of Gasket used on Glazing

I am also looking for a sleeker looking glazing system for the reinstalled glass. I have found two that I will investigate, Conservation Technologies glazing gaskets and US Sky Sure Seal.
Even though there is a lot of debate about the effectiveness of indirect passive solar heating in the form of trombe walls, from the research I have found the design, well executed, will model as a net energy gain for the house which should help with our HERS rating.

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Spring Break!

Posted on March 28, 2015 by ellen

We took another couple of days off to do some lakeside camping for part of the grandkids spring break. It snowed the day we were going to leave and I had a training for Rocky Mountain Green volunteers so we only spent two nights. Our grandson had a pretty bad cold, but we still had a great time. We played about 80 games of Uno and somehow our grandson always evened the score. We played in the little bit of sand by the lake and we played with the kids from the next door campsite.

Playing at Carter Lake

The RV made the nights in the high 40’s very comfortable and the daytime temperatures were in the 70’s. Lovely place. Lovely time.

RV at the lakeside camp site.

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The Windows are Coming!

Posted on March 28, 2015 by ellen

We have a ship date on our Alpen order of windows and doors! They are due Monday the 30th of March. That is just a week later than the original estimate. The installers are set to start on April 1st. Happy April Fools!

So we are getting ready by removing the trim from the rear windows as well as those in the slab part of the house. We also had to dig out the retaining walls for the north bedroom egress window. That one had some pretty bad rot on one corner where the wood sill was in contact with the ground.

Leaning retaining walls

Removed top part of walls

The window is now fully accessible from both inside and outside–hopefully the replacement will go smoothly.

We also removed the trombe walls at the front of the house. Most of the trim was held on by screws and it was a reasonably simple job to removed the screws and gently remove the glass. One piece of glass under the window in this photo was gone when we bought the house. Now we have to find out how best to reapply the glass and seal it to create a better trombe wall. This is an old photo from 2012 when we were removing a tree that shaded the wall.

Trombe wall

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Ill fitting LED’s

Posted on March 24, 2015 by ellen

Unfortunately, the G25 Globe bulbs did not fit the Prescolite track heads. The necks are too short to fit into the sockets because of the lamp collars. Actually I read this caution on an Amazon comment but ignored it thinking the track heads were not as deep as some can lights. No dice.
But I will keep the G25’s as they look great in other lamps. The warm light is much brighter than the CFL it replaced which was supposed to be equal to a 60 watt light.
So I ordered these Feit R20’s too. From Ebay I could get 10 with free shipping for $69. That is still reasonable for the high CRI bulbs. They still use 8 watts but have fewer lumens so are not quite as efficient as the G25’s. (450/8 = 56.25 lumens per watt) I didn’t want to use a full 12 watts for each bulb so bought the R20 size (20 1/8″ increments or 2.5 inches wide) instead of the BR30 (30 1/8″ increments or 3.5 inches wide). I hope they fit!

Feit R20

I also found that I could get the R scores–that is the degree of Red in the light’s spectrum from the Energy Star list of certified lightbulbs. Download the Excel file to get them all. Not all bulbs list the score but most of the higher CRI bulbs do. These Feit bulbs have an R value of 62. The GE Reveal have an R value of 90 (out of 100). It is by far the best color rendering bulb, however it does that at the cost of efficiency and it is usually more expensive.

More information from Flexfire LED’s–What is CRI?

“Testing for CRI requires special machinery designed specifically for this purpose. During this test, a lamp is shone onto eight different colors (or “R values”), termed R1 through R8. The lamp receives a score from 0-100 for each color, based on how natural the color is rendered in comparison with how the color looks under a “perfect” or “reference” light source at the same color temperature as the lamp (i.e. natural sunlight at 5,600k, or a candle at 1,850k). The lamp’s eight scores are then averaged to determine its official CRI. ”

Notice that the temperature at which the light is tested can also influence the apparent colors in that light. So daylight bulbs at high CRI/R values are tested at 5000k which would make their color rendering closer to “sunlight” vs. 2700k lights which are “warmer” and would simulate color rendering closer to candlelight.

The bulbs came and I installed about half in the 7 LED line. In the photo the rear three are LEDs, the front three are incandescent. Looking at the bulbs from each direction, it is difficult to tell any difference at all between the 60 watt incandescent and the 45 watt equivalent Feit bulbs. Except knowing the cost of the new bulbs is about 12 times more.

LED and Incadescent Bulbs

Over the life of the bulb–25,000 hours vs. about 1000 hours of use? (Or at 12 hours per day, about 6 years vs. 1/4 year–longer estimates of life are usually based on about 3 hours per day.) There are plenty of websites that show a calculation of the “comparative cost” based on lumen output over the projected life or based on the cost of projected electricity use. But over the course of several years, neither the cost of electricity nor the lumen output of LED’s is constant so the costs are relative.

As other bulbs take over the market, incandescent bulbs have gotten much cheaper too so today’s comparison is brief to be sure. Anyway, I don’t like arguments that say electricity is a trade-0ff with cost. Up to a point, the cost of energy saving measures like these LED’s is a small price to pay to use less–just like buying a hybrid car is a comparatively small price to pay to use less fossil fuel in gasoline. We are also buying new engineering, which is more expensive than using older technologies too. And that fits us all better!

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LED Bulbs

Posted on March 21, 2015 by ellen

LED bulbs

Using 7 incandescent 60 watt bulbs in the new track lighting requires 420 watts of electricity. My son-in-law has been experimenting with LED bulbs and has found some he likes and I observed the bad ones he had to return too. These expensive bulbs are about $10 each from Ace Hardware and Amazon but they cut the electricity use to 12 watts instead of 65 for his bulbs.

I could use his experience to purchase LED bulbs for the track lighting. But I still spent a full day researching and trying to find the best bulb. First I had to learn a lot more about LED lighting. Even though the Cree bulbs are highly regarded in reviews, Rob prefers Feit or G7. He has also tried Triangle and does not like them as well. He also prefers a whiter light at about 3000k and I liked those too so I decided to look for a similar bulb for the track lighting. It was not that easy.

Once I started learning more about LED light, I found criteria I had not known existed. Besides the color temperature which is warm at about 2700k and cold or daylight white at 5000k, there is a color rendering index that has gotten a lot of attention, especially because fluorescent and CFL’s leave out so much of the spectrum that incandescent bulbs got us used to. LED lights were typically around 80 CRI, but newer LED’s are in the 90’s with a typical incandescent at 100. Bulbs are tested to show how much of the color spectrum they reveal. So GE Reveal bulbs are fantastic as shown by the chart below. Most bulbs just about eliminate the red tones.

CRI Color Chart

The lumen rating is the brightness or the amount of light that the bulb provides and the wattage is the use of electricity to provide that light. Divide the lumens by the wattage to get lumens per watt, which is the measure of efficiency. And finally cost is an issue with these expensive bulbs. Most are around $10-$15 per bulb although you can find some brands on ebay for less and the “smart’ controllable bulbs are twice as much. In packs they can be less expensive per bulb too and I needed at least 7 for the track we installed.

After some research on CRI, I thought a 3000k bulb with one of the higher CRI ratings would be perfect. But such a creature was not to be found. I could find some 5000k bulbs with lower CRI ratings and 2700k with higher CRI but very little was available in 3000k. Many of the 5000k bulbs were reviewed as casting a “blue” light–I bought some of the earliest LED bulbs years ago and they were completely blue so I shied away from 5000k. The Feit round G25 caught my eye on Amazon because it comes in packs of 3 and was 3000k. It is rated equivalent to 40 watts but had 500 lumens at 8 watts. But the CRI was only 80. Feit has introduced an enhanced G25 that shines 495 lumens at 8 watts but is 2700k which is also in packs of three. Weighing one characteristic against another, I decided to buy the higher CRI rating.

Feit G25 CRI

These bulbs are dimmable too. I don’t currently have a dimmer but if they are going to last the full 20 years, (25,000 hours) it seems we might want bulbs that are dimmable during that time so I wasn’t considering any of the non-dimmable bulbs. On the other hand a CNET review of the 60 watt replacement Feit bulb showed terrible flickering on a dimmer, yet my son-in-law’s flood lights don’t flicker on his dimmer.

I considered the 65 watt BR30 flood light from Feit with the enhanced CRI rating, but the efficiency for 750 lumens @ 13 watts was 57.7 lumens per watt, which is pretty low. I could buy these flood lights on ebay for less than the $10.25 in packs of two on Amazon or about $7.50 per bulb, but these were also only 2700k in color temperature. The G25’s use only 8 watts for 495 lumens or 61.875 lumens per watt. Unfortunately these high CRI 94 bulbs are also only 2700k. So for cost reasons, I ordered three packages of the G25’s for $55 because there was a percentage off for multiple packages too. That was the least total expense for the most efficient lumens at the highest CRI that I could find.

Other bulbs that I considered were high CRI too. The GE Reveal was rated one of the 5 best for 2014 by CNET and I could get 8 on ebay for about $12 a bulb, but the watts per lumen is only 50 and the color temp is 2700k too. Also the TCP Elite has a 93 CRI and is 2700k, at 650 lumens, it is rated at 12 watts for about 54 lumens per watt.

GE Reveal BR30

TCP Elite

Another cool bulb is the Insteon. For $30 a bulb, it seemed extravagant to buy a bulb that could be controlled by Zwave wireless. Turning bulbs on and off from my iphone is not something I want to pay 3 times more for–yet. But the 60 watt replacement bulb is 8 watts for 591 lumens for 73.875 watts per lumen and a color temp of only 2400 and the CRI is more typical of most LED’s at 82. (TCP Connected is a slightly less expensive programmable “smart bulb”.)

Other lower CRI bulbs that I looked at were the Great Eagle 7 watt BR20 (a smaller flood style) that had the desired 3000k color temperature but only 80 CRI for about $12 each. At 500 lumen they were 72 lumens per watt which is more efficient than the Feit bulbs. The Phillips Slimstyle had an interesting shape. The 5000k lights @ 650 lumens were on sale at Home Depot for $11. CRI is 81 and at 9.5 watts they rated at 68.4 lumens per watt.

Insteon

Great Eagle BR20

Phillips Slimstyle

Delivery of the bulbs is next week! We also expect the windows and doors sometime next week and it is Spring Break so we will have some time with the grandkids. Very exciting.

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Track Lighting

Posted on March 20, 2015 by ellen

We noticed that our living area is very dark at night. This could just be the contrast with how light it is during the day, or it is because the clerestory is so high that light gets lost in the large space. A table lamp and even a clamp on lamp seemed to get swallowed up with darkness.

So knowing we needed more light above, I noticed some track light for sale on Craigslist in Westminster–one town over. It was on the site for a long time for a price that I didn’t want to spend on used lighting, but I decided to email an offer after several weeks and it was accepted! The lighting had been used in a conference room and came with 48 heads and 24 “full size” 44″ tracks with 8 shorter ~30″ tracks. Each track had a flexible connector attached and there were several end pieces on the shorter tracks.

The system came with one power head but the cap was missing so after unpacking, I realized I would want to add some components. The system was made by Prescolite which is now owned by Hubbell Lighting. The site has tons of information about their lighting systems and the track system I purchased seems to have evolved into the Architrak line. The heads are similar to these:

Architrak Head

And the track is the nominal 48″ length–or would be with a power head added to the 44″ basic track.

Architrak

The track can carry two circuits if a two circuit head is installed but most heads are single circuit and that is all we need for each string of lights.

Most sites will tell you that you have to buy all components from one manufacturer for them to work together but that is an exaggeration. There are actually some third party systems that say they are compatible with certain other systems and Prescolite publishes a compatibility chart for their system.

Compatible track adapters

I scoured ebay for new Prescolite adaptors and power heads but I found the prices rather high. Then I thought of using a compatible brand but I was seeing several that didn’t match those in the chart so I did more research about track compatibility.
Turns out there are basically three types of standard tracks (not including all in one systems that are popular now.)

H-J-L Tracks

Types of Track

Both Juno and Prescolite are J track systems. And Juno connectors were easier and cheaper to purchase. I found a power head for an electrical box on Amazon and short connectors (as opposed to the long flexible connectors that came with the track) and another power head for conduit at Home Depot online–so I had to wait for them to be delivered. But this week the track lights went up in the living room/kitchen! We used 1 power head, 6 full size tracks and 2 shorter tracks. I put up 7 heads after looking at some lighting design information. To get started I just used some incandescent bulbs we had on hand–since we stopped using them for most of our lighting some time ago. It is quite a bit brighter in the room when these are on!

Track Lights

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Unrealistic Expectations for HERS Score?

Posted on March 20, 2015 by ellen

HERS Index-Energy Star

One of the first steps in aspiring to a LEED certification is to project the number of points that could be accomplished during the building so that choices can be made to provide the best energy efficiency possible.

During the preliminary rating we targeted a HERS index score of 40. That is considered a “great’ rating, however a zero is a net zero energy use house. 100 is a typical house built to 2006 energy code standards and 150 is the highest score for a house that uses 50% more energy than energy code standards for its size.

The Energy Logic folks just completed the preliminary modeling for our HERS index and they are projecting a score in the 60’s. That was a huge disappointment as it means far fewer points towards our LEED rating than a 40. So I wondered if I had set up an unrealistic expectation for the work we are doing to the house.

The HERS score is based on the energy that a house will use compared to a “reference house”. The reference house that the building is compared to is the same size and configuration as the house being evaluated–as built to the 2006 Energy Code which gives a rating to the house of 100. Then the BTU’s of energy projected to be used in the house based on the energy efficient improvements are figured and divided by the BTU’s that the reference house would use. The result is the percentage improvement over the reference house–or the HERS score. As noted in the diagram, an Energy Star home would be expected to score about 85.

So where did we get a target of 40? The HERS rating diagram calls 60 “GOOD” and 40 “GREAT”–so we thought a house specifically designed and upgraded to be very air tight and energy efficient, supplemented by passive solar heat and high efficiency appliances would be “GREAT”! That may have been unrealistic.

Energy Logic’s Adam Jonash told me that the lowest HERS they see without adding produced energy to the equation is in the 50’s. That seems to be confirmed from other sources. Energy Star 3 would score about 70-75. And 45-50 is about as efficient as possible without adding renewable energy.

HERS Expectations

On the other hand, this is what a Passive House score might look like–they generally don’t add photovoltaics and/or wind but rely on heavy walls and tight construction.

Passive House HERS Rating Level

And a typical LEED certified home has a score between 40 and 70. But some of those might have produced energy added to the equation but they may have a lower certification level than our goal of Platinum too.

Typical LEED HERS Rating

Our bills have averaged $70 for the last year–between about $30 and $200. According to this chart our HERS would be about 50 without even finishing the house. This is based on a 2250 square foot house and ours is 2213.

HERS Index as MPG

Since our house is passive solar, perhaps the added heat from the sun could be quantified to offset our HERS score. RESNET doesn’t count passive solar as renewables though. Otherwise we could start thinking about adding solar, photovoltaic and/or hydrothermal to lower the score. The difference between 40 and 60 HERS rating is 7 LEED points. We are trying to break 100, but 94 will give us Platinum, the highest rating, so 7 points is a big part of the total.

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Original Plans!!!

Posted on March 14, 2015 by ellen

I have had the good fortune to become friends with the original owner of the house. Of course she is a very interesting person as well as a retired business owner, a wonderful gardener, and a good cook! She was kind enough to search up and down for the original plans for the home and I am fascinated by them.

The house was designed by an architect in Boulder who later moved to the northwest. Her husband was involved with a local interest group that met at SERI in Golden (Solar Energy Research Institute–the forerunner of NREL–National Renewable Energy Laboratory). The influence of the latest passive solar building techniques in the early 80’s is evident in the home–3 faces buried and the south face designed to collect as much solar heat as possible. We were reading about the same techniques about the same time but the Buffaloes were at the forefront of the movement.

There are two plans that she found–of what looks to be three original drawings. The plot plan has the topography of the lot as well as quite a bit of detail for the drainage, water and septic systems.

Plot Drawing A-1

There actually are two large septic fields, probably due to the clay soil. They lay horizontally across the elevation instead of vertically and there is a diversion valve to change which field is used–the Buffaloes changed about twice a year.

The deviations from the original plans are also quite interesting to me. The east foundation for the wall that is not buried was to be protected by a planter that never was installed. Instead there was a small deck and a hot tub on that side of the house. The hot water solar collectors behind the utility room were never installed. Probably because the home was so efficient that the extra expense and maintenance was not worth the trouble at the time.

Improvements were also made over the years. The original drive was gravel and asphalt was laid, there seemed to have been no concrete pads in front of the garage or as walkways, and of course the front yard was not enclosed by a wall and trellis that privatizes the space and allows for outdoor living. That space was designed later.

The floor plan has some of the same differences which I find very interesting. But there is also a great deal of building detail that is not currently visible–especially the construction of the trombe wall.

Floor Plan A-3

I can see that some changes were made to open the living area, but there was to be an air lock entry at the front door that was not built–instead there was an insulated 6″ wall between the master bedroom and the front hall area and a built in cabinet was used instead of a wall between the entry and the living area. Since most of the entry to the home would have been through the “back door” near the garage, the airlock at the front door doesn’t seem as necessary. But then there should not have been a need for the 6″ wall. Not sure if the builder didn’t actually understand all of the principles or if the wall was already built when the changes were made.

This plan is very much as it was built, however, the kitchen was later remodeled to have a cooking island in the middle instead of the pantry space.

Here is our latest plan for the remodel–changes were just approved by the Arvada building department for french doors in the front instead of windows and although they really don’t require strict adherence to interior layouts, the new layouts for the master bathroom and the hallway were included.

Floor plan revision 3-11-15

Although necessarily small, side by side, the plans show the differences between the original and the remodel. Clicking on any photo enlarges it individually.

Original Floor plan

Floor plan revision 3-11-15

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