Twinsprings Research Institute

Waffle Mat!

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

Waffle Mat

While researching issues with slabs on grade and expansive soils, I found this very interesting solution to building a mat (raft) slab. Originally invented by Matt Gonsalves, the boxes are still manufactured by the family’s Conco Corporation. There are a few companies that market the boxes as a solution for slabs on expansive soils. Each has very extensive information about the product and its uses. WaffleMat is also mentioned in a Wikipedia article. On-Grade Mat Foundation for Expansive Soils which should be linked to the article about Shallow Foundations.

Pacific Housing Systems was one of the first resources I found about WaffleMat. I was eager to read all about the product and there was a lot available. I downloaded and read about 50 documents from various sources about the system. The Conco website points to Best Base as its major distributor with tons of information on their news page as well as several articles recommended by the vendor I chose for this project. Texas WaffleMat (now AKA WaffleMatUSA) is an affiliate of Best Base located in Texas and Mexico. The Texas WaffleMat site also has a lot of information about the system, and the website has several avenues to contact the company. I chose email because I am most comfortable with that, but the sales engineer, Greg Carr, has his contact information listed on the site, he answered all of my questions almost no matter what time of day or night, and it was his expertise and willingness to help me work on my project design, that sold me on the product.

Posted in Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil, Planning | Leave a comment

An Engineered Solution

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

The slab was the major issue that made this house virtually unsellable. Like most foreclosures, the house suffered from years of delayed maintenance, like peeling paint on the windowsills, and broken glass in some of the windows. Once it was determined, however, that the cracked slab had heaved over 3″, a structural engineer was called in to tell the sellers (the bank) that the house had to have major repairs. We had several estimates and ideas of what the repairs would cost and what solutions were available, but we bought the house already knowing that we were going to tear out the slab.

The bank reasoned that one of the lowest bids was likely to be the cost of the repair so the house price was reduced by that amount. We were willing to take the chance, because the rest of the foundation system seemed to be without any visible cracks and we loved the earth-bermed, south-facing “bones” of the house as well as the agricultural zoning and almost 2 acres of land in the city. SO I had to set about finding a solution for a slab on expansive soils.

Much of Colorado has expansive soils and there is a great deal of information about the problems associated with them and building on them. Slab technology has changed over the years and this house was built in the early 1980’s. There was a theory then that the slab should not have an underlayment of rock or plastic as it might retain and draw in moisture. The compromised slab was laid directly on the soil. and although a french drain was laid all around the perimeter of the house, there was moisture that got under the slab and the ground heaved and sank over time until there were deep cracks at the kitchen, at both the south and north corners, and along the back wall. The engineer said that the canal behind the house also “leaked” moisture throughout the area and was probably also responsible for the problems.

This Missouri State University report (will open DAMAGE TO FOUNDATIONS FROM EXPANSIVE SOILS.pdf) is a nice explanation of the issues with expansive soils and foundations. Professional organizations often have good technical articles regarding their subjects. I found several short articles on Concrete in Practice (National Ready Mix Concrete Assoication) and the American Concrete Institute’s Standard. Other sources were commercial sites like Prospections in Texas that had a couple of great articles about this common problem in that state and also lead to the author’s personal site with even more articles and links.

Somewhere in all this research I started reading about Mat Foundations as a structural solution to expansive soils which finally led to Waffle Mat, the solution I chose for this project.

Posted in Moisture Intrusion/Expansive Soil, Planning, Project Team | Leave a comment

HumaNature

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

The Design Charrette changed the focus of the remodeling project. I went from dreaming of LEED glory to the hard facts of the limitations of a budget. We had committed $50,000 to the project. That is the whole project of bringing the house up to LEED requirements as well as paying for the support folks I had engaged.
The question was though, “How much is all this going to cost in TOTAL?”
I found that was almost impossible to say. Everyone can only estimate at the beginning of a project and those estimates can be wildly different!
A lack of funds has not impeded us in the past. We just forge ahead with what we have and try to make up the difference with “sweat equity”.
Fortunately James at HumaNature Architecture was able to roll with the changes. Although development of interior plans slowed way down while the deconstruction was going on, we kept in touch, knowing that when ready, a final house plan and construction drawings would be required.
After I sent an update about the deconstruction process, James wrote in early August, “I too am excited about the possibilities for the house, and the decision to not pursue LEED in no way diminishes the possibilities for making this house a super efficient, beautiful, sustainable home!”
In late September and early October we were discussing the relative benefits of the interior layouts and James started drawing up the floorplan changes.

Floor plan design in May–not really enough room for a full bath off the airlock entry.

Dibble Res_FP SD2_12-0507

My suggested changes to the May plan. Moving the bathroom to the existing plumbing wall and replacing it with closet space.

Dibble Res_FP SD2_12-0507–revised.

Here is James’ drawing of the layout. The closet was limited by a post’s position that turned out to be a little further over. The kitchen seemed cramped with the utility room extended into it.

Dibble Res_FP_12-1107-1

We are pretty happy with this latest plan. Space is gained in the kitchen by making the utility room smaller. Still room for a washer and dryer and the wall hung boiler/water heater. Also added a utility sink. Hope to also have room for a water tank for solar pre-heat for domestic hot water and the boiler.

Dibble Res_FP2_12-1114

There is one more change that is not shown in this drawing. In the family room bathroom, we suggested a cabinet at the foot of the tub as there is really not enough room for a full closet. The tub is only half way accessible behind the vanity. So we’ll move it out a bit and center it on the wall.

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Late September Reinforcements!

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

By late September, the project needed a boost. So my husband and son came out to help and to cut down the dead trees at the entrance and one that was planted too close to the house. That one rattled the roof in the wind, and the roots threatened the front foundation. It had to go.
My son also hauled all the studs out to the garage and then took out all the nails! That was a long boring job. He got a little help but did it mostly himself. So nice to get the help!

Dead tree removal

Dragging branches to pile

Tree too close to house

Firewood for the future

Extra time left to remove lights

It was just a few days of help but it made a huge difference.

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Bagster Truck

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

The debris began to overwhelm the garage with the three filled bags so I called the Bagster company to find out about hauling it away. They declared that the bags had to be in the open, and could not get picked up from inside the garage. Oh No!
Then I called Rubbish Works, a hauling company that also recycles. They said they could come out but nobody will recycle used drywall. I even wrote the state, and they said no, that drywall was made in Colorado and there was no reason to recycle the old stuff. I looked into using it for compost etc. too but the soils is alkaline and does not need alkaline filler. So off to the land fill with it.
When Rubbish Works arrived from Longmont, CO with their 3 ton truck, they said the three bags were too large for their truck! (scheduling is by phone through a central office who apparently didn’t forward the content of the pickup to the Longmont folks.) But they said they could pull the bags out of the garage, and then took away a variety of trash that was not in the bagsters for their minimum fee. Seemed like a good deal to me.
When the bagster truck showed up, however, Dave the driver said he could easily get the bags out of the garage and next time I could just schedule and he would be on the route and would do it. (This was true, I called later for a second pickup of just one bag that he retrieved from the garage.)
Here are some photos of the experience of getting rid of some of the debris. (about $600 hauling fees so far.) Each Bagster can hold 3300 lbs and can be filled to the top. If I had been able to fill each one with a full 30″ of 4×8 sheets of drywall without spaces, they would have weighed 3260 each. They probably were about 1 1/2 tons each for LEED documentation purposes. Plus the minimum truckload that went to Rubbish Works which was closer to a pickup truck load at 1/2 ton and a pickup load that I took to the dump earlier in the summer. The total debris so far is about 7 tons. Yikes.

The Rubbish Works truck’s boom arm moving bagster bag

The bagster truck reaching for the first bag.

Everyone loves a big truck!

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Labor Day Labors (Plus 10 days)

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

The walls fall away and begin to reveal the amazing interior spaces of the house. It was fun getting to this point but there is still a lot to get done before the floor can come out.

Opened spaces

Post and Beam–twisted, maybe recycled beam was furred out for drywall beam.

Block wall is thick but does not seem to hold up the rafters

More debris hauling

The pile of studs grows higher.

Studs for recycling and drywall debris for the bagster.

Piles of drywall debris

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On Beyond Zebra (i.e. first notions)

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

Giving up the idea of completing one room at a time meant more time on the task taking out the rest of the walls so someone else could take out the floor.

Drywall tearout

Serious deconstruction

Needed somewhere to put the trashed drywall and dumpster renting over the whole summer was more expensive than these “bags” @ $89 pickup and $74 for each extra one. Bought the 4′ x 8′ x 2′ bags at Home Depot for about $30 each.

Bagster trash

As we tore apart the walls, we began to see how the house was put together.

Joined beams–interesting details uncovered.

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Brawn vs. Brains

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

If one room at a time was the plan, then the whole room would have to be demolished, including removing the concrete floor, the next step was renting a huge air compressor and jackhammer to get the floor out. Immediately had to return the 90 lb. hammer and trade for the 60 lb. which I could barely handle. After several days of short sessions of rat-a-tat-tatting, it was clear that the work was too brawny and brains would have to intercede. The emphasis turned to going beyond the first room to tackle the larger project by first removing the living room woodstove and breaking up the platform before the jackhammer and air compressor were returned. The $500 brawn experiment was mostly successful because it required a decision to change course.

Can we do it?

Jackhammer blues

Small progress in master bath

More heavy lifting–moving cast iron stove

Demo of stove platform

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Midsummer’s Dreams

Posted on November 16, 2012 by ellen

We decided we could tackle one room at a time. Starting with the master bedroom. So off came the drywall and down came the walls.

Getting started

Closet caving

Six inch wall between bedroom and living area

Offing drywall

Walls come tumbling down

Joshua would be proud

Removing heavy (!) shower base

Demo progress in late June

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A Summer of Deconstruction

Posted on November 15, 2012 by ellen

The summer months were spent tearing out the walls and some of the drywall in the house. Most of this work was done by me in one or two week visits to Colorado.

This is what the house looked like inside in April.

Cabinet leftovers deconstructed–box is old stove hood

Another view of the kitchen leftovers after the donation.

Bathroom cabinet removal

Experimental hole in concrete

Hole around kitchen plumbing

The hole around the kitchen plumbing revealed the slab was directly on the dirt, and the mesh was mostly at the bottom of the slab

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Why Seven Months Later?

Posted on November 15, 2012 by ellen

What happened?

The Design Charrette was a big disappointment for me. I can say that now after months have gone by and some work has gotten done on the house.

Each of the players did bring their expertise to the table, however, it did not appear that any one expert was all that interested or felt able to comment on the expertise of the others. So there was little or no cross pollination of expertise or ideas.

All of the initial participants in the charrette have done work for the project, but more than one person changed jobs and then others finished their work or it is still in process. It is virtually impossible to keep a team together for the entire construction process and have them meet regularly. This idea was an impractical ideal, the reality did not work out for this project.

One of the outcomes of the design charrette was to have realistic expectations of the cost of the whole project. Of course I had nothing but a quote or two for the slab replacement if someone else did all the work, not enough to go on for the project that I was planning. So I had the whole job reviewed by several contractors, and they all thought it was a very costly project. I had no budget to do what they thought needed to be done at the cost they estimated. The most reasonable totals were from Wise Guy Construction and he estimated about $150,000 to redo the slab area of the house.

The biggest barrier to pursuing a LEED gut remodel was what we were NOT prepared to do, given the estimates for the work. That is to also tear apart the rear of the house and expose every exterior wall instead of just the slab portion. Maybe we will get to that step some time in the future, but we are limited to what HAS to be done by our budget, so we gave up on the LEED outcome at least for now.

But I’m going to go ahead and tell what actually happened in the intervening months as I got over the LEED disappointment.

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Innovative Design Process

Posted on April 12, 2012 by ellen

Innovative Design Process (ID) is the first requirement in the checklist for meeting prerequisites and gaining points towards LEED certification. As a result of this project’s preliminary rating we have already met one prerequisite for ID and can document most of the rest of the Integrated Project Planning component.

We are also fortunate that we chose a home with the proper orientation and design of south facing windows so these points are practically automatic. We do need to replace the existing solar shading on the home so that will important to document in the remodeling plan.

*LEED For Homes CheckList* *Target performance tier:* *Platinum*
*Innovative Design Process (ID)*
*Area*	*Item*	*Description*	*Max Pts.*	*Preliminary Rating*	*Met?*
1. Integrated Project Planning			11	7
	1.1	Preliminary Rating	Prereq.		March 7, 2012
	1.2	Integrated Project Team (meet all of the following)	1	1
	a)	Individuals or organizations with necessary capabilities			3 members in 3 required areas
	b)	All team members involved in various project phases			Design charrette plan
	c)	Regular meetings held with project team			To be met
	1.3	Professional Credentialed with Respect to LEED for Homes	1	1	Shane Gring
	1.4	Design Charrette	1	1	April 23, 2012
	1.5	Building Orientation for Solar Design (meet all of the following)	1	1
	a)	Glazing area on north/south walls 50% greater than on east/west walls			Photos of south window wall/other windows
	b)	East-west axis is within 15 degrees of due east-west			Survey drawing with N/S arrow
	c)	At least 450 sq. ft. of south-facing roof area, oriented for solar applications			Garage roof
	d)	90% of south-facing glazing is shaded in summer, unshaded in winter			In plan

It is a good thing to start off with easy points as LEED can become pretty complicated. We have completed the prerequisite by holding the preliminary rating meeting. The team is put together representing three areas of required expertise, and Shane, who is a LEED AP for Homes, has been on board since the preliminary rating.
After the design charrette we will need to meet at least monthly while the project is active. Since we are a far-flung team, our meetings will be electronic.
The documentation for item 1.5 will be:

a. Photos of south facing windows (some are hidden by trees) compared to east, north and west.

South facing windows plus one East facing window

Two North facing windows

One West facing window

b. Diagram of home from survey. Shows North intersecting with East/West axis and home axis is about 2-3 degrees East of South, although the courtyard windows curve a bit from east to west none is more than 15 degrees from due East/West.

East West Axis

c.The garage roof is sloped towards the south and could be used for solar panels. There is more than 450 square feet of south facing roof, although part of it is flat. There is no requirement to have solar panels on the south facing roof, just to have this much roof face south–maybe we could have a grass roof in the flat areas!

South facing roof

d. You can see in the above photo that the south facing windows have frames that will accept canvas awnings but we would like to redo the solar shading on these windows. This is a design issue that will be addressed by the architect.

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Documentation for LEED

Posted on April 12, 2012 by ellen

Survey of lot lines

LEED projects are all about documentation and verification. It is one thing to say the house is in a developed area or has an uninterrupted thermal envelope and another to document those so that it can be certified as having these desirable qualities.

It is never too early in a project to start collecting this documentation which can be in the form of official documents, photographs, receipts, etc. There are also forms available from USGBC that assist in the documentation process.

In many projects the LEED AP will manage the documentation. That is a service that BOULD offers. However, since we are do it yourself types, I am going to manage the collection and Shane will train/advise me on the process. It will be good to have someone double check that we have the right paperwork.

When the project is submitted by Energy Logic, they and the green rater must sign off on every prerequisite for LEED certification and every LEED point that was achieved. USGBC does not collect the documentation but they rely on the providers to provide verification. This is a strict process that may not skip any steps or the points are lost. Documentation can mean the difference between achieving the level of LEED certification that we are seeking or settling for a lower level.

I would rather have to settle for a lower level because we CHOOSE not to gain a point due to cost or other issues than for a MISTAKE in the documentation! So part of the design charrette is to determine that documentation is being created for each prerequisite and point in the LEED system.

The points are kept track of using a spreadsheet known as the project checklist that was initially filled out during the preliminary rating. I have started the documentation process for the project, the first area being the Integrated Design credits.

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Design Charrette–Planning

Posted on April 11, 2012 by ellen

There is a LEED point for having a kick0ff planning meeting with the LEED Project team. LEED calls this meeting a Design Charrette which is a french term for taking a cart around to get input on an architectural design. So this cart is leaving the barn on April 23rd.

Original charrette “cart”

The charrette is a full day event. We are going to start at the offices of Energy Logic in Denver. The office is conveniently over a coffee shop so breakfast will be near at hand. Then we will delve into the project before us. Here is the agenda for our planning day for this LEED for Homes gut remodel.

Morning Agenda: 8 a.m. to 12 p.m. Convene at Energy Logic Denver Office. 3606 W 50th Ave. Denver, CO 80212

Introduction: (Ellen-15 minutes) A design charrette—a focused and collaborative brainstorming session held at the beginning of a project—encourages an exchange of ideas and information and allows truly integrated design solutions to take form.

1. Integrated Project Design Platinum requires 94 points for 2213 sq. ft. 3 bedroom home

Introduction of the design team:

James Plagman: architecture or residential design
Shane Gring: LEED AP and green building or sustainable design
Annette Garrigues: landscape architecture, habitat restoration or land use planning
Ellen Dibble: Owner builder

Team will be actively involved in at least 3 phases of construction/design

Phase 1. LEED Planning
Phase 2: Design Development/Energy Modeling
Phase 3: Final Design/Implementation/Construction
LEED AP on Team: Shane Gring

1. Building slideshow (Ellen–15 minutes)

Building orientation East West axis—window ratios—south facing 450 sq. ft.
NEED SOLAR SHADING DESIGN

Introduction to building plans (James–20 minutes)

2. Durability Evaluation (Ellen–10 minutes)

2.1 Completed form and all requirements
NEED EXPANSIVE SOILS/EXTERIOR MOISTURE DESIGN (Engineer report)

3. Location and Linkages (Ellen–10 minutes)

Documentation of flood plain Flood map
Documentation for previously developed/boundaries Survey, soil report
Documentation of sewer/water service photos
Documentation of open space Survey, Satellite photos

4. Sustainable Sites (Annette–30 minutes)

Develop erosion protection plan
Remove invasive species
Landscape design
Reduce heat island effect
Nontoxic pest control. Caulk and seal, install screens, consider removing all planting within 24” (Is garage planting included?)

BREAK 9:45-10:00

5. Water Efficiency (Ellen, Shane, Annette–15 minutes)

Possible designs for water use as it flows off roof (no physical retention).
Possible graywater system.
Requirements of irrigation system design.
Meet indoor water use requirements (low flow faucets, toilets, etc.)

6. Energy Star Requirements (Shane–45 minutes)

Optimize Energy Use
Insulation Interior or exterior?
Air Infiltration (can we meet the thermal barrier requirements for a gut remodel?)
Effective windows—Energy Star rating. Design for solar gain in winter
Design of heating and cooling system New boiler for hot water and heat with solar preheated tank. Pipes in non-conditioned spaces insulated to requirement.
Very high efficiency boiler
Water heating pipe insulation and efficient heater—not structured plumbing?
Install all energy efficient lighting
Purchase all energy efficient appliances.

7. Materials and Resources (Ellen and James–15 minutes)

Efficient framing
Environmentally preferable products
Waste management strategies

8. Indoor Air Quality (Shane–30 minutes)

Energy Star Guidelines
Adequate combustion venting Enclosed EPA certified woodburner
Moisture control? Dehumidification in laundry area? Included in air filtration system?
Plan for ventilation system to install filter and obtain good filtration numbers
Install exhaust fans to LEED requirements
Zoned non-ducted system with upgraded boiler.
Filters for air system?
Plan to limit indoor air contamination during construction—requirements?
Radon protection plan for slab—upgrade for crawlspace. (Ellen)
Garage separation and exhaust fan.

9. Awareness and Education (Ellen and group–15 minutes)

User Manual—Walkthrough requirements
Website established
Open house
Newspaper article
LEED signage

LUNCH BREAK/DISCUSSION 12:00-1:00

Afternoon Agenda: 1:30 p.m. to 5 p.m. Reconvene at House in Arvada, CO

1. Group tour (Ellen–30 minutes)

2. Identify major hurdles–30 minutes

3. Brainstorming session–30 minutes

BREAK 3:00-3:15

4. Observations from each team member–45 minutes

5. Review next steps–50 minutes

Phase 2: Design Development/Energy Modeling
Phase 3: Final Design/Implementation/Construction

6. Closing/Goodbye–10 minutes

Posted in LEED Project, Planning, Project Team | Leave a comment

Deconstruction–Step Two

Posted on April 10, 2012 by ellen

Not only does Habitat for Humanity build affordable houses for people, since 1998 Denver’s Habitat has been building LEED certified homes that save the homeowners more each year that energy costs increase. Habitat has a lot of experience with recycling materials, using donated materials and providing that service to others through their ReStores. However, some ReStores also use their volunteers to gather donated materials including taking them out of the house for you!

Call for a review of your donation and possible deconstruction services.

I made up this sample sign thinking it would be cool to get one to put out in my yard. However our house is not on a thoroughfare so would not get much drive by traffic.

I had emailed Corey Biechele who is the deconstruction manager for ReStore and he agreed to meet me at the house to review the donations that we could make as a first step towards removing the inside of the house so we can take out the slab. Although the cabinets were quite old and would only be purchased for garage storage, he was so supportive of our plans to build a LEED home and recycle all that we could of the deconstruction, he agreed to bring a team of volunteers over if I would clean all the cabinets and appliances that they would remove.

I was almost sorry I had agreed to clean the cabinets, they were not in the best shape and I kept thinking it was time I could have been playing with the grandkids, but I persevered, and as I cleaned them I reattached some of the fronts correctly and generally improved their resale value all I could.

Clean Cabinets

Corey’s crew removed the oven, dishwasher, stove top, surrounding cabinets and the bathroom vanities, the tub and the shower to recycle the aluminum. He couldn’t take the sink cabinet in the kitchen because the bottom was water damaged. He left us a donation receipt so that we can document that these cabinets were recycled. Actually we have to use their weight for LEED to show they were construction debris that was kept out of the landfill!

Thanks so much to Corey and the Denver Metro Habitat for Humanity!

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Habitat for Humanity ReStore

Posted on April 10, 2012 by ellen

Denver Metro Restore!

Throughout our Arizona remodeling work we have become fans of the Habitat for Humanity ReStore both for donations of items we have replaced and for finding materials that have been donated by others.

We have purchased light fixtures, interior doors, sinks, a tub, granite vanity top, hinges, trim, electrical supplies, and that is just what I remember! The way to use Restore is to go often and spend some time looking at what is available so that when a need arises you know what you are likely to find if you need something. I had a list of needs and would stop by once a week or so during the remodeling to see what was available.

When they have a big donation , it can be gone in a day as many area contractors also seem to stop by regularly. Our best “find” was probably 100 or more linear feet of oak door casing, which was used for baseboards in our son’s condo. He decided to stain it mahogany to contrast with the rustic pine laminate floors. Wow, love the look!

Condo baseboards

One of the first places I checked out in Denver area was the H4H Restore website and that is where I read about the Denver Restore’s Deconstruction service!

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Deconstruction–Step One

Posted on April 9, 2012 by ellen

Colorado has rules. There are more rules there than we are used to. We knew remodeling in a city would require lots of drawings and permits and inspections and stuff we don’t generally like to do. So the first step was to read the rules for remodeling in Arvada.

As most cities have done, Arvada has generously posted its rules on the city website: www.arvada.org

Prominently featured on that website is the Building Inspection and Permits Link.

I read all the requirements for building permits and deconstruction permits. It appears that deconstruction is major work that involves moving plumbing or electrical outlets. That is what we will be doing when we remove the interior walls and slab, but it did not appear to apply to removing interior appointments like cabinets.

Even though the house was built after the heydey of asbestos use in construction (1984) in order to get a deconstruction permit, the house needs to be tested for Asbestos. Asbestos testing is required not by the city but by the state of Colorado. There is some exemption for private homes but the owner has to certify that the public will not be invited into the home. Since most LEED homes do hold public events at some time, and since we were interested in what the report would say, we decided to look for and obtain asbestos testing for the remodel.

The Asbestos Compliance Assistance Group located on the Colorado state website has lots of good information about testing for asbestos. I called their number and they helpfully directed me to the list of licensed contractors to perform the necessary tests. Contractor may not be the right word since the providers were mostly engineering and consulting firms.

The first provider I called was located in Arvada–that is how I chose him! And he was the nicest guy on the phone so I decided one call was enough and arranged with him to come out and test for the deadly substance. He took a total of 15 samples from drywall, floor mastic, and other house surfaces. And we had a nice chat about living in Colorado and Arvada in particular while he was at the house. It took a couple of weeks for his report to come back and thankfully the house was completely clear of asbestos! Good job Rick Luce!

Freedom Environmental Consultants, Inc

Now we have the signed form that the house is free of asbestos, which will allow us to apply for the deconstruction permit. We just have to have more information about how and when the project will start.

Update:
Turned out that the city said Asbestos testing was a state issue and they did not track it, besides as a home-owner I was exempt. Well, at least I know I was not breathing asbestos during the deconstruction. The initial floor plan and the engineer’s report about the need to remove the slab were sufficient documentation to merit the demolition permit from the city.

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Rebate!

Posted on April 7, 2012 by ellen

We received our $180 rebate from Xcel Energy for our $300 Energy Audit. Now we are qualified to apply for other Xcel Energy rebates for insulation and a new energy efficient boiler which this house really needs.

Here is what we are thinking for the energy efficient boiler:

US GSA Energy Recommendations
“Condensing boilers can achieve up to 98% thermal efficiency compared to 70%-80% with conventional boilers. Integrated project design that allow for boilers to be used only as required by demand will yield additional energy savings.”

The Triangle Tube Combination boilers that both heat hot water for the home and for the radiator system are considered among the best.

Triangle Tube Challenger Boiler

We’ll pair this with a solar preheated water tank so we will save even more energy using this boiler system. Plus it fits on a closet wall so we can shrink the utility room from its current 12 x 12 size and use all that re-gained space in the house for living area.

Posted in Condensing Modulating Gas Boiler, Energy Efficiency | Leave a comment

Preliminary LEED Rating

Posted on April 6, 2012 by ellen

LEED Start Up Process:

1. Contact a LEED for Homes Green Rater/Provider (No longer found on LEED site!)

2. Determine if the project is suitable for LEED. For us this was a phone, email discussion. (LEED for Homes Eligibility Guildlines)

3. Register project. (Twinsprings Research LEED project)

4. Recruit a core design team, including a LEED AP for Homes consultant. (No longer found on LEED site.)

5. Hold a preliminary rating with the Green Rater/Provider. (Energy Logic Contacts)

Our preliminary rating was held at the Energy Logic Denver office on March 7th, almost a month ago. The preliminary rating uses the LEED for Homes checklist to discuss the LEED requirements for each point and to begin to think in terms of all the required categories that qualify a project for LEED certification.

I had already used the online LEED Scoring Tool formerly on the LEED for Homes site. There was both a the shorter introductory checklist and also a credit by credit detailed one. I completed both. I was so intrigued by the system that I registered for and took several Online GBCI LEED courses and qualified for the Green Rater course offered by the Energy Logic Academy. Along with several other students from Colorado and California, I attended the course in late February and received a completion certificate from GBCI.

I filled out a checklist of potential LEED points before the preliminary rating but at the meeting it was obvious that Carissa Sawyer knows the system inside and out and has the experience to recommend areas of concentration and advise caution about areas that are difficult to accomplish. Darren Legge was her assistant and also a talented environmental scientist who was finishing his Green Rater internship and will be or is now fully GBCI certified.

Becoming a LEED for Homes Green Rater and perhaps a LEED for Homes AP is a goal that I have set for myself too. I can’t rate my own project of course but this is good experience for future projects and of course to spread the green building word.

Counting the 4 “Maybe” points our preliminary rating shoots for 102 LEED project points just comfortably above the required 94 for Platinum rating for a 2213 square foot 3 bedroom home. (The total number of points for each LEED for Homes certification is figured on the size of the home and number of bedrooms.)

Our Target:

Possible Future?

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Integrated Design Approach

Posted on March 21, 2012 by ellen

The Conservation Seeding and Restoration company in Rifle, Colorado became our landscape design partner.

LEED’s approach seems to be to connect people to their living spaces and communities by thinking in terms of people working together and interacting both locally and globally. Kind of a next step towards Utopia, not so much living with one common purpose but being part of a world community in a sustainable, globally responsible but rich in health and energy way. Well, rich in $$ too since the team to help build each individual LEED component is all composed of professionals with expensive educations and the need to survive in this economy.

Being do it yourself owner builders means that we have little to no experience in finding and using building experts. We still want to maintain a lot of builder owner responsibility in the project but there are many areas of LEED that require outside certified expertise. After being educated by EnergyLogic on the USGBC Green Rater requirements, I have a better overall idea of the point system and the requirements for expertise.

We really want to have a small research oriented sustainable urban homestead when we are ready to move in. That includes a garden, small woodlot, orchard, room for small animals like chickens and other food producing mammals. We lived this way in our younger years starting as subscribers to Mother Earth News in the early 70’s and moving to the country in 1978.

As part of this integrated homestead, LEED encourages us to think in terms of native plantings, wildlife habitat, invasive species elimination, reduced heat island effect, less area of expensive grass and more permeable paving and drought resistant turf/plantings. To do this well, and to have an irrigation specialist on the team, I started looking for a landscape company. There were NO companies that seemed to advertise creating such an outside sustainable homestead environment as we had in mind. Although some used native plants, they mostly created little circles of turf and circuitous planting beds with water features, etc. That was not at all what we had in mind.

Carissa Sawyer at Energy Logic suggested that I look at the Water Sense irrigation providers on the Energy Star website. This was not the easiest research since each listing requires that the link open to a small popup window with the company’s information. Terrible design. Why not just let me download a filtered list with all the info into a spreadsheet? Just the provider name and state is useless, the only way to get the detailed info is to open each company link. BUT I was successful in finding just the right company to request for the integrated design team.

Conservation Seeding and Restoration

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