2nd Utility Bill

I recently received my 2nd utility bill and the total was $49.78, just slightly higher than the 1st bill. As I've mentioned in the past, this prototype home (built with Eco-Panels) is run solely on electricity so the $49.78 figure is the cost for everything. It's been very cold here in Asheville and the home is still performing exceptionally well. The ERV is now set to run on 40 minute intervals and the dehumidifier in the crawl space is currently off. This home has dual zones--one for the upper level and one for the main level. Because of the stack effect I mostly (about 75% of the time) us the lower zone during the winter as it heats the whole house. My programmable thermostat is set at 66 degrees. In the summer, I will do just the opposite when the A/C is running.
I've been researching pellet stoves as I designed the house to incorporate one of these in the future. Between the costs of the stove, installation, electrical usage and pellets, it will still be much more affordable to run the heat pump even when it is using auxillary heat. I'm convinced, based on the 1st two months of living in this home, that even a small pellet stove could heat the entire home and reduce further dependency on fossil fuels (coal locally). It will also help resale value and create a certain ambiance for the living area. I will revisit this most likely in the spring hoping there are some good sales. My next post will focus on the water saving features of this prototype.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL!

Siding and Trim

The siding used on this prototype home is pre-painted NichiHa fiber cement lap siding. The shakes are a pre-stained Western Red Ceder, the tongue and groove pine is Blue Stain Pine and the trim is Miratec. All of these exterior finish products were purchased through an Asheville company--Carolina Colortones. Carolina Colortones offers the best selection of siding options in the Asheville area and specializes in pre-painted and pre-stained exterior finish products. My experience working with Carolina Colortones was excellent. I chose the NichiHa product for several reasons. NichiHa products contain over 50% fly ash, a recycled content material generated from coal burning power plants. Not only does this material not end up in a landfill, but in my research it ends up creating a more stable fiber cement product than other companies incorporating more wood fiber content. NichiHa also recycles 95% of the water used at its manufacturing facility and treats the remaining 5% that is discharged. Overall, I was very impressed with NichiHa's strong environmental conviction. The siding was pre-painted with 2 coats of a low VOC paint and it comes with a 25 year warranty. This not only saved money, but also the time and headaches associated with painting the material on site. The shakes were also pre-stained with 2 coats of a low VOC stain. Having the shakes pre-stained was very important to me as all 6 sides would be fully covered. Many builders only paint or stain the exterior side or face of the shakes which usually results in a lower quality product that is more susceptible to the elements over the years. I also chose a darker stain for the shakes as this will reduce UV damage and require less restaining in the future. The tongue and groove pine used on the soffits and the ceiling of the front porch is called Blue Stain. The blue stain results from a fungus that is released from the mouths of beetles that infest the pine trees out west ultimately killing the tree in the process. I used this blue stain pine for both environmental and aesthetic reasons. The dead standing trees can be used for certain applications and the stained byproduct matched my overall color scheme.
In my spare time I have also been working on a smaller prototype cottage design that starts with a basic 28x36 footprint. This cottage plan will have 5 different floor plans or layouts ranging in size from 1008 sq ft to about 1500 sq ft depending on the specific needs of the client. For these cottage plans, I would use Eco-Panels walls with the integrated LP Smartside siding option and Carolina Colortones to finish out the gables and trim details. Having the siding already integrated as part of the structural and insulated wall system significantly reduces costs, delays, waste and headaches. Finished as a board and batten style, these cottage plans will also be very high performance, while potentially being even more affordable than this larger prototype.

1st Energy Bill

Today, I received my 1st utility bill and my Energy Star documents for this prototype home. My HERS score for this prototype is 54. The HERS index is based on using a code based home for energy modeling purposes that starts at a score of 100. In order to achieve the Energy Star Certification, a newly built home needs to score an 85 or lower (better), which means that the new home, with a score of 85, is supposed to be 15% more energy efficient than the code based model home at 100. So in these basic terms, since my score is a 54, the math says that my prototype should be at least 46% more energy efficient. Because this index is making some very general assumptions, the HERS score/index is and should only be used as a basic comparison. The reason I say this is because of what my 1st utility bill actually is. As I've mentioned in previous posts, both the Energy Star rater and myself expect this home to exceed 60% in energy savings compared to an average non-certified code based home. Based on the REM software that Energy Star uses to calculate the HERS score/index, this prototype (all electric) is expected to use (based on current local kw/hr rates) $1133.00 per year in total utility costs. Divide this # by 12 months and I should average about $94 per month on my utiltiy bill. Although I recognize that a single monthly bill is not a really accurate comparison, it's a good place to start. My utility bill for the 1st month is $49.89. We can then assume that if the software was completely accurate and the 1st bill was for $94, then the code based model homes utility bill would be about $175. With a real utility bill of $49.89 and using the assumptions of the Energy Star software's code based model, this means that this prototype's 1st utility bill is 71% less than what a code based model home's utility bill might be for the 1st month. This is a very positive sign that this prototype is going to perform exceptionally well considering what the total cost was to build this home. I will be turning the ERV down to the low setting as it is recommended to run the ERV on high for at least the 1st month. I will also be turning the dehumidifier off intermittingly in the crawl space and monitor the moisture levels now that the crawlspace humidity level is stable. Changing the ERV to low and reducing the amount of time the dehumidifier is running should both reduce the electrical load. It will be interesting to see how this affects the next utility bill.

Energy Design

This prototype home was designed to be as energy efficient as possible without the initial addition of alternative/renewable energy systems. Many of the very educated and experienced green building professionals that I talked to prior to construction of this home were sceptical that this home could achieve such high performance without the addition of systems like geothermal, solar thermal, and or passive solar design with thermal mass. Although I am a proponent of all these technologies, many consumers, GC's, subcontractors, real estate agents, appraisers, and lending professionals either don't understand them, can't accurately value them, can't afford them, or maybe just don't care. In a much earlier post, I wrote that the most important aspects of affordable high performance homes are proper planning, understanding orientation to the sun, shade and wind, a well insulated building envelope, a well sealed building envelope, a properly sized and installed HVAC system and a whole house mechanical ventilation system (ERV for this climate zone). This prototype is estimated to reduce energy costs by at least 60% and the fact that I am a very energy conscious individual, it should exceed 60%. A 60% + reduction in energy costs, combined with a very healthy and strong home at less than $105 per square foot is definitely within reach of so many more people in our communities.

As I've mentioned in previous posts, this prototype was originally designed to be built on a fully insulated slab on grade for thermal mass purposes and reduction in costs. The concrete can absorb the winter sun and then release it back into the conditioned space when the temperature starts to fall. This can be a very simple, cost effective energy saving solution when available. I decided to build on a crawl space as the lot was more suited for this and as the picture shows, I used an R 4.5 Demilac spray foam in between the floor joists and also on the bands. The picture also shows a dehumidifier that has a drain hose to the outside. This keeps the ambient humidity at a constant level reducing the concerns of mold and mildew problems. Please remember to use a quality vapor retarder (not vapor barrier) on the floor as this can make a significant difference in controling the humidity level. I also spent extra time sealing the crawl space in order to have more control over the humidity level and air infiltration. Also pictured is the new GE GeoSpring Hybrid Hot Water Heat Pump. Compared to traditional hot water tanks with a energy factor as high as .95, this GE hot water heater has an energy factor of 2.35--almost 2.5x more efficient. For me this was a much more cost effective alternative to solar thermal hot water systems. The main drawback of this system is that it can make some noise, very similar to an outdoor compressor unit of a traditional heat pump system. With the door shut and some weather-stripping it is much less noticable. More posts to follow.

The Test Results

My last post talked briefly about the cost per square foot and I will revisit that subject in future posts. I would like to discuss the performance #'s that were verified by Amy Musser (www.vandemusser.com). Amy, who I consider the leading building scientist in this region, and her technician Jeff came out to the job site to perform the Energy Star and NC Healthy Built Homes Certifications. Because all of the duct work is located within the thermal boundary of the building envelope the most important test was the blower door test. This test depressurizes the house to measure the leakage of air in the conditioned space to the outside. A large fan is attached to a blower door bracket as you can see in the picture. One of the prerequisits for the NC Healthy Built Homes program is to achieve 3.5 air changes per hour (ACH 50-pascals) or less of leakage. This means that the volume of air within the conditioned space of the house exchanges with the outside air 3.5 time or less per hour with all the windows and door closed. Although I don't specifically know the best blower test results I encountered when I was doing the certifications, typically anything less than 1.5 ach was really good. After Jeff set up the blower door, he started the fan and was not able to get a reading. It took all 3 of us to finally get a reading. Jeff was running the fan, Amy was checking the diagnostic equipment and I was holding the bracket in the door opening with all my strength so it wouldn't pop out-which it did twice. After a few attempts, we were finally able to get a reading and I'm glad we did because I wasn't sure I could hold the bracket in place any longer. As a former H.E.R.S rater, I knew that this was a very good sign that the house was really tight. It wasn't until later that evening that I got the results from Amy. The previous best results that any of us knew about for any home was 220 cfm of leakage. This test came from another home built in the Asheville area (also using Eco-Panels) and is about 1440 square ft. This other home is 430 sq ft smaller than my prototype and has about 4500 less cubic feet of volume. My prototype only had 181 cfm of leakage and a final ach reading of .48 ach50. It felt great to have such an impressive score and be the new record holder. Another way (in my opinion a better way) to measure leakage of the envelope is ELR (envelope leakage ratio). My ELR is .039. I talked to the director of the Earth Craft House Certification program at the Southface Institute in Atlanta about my scores. Although he was very impressed with the test results, he admittedly couldn't believe it. ELR standards for the Earth Craft House program is around .4. Obviously my prototype at .039 is 10x better than that standard. I will continue to research and find out how this score compares to other top blower door test results throughout the country. Although having a super tight house is a great achievement, please remember that proper ventilations is as important. I am currently running my ERV on high (as it is advised to do this for the 1st month), but this week I will reset the ERV to the low setting after cleaning the filter. I attribute the superior blower door test results to two factors. 1) Using Eco-Panels and 2) Paying close attention to proper air sealing anywhere and everywhere I could think of. It was a few days later that I received some more good news. My prototype home achieved Gold Level for the NC Healthy Built Homes Certification. Over the next year, providing everything works out properly, between the landscaping points and PV solar panel points, this protoype with achieve the highest level of Platinum.

Prototype Home Completed--Well Almost!

After many requests to update this blog, I have finally taken the time to do it. Between the months of July, August and September, I was putting in 16 hour days on a regular basis trying to hold down my full time job with Eco-Panels while also completing this prototype. I appreciate your patience as sleep became more of a priority. Althought the # of listed followers is small, over the last 6 weeks, I've had dozens of people ask me why I haven't updated the blog. I will do my best to catch everyone up to date on the protoype and the impressive test results it acheived. There are still many areas of the project that need to be completed like the landscaping/fruit and vegetable gardens and the driveway/carport/workshop to name a few.
While I am still working through the final costs associated with this prototype, I can estimate that the total cost per square foot is around $105. Although I didn't reach my goal of $100 or less per square foot, the combination of cost, quality and performance is the best I've seen anywhere in this region. Building on a crawl space as opposed to the original slab on grade, is partly to blame for the additional costs. Also, it was very difficult for me to stay on top of every detail during construction and instruct the contractors as to how important it was to reduce waste and pay attention to being extremely efficient with time and materials. Although a 60 day build time was aggressive, I feel confident that with the right team and proper planning less than 90 days from start to finish is easily achievable. Since this is a prototype, some learning curve is expected, but I also highly recommend working with suppliers and contractors that are committed (personal conviction) to always taking the extra time to stop, think, ask, measure and or read the instructions. Because of my background as a H.E.R.S rater, Healthy Built Home Certifier, working for custom and production builders and working for Eco-Panels, I was able to get all the really important aspects done correctly.

Spray Foam for Roof Deck, Gables and Bands complete

After a long weekend of air sealing, and with the roof deck, gable ends and band joists insulated, the home is finally ready for drywall. The foam used for these areas is Demilec Agribalance and it was provided and installed by the Build Smart Alliance and Ron Pariseau from Green R inc. The roof deck was sprayed to an average depth of 6.5", the gables at an average depth of 5.5" and the band joists at an average depth of 5". The resulting R-Values with sheathing comes out to about R-30 for the roof, R-26 for the gables and R-23 for the bands. The depth of the foam was important as I wanted to cover as much or all of the wood framing members of the roof trusses, floor trusses and gable trusses to reduce thermal bridging. With Eco-Panels 4.5" R-26 panels for the walls, this protoype home should perform extremely well. Although some might call it "overkill", I spent several hours air sealing all the interior plate connections in order to increase performance and to achieve a very low blower door test. I used an all purpose low VOC caulk and it took quite a few hours longer than I expected. I also filled every inch of the rough openings for the windows and doors with a minimally expanding spray foam rated for windows and doors. I used to work for an insulation company when I was performing the Energy Star and Healthy Built Home Certifications, and more often then not, most insulation companies that seal these rough openings only spray enough foam to create a minimal seal. I filled the entire rough opening cavity with as much foam as it would take. I also payed very close attention to the doors as these are often one of the leakiest areas of a home.
My dream home is a timber frame wraped with Eco-Panels for the walls and roof, but once again, my goal is to create the best performing home I can for around $95 per square foot. I met the H.E.R.S rater this evening to go over the Healthy Built Homes Checklist and to inspect the insulation. The rater is Amy Musser from Vandemusser Design. This prototype home is very close to achieving a Gold Level rating for Healthy Built Homes and should easily reach the tax credit level for Energy Star (minimum 50% reduction in heating and cooling load). The subfloor in the crawl space will be spray foamed later next week and I will go into more detail as to how I am finishing out the sealed/closed crawl space.

HVAC and ERV Installed

The HVAC and ERV (energy recovery ventilator) have been roughed in/installed. The HVAC system and ERV was installed by McNutt Service Group and boy did they do a great job of sealing all the duct work. Mastic was used in great quantities and this should go a long way to achieving an excellent duct blaster test score. All the ducts in this prototype home were designed to be in the conditioned space or thermal building envelope. My goal from the beginning was to build a home that was orientated properly, very well insulated, and with an HVAC system that was designed and sized specifically for this home. With great southern exposure, Eco-Panels for the walls and spray foam for the roof and subfloor, I had achieved the first two goals. Every home should have the HVAC installer/company perform a Manual J (load calculation for heating and cooling sizing) that is verified by the Energy Star (HERS) rater prior to installation. After much contemplation, I decided to go with a high performance air to air heat pump for heating and cooling the home. At first I thought about installing a ground source geothermal system, but because I am attempting to build this home for less than $95 per square foot, many buyers in the affordable housing category may not be able to take advantage of these tax credits or afford the initial up front costs of a geothermal system. I have been asked by several people why I did not at least install a gas back up furnace for potentially better heating performance. My answer is simple--this home is being roughed in for future solar (photovoltaic) panels that will ultimately power the home. In my opinion there is plenty of evidence out there highlighting the fact that we need to significantly reduce our dependence on fossil fuels. If the heat pump and passive solar design are for some reason not able to heat the home effectively, I have designed it so I can add a wood stove or pellet stove in the future. The ERV was included because my goal is to build an extremely tight home. "Build it tight and ventilate it right" is a popular saying in the green building industry. The ERV provides continuous ventilation for the entire house, exausting stale indoor air and replacing it with fresh air from the outside. The ERV is rated to recapture about 75-80% of the conditioned air before it leaves the home. This means that in the winter when you are spending money to heat the home and bringing in cold fresh air--75-80% of that heat is recaptured or not lost. ERVs can also be fitted with different filtration systems depending on the homeowners needs for indoor air quality.

Windows Installed

The Marvin windows finally arrived after a lengthy delay. Part of this delay had to do with an additional 2 week lead time when ordering special glass or glazing from Marvin. As I mentioned in a previous post, I ordered these Marvin Integrity windows with Cardinal 179 glass for the south wall windows. The Cardinal 179 glass has a low U-Value of .28 and a high SHGC value of .70. That means that 70% of the radiant heat from the sun will penetrate through the glass into the home. The overhang for the second story windows was determined based on allowing the radiant gain to only be available from mid October to mid April--passive solar heating. Because the home was built on a crawl space, I reduced the overall size of the southern windows as I won't have much thermal mass to absorb the heat gain from the sun. We will have to build seperate overhangs/awnings for the main level south windows prior to installing the siding. I decided on Marvin windows for several reasons. The performance #'s of these windows are very good compared to the overall price (high quality for good value). Also, I wanted a window manufacturer that would integrate the Cardinal 179 glass into a fiberglass exterior cladding. Marvin now offers awning and casement windows in a full fiberglass frame, but the additional $1300 didn't make sense from a payback perspective. Fiberglass is much less susceptible to expansion and contraction from temperature changes, while also being very low maintainance. The interior of the windows is a high quality pine that I will eventually stain or paint to match the interior finishing colors. I chose only awning and casement style windows as my experience has shown me these seal much better than double hung windows for overall better performance. I minimized the amount of north windows and requested a very low SHGC rating for the east and more importantly west windows (.20). Having a lot of windows sure is nice, but finding that balance between aesthetics and energy performance is very important.

Front porch in place

As you can see from the picture, the front porch roof is a very simple shed design. The size of the front porch was limited based on county imposed set backs from the septic field (the far right post is the closest I could extend the front porch). The shed design is not only very affordable, it also simplifies flashing requirements and water collection for future landscaping. Unfortunately, the community I am building in denied my requests for using a metal roof on the main part of the house, but does allow metal roofing for the front porch. It is a bit confusing as it is the front porch roof that is by far the most visible. The windows finally arrived after a significant delay. I will share more about the windows in the next post.

Roof Trusses in place

We decided to work on a Saturday to lift the roof trusses in place. This process took us about 2 1/2 hours to complete. Once again, having the crane on site really helped reduce time and labor costs. Our crane provider (Gawain Mainwaring--Smart Builders in Asheville) was great to work with. Not only are his hourly crane rates very reasonable, but his crane operators were very flexible working with our schedule.

My preference going into this project was to build a vaulted hybrid timber frame roof with exposed rafters and beams and then place Eco-Panels 6.5" R-40 roof panels on top. After further research, I realized I needed to go with a different option. The two main reasons for this were cost and simplicity. As for costs, I estimated that the timber frame roof option would cost an additional $7,000-$30,000 depending on the truss design and wood species. As for simplicity, by switching to a basic 2x4 engineered truss, I could avoid additional load bearing requirments and create a prototype home that a future buyer could customize by changing room sizes and locations without additonal engineering. Basically, this prototype has only 1 interior load bearing wall for the staircase. In place of using Eco-Panels for the roof (which is a great option) I will have the roof deck and gable ends spray foamed to achieve an R-Value of around 30. I will have the insulation contractor spray foam the entire roof deck including the overhang area reducing the need for a vented soffit. I will use ZIP sheathing underneath the overhang and tape the seams prior to having the soffit material installed.

2nd floor panels erected

We were able to erect all the 2nd floor walls in just 2 hours. Although Eco-Panels recommends a crew of 3 to erect the panels, the 2nd floor panels on my prototype were erected by just a crew of 2. After just 2 days, from the time the Eco-Panels were delivered, we are ready to lift the roof trusses in place. Overall my experience with using Eco-Panels on my own home has been very positive and exceeded every expectation that I had going into this project.

The 2nd floor wall height is also 9' high, matching the main level. For most affordable homes 9' ceilings is an expensive upgrade. Although adding an extra foot of ceiling height increases the amount of conditioned volume in the home, this prototype's super efficient design created a great opportunity to add a typically very popular upgrade at a very affordable price.

1st floor panels and floor trusses set

The first floor perimeter is 124' and the walls are 9' high. Nailing the base plate, erecting the 1st floor walls, framing out the larger window rough openings, installing pre-dimensioned and insulated headers (provided by Eco-Panels) and adding a 2nd top plate took us only 4 hours to complete. We ripped down a 2x6 to 4 1/2" to run a second top plate around the perimeter. Eco-Panels integrated cam-lock system, pre-engineered corners and pre-engineered rough opening and headers, made completing the 1st floor wall system a breeze. Not only did using Eco-Panels save us a lot of time, labor and headaches, but I ended up with a wall system that is more than 2X stronger and almost 3x the affective R-Value (R-26) of a conventionally stick framed home.

The exterior skin I used on the Eco-Panels is the ZIP sytem from Huber---www.zipsystem.com---. I originally planned on ordering the Eco-Panels with integrated LP Smartside---www.lpcorp.com--(bypassing the need for additional siding) as the exterior skin. With a form--following--function mindset, one of the biggest challenges for me on this prototype has been taking such a simple rectangular design and giving it some curb appeal. Although I could have saved time and money by going with an integrated vertical (board and batten) siding option on Eco-Panels (like LP Smartside), aesthetically I felt a darker colored horizontal lap siding would end up being a more attractive option on this tall and lean prototype design. We'll see how it turns out!

The 2nd story floor trusses were ready to be set after lunch. We knew ahead of time that having the crane on site for the first few days after the panels were delivered would really speed up the process and get us dried in much quicker. We also used the crane to lift the 2nd floor Advantech subfloor sheets. By the end of the day, we had installed about 1/3 of the Advantech sheets and felt confident we would have the 2nd floor walls panels finished by the end of the next day.

Eco-Panels shipment arrives

Since I was having a lot of problems with my previous blog site, I decided to start a new blog and that is why it may appear that this prototype is being built extremely fast. No, this in not Extreme Makeover Home Edition, but we are very close to being on schedule for a 60 day build completion time frame.

Eco-Panels arrived as scheduled to the job site. As a disclaimer, I am the Regional Project Manager for Eco-Panels. My first experience with Eco-Panels was over 3 years ago at a local WNC Green Building Counsel function. The very first thing I noticed was the patented fully insulated corners--really cool. Then I noticed the internal cam-locking system and integrated electrical boxes and conduit. Once I was able to confirm that Eco-Panels use an injected, high density polyurethane foam, you could say that I was immediately very impressed with Eco-Panels. Most (about 95%) SIPS (structural insulated panels) are basically board stock EPS that are glued and pressed to OSB and use splines or studs to connect the panels. The obvious difference in quality, performance, options and integration between Eco-Panels and other SIP products was striking.

Prior to joining Eco-Panels, I performed certifications locally for the Energy Star and NC Healthy Built Homes programs. I had researched alternative building systems for years, but in every system I was able to find a flaw or weakness that I issues with. After spending several months learning more about Eco-Panels and taking a day off work to help erect walls panels on a job site, it was clear that I wanted to be a part of such an innovative company with the best overall solution for combining structural and thermal performance in the most integrated, user friendly and cost effective way I have ever come across.

I had scheduled a crane and operator to be at the job site to help unload the panels and this saved us a lot of time and hard labor. The first floor walls were bundled seperately from the 2nd floor walls and I was able to use the crane to transfer the 1st floor wall panels directly on to the subfloor and strategically arrange the 2nd floor wall panels on the site to be lifted up to the 2nd floor when needed. I made sure to have extra tarps on site to protect the panels from the weather even though we would be erecting the 2nd floor walls just 1 1/2 days later.

Foundation issue resolved--kinda!

Because of the unintended deep cut for the pad, I opted to raise the house 4' by building on a crawl space. Although I am not a fan of crawl spaces, this option provided me with the opportunity to take advantage of the beautiful pastoral and mountain views at the back of the property. The foundation contractor automatically assumed that I wanted a vented crawl space--I definitely did not. There is a lot of research that shows that vented crawl spaces do not perform as intended. Here is a link to Advanced Energy's website about crawl spaces: http://www.crawlspaces.org A vented crawl space is a cheaper option and overall a bad idea. Personally, every crawl space that I have been in (in the southeast), and is at least 2 years old, I have found signs of mold and or mildew. There are two ways that I know of to do a closed crawl: 1) a sealed crawl and 2) a conditioned crawl. Because my HVAC system was already designed, I decided not to alter the design and drop a supply vent into the crawl to create a conditioned crawl. Instead I will seal the crawl floor and walls with a heavy duty poly vapor barrier and spray foam under the sub floor. Once the house is completely dried in, I plan to dehumidify the crawl space prior to laying the vapor barrier and insulating the floor. I also plan to monitor the moisture level in the crawl space to avoid potential mold and mildew issues.

As I mentioned in my first post, the original plan was to do a fully insulated slab and acid stain the concrete (as the finished floor) at the end of the project. The concrete was going to provide thermal mass to absorb the radiant heat in the winter months that would be coming through the southern facing windows using Cardinal 179 glass. Because I am now building on a crawl space, this changes the thermal mass equation. I decided to reduce the amount of southern window glazing, but still kept the Cardinal 179 glass. I also estimate that changing to a crawl space has increased the budget by about $4,000.00. Most of this additional cost is associated with substituting the stained concrete with a different flooring option. I haven't decided what the flooring will be, but as of now, I am leaning towards cork. I know someone who could help me to build earthen blocks (using clay from the job site) to serve as the finished floor, but due to time constraints and much less market appeal, I will stick with a more conventional option.

Pad and septic are done, BUT!

Lot #8 was perfectly orientated to take advantage of southern exposure and include some passive solar design. The goal was to build the home on a fully insulated concrete slab and then acid stain the slab at the end of the project. I ordered special glass (Cardinal 179) for the south facing windows to allow much more solar heat gain in the winter, but still having a low U-Value. The original excavator (who had to be fired for not showing up to work 3 times in a row) and the eventual excavator both told me the house would sit about 2-5 feet below the back fence line depending on where the county layed out where the septic tank and drain fields would be located. Because of the septic layout, the house needed to be pushed back much closer to the back of the lot than was originally intended. With the pad moved further back, my expectation was that the house slab would only be about 2' below the back fence and still allow the home to take advantage of the views of the pasture and mountains behind the house. To my surprise, and I do take some of the blame for just trusting in the excavators experience, the pad was more like 5-6' below the back fence. I am 6'1" tall and as you can see in the picture this was an obvious concern moving forward.

The pad for the home is done, BUT!

My orginal design called for a fully insulated slab on grade finished by acid staining the concrete. I orientated the house as close to solar south as possible to take advantage of the sun's free heat (passive solar design) and free light. I ordered special glass for the south facing windows (Cardinal 179 glass) to allow a much higher percentage of radiant heat to pass through to the living space. I was told by the original excavator (he had to be fired for not showing up 3 different times) and the actual excavator, that my concrete pad would sit about 3-4 ft below the back fence line which overlooks a pasture and some views of the mountains. After the county decided where to locate the septic system, the house had to be moved much closer to the back of the lot than what was originally intented. I was then told by the excavator that the pad would now only sit about 2 1/2 feet below the back fence line. Well as you can see in this picture (I am 6'1" tall) that the pad sits closer to 5-6 ft below the back fence line. As a demonstration home as well as my personal home, this mistake in estimating changed how the entire footprint of the house would be built. This is one of many learning experiences for me and I strongly suggest that everyone building on any site (sloping or not) pays very close attention to how the home will ultimately sit on the lot.

One very positive outcome was the reaction from the builders about this situation. The builders were willing to take on the extra work without charging extra for the additional labor.