Two Year Update

After two years of living and working on this prototype home I have decided to test the market and put my home up for sale.  Part of me doesn't want to sell at all, as I have put so much of my time, energy and resources into this prototype, while truly enjoying living in this home.  The other part of me, which is more dominant, wants to build another prototype....I will describe why I want to build another home below.

While I live in a very nice neighborhood, I have witnessed how the last 6 homes were built in my community and admittedly it has been frustrating to watch.  This may sound harsh, and I am not directing this comment to anyone in particular, but the obvious emphasis (for these homes) has been solely on curb appeal.  Sure curb appeal is important, but it is also subjective.  All of these 6 homes look very nice from the curb, but were built to only satisfy the code minimum standards.  Another way to explain this is to say that these homes were built to the lowest standards allowed by law....Sure all that stone work around the foundations looks nice, but it is simply money spent only for aesthetics and not performance.  I refer to this as putting "lipstick on a pig".  Have you ever looked at a home and said it has great curb appeal?  All those bump outs in the walls and opposing roof lines and dormers really can provide great aesthetics.  Have you ever wondered how all those architectural features may ultimately affect the performance and cost of the home today and 20 years from now?  The simple answer is:  all those added architectural features cost the home owner a lot more money to build while also increasing energy costs, reducing indoor air quality, reducing comfort and providing more opportunities for serious and costly problems down the road.  If you have the time, look up "Simple Roofs Perform Better" by Allison Bailes, and Martin Holladay's "Ten Rules of Roof Design".  As for all those wall bump outs, how well can air properly circulate through those areas...not very well.  And how does this affect indoor air quality, comfort and energy costs.

Here are some more examples:  Every single one of these homes was built on a crawlspace that is vented.  This is the lowest cost option and (particularly in NC) has shown, consistently, to be a poor decision....visit www.crawlspaces.com for more info... After 10 years of working in new residential construction  I can't think of a single vented crawl space that I haven't been able to find mold growing within 3-5 years of the home being built.  Not only is there serious potential for mold growth, but most of these homes stuck the air handler/furnace in the crawl space...which is another poor decision.  Also, the cold air returns in these homes ( the entire HVAC system was not properly designed in the 1st place) were put into an unprotected stud wall cavity.  Once again this is the cheep, lowest building standard option, that also has great potential to grow mold within these wall cavities.  There are so many other examples I could point out, some of which I have referenced in previous posts, but focusing too much on curb appeal almost always cost more upfront and over the long term of living in the home.  I've heard several people say something like "but the average person only lives in their homes for 7 years or less".  While this might be true, almost all of these homeowners will go on to build another new home, or buy an existing home to live in....the cycle of home ownership just continues. This cycle of mediocrity or cutting corners to save costs by focusing too much on aesthetics ultimately affects everyone negatively.  

My conviction was to build a superior home that is stronger, safer, healthier, more durable, lower maintenance, more energy efficient, more water efficient and more affordable....while also supporting as many local businesses and using sustainable materials that last.  This approach isn't just better for me, but better for the entire community and the next generation.  Sure, I recognize that I may have compromised some curb appeal, but how many homeowners actually spend a lot of their time, sitting at the curb looking at their home...nobody that I know of.  My prototype was designed from the inside out to maximize usable space, comfort, livability, health, strength and high quality.

After two years of energy and water bills, this prototype home has reduced energy costs by 78% and water costs by 50%.  My average monthly utility bill (2 yr avg) = $40.19.  This is 78% less than the projected costs for just a code built home (like those mentioned above).  My average monthly water bill is only $8.    As I mentioned above, these saving not only benefit me and the next owner, but everyone in my community.  I hope to have the opportunity to continue building more homes to such a high standard.

I estimate that my costs to build this home without adding the price of the lot or the improvements on the lot is around $110.00 per square foot.  Putting solar on the home would only, after all the tax credits and potential rebates add a few dollars total per square foot.  Obviously my goal of building a net-zero energy home for $100 per square foot was not met, but ultimately I was only about 10% off in my attempt.  Not bad considering the overall quality, performance and certification level that was achieved.

Lastly, as of today, this blog has been visited 8810 times.  I truly hope that this blog has helped others to not only understand what goes into creating a truly high performance home, but what questions should be asked to insure they make smarter and more informed investments for their and the next generations future.      

Summer Update

Obviously it's been a while since my last post.  My main focus for this summer has been on establishing my gardens and working on the landscaping.  Doing this organically has posed some challenges, particularly dealing with the bugs.  I'm trying different organic soap sprays to see which one has the best results, but as anyone who has tried to do everything organically knows, it takes some trial and error.  Another challenge has been the weather patterns here in Asheville for 2012.  Lots of rain, followed by no rain for a while.  Late frosts and a hot summer have added to the challenges.  Overall, I estimate that once all the current food producing plants are established, I can cut my grocery bill by $100-$150 per month.

As for how the home is performing, it's been continually excellent.  My last 5 total energy bills are as follows: $27.72, $29.77, $28.56, $36.96 and $36.96.  When I use these totals to calculate my average energy bill for almost 2 years of living in the home, I estimate that I have cut total energy costs by 78% compared to a code based model home.  I'm still interested in installing solar panels, but I will most likely wait until the end of this year to explore this option again.  Net Zero is still the goal, but cutting 78% off my energy bill without alternative energy sources has kept me pretty content for now.

I've had some followers of this blog ask me to go into more detail about my HVAC system; particularly the brand that I chose.  I've covered this topic in earlier posts, but not specifically about the brand I used.  For me, brands like Lennox, Carrier and Trane all provide quality systems.  What is comes down to is making sure that a full manual J calculation was performed to insure the system is sized right, that the system was designed for proper air flow and comfort, and that they system was installed correctly.  I chose Lennox for two reason.  My HVAC installer carried this brand and Lennox had the system numbers I needed for the energy modeling that was being done.  I truly believe you probably won't go wrong choosing any of these manufacturers providing the above criteria for sizing, installation and design are done correctly.

Best Regards,
Craig

Winter Update

It's been a few months since my last post, but that doesn't mean that I haven't been working on my prototype home.  I've also been putting in a lot of extra hours working for Eco-Panels as we are looking forward to one our best Spring building seasons ever.  You will see in the new photos that I've filled in the additional parking area with gravel, finished the paver walkway from the driveway to the front porch and started my seeds for spring planting.

I was able to find a left over pallet of pavers for a very good price.  They matched the home perfectly and although it involved quite a bit of labor on my part, the total cost was less than pouring a concrete walkway while giving the home some extra character.  It will take a few months for the paver sand to slowly pack in and after the paver coating wears off I will seal the pavers later this spring.

The gravel for the extra parking area ended up being much more affordable than pouring a concrete parking pad.  The decorative gravel that I really wanted to use would have been a bad choice as it does not compact well and the surface would have been too squishy/non-supportive to park vehicles on.  Using both the gravel and pavers also reduced my home's carbon footprint as they are not only permeable surfaces, but have a lower energy footprint in the manufacturing process.

I am somewhat of a beginner when it comes to organic gardening and starting plants from seeds.  If I can learn to be both proficient and efficient with starting seeds and transplanting the plants into the garden, I can save somewhere close to 10x the cost compared to buying already grown plants at the nursery or garden centers.  My main organic raised bed garden is now filled with soil and I will be sending a soil sample to the NC Coop Extension for analysis.  I used a combination of dirt from my lot, compost soil and Alpaca manure to fill the space.  The Alpaca manure was purchased from a local Alpaca farmer and is supposed to be a very good fertilizer.  Although Alpaca manure is lower in organic content, it is a rich soil conditioner and is able to break down easily.  I'll wait to see what my soil analysis report says before conditioning the soil any further.

As for my energy bills, they continue to be very low.  Like most of the country, our winter here in Asheville has been mild.  As I've mentioned in other posts, this prototype home's only heat sources are an air to air heat pump and some passive solar gain.  The milder winter has reduced the need for the heat pump to use resistance heating, which is very inefficient.  I've also tried to find other ways to reduce my energy demand and one of the simple ideas was to unplug my electrical strip that my computer, printer and router are plugged into every night.

My last 3 months utility bills are as follows:  $36.23, $41.36 and $47.81.  Over the 17 months of living in this prototype home, my average energy bill is now $44.40.  The Energy Star modeling software estimated that my average monthly utility bill would be $94.42 and a comparably sized non Energy Star Certified home would be $175.00 per month.  Obviously $44.40 is quite a bit lower than the projected amount and significantly lower than a non certified home.  The reduction in energy usage to date is now 74.63%.  Considering the high quality of materials used, the low cost per square foot to build this home and the very low energy costs, this prototype home has exceeded my expectations.  The opportunity to go net-zero energy is the next step and I am very close to being able to make this happen.  My next post will focus on adding the photovoltaic solar panel system and all the financial and technical details that are involved with making that decision.  With Spring a few weeks away, I will also continue to post about my organic gardening projects.