We immediately switched from "land purchase" mode to "home design mode". We learned that a home designer - Joshua Drews - purchased one of the neighboring land parcels. We met with Joshua of Eco-Logical Designs soon after close of escrow. Joshua received high marks from Ben (the person we purchased the land from). We couldn't agree with Ben more. Joshua is an excellent designer. He has the ability to listen to and understand his client and propose solutions that fit the client's needs rather than project his agenda.
We originally wanted to be on an accelerated schedule to start building in April of 2007. We quickly realized 2 things made this difficult to achieve. First, we would have too little time to design our dream green home. Second, we were lacking the cash to build the home without financing.
~~~~~~another flashback~~~~~~
Earlier in 2006, we took the summer off. Cindy's company shut down her product line, and I quit Phonic Ear. We both spent an unforgettable summer as volunteer backcountry rangers in the Trinity Alps. During weeks off from the ranger "job", we met with our prior supervisors at Symantec (Cindy) and Loral (me). Both offered us jobs on the spot. We told them they would have to wait until the summer hiking season was over. They accepted. Between hiking tours, we found a great rental home in downtown Mountain View with nice bike/walk commutes to our jobs. Mountain view is only 25 miles to Santa Cruz. We were now serendipitously set up to earn the cash to build our home while living just a short drive "over the hill" to visit our Santa Cruz land. In September, 2006, we packed up again and had movers take us from Petaluma to Mountain View.
It was hard to top the summer hiking experience in the Trinity alps, but I managed. After hiking and before starting work at Loral, I spent 2 weeks taking a Permaculture intensive design course at Occidental Arts and Ecology Center (OAEC). This was truly a life changing experience. The place and the people rocked me to the core and I will never be the same. I give the highest possible recommendation to OAEC, their staff and their Permaculture training. The experience helped me visualize what is possible when designing in harmony with nature.
Some highlights from 2006...these are posts I would have made if I had a blog at the time:
4-15-2006
Went to Santa Cruz to meet Karsten, pull some Scotch Broom and lay out where we would like to build our home. Two homes are allowed on our parcel. Karsten is allowed to build the main home up to 7,000 square feet, and I am allowed to build a 1,200 square foot second unit; aka granny unit or Auxiliary Dwelling Unit (ADU). We staked out a 46’x26’ single story outline. Wow, the pad is big! We went home considering 2 story homes, like a bungalow style with a dormer room upstairs. We also drew up some 20’x30’ 2 story floor plans. We couldn’t get happy with any of these alternatives. Joshua gave us a call later that week to suggest that a single story home is what we should design if we want to live in it long term. We would like a single story home for different reasons than Joshua mentioned, but at least we would be prepared for immobility when it arrives.
4-18-2006 to 4-24-2006
We were considering the idea of sharing Karsten's home. We took another trip to Santa Cruz on Sunday, 4-23 to meet Karsten. We saw Doc (Michael) on his last day camping on the property. He was heading to Europe to receive alternative cancer treatment. We talked for a while with Karsten about our desires regarding sharing. Karsten was intent on all parties really wanting to share for the community aspect. I couldn’t get past doing it only for the $$ aspect. Cindy is more private and was never really interested in sharing. We called Karsten and notified him on Monday, April 26th that we were not interested in sharing his home.
I started playing around with a energy analysis program called HEED during this time (highly recommended). I discovered that 11 degrees west of south is the optimum orientation for the south wall of a passive solar home in the Santa Cruz climate. This orientation results in:
- maximum net metered photovoltaic (PV) solar array production annually
- maximum passive solar heat gain
4-24+
Working on 1200 sq foot floor plans. Idea is that area should be maximized in case we ever have to sell. Ended up with a nice plan with a Jack & Jill (J&J) bathroom. I'm not too keen on the J&J bath since guests have to walk through a bedroom to get to the bathroom, and a 2nd door would penetrate the room where I plan to play my drums. The second door makes the room more difficult to soundproof. One plus is a bathroom window on the east wall. This window will let direct sunlight into the room for a few weeks every year helping to minimize mold. I came up with another plan that had the bath located on the north wall between the bedroom and entry area. More detailed trade study written on the drawing.
Looking very seriously into Rastra as a wall material. I hope Karsten uses Rastra so we can get some experience with the material. Seems to have enough positive characteristics to make up for the relatively high embodied energy in manufacturing and transporting it from AZ. Thinking about this material or salvaged wood stick frame. Either way, salvaged wood framing under standing seam is our 1st choice for the roof construction.
5-18-06
Played a little with eQuest as a comparison to HEED. Very extensive entry dialog. Many options that are not needed for a residential application. The program is more suited to commercial buildings. Same goes for Energy-10. HEED is a much more suitable application for residential use. Too bad California Title 24 requirements cannot be satisfied with HEED. You must use one of two approved analysis tools: EnergyPro or MICROPAS. Neither of these tools is as user friendly as HEED for residential home energy analysis.
Bad news from Marty at Daily Acts today – only 6 people signed up for the home tour on May 20th, so it is canceled. We are looking into 2 possible tours on June 4th, one natural building tour in Sonoma county by Daily Acts, and one self guided green building tour in Alameda and Contra Costa counties. The Daily Acts tours seem more organic. We can drive people in our biodiesel powered VW GOLF TDI and go on the tour for free. We will try to get some info on the building types and what cities they are located in for the Green Bldg tour. If no luck, or if the homes don’t seem like what we are after, we will do the natural home tour. Chris Farkas was excited at work today because it looks like he will submit for permits Monday for his straw bale 800 sq-ft home.
5-20-06
Played with home design software Chief Architect today - pretty decent program.
5-27-06 to 5-29-06
Thinking about solar water heating and radiant floors. I decided against an evacuated tube collector. In my opinion, the amount of energy gained in the temperate climate along the California coast does not warrant the price premium compared to a flat plate collector.
To be continued...
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