landscaping

Wow, it has been months since my last post. We have had a busy spring planting 17 fruit trees, one walnut tree, and many drought tolerant, deer resistant, perennial, California native plants. We can't say enough about the UCSC Farm and Garden for their plant sales, pruning classes and CSA. Here is a pic of trees on the east side of the home with some of the plants in the foreground (summer is the time for brown dead grass here in California). In the pic you see 2 avocados, 2 persimmons, 2 pomegranites and a cherry tree. Each tree is surrounded by a small deer fence to keep our most frequent four legged visitors from eating all those tender leaves. The cherry tree has 4 kinds grafted onto one rootstock. Having 4 kinds on one tree saves space and spreads out the harvest. Our apple, plum and asian pear trees are also multi-graft.

Remember the rock wall Trevor built last December? We acquired about 500 square feet of salvaged red brick from Whole House Building Supply & Salvage. Our first small project was to pave the space between the porch slab and rock wall - pic below. We set the bricks in a basket weave pattern and are very pleased with the results. The remainder of the bricks will be used someday for the south patio. Thanks for reading!

Solar monitoring service

The solar photovoltaic (PV) monitoring service called PV Watch was installed last week. Click the "PV Watch" image below or in the right pane to see performance data for my solar array. Thanks for reading. Your comments are appreciated.

Blower door test

Sharon and Andy from Block Energy Design showed up Tuesday morning to do a blower door test on the home. This test determines how airtight the home is. Here is a pic of the Minneapolis Blower Door, made by The Energy Conservatory, installed in the entry of the home.

All of the other windows and doors in the home were closed. The blower removed air from the home and maintained pressure inside that was 50 pascals (Pa) less than outside. This small pressure difference caused outside air to leak into the house through any cracks it could find. We could feel a small amount of air flow by the tops of the sliding glass doors.

It was determined that 95 cubic feet per minute (cfm) of air flow through the blower was needed to maintain a 50 Pa pressure difference. This measurement along with the interior volume of the home was used to calculate a value of 0.4 air changes per hour at 50 Pa (ACH50). Air changes per hour (ACH) is the number of times per hour the volume of air inside the home is exchanged with fresh or filtered air. A value of 0.4 ACH50 indicates extremely air tight building construction. A new home that is considered "well built" will change over this much air WITHOUT a blower creating a pressure difference. All of that time spent sealing up cracks with foam paid off. That is good news for energy efficiency.

ACH50 is commonly divided by 20 to arrive at a value for "natural" ACH (without the blower creating a pressure difference). That means my home naturally changes air over 20 times less than what is considered a "tight" building. This is great for keeping heat in the home, but can lead to poor indoor air quality (IAQ).

While building the home, I took precautions to ensure adequate IAQ such as:

• installing a French drain under the slab to reduce potential for radon gas inside the home
• installing only electric appliances - there are no combustion appliances which would create carbon monoxide
• using low or no VOC materials inside the home

Even so, carbon dioxide (CO₂) will buildup from human activity in the home, and mold can be an issue in moist areas like the bathroom. There are several things we can do to maintain acceptable IAQ given these potential pollutants.

• on sunny days, it is warm enough in the home to open windows
• on days when it is too cold or rainy outside to open windows, we should run the exhaust fan in the bathroom for an extended time period
• we could purchase and install a heat recovery ventilation system to exchange stale indoor air with fresh outside air while retaining most of the heat
• houseplants can help reduce certain indoor pollutants

We definitely notice the home is comfortably warm without using the radiant floor heat. We also notice that the air seems stale when the house has been closed up for many hours. Now we have some test data that explains why. Thanks for reading. Feel free to leave a comment.

Day 144 & 145: Rock wall and moving in

On Thursday and Friday, Trevor worked on construction of a rock wall along the north edge of the entry porch. The wall will facilitate drainage and add a few more square feet to the porch area. Here is a pic of the work in progress.

On Friday the crew helped us move in marking the official end of major construction and almost daily posts. There are years worth of projects ahead, and I will post them as they happen. It has been an incredible design and build experience. It will be a most memorable first Christmas in the peace and warmth of this wonderful passive solar home. We call it "casa del sol" (house of the sun). I wish you all a joyous holiday season. Thanks for reading throughout the year!

Day 142 & 143: Cabinet handles andt tile work complete

On Tuesday, Alan from Live Oak Design installed handles on the cabinets. Here is a pic of the peninsula.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, Joshua completed the floor mosaic and vanity backsplash while I cleaned up in preparation for moving in. Below are pics of the tile work. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Day 140 & 141: Wood floor and other details

Last Friday, Joshua and I finished sanding the loft floor. On Saturday, Cindy and I cleaned up the house and applied a first coat of Osmo Polyx-Oil finish to the floor. Below is a pic taken from the spiral staircase. The floor is smooth and no longer gray and oxidized, but still retains much of the character from that old Oregon sawmill.

On Friday Justin completed some finish details like pocket door hardware, door strike plates and closet shelves. Below is a pic of the simple closet arrangement. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 139: Floor sanding and closet shelves

On Thursday Joshua and I sanded the loft floor. Even though douglas fir is supposed to be a soft wood, this salvaged wood is harder than oak because it is so old and dry. Joshua commented that this floor is harder than oak and maple floors he sanded in the past. Below is a pic of the floor in process.

Justin continued work on the closet shelves and hangar rod. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Day 138: Mosaics , solar water heating and HERS rating

Joshua continued work on the floor mosaic on Wednesday. Below is a pic of the work in progress. It's great to see it with the paper template pieces removed. He also started work on a backsplash for the vanity countertop.

My PV solar system rebate was filed with the New Solar Homes Partnership (NSHP) program. A verification by a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) professional is needed to verify compliance with California Title 24 energy efficiency requirements. Sharon Block of Block Energy Design visited the home today to verify the performance, orientation and shading of the PV solar array.

I continued work on the solar water heating system. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 137: Mosaic, closet and solar water heating

On Tuesday, Joshua continued work on the floor mosaic. Here is a pic of the work in progress.


Justin worked on closet shelves while I started laying out plumbing for the solar water heating system in the utility room. Thanks for reading. I enjoy reading your comments.

Day 135 & 136: More mosaic and wood floor patching

Last Friday, Joshua continued working on the family room floor mosaic. Here is a pic of the work in progress.

On Monday, we sanded the wood floor test patch samples from last week. The patches held up well so we proceeded to patch cracks, holes and large gaps in the wood floor of the loft. The pic below shows two of the larger cracks after filling. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Day 134: Another mosaic

On Thursday, Joshua began cutting granite material for another tile mosaic that will go in front of the large sliding glass door in the family room. Here is a pic of the work in progress.

Marty stopped by to do a few small items off the punch list. Joshua filled some cracks and holes in several pieces of the old wood tongue and groove loft floor material. He used a mix of Elmer's glue and sawdust saved from sanding beams. Once this filler dries we will test how it responds during sanding. More to come. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 133: Vanity, floor heating and occupancy certificate

On Wednesday, the folks from Marble City arrived to install the granite vanity countertop and sink. The granite matches one of our favorite colors in the shower.

I got the radiant floor heating system up and running today. This will be nice for those cloudy winter days when there is not enough passive solar heat gain to keep the home comfortable.


We received a certificate of occupancy today! After a few more messy projects are completed inside, we will move in. It is a great feeling to achieve this milestone. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to comment.

Day 132: Stella status

Stella status:
It's been a while since we have seen Stella. She is nearly full grown and has an adult bark.

She also has a new little brother named Jackson.

Day 131: Doors and hot water

Over the long holiday weekend, Cindy finished the entry door and interior doors with AFM Naturals Clear Penetrating Oil. The finish makes the doors look even more beautiful. She also installed hardware on all of the doors and weatherstripping on the entry door. Here is a pic of the entry door from the inside.

Today I got the heating system producing domestic hot water. Cheers to hot showers and clean dishes. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 130: More soldering and Thanksgiving dinner

On Wednesday I continued soldering the water and space heating system components together. On Thanksgiving, Cindy and I were able to cook dinner in our new kitchen. It was a very special occasion. A toast and thanks to all of you who helped us get this far.

Day 129: More soldering

On Tuesday I continued sweat fitting heating system components in the utility room. This will be my sole task until there is hot water in the storage tank. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 128: Water, electric and cooking

Over the weekend and on Monday, we made fine progress with final plumbing and electrical work.

• sliding door hardware installed
  
• water supply connected
• cooktop & oven hooked up
• electric boiler hooked up
• kitchen sink & faucet hooked up
• TOTO dual flush toilet installed

I'll close with a pic of the oven and a vid of the most important seat in the house. It was a monumental day having water running in the home for the first time. Now I need to get back to work on the heating system so we can have HOT water. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.

Day 127: Pump house and soldering

Friday was a light day compared to Thursday. Trevor poured a small concrete pad on which to rest a pressure pump. This pump will turn on to pressurize the home's water supply whenever a faucet or other water using device is opened. Trevor finished just as the rain started. Below is a pic showing the pad (right), the water storage tank (left) and the pressure pump (left, foreground).

I began soldering the heating system plumbing components. With several hundred joints, this job will take a few days. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to leave a comment.

Day 126: Countertops, plumbing and electrical

Thursday was very busy. The folks from Marble City installed granite kitchen countertops. The color is verde fantastico - they sure look fantastico. I like how the gentle curve of the bar edge compliments the curves of the sink. Here is a pic of the kitchen from above.

Other tasks from day 126:

• Erik installed some of the final electrical details
• I continued working on the water and space heating system installation
• Adam and Coady started installing plumbing fixtures

I'll close with a pic of the shower looking more complete with the handle and head. Thanks for reading. I enjoy your comments.

Day 125: Kitchen cabinets, heating and net meter

On Wednesday, Alan from Live Oak Design installed all of the drawers on the kitchen cabinets while I continued to layout plumbing for the heating system in the utility room. Here is a pic of the kitchen peninsula cabinets. They look fabulous.

PG&E installed the digital electric net meter which we are now officially spinning backwards. Thanks for reading. I appreciate your comments.