OK... I've been slacking since I went on vacation a month ago. That doesn't mean there's nothing to write, quite the opposite, I find myself behind. While I was on vacation I went to the frontier culture museum in Staunton, Va. a few times. Lots of old farms (old world and throughout America's early years). What I've really been dying to write to you guys about comes from that place, but, requires pictures and I've been too lazy to upload them. Eventually I'm going to show you some old, horse drawn and hand cranked equipment and walk you through (visually) how wheat came from the fields and ended up as bread (and a few other things). And I also want to write about the cast of characters I've been meeting along the way, but, I need to sit and hash that one out a little better. So, now, I'm going to tell you about our goal of a self-sufficient house.
The ever present realities of money and time have caused us to make some adjustments. We're still going for a farm, but, baby steps... we had to get the land first (checked that box), next is a home on that land, a garden, and then we'll start to add animals and equipment. It'll take us a few years, and may be a lifelong journey. So, now that we have the land, we just want to focus on step 2... putting up a house.
My Wife and I had different views on "need" in house, she sat me down this weekend and won. Thankfully she's smart, pretty, AND talented. We took an autocad program and laid out what we want in our next house. Goals: minimlasitic and self sustaining. We ended up with a 1 floor, rectangular footprint, 1 bathroom, at just over 1300 sq. feet. We'll be designing AND building as much of it as we can (and I'm pretty stubborn and demanding, I might just build the whole damn thing). Our considerations for this house are far different from the other homes we've had built in the past; log home, stone floors, masonry heater, alternative electric, big pantry (root cellar?), greenhouse, a well, on demand water heater, how to orient the house on the land, etc... I'll start with these and see where that leads me.
Log home? Simple: Thermal mass. What is thermal mass? Well, it's the ability of an object to retain, displace, and shed heat. Simply put, "Insulation". Our home now is 2X4's and regular insulation with drywall and siding. How well do you think that retains heat (or cold) compared to 6-8" thick logs? Not very well = ) . There are plenty of kits out there, but, after a lot of research I think we've decided to work with a company called Coventry Log Homes (based out of Nashua, N.H.). They sell kits, but, also work with people like us who want to design their own. They'll do the blueprints (off our design) and cut the logs specifically for us. Plus a log home is just dang sturdy. Put in some energy efficient windows (oh... and just because something is stamped "Energy Star!" doesn't mean diddly poop. I'll tell you about that some other time. We'll be researchng our doors and windows). Some people have asked if I'm concerned about fire. Well, yeah... I guess... about as much as I am about fire here with my 2 X 4's and sheetrock and insulation. The way I figure it that stuff will go up like kindling whereas a big-old fat log will take a long time to burn. (Go ahead, next time you're at a campfire throw in a good stized stick, and then throw in a log). So... log home for us. sturdy, efficient, cost effective.
Stone floors? Have I told you about my friend "thermal mass"? Yeah, same holds true with the floors. Gonna get me some soapstone (eventually) and do the floors out of that. I got the idea from a friend's farm this weekend. The room his woodstove is in has a floor of soapstone (used to build masonry heaters, which I will get to). Soapstone sucks up heat from the wood stove while the fire is burning and then radiates it out throughout the room through the rest of the day. And during the summer... well you'll noice a stone floor is cooler in summer. In a sense, my house will work like a big thermos... that I get to live in. It keeps the hot things hot, and the cold things cold. Amazing! How do it know? = ) . Yeah, I'm concerned with 3 little kids and cracked noggins, but, I can always throw down some thick area rugs, which will gve me... more thermal mass! YAY!!!!
Now onto the masonry heater. First I need to explain a new concept to you. It's called "thermal mass", say it with me now "Ther-mal mass". Good. What is it? Well, it's like a woodstove on crack. It's usually a gigantic soapstone firebox (1500 lbs for some of the smaller ones). You fire up the wood and the the soapstone sucks up all the heat and then radiates it out throughout the day. Instead of a chimney where 85-90% of your heat is lost up the chimney this bad boy can be up to 95% heat efficient. And that heat will radiate out to my soapstone floor... and log walls. It's got a labyrinthine (maze-like) flue which traps the heat in the firebox longer and burns cleaner (more of your carcinogens are burned up). Yeah, I said the scary 'carcinogens' word. You burn wood you have carcinogens. You burn coal, you have carcinogens. Nuclear power, carcinogens. Get over the scary word. We all have 'em. I'll just have less. History lesson on masonry heaters: a few hundred years ago Europe had a mini ice-age. They deforested a lot of places just trying to keep warm, so they had to become more efficient. hence, the birth of the masonry heater. Now where the masonry heater factors into the land is that back 6-8 acres I'm going to clear and turn into a woodlot (hope to help a friend bring back the American chestnut). The American chestnut grows fast and burns well. Sold me. We will also get an oven upgrade for our masonry heater (just in case).
Alternative electric... hmmm... this one may be tricky. We're all electricity hogs. I like it as much as the next guy. First thing... CUT DOWN. Wherever I can, I'll maximize natural lighting. Get rid of the non-essentials. Install real (not 'yippy skippy' energy-star-rubber-stamped) appliances and lighting fixtures. Solar assisted hot water heater (to pre warm our 'on demand' water heater). But, that'll still leave me with things to power and I've been pricing things out. Alternative energy may be something I have to pursue later down the line. A 1 kilowatt system (self installed) can cost up to $10K. Yeesh! And an energy conscientious home uses, on average, 4 KW. Hmmm... It gets less expensive to add KWs after that (up front you may need batteries, inverters, etc...), after that you may only need more panels. We may have to hook to the dreaded grid (at first). Let me tell you this though, there's a good reason why more panels may not be the right answer. Why you ask? Because think about how God created the seasons. There's less sun in the winter. But, there's also less leaves on trees, ergo... more WIND. Adding a wind turbine down the road will give an added power boost, but, will also help balance out the amount of power you have on hand year round. Pretty cool how that works (almost like God meant for that to happen). BTW... that whole leaves, wind / tree thing doesn't just work for electricity. Plant the right trees in the right places around your property and they'll allow sun in to warm your house when you need it, and provide shade during the hotter months. (It almost sounds like I've been doing some reading, doesn't it?)
Big pantry: Duh... we want to grow our own food, can it, and have it on hand for long periods of time. It's gotta sit somewhere. Big pantry or an old fashioned root cellar. We'll probably (eventually) do both. If I have to explain a pantry to you, I'm sorry, you're just too dumb for me to deal with. It's a room in the house where you put food. We want a big one, because we want to put a LOT of food in there (see the correlation?). i'll give you a pass on the root cellar, they're not as common these days. Basically they can be done in a basement, outside the house, anywhere you want to store food. Ours will be on the outside of the house (North of the house, in a manner where it will catch less sun). Anyone who has been around ground-pounders in the military knows the further you dig down the more constant the temperature becomes (right at about a good 60 degrees). Winter or summer, another cool thing a lot of people have forgotten. Basically it's how we kept food before electricity (well... one way). There's also canning, smoking, dehydrating, pickling, salting, etc... and guess who's been learning how to do all hese things? This guy! Fun fact: a potato can keep in a root cellar for 3-6 months. Take that Frigidaire!
Eventually I'll be adding on a greenhouse (or 2) to one side of the house or the other. Still gotta figure this out. The greenhouses (attached to the house) started over in Europe. Simple concept, it's cheaper to build a 3 sided structure and attach it to an existing building than it is to build a 4 sided structure (magic!). Someone (or some room) inour house will have an interesting view during certain parts of the year. Did you guys know plants get bigger when there's more sun? (Seriously). When there's more sun, it's hotter. Follow me on this short train of thought. If the plants are bigger when there's more sun (and it's hot), guess what's NOT getting in my window and heating up my house? All that sun (bigger plants block mre of it). Ha! The greenhouse can also be used to help start seedlings and get them ready and hearty enough to survive the elements of the garden.
The well, that's being drilled sometime in the next few weeks, courtesy of the in-laws. Yee-ha. I've gone into specifics before regarding the well (why it's better than city water). Read that post. Simple explanation... I need water, there's lots of it under the ground, I'm having someone dig to find me some.
On demand water heater. I'm not so tough that I don't like a good bath or am willing to brave a life of cold showers. Lets face it, in the summer a solar hot water heater may be enough, but, in the winter, it'll just take the edge off (and help the on demand heater). Traditional water heaters CONSTANTLY keep a reservoir of hot water. They are CONSTANTLY burning or having current pumped through their electric coil. Heating with electricity is very innefficient and very costly. An on demand heater, has a sensor that tells the unit that hot water is needed. The sensor tells a burner to fire up some natural gas and within a matter of seconds you have as much hot water as you need (no more running out of hot water). When you turn the hot water off, off goes the natural gas burner. Yes, we will have a natural gas tank, which the stove and some other appliances may draw from as well (such as an emergency generator).
Now we talk about orienting the house on the land. Lots of things need to be factored in and you have to prioritize based on what you (specifically) want. If your solar panels are going to be roof mounted, then you want them on the broadest part of your roof facing south. This orientation also helps with passive heating and cooling. I figured this out once, something to do with the angle of the sun (and how it hits the house) during the summer and winter. I've forgotten the details. Or maybe you want the prevailing winds to act like a natural HVAC during the summer. Then you have to know where your prevailing winds are coming from and face the side of your house with the most windows that way. Or you're scared a tornado will wreck your roof. Tornados (at least around where I'm at) come from the east. My wife is leaning towards the "prevailing winds" theory right now. By default, I also am leaning towards "prevailing winds", and will settle for my solar panels mounted on an array which tracks the sun, somewhere nearby the house. *Important note* If ou plan on having a barn, as I someday hope to, you'd best figure out where your prevailing winds come from... and put your barn on the opposite side of the house, far, far away.
Anyway, that should be enough to hold y'all over for now. Those are the basics of our self sustaining home.
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