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My wife and I plan to retire to the Central Texas Hill Country in a couple of years and are beginning to plan a house for low maintenance and energy reliability and savings. We’d appreciate your ideas, suggestions and experiences.
We’ll be in a rural area, with electricity but no gas, and well water. The one-story house will sit on the south slope of a wooded ridge, facing south across a small meadow. Prevailing wind is south and southeast. Winter temps usually go to the 20s, summer to 100. We’re both in good health now, but are planning for future incapacities with wide doors, levers instead of knobs, no steps, etc.
Things we’re thinking about:
— Slab foundation with stamped concrete floor, warming the concrete with solar-heated water. Not as primary heating, but a supplement.
— Using some of that solar-heated water as pre-warmed water for on-demand water heating.
— Steel roof with deep overhangs, attic fan, and openable windows for passive cooling. We’ll have AC, but want to use passive cooling when we can.
— Energy-efficient, low-maintenance exterior walls, perhaps concrete.
— Water storage, rainwater harvesting, greywater use on plants.
— A generator wired to essential circuits for times when storms take the electric lines down.
What else should we think about before we turn it over to the architect and contractor?
Replies
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george.. i would take the money you're thinking of putting into solar and put it into insulation...
the solar collectors ( the good ones ) of the 80's are falling into disuse because they can't be maintained..
where will yo be in 20 years..
the insulation will always be there.. and the pleasing designs..
if you can integrate a nice DHW solar heater.. i would go with that.. but ..
a good heater, good insualtion.. good design.. way ahead of solar..
we did Solar hot water heating in the '70's but backed away in favor of Solar hot air...those systems will still be chugging along 20 years from now.... the liquid collectors just won't stand up....
insulation and mass, orientation, overhangs.. solar gain...eye-pleasing design... those will last and pay dividends....
leave the complicated solar systems for someone else to worry about...
b but hey , whadda i no ?
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Hi George,
I agree with Mike on the solar water heaters. Your site itself sounds ideal, and your thinking on overhangs, natural ventilation, energy efficiency, rainwater harvesting and generators are good. One very simple thing often overlooked is the basic shape of the house. Here in central tx, (hot-humid environment) the best shape is a simple rectangle for the best ratio of inside space to outside surface area. Passive solar principles are good, but truly passive homes generally mean occasionally you'll be real hot, and at other times you'll be real cold. What works best is a "hybrid" system, which is to say, fans are good.
As important as the mechanics and energy usage of a house are, be sure to spend some time thinking about "how" you want to live, and how a house can enhance your life, then develop a written "program" to take to an architect (they'll help you flush out said program). A program is all about asking the right questions, and a "design" (floor plan, elevations, etc.) is all about answering those questions. If you don't ask all the right questions, you can't expect a design to answer them, and as a double check, after the design is complete, go back and ask the questions again to see if the design successfully answers them. Good luck.
John Beckham, Architect
Austin, Texas
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This doesn't necessarily have anything to do with your questions, but an interesting thread for someone thinking about building:
< Obsolete Link > Little things that make a house better/easier to live in/with
Rich Beckman
*George-I'm writing from the high-country that straddles the N.M.-A.Z. border about 100 miles south of I-40, elevation 8000'. My home is on a level Mesa top and is oriented to the cardinals with its long axis due east-west. We are in USDA zone 5, with minimum temps. infrequently dropping to -20f. High temps. during the dry foresummer (April-June) can reach 100f. During the monsoon (July-Sept.) we have daily afternoon rains that can cause major moisture probs. as the ground saturates toward the end of the season. My situation is not identical to Texas hill country but there are some valid comparisons. So, what have I learned: Power used to go out every storm. In the last few years there has been a substantial immigration to the area and all the new development has led to wholesale improvements to the supply network. Result: grid power is much more reliable with protracted outages reserved for the truly unusual storms.As Mike offered, spend on an accurate and well executed solar-tempered design. "Low-Cost,Energy-Efficient Shelter For The Owner And Builder," edited by Eugene Eccli, Rodale Press, 1975, is a compilation of articles that will help you put a fine point on things like maximizing ventilation opportunities, computing glazing areas, computing precise depth of roof-overhangs etc., etc. With unobstructed southern exposure, proper amt. of south-facing glass and well insulated properly placed thermal mass, you should be able to stay cozy all winter with very modest supplementary heat. If your north wall can be earth-tempered a la. "Earthship," http//:www.earthship.org then staying cool in summer will be far easier. The Earthship site is also "the place" to get info. on rainwater harvesting, as that is where earthships get 100% of their water.My house has a 25 year old corrugated tin roof. The ready availability of all things associated with barn tin makes it, to my mind, an exceptionally easy thing to maintain. New panels harmonize with adjcent panels of various ages as people are used to looking at corrugated roofs with variegated tones. The same cannot be said for colored metal roofs, for if (or when) their color varies, they begin to look flawed. Meaning, they do not have the facility of aging gracefully the way all elemental building materials more or less do. This roof is installed over rough-sawn 1x4 purlins 24"o.c. The older sections of the roof are nailed on, newer are screwed with 1 screw/sq. ft. into new purlins 12" o.c. Spring winds can blow 50-60mph for days on end and peak gusts to 100 are in everyone's memory. This roof is inherently incredibly well ventilated and through 25 yrs. of heavy mountain snows and hard spring winds has never shown the least sign of failing. I have Velux roof windows that stay open all summer and can recommend them as easy to install and 100% reliable in performance.As for the on-demand hot water heater- don't! Their touted magic is a fallacy... They are dirty burners, they can't pass U.S. efficiency requirements and that is why they are all made overseas. Think of it this way: an on-demand heater has a pilot chugging along all day drawing combustion air from (presumably) the interior, necessitating the infiltration of make-up air from (presumably) outside. What are you getting from the pilot's BTU's? Nothing. You are actually exhausting warm interior air and causing (in winter) cold make-up air to be drawn in to replace it resulting in a net heat loss to the house. I have a 50gal. storage type heater that burns L.P. The only time the burner fires is during constant use. All day when no one is showering or washing clothes or dishes, the pilot is all that is required to keep the water at temperature. So my pilot maintains 50 gals. ready for use- read: pre-warmed and there was no complicated loop plumbing to build or maintain. In addition, any heat that the heater tank loses is lost to the interior of my house, meaning it's not lost at all. Also, the heat exchanger in an on-demand type can be vulnerable to mineral buildup. If I were starting from scratch, I'd design a combo DHW (domestic hot water) space heat system driven by a high-efficiency low-mass boiler, supplied with softened water and controlled by a high quality zone controller and valves. In these systems there can be no pilot (110v heats an ignitor) and most of the heat produced is transferred by a sophisticated heat exchanger to be either used as hot water or stored in thermal mass to heat your home or the water in the storage tank to be used later. And since you're planning on a generator, dependence on 110v is not a problem. As you can probably tell, I'm quite interested in these considerations. Feel free to email me, I'd be glad to correspond. 'lance.
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I'd seriously suggest you take a good look at Frank Lloyd Wright's Usonian houses, built from the mid-30's until his death. Books are easily available through inter-library loan...
Wright poineered the use of many of the elements you're considering using for your home (heated concrete slab floors, appropriate siting, use of deep overhangs specifically for passive-solar benefits...)
Nobody has ever designed a passive-solar home as attractive or as ingenious as Wright's.
Here in Nebraska, the eco-friendly architecture is all homemade hippy stuff from the 70's. It may be environmentally beneficial, but there's just no way to build a bermed-earth house out of used tires and make it pretty.
I agree 100% with Mike Smith about the solar panels--invest the money where it counts more.
Something else you might consider is the use of artificial wetlands for sewage treatment. It turns out that water crocuses and cattails purify water far better than any standard septic leachfield.
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Anthony-
Your comment about making it pretty made me realize something I'd already known...
Perhaps you've read Reynolds' Earthship books. One of the most admirable aspects of his architectural philosophy is the intimate feedback loop he has identified between personal economics and possible behaviors. He's found that the less we are indentured to lending institutions or in mandatory harness to a job (even a "good" one,) the broader the range of possible evolution we might have hope to undergo. The Earthship evolved to satisfy this requirement... that life is better when one does not have to abase oneself before the desire to have good shelter. Now don't get me wrong, I make my living helping America's bourgeosie satisfy its penchant for "pretty." But most of my customers are at present what you'd call "independently wealthy," and are therefore a good cross section of just about nothing on a global scale.
"Pretty" is a bland, relatively indescriptive term that evokes little, as it alludes to little. How many people live in "pretty" old gingerbreads and spend winters in layered sweaters and wool socks and slippers. Those who live in Gingerbreads in Telluride surely don't, as there the gentrification is complete. Meaning, large sums have been brought in from elsewhere and the gingerbread is now a veneer back-applied over massive renovations. The pretty has become a romantic bourgeois homage to a more interesting past. The economic sense here is that there will be a ready market for the renovated house in an America flush with inherited wealth and the new wealth that inherited wealth can for a while induce. Ultimately though America will have to find a new conceptual self-image as powerful as the one that oversaw the accumulation of the wealth now changing hands. Noblesse oblige in tomorrow's America might imply an economic self-restraint and soundness of approach that will allow us to move beyond reproach, (self and otherwise.) Most current construction with either its flagrant disregard for or callow attachment to "pretty" makes the above likelihood less likely, and therein lies the rub.
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My comment about making bermed earth houses "pretty" was stated as it was for ironical contrast, but it wasn't my intention to be trifling.
I'm just jaded because I grew up seeing too many attempts at bermed earth houses that were little more than crude, depressing, muddy holes in the ground.
I seriously advocate ecologically (and economically) sustainable development, and I abhor the wasteful, soulless suburban sprawl that is destroying our communities.
But I'm an architect by birth, and I believe that we have a duty to make the shelters we build for ourselves attractive and ennobling--otherwise we do a disservice to ourselves. A well built home should do more than provide protection--it should enrich the lives of its inhabitants and feed the human soul.
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Alot of good advise above. I would give some thought as to whether slab heat is a good choice in your climate. I live in Wisconsin with radiant heated floors and love them in the middle of winter with relatively stable cold temperatures. However, in the spring and fall when there are wide daytime/nighttime temp changes, it is probably not the best heating system. It is very slow to respond to thermostat changes. There are times during the day when the house is quite warm (we occasionally even use the AC), in order to be comfortable at night. In the shoulder seasons I would probably prefer a forced air system that I could just turn on at night and off during the day. I wonder if radiant floor heat is really what you want in Texas.
*Freelance:I'm interested in your on-demand water heater observations as i bought an Aquastar, not installed yet. It seems you were saying that the pilot light in the on-demand water heater is an energy waste sending heat up the chimney, yet the pilot that keep the water tank warm is not, adding BTU's to the interior of the envelope. Doesn't it matter whether you've got more heating days or cooling days, whether adding BTU's to the envelope is a good idea? In my case, a water heater would be keeping mostly the utility room toasty...i So my pilot maintains 50 gals. ready for use- read: pre-warmed and there was no complicated loop plumbing to build or maintain.Isn't the loop idea a way to keep hot water at the faucet? How does this idea correlate to the type of water heater? I figured i could plumb as usual...i did hear that a filter is obligatory, though. Also, when i bought a boiler for the present house, i was counseled by the supplier to get separate systems for domestic and heat, as the electrics seem to malfunction in the dual systems. I did as they suggested; friends of mine bought the combo, and they've been plagued with control probs since, though perhaps it's a problem with the brand.In regard to George's question, isn't there a "cooling tower" idea, like a passive, whole-house chimney? Not sure of the right name...TIA, freelance, haven't installed the Aquastar yet...
*Splintergroupie-The loop plumbing I was referring to is the loop that George might end up creating were he to use some form of solar to pre-heat the supply before the on-demand heater. As you may know, the on-demands are only able to raise the water temp a limited # of degrees above inlet temp, so if you want water warmer than that limit, you have to pre-heat the supply. Regarding the pilot in a storage type: Some of the heat stored in the tank is constantly lost, some of the heat from the pilot is constantly gained. In my system these two balance each other well enough that the burner on my heater only fires after 2 minutes or so of constant use. In warm weather, there is no noticeable heat contribution from the pilot to the living space, with which the water heater is contiguous. My main point regarding the on-demands is- why not use the pilot in a storage type to keep 50 gals ready to go. The main benefit of on demands would, to my mind, accrue to the family with a kabillion children where seemingly limitless amts. of hot water are needed all at once. As with most things, each situation is most unique. I responded heartfelt to the initial query because I felt there were perhaps some apt analogies between my and his situations.
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My wife and I plan to retire to the Central Texas Hill Country in a couple of years and are beginning to plan a house for low maintenance and energy reliability and savings. We'd appreciate your ideas, suggestions and experiences.
We'll be in a rural area, with electricity but no gas, and well water. The one-story house will sit on the south slope of a wooded ridge, facing south across a small meadow. Prevailing wind is south and southeast. Winter temps usually go to the 20s, summer to 100. We're both in good health now, but are planning for future incapacities with wide doors, levers instead of knobs, no steps, etc.
Things we're thinking about:
-- Slab foundation with stamped concrete floor, warming the concrete with solar-heated water. Not as primary heating, but a supplement.
-- Using some of that solar-heated water as pre-warmed water for on-demand water heating.
-- Steel roof with deep overhangs, attic fan, and openable windows for passive cooling. We'll have AC, but want to use passive cooling when we can.
-- Energy-efficient, low-maintenance exterior walls, perhaps concrete.
-- Water storage, rainwater harvesting, greywater use on plants.
-- A generator wired to essential circuits for times when storms take the electric lines down.
What else should we think about before we turn it over to the architect and contractor?