double smart house

Sounds like a very interesting project Al. Keep us posted with your progress.

-- Dustygirl Hastings,Ont. Life is too short to sit around doing nothing

This sounds very interesting.

Is this the type of home where appliances and other electronic devices are communicating with each other, networked? A more automated home?

PaBull,

no, no… it’s not one those high tech futuristic homes. This house is just low energy consuming. preatty much all appliances would be energy star rated(or better), possibly networked depends on the home owners. The house was designed to be green so everything is basic and passive where possible. All air tight, super insulated(notice the window opening in the 2nd picture), south facing windows, etc…

and the 5 Optimal Value Engineering guide lines are…

1-Design and layout
2-Material selections and layout
3-Delivery and on-site storage
4-framing techniques
5-waste/disposal

This house was designed with all this in mind.

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

I like this concept. Do you get guidelines for this?

great stuff al, be sure to keep us updated on this project , we need more of this type thing . thx for posting

we only work on it once a week (two groups) on this house, so it’s going kinda slow. But, i’ll keep you guys updated as much as i can.

I’m not sure what guidlines you are looking for PaBull. We learn ALOT of small tricks and tips to better building. and in the 2 years I went from not much to being able to build a house from the ground up. I’m finishing with a diploma and alot to back me up in becoming the best carpenter I can (as soon as i find an experienced carpenter or contractor to take me in in may). I’ll see if i can post some of these tricks here on the this site.

just wanted to post some earlyer pics. the foundation goes from roughly 2’ high on the left to about 10-12’ on the right (following the bedrock, notice the ladder)... we were told later that an insulated slab on grade would’ve been better since less concrete would’ve been used… but hey! we’re not the architect.

This shows the roof trusses on the main part of the roof. the two sides have dormers, one a site made trussed gable and the other a TGI shed roof.

this shows the front (still missing some polyiso and the porch). you can see the two dormers. the part sticking out on the left of the house is a workshop/kitchen/storage, and it will have a green roof (sod I think)

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

Eheh Bull, I don’t know why I was lost yesterday… i know what you’re asking for. Now, I am obviously in the heating climate because of the snow so it might be different in your area and it also depends on your building code. but these are some of our guidelines:

1-Design and layout

-Use passive solar where you can, this is free heating in winter and natural lighting (these are our big windows on the back of the house at 45 degrees(facing true south), awnings will provide shade in summer)

-Making a duplex is better for heating because they only have 3 cold walls instead of 4.

-Sloped grade (this help prevent water coming in your basement/foundation (bulk moisture management)

-The type of foundation used (insulated slab on grade would provide a thermal break between the concrete and the soil, whereas foundation walls are harder to insulated therefor bridging the cold inside the house (thermal bridging) )

-We see studs (wood) as thermal bridges so we wrap the whole house in foil faced Poly iso. We taped it and glued it with acrylic caulk, making us our rain screen, weather barrier, air barrier, vapour barrier, and thermal break all around the house.

-keep you’re windows between studs, you can save jacks and even use your regular studs as kings sometimes.

2-Material selections and layout

- Using engineered wood products. Some are made from wood scraps(good for the environment) and they provide better insulating possibilities.

-Use recycled products where possible

3-Delivery and on-site storage

-Set delivery dates for when you will need on-site, this will prevent damage from being left outside(especially in winter because the wood will warp)

-Have on-site storage for tools and equipment (we built the cabin), so nothing gets forgotten.

4-framing techniques

-Layout all your walls at 24”o.c., this gives less studs (thermal bridges) per 4’ increments and more insulation between the studs.

-Non load bearing walls don’t need full lintels(headers) so a 2×4 can suffice sometimes.

-Properly sized lintels (headers), we don’t just put 2- 2×10s because sometimes you can with 2- 2×4s or 2- 2×6s…

-stack framing, all studs are in line with the second floor joists and studs, this allows us to have a single top plate and is just a better building practice.

5-waste/disposal

- recycle as much as possible(we bring our small scraps back to the college where we give them out as kindling, and reuse the big scraps for other things)

.... these are just some guidelines I can give you, i have enough for 2 years of school and you certainly learn tricks from working in the field or taking programs :D. I hope this helps

Al

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

I’m surprised you did not make use of SIP panels.

Are you planning on any solar [water/air] heating systems?

-- Planting Daylilies in Kentucky, zone 6b

well the house isn’t mine, so I don’t have all the details that aren’t framing related.

We framed with wood because of embodied energy and local availability no doubt. SIP’s are just not common in our area and probably demand ALOT of energy to produce from the exterior sheathing and the foam in the middle. Our wood comes form the local mill. Stick framing allows us (the students) to learn how to adapt to the most common way of building now-a-days. We are tought alot about retrofiting, it’s really big around here in Ontario. The Canadian GVT gives money for green retrofits, and the Ontario GVT doubles that amount. So alot of people are getting into it, so we must know what how to handle that kind of jobs.

I’m sure there will be solar panels on it, it’s going to be powered by bullfrog(alternative energy supplier), jsut like it’s neighbour. apart from that time’ll tell the details

EDIT: Bull, I forgot the mention the biggest rule for our homes here. Air tight! everything needs to be airtight. and some people may think it’s bad for air polutants and moisture… the solution is an HRV (heat recovery ventilatior). This is so you don’t loose your heat in winter and still get ventilation, i think the easyest way to loose heat is with drafts(the house I live in now is a perfect exemple of what to have lol, it’s also over 100 years old)

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

decided to make it a blog so i can update weekly after class. it will be updated on fridays.

thanks for your feedback and support :)
Al

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

Thanks for posting!

Looks to be a great project/program. What is the college/program/course name?

It’s algonquin college (Perth campus) They have Heritage carpentry, and also the Advanced housing construction carpentry. Great programs, I’m almost done Avanced hosuing, next year i’m probably going to skip to the second year of the Heritage carpentry program. And preatty much finish with two carpentry diplomas in 3 years. I recomend any one thinking of becomeing a carpenter (that is not already) to take this program and the heritage is mostly focused on timberframing and millwork…. you get so much out of it, like building a house in the end (and my parents are renting out rooms, eheh)

Al

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

Sounds like a great hands-on program.

if your going into carpentry this is no doubt the right area to get into . us “old guys ” can learn from the young guys . lol

thanks Bull and MrTrim… yeah, none of my university level friends get to use their knowledge like we do(they are going for office/desk careers). We learn everything from “old guys”, so we cant take any credit :P…

Al

PS: I just noticed I forgot to leave the link the college: http://www.algonquincollege.com/Perth/

-- BigAl, Ontario Canada

This project is very similar to my new house construction, which I designed and worked with two carpenters to build (I am a biologist). It can be viewed at http://www.rbangus.com I woulld be interested in comments as I am planning to build a cottage using the same techniques this summer.

A great project and you are getting a ton of experience at the same time. Way to go. Keep us updated on how this goes.

-- Bill - Turlock, Ca. - http://www.brookswoodworks.com

It is great to see this technique come to fruition!
In the early 70s when I was in High School I started working for my father building homes.
We went to the Home Show where I saw this process for the first time.
I remember dad talking about the benefits of this method but that it would take time before it would become popular.
Around 40 years to get people to accept something new.