Electric Expenses

I thought you all might enjoy knowing what I’ve spent on electricity in a passive solar, highly insulated, and thermally massive compact home.   On average, it’s been $37.80 per month over the 18 months I’ve lived in the Practice House:

 

That covers heating, cooling, cooking, and hot water—the house uses no fossil fuels (and nothing that is explosive). These figures even include small projects and lighting in my shop.

As an aside, I looked into adding a solar array on my new garage to go net-zero, but a shading issue makes that payback time relatively unattractive.  For the short term, I have signed up with a community based solar program, so I am buying power that is being generated by solar panels located on a farm located nearby in Queen Anne’s County.  Once I build the main house on the property (the Practice House is the guest house), I will re-evaluate building my own solar array.

And there was Light

I may not be spending as much time working on the house, but at least the contractors have been productive.  Tuesday, the mechanical guys installed the water heater that will serve the radiant floor, as well as the associated expansion tank, pressure relief valve, pump, etc.  Now I know I'll be warm this winter!  I don't dare turn it up very high until my second layer of adobe is good and dry or the place will turn into a crack den.

And today, the electricians battled a VERY reluctant bundle of cables to pull them from the sub panel outside into the house.  Lesson learned: two long sweep bends is a tough pull with 2" conduit.  Three bends (like my place) is a real chore!  It was reminiscent of raising the sails on a Maine Windjammer: one, two, three... PUULLLL!  One inch gained.  Sometimes two or three.  It was a nice payoff, though.  On a drizzly, dreary day outside, it was bright and cheery inside for the first time!

FINALLY! The shingling is done

I've been distracted with work, so the practice house has been languishing the past few weeks.  Guess I can't complain--after four months focused on the house, the inflow of cash had been dwindling.  But I've managed to get all the cedar shingles up:

I think every shingle in this little triangle needed to be trimmed in some way except for three.  Five hours later, it's looking good!

And now the shingling is all finished!

And one other small note, the electric company extended service to the new place and installed a meter.  This is the first one I've seen that read zero!

Electrical Rough-In

There isn't too much to talk about that is out of the ordinary here.  One thing I found interesting was that the electrician found it easier and faster to drill holes in the studs to route the wiring, as compared to running them within the 3" gap between the outer and inner walls.  Now that I see it in action, I can see how it's faster to pull through a hole, rather than having to hammer in staples to support the wires.  In the end, it's nice that they weren't pounding on the studs that hold up the Light Straw Clay (LSC).

 Typical wiring.  I took LOTS of pictures of everything since about an hour later, it was all disappearing behind the exterior sheathing.

 With a 3 1/4" deep box in a 3 1/2" wall, there was very little LSC behind the boxes that needed to be cleared away to give access for the wires.  Note the data outlet with the blue wire: he had to cut out the entire back of the box since the wire is so fat and can't be folded up inside like romex.  Mental note: stuff a rag in here before blowing in the cellulose or you'll get a spray of insulation inside the house.  (For the record, I DID remember!)

Sorry that the black waterline is catching your attention, but the intention was to show the neat routing where all the cables enter the service panel.  The fussy guy in me appreciates this attention to detail.  Apparently, this makes a good impression on the inspector too.  He spent more time talking about code issues with the electrician than actually looking at his work.  Another easy sign-off!  Love that!!!

Light Straw Clay Workshop

Yesterday we held our first workshop, which was all about infilling the inner 2x4 stud walls with Light Straw Clay (LSC).

 The wall is prepped: outside forms (half-inch plywood sheathing) are screwed on to the outside of the studs, electrical boxes are installed and screwed in flush with the wall, and the 1x2 strips are nailed to the studs.

 Closeup of the 1x2s which key into the LSC, effectively locking it into the wall.

Packing in the straw, which has been coated with a thick mixture of clay and water.  It's staged in the plywood bin in the foreground. 

The first two stud bays have been almost fully packed behind the forms.  Starting from the bottom and working up, it's a little tricky to completely fill the wall: how do you pack in the space behind the last form? 

 Answer: we do the last little bit from the outside to make sure the inner face of the LSC is as smooth and regular as possible.  That will make applying the clay plaster that much easier.  Note the outer 2x6 wall with diagonal bracing located within the inner cavity.

We pack sideways to engage the 1x2 strips, and fill in the last little bit in the middle of the cavity with very wet, clayey straw by hand.  Then we take off the small side forms and place a full length form to try to flatten out the hand-stuffed batches as much as possible.

 Closeup of the hand-stuffed areas.

Final LCS wall from the inside.  That looks NICE!  Note the blocking in the top of the wall to facilitate hanging the kitchen cabinets.

With about the best weather you could hope for in July, the crew made a ton of progress forming up the concrete grade beam.  It took a little creativity to figure out how to brace the forms since it's not possible to drive conventional stakes into the #57 stone.

Checking the diagonals to make sure the forms are square

Corner detail at conduit locations

This strap will be connected to the other form (once it's been set in place) to hold the bottom of the forms together

This photo shows the extensive bracing to keep the boards from blowing out under the weight of the concrete.  Luckily, the pour is less than 12" deep, so it's nowhere near as much lateral pressure as a full-height basement wall.