Stucco

The stucco has really pulled the house together. We went with a sanded finish which isn't the norm in our part of FL. Usually the stucco has a more thrown together finish. We are very happy with this look and it also makes the house seem less enormous then it felt with bare blocks.

Interior kitchen walls

No not really. With a bit of nostalgia for nyc I posted this picture of a newly discovered graffiti wall with drawings by original graffiti subway artists Fab Five Freddy, Futura 2000 and some traces by Jean-Michel Basquiat. Ironically, it was discovered on a building that is set to be turned into luxury condos. It looks like there is a spot for the dishwasher right there in the center.

More window views

Low Solar Heat Gain

The big slider windows are in and they look gorgeous. Here's the skinny on the numbers above.

A low U-factor is useful during cold days when heating is needed. A low U-factor is also helpful during hot days when it is important to keep the heat out, but it is less important than SHGC in warm climates. Select windows with a U-factor lower than 0.65 and preferably lower than 0.60.

Select windows with a SHGC of less than 0.40. A low SHGC is the most important window property in warm climates.

Select windows with a higher VT to maximize daylight and view.

For this climate the concern is mostly to keep spaces cool so the rules are different. These sliders allow only 39% of solar radiation through. Also to point out, it is winter now and that small amount of warming in the bedrooms could benefit us as we use the bedrooms in the evening when the temperatures drop. I have to experience this to really know but I think by summer the sun will start to set behind the tall trees that sit on the northwest corner of the house. (Right now the winter sun is setting more towards the southwest corner.) This could help shade that area from summer sun which would have a more severe effect on comfort and AC use.

Passive solar design and sunset views?

I failed a bit on the placement of the house on the site. Ideally all of your big window walls should be south facing to receive the least amount of sun light. Of course you'd want minimal windows facing east and west as they get direct sun in the morning and late afternoon. But we have the water and sunsets we wanted off our deck and so the sliders basically fall prey to the direct heat from the setting sun. As an attempt to counter this there is a 12ft roof which protects the silders up to a point then the sun gets its straight shot. All is not lost however. Because of the shade from both trees and the part of the house that sits out from the rest, the two big sliders that are the main living space in the house do not receive any of this sun (at least right now during the winter months). It is basically the 2 bedrooms that are effected. The Glide House Sunshade idea could be one option. From the Michele Kaufman website, "On warm days, keep the sunshades drawn and create a cross-breeze by opening the sliding glass doors and opposite clerestory windows (above the storage bars). This will cool the space while letting natural light in. On cooler days, open the exterior sunshades and keep the sliding doors and windows closed. This will allow the sun to heat the space while you enjoy the beautiful views!"

Light Reflectance Value

The exterior of our home is stucco. As we are going to try to get our home certified green by the FGBC, beyond being Low-VOC or no-VOC they also require an exterior paint with at least a 50% reflectance value. What does this mean? "Light Reflectance Value (LRV) is the total quantity of useable and visible light reflected by a surface in all directions and at all wavelengths when illuminated by a light source.

LRV is a measurement that tells you how much light a color reflects, and conversely how much it absorbs. LRV runs on a scale from 0% to 100%. Zero assumed to be an absolute black and 100% being an assumed perfectly reflective white. An absolute black or perfectly reflecting white do not exist in our everyday terms. The average blackest black has a LRV of approximately 5% and the whitest white is approximately 85%. Some yellows can measure up into the 80's or 90's as well." (from colorstratagies.net)"

I am going to start small on this one and go to the home depot and see what is already mainstream. All paints have a LRV rating right on the container apparently.

Green Home Designation Course- FGBC

So I drove to Cocoa, FL last week to take the Florida Green Building Coalition's Green Home Designation Course at the Solar Energy Center. It was a long day. I had to stay over to be able to make the 8am start. The class went to 4pm followed by a series of timed tests for each category covered in the course. The instructor was thorough to say the least. You can view his bio at the course link above. Basically the Solar Energy Center facilitates the course for the FGBC. This give the information a strong integrity with the science to back it up. If you pass the course you are able to become a green home certifying agent who submits the required information needed for a home to be designated green under the FGBC standards. The standards are set up to meet and exceed standard building here in FL. That said, it isn't incredibly hard for builders to go green. The beauty of the program for the green building movement is that it offers an in for every builder considering green without feeling overwhelmed. Beyond that it presents green options side by side making it easy to opted for a new method or material for whatever area. The view is that if builders would incorporate at least some items from each category:

General
Disaster Mitigation
Materials
Health
Site
Lot Choice
Water
Energy

then they are helping promote the cause and will most likely begin to implement further elements as they learn more and source more green materials. It's a process that would only move builders further into green as competition has begun to dictate.

Bio+diesel = 1980 Mercedes 240D

So we jumped on the bandwagon of trying to solve our automobile needs without buying a prius. The answer for many is a diesel car that needs no conversion to run on biodiesel fuel which is American made but obviously not at every corner gas station. We secured our ride for $1400 and it runs and it has the colored hub caps we were trying to score. For now the closest biodiesel station is in Tampa an hour away. We could make our own one day or resort to the vegetable oil solution which requires a conversion kit. The idea for us is that we recycled a car and of course once we can find our best biodiesel solution we can finally kick oil and enjoy the "luxury" a 1980's mercedes has to offer i.e. no power windows.

More 360 interior

We have the windows in and the framing in place.

Gottfried 360

Rooms with a view

This is the view so far. There are many Australiam pines that are non-native nightmares. They grow like weeds up along the bank at farthest end of the lot. They get in the way of everything on the ground and in the air. We'll also cut back some of the mangroves which is allowed with a permit. We won't touch most of them but a few areas would be nice to open up. Other than that this view is only going to get better.

Outside the box

Being elevated

The house sits up about 12+ft. It feels strange at first to be up that high.Jasper is already guarding his castle.

Inside the box

Here is the view from the southwest corner of the house looking across what will be the deck and then back into the ac space through the openings where the glass doors will go.Or you can walk through this door from the same space to enter the main space.