Gottfried Green

Reconnecting with the ole' blog

2010-04-16T11:45:00.002-04:00

I am testing to see if this thing still works after my long hiatus.

To Be Free

2008-09-16T17:35:00.013-04:00

In the midst of feeling the country going to hell in a hand basket, I am reminded of some 2006 posts on this blog. I started basically trying to understanding what green meant to me and why I suddenly cared about the environment in a new way. By attempting to build a structure green you are considering all the natural aspects that go into and surround the building. You are forced to acknowledge the natural world and your shared existence there. This concept opens up new ways of thinking about things beyond just what goes into building a house. Their are 2 new books in my radar, the first being Hot, Flat and Crowded by Thomas L Friedman. It talks of an idea that has been rolling around in my mind as I learned more about the green movement. There was the Industrial Revolution, then the Information Revolution and now Friedman introduces the Energy Revolution. The basic idea is as with the 2 previous revolutions, the fundamental way we experience life on earth would changed with rapid economic growth and cultural shifts (for better or worse on the last one). This Energy Revolution promises to save the U.S. if only we would take up arms in the form of invention, innovation, and entrepreneurial endeavors focused on alternative energy and energy conservation. To focus on this grand scale would provide new jobs, cut our dependence on foreign oil, assist in national security and re-establish some sort of U.S. credibility in the world. People question whether we can do this in 10 years. If Americans only new the industrious history of America. Human nature promotes the idea of change but want nothing to do with causing it to actually occur. Bottom line: a country will be the leader in these new technologies and conservation techniques and if it isn't us then we simply aren't going to be around in say 2050. Just a guess.

The second book, How to be Free by Tom Hodgkinson is a jaunt comparing a the new trend lifestyle of getting back to nature with a little twist. The author tries to debunk the myths of and promote the benefits of the Medieval lifestyle. Hodgkinson writes about the book, "On first sight, this idea seems bonkers. Surely the medieval age was a time of bad diets, corrupt priests and abject serfdom? Well, no. This view is actually a calumnious caricature. When I started to write How To Be Free, I decided to read Mutual Aid by the great 19th- century anarchist Prince Petr Kropotkin, described by Oscar Wilde as one of the most cheerful men he had ever met. In Mutual Aid, published at the same time as Darwin’s Origin of Species, Kropotkin argues that cooperation is an essential part of animal and human life and development. He also reminds us that it was in the medieval age when the great free city-states such as Florence were created. The medievals, he says, valued craftsmanship, cooperation and justice. Mutual Aid led me to read other books on medieval customs and culture, and what I found was a society that made a sustained and conscious attempt to live fairly and justly." The idea is the Victorian age coupled with the industrial revolution wiped out our connection or understanding of our true place on earth- as part of the natural world. Medieval lifestyle certainly could be describe as down and dirty.

Good timing for our fruit trees

2008-09-03T10:21:00.003-04:00

We now have all the traditional Fl fruit trees on their way to producing. We planted 3 new trees: lemon, grapefruit and temple orange just in time for their roots to soak up the daily rain we've been having this summer. This should give them a good start. We also planted a smaller lime and Valencia orange tree. We scattered them along the drive down to the house. We thought it would add a sense of welcome when coming down the drive.

Pretty rainwater collection

2008-09-03T10:12:00.004-04:00

Flickr photo by watercache.com. [via Jetsongreen.com]

While I was researching rain barrels I couldn't find any of the big tanks that didn't have to ship from far away at great cost. That is why I just did the best I could with home depot bins. On Jetson Green I see a much better options and more of what I have in mind. He provides a great website www.harvesth2o.com for info. Once again, where can buy this tank? one of my main problems with this entire green endeavor has been sourcing the materials and items I like close to home.

Buckets full of water

2008-09-03T10:02:00.003-04:00

With a bit of disgrace, I present my current rain water collection system. It has been raining so much this summer that I really need more of a cistern set up. I can't use the water fast enough because anything that does need water in the landscape is getting plenty of rain. It has helped with some of the other outdoor water needs i.e. car washing and cleaning the compost bin.

Getting back to my roots

2008-09-03T09:49:00.004-04:00

I was getting a bit off track with the compilation of my green home certification application. I only have a few things left to do. There is a lot of supporting documents and photos needed and it's proving somewhat tedious for me lately. As a way to get back into the lifestyle aspect of all this, the fun part, I just wanted highlight some of the other things going on around the house lately. We finished our center garden. It was thrown together this weekend. The palmettos were original to the property and we saved them during construction. It was as if they fit perfectly with how we use the drive. We just filled in the other areas with some native plants some of which grow naturally on the lot and we replanted. For the border we used Australian Pine logs we had cut earlier. These are an invasive species and we didn't want them alive in the landscape. As a border where the wood continues to bleach in the direct sun they seem to work fine for now.

Category 1: Energy- Design, finishes and amenities

2008-07-29T09:46:00.004-04:00

Click Image to Enlarge

This list is the second part of the Energy Category: Design, finishes and amenities and the total points for the Energy Category were 42 out of a possible 75 maximum. Hopefully I can catch up in a few other categories.

Category 1: Energy

2008-07-29T09:21:00.002-04:00

In Category 1: Energy, the FGBC offers 2 points for each HERS Index point below 100. I scored an 88 as my HERS Index which means I receive 24 points on the FGBC checklist in the Energy category 100-88=12 and 12x2=24 points.

Where the HERS took some hits

2008-07-29T07:06:00.006-04:00

I spoke with Calcs Plus who did the HERS rating on the house. I wanted to know a little more about what I could have done to receive a better index. One of the main hits was taken in having the ac duct work under the house and not within the envelop. This is energy efficiency 101 because with the ac ducts outside the insulated envelop the conditioned air in the ducts is exposed to fluctuating outside air temps. In my defense I have the ducts wrapped with insulation on the outside so they are not completely vulnerable. Also, the tankless water heater uses too much electricity. I chose tankless, on demand hot water because I thought it was more efficient than the traditional hot water storage tanks. Instead of heating water 24/7 in the storage tank with a tankless you only heat the water as needed and therefore use less electricity. The problem is that the intensity of electric needed per use turns out to be higher; at least in the tankless unit I have.

HERS Rating not as good as expected

2008-07-21T10:54:00.005-04:00

The energy rater had estimated the house should score around 80 and in fact the house come in at 88 which is not very good. I am going to have an energy modeling done to see where I could have improved on some of my decisions. It has to be said, however, that I did the best I could working with subs etc. who had only vaguely heard of green building and had no interest in it beyond that. Energy modeling allows you to run hypothetical scenarios into the Energy Gauge software and see how your results come out differently based on changes you make. For example, my spray foam insulation only had a R value of 15 vs. the desirable R19. This I can't change of course but it will be helpful to see where I could have improved. In my reading I thought it did have the R19 value... so I'll learn more on that later. As for the FGBC checklist, with a HERS rating of 88 I will receive 24 out of the 74 maximum points for the energy category.

Category 1: Energy- HERS Index

2008-04-30T10:14:00.005-04:00

FGBC uses a whole house energy performance rating called the HERS (Home Energy Rating) Index vs. an exhaustive list of energy saving alternatives. The energy rater just left this morning and it looks like the house will score ok. The list above shows what's involved in the rating. It takes into account not just heating and cooling and water heating but also, lighting, appliances etc. I receive the HERS score in 4 weeks.

Prerequisite 2

2008-04-29T17:19:00.005-04:00

The entire waterfront is covered in White, Red and Black mangroves. There are a few areas that were previously cut back. Whatever happened in the past they are currently protected by the FL DEP.

Prerequisite 1

2008-04-29T13:03:00.006-04:00

We currently do not have a pool but this is Florida and it is something we may do soon. Although people really into green think a pool is sacrilege, pools can be done on varying extremes of green consciousness. What's listed above is almost standard these days in new pool so either way we are covered.

2008-04-29T12:40:00.005-04:00

I'll offer a brief overview of the process I will follow to get my home Certified Green by the Florida Green Building Coalition. It is a points based system. The requirements for a new home are to:

comply with 2 prerequisites
obtain the minimum points indicated in each category
obtain a total of 100 points

There are 8 categories:
Energy
Water
Lot Choice
Site
Health
Materials
Disaster Mitigation
General (misc)

Along with simply checking things off on a list under each category, some items require additional verification. I am going to put everything I'll need to submit within my posts for each item and store all these related posts under the FGBC Green Home Checklist category here on my site. My hope is to save paper and hassle and also have everything online for easy reference.

Green Card Carrying Member

2008-04-29T10:13:00.002-04:00

Although, I passed the exam last year I finally received my official Registered Certifying Agent Card. I'll take this as a sign that now is the time to finally begin getting the house certified.

Sticking to the Pink

2008-04-22T12:36:00.004-04:00

While I am still being kept away from this blog taking care of other things, I couldn't stay away on Earth Day. My goal for the blog is to begin tracking my progress to get the house certified green by the Florida Green Building Coalition but family matters, a loan refinance and needing to buy a car keep things up in the air. I want to be grounded when I begin the process and have all this organizing and routine in place. SO hopefully next week I can begin the hard core credit crunching involved with the FGBC checklist. Being all over the place didn't stop me, however, from putting down FLOR tiles in little Miss Gottfried's room. I originally hated the shade of pink I picked for the walls (I still do) but I decided to make the best of it for now because there is just too much more to do overall. The tiles feels great to the touch and make her play area much more comfortable. My housemate in Brooklyn actually turned me onto FLOR when she used them in her place back in 2005. It couldn't be a better fit for the floors here in FL.

The next chapter

2008-04-08T09:58:00.003-04:00

We've been moving in building a large pile for the Salvation Army. It seems to be a never ending process. We still have some trim to finish and windows to clean but basically we are in and mostly settled. We've recently painted the front door to match the windows and have been working on a center garden to bring some color into the driveway. We also bought a lime tree and an orange tree. There has been a good rain everyday so far and the free water on young fruit trees is very helpful. We will also be planting a lemon tree and and another orange tree next week. These are just some random photos to get me back into the swing of posting again. I still have the daunting task of submitting the info to get the house certified green by the FGBC. That I hope to start next week after I get the office organized.

Green washing

2008-02-09T10:38:00.000-05:00

There is something I found in FL called scratch and dent and I was able to get this LG wm2487 Tromm for half the price around 500 bucks. It will exist in a small room so I do not care about a scratch or a dent and it left me more cash to over spend elsewhere probably recklessly. Anyway, although Mr. Gottfried's job is a little less corporate these days he still needs shirts without wrinkles. We've been doing the ironing ourselves because dry cleaners are toxic not to mention expensive in FL campared to Brooklyn's a dollar a shirt deal. Anyway, this washer has "SteamFresh
-LG's innovative SteamFresh cycle makes it possible for you to refresh and reduce wrinkles in up to 5 garments at one time
-Running late for work with no time to iron? Load a cotton blend shirt into the SteamWasher and select the SteamFresh cycle. You'll be ready to go in just 20 minutes." I guess we'll see if this feature gives us any new freedoms from ironing. True green washing would be using rainwater in a bucket with a scrub board.

Picking appliances

2008-02-08T12:13:00.000-05:00

I am the type of person who really needs to be thorough when comparing prices with pros and cons when purchasing big items like appliances. I become obssessed not wanting to pay more for less. This is the second time we've done new appliances and so I did have a handle on brands I knew I liked already- Bosch and LG. I started with Bosch knowing I would do a repeat of a dishwasher and oven that we had purchased for our first house. Although now after visiting energystar.gov I was given an overview and if that failed I just looked for the energy star label. I used a site like homeclick.com that allowed me to narrow down my search based on things I knew such as size and color. Then when I found a few models I was able to look into the information and first of all see what had the most efficient energy label. My final step was to have about 3 to choose from and then just pick based on features I knew made sense for our use. With Energy Star appliances, you can recoup some extra cost for higher-end models over the first few years, especially water savers like dishwashers and washing machines. For my LG fridge and my LG washing machine, I actually went to a scratch and dent sale that offered a regular warranty but there were a few dings etc. I wrote down the model numbers went back home and researched those specifically and they worked out to be models I would have purchased anyway. I think I saved about $800 which allowed me to upgrade to an induction cooktop. I plan on posting each energy star label and the cost and comparing water and electric bills to past use etc to see if it really makes a difference. Also, we didn't even bother buying a dryer because we don't use one. If push comes to shove we can always make that purchase in the future.

A frustrating blog

2008-02-08T11:46:00.000-05:00

Thanks to Damon, a fellow Floridian building green- visit their blog here for always checking in AND sharing a love hate relationship with another FL couple's building of a home near us in Englewood on Anna Marie Island in Sarasota. It's the New York Times' Dream Home Diaries and it can drive a sane person mad. Both of us have been following I believe since it started. i am personally jealous that I do not have The Times sponsoring this blog just for all the feedback I would receive. The reason the blog is annoying is because they aren't building anything special, certainly not green or a unique design, they have a budget of 700k, and they don't respond to the readers comments except once monthly and only to just a few. Basically it is a waste of the readership although I still find myself reading it usually just for the comments and to confirm that although my house is my house at least I tried to think things through a little bit. If I'd have had the 700k budget I could have had the dream home we originally set out to have with all the high-end green this and green that, not to mention a true passive solar design. Anyway, I am not one to judge, I guess it is just jealousy of their opportunity with all that cash and exposure to do something really interesting and instead be completely absent-minded about almost every detail. The Times has many interesting reports on current trends in building and design, I always wonder if they ever read the paper they work for... as writers, aren't they curious about what's new out there?

Rethink the pink

2008-02-07T11:27:00.000-05:00

The only input little Miss Gottfried, who is 4, had on the project was that she have a pink room. I took this literally with no questions asked and somehow ended up with Barbie pink. She loves it of course because it is pink afterall but when you look down the hall or down the lanai there is a pink glow emanating from the room distracting from the otherwise natural vibe of the green surroundings. If I have time I am going to repaint before the floors are finished in that room this weekend. Maybe I can come up with a compromise where I can keep a little pink on the walls but turn it down overall.

Eco this and Eco that

2008-02-07T11:13:00.001-05:00

It seems looking back that if it was a brand I already knew and they threw the word "Eco" into the product description, I went for it. Here, next to the oven, the dishwasher is the Bosch Integra 500 Series 4 Cycle Dishwasher w/ EcoSense. No doubt it is a good one but many of their other models are as efficient as well. As with the toilet, I could only do so many comparisons before I just bought something. We did look at the Fisher & Paykel double drawer but the more I read comsumer reviews the more I heard about this mechanical quirk it had. I'd already had a Bosch and loved it and so in the end the decision was easy.

White on white

2008-02-07T11:05:00.000-05:00

The idea in the kitchen overall was to have everything have the same white gloss finish. This was achieved with the ikea high gloss cabinets and the standard white finishes of the appliances. The fridge will also have this same finish. The hood and a small part of the cooktop represent any lingering need I have for stainless. When the floors are down we hope all this white remains anchored between counter and floor. Plus there is an island to be added. More on that later.

Radiant Heat vs Induction Cooktop

2008-02-07T10:54:00.000-05:00

We went with a Kenmore Induction Cooktop for a few reasons. An induction cooktop uses electromagnetic energy allowing faster heating times while using less energy conventional cooktops. Basically it cooks the food and not the pot then the food. Since electric is required here in FL we also liked that there were no knobs to get dirty and awkwardly stick up on the cooking surface. The black surface works well with the dark paperstone counter.

Lovin the oven

2008-02-07T10:28:00.000-05:00

For our Brooklyn remodel we did stainless appliances, expensive marble and pietra cardoza countertops and although it wasn't custom, higher end wood cabinetry. It was really beautiful and was a big factor in our sale price. But that was Brooklyn, a different sensibility in an old townhouse and before I discovered green. I decided that when we did the kitchen here in FL things would different. Florida lends itself to a more streamlined, modern, clean feel which is why I am baffled that most of the new homes are over the top with McMansion lust. We moved to Florida to be outside more and enjoy our surroundings. The last thing we wanted was a house that felt heavy with bells and whistles. Clean lines and a simple look was the goal which brings me to my white Bosch oven. I love the look of this oven with its white knobs popping out of all the rectangles of the cabinets etc.

A little vanity

2008-02-07T10:21:00.000-05:00

Our bathroom is complete with our Toto Eco UltraMax® and this small vanity from Ikea. I measured incorrectly and the vanity could have been one size larger. In the end it works fine and leaves the room open with a little more elbow room. This is the only bathroom in the house currently but we've left a room to add a master bath in the future. Anything I find I can't live with in this bathroom I can make changes in the next one.

Faucets and flow rates

2008-02-07T10:06:00.000-05:00

I really struggled to find kitchen and bath faucets that were less than the 2.5 (gallons per minute) standard and then I found Hansgrohe. They had the sytle I was looking for at 2.2 gpm. They offered this flow rate in both the kitchen and the bath faucets.

We have Tankless Water

2008-02-05T10:02:00.000-05:00

I've been slow to post as things are happening quickly. I am going to try to post more updates this week. It looks like we will be in the house by the end of Feb. Our water heater is installed but there is no electric to the house yet so it hasn't been used. It sits under the house below the current bathroom and our future master bath. Even though it is on demand water heating, the distance the water travels to the fixtures matter because when the fixture shuts off whatever water left sitting in the pipe between the fixture and box will of course cool down. The farthest journey for water to travel is into the kitchen about 40ft away. We don't tend to let the kitchen sink water run hot before we used it for something so I don't think this distance makes much difference for us overall. As for the bathrooms where hot water is used more often the distance is about 4 ft. Although there are more involved systems used to make water hot i.e. solar water heating, the tankless is a great middle of the road solution for new builds and definitely remodels. At the Link is an earlier post explaining more about on demand water.

Dust is starting to settle

2008-01-24T22:37:00.000-05:00

Here is a few from the top lot looking back at the house over the lagoon. It does seems to be nestled from this angle.

Seeing white

2008-01-24T22:30:00.000-05:00

After doing the stainless thing already in Brooklyn, we were a bit over the hard to keep clean stainless appliances and decided to full high gloss white with appliances and cabinets. The stainless would spot and would never come clean for us even with stainless cleaner. At least the white when dirty or smugged is smooth and we can use less harsh cleaners to give it back its shiny sheen. The white Bosch oven I think has a great look with its white buttons popping out of the black.

Paperstone

2008-01-24T22:19:00.000-05:00

I finally found a company in Tampa that offered Paperstone and was able to deliver on short notice. Tampa is about an hour and a half from where we are. They were training someone new and so I was given 3 different price quotes and they tried to add on an extra shipping charge even though they already had the piece I wanted in stock. It was a 12'x5' slab of Obsidian and it arrived weighing 500 lbs. The retailer decided to forgo giving me all the details about the weight because I was already upset that the price quote went from 1600 to 2k. So instead of telling me all the details of just how heavy it really was, he decided to let me find out the hard way. A terribly run business with some sort of juvenile demeanor and I will find paperstone needs elsewhere. So once that was over a local fabricator my contractor knew was able to take the piece to his shop and them fabricate it for our needs. We love the material. It is basically compressed paper and resin. It has a great look and even better feel- somewhat like soapstone.

Bamboo floors

2008-01-14T20:15:00.000-05:00

I just ordered the flooring today. I really did look into all the affordable green options but in the end we really like the bamboo and feel that the interior needs a floor to anchor all the open space. Plus the decking will be dark and so the indoor to outdoor might flow better together. The darker bamboo sample I found online at Eco-Friendly Flooring. The lighter smaller bamboo was from Home Depot. I was shopping for price and color. Both of these came in at $4 sf but the one from ecofriendlyflooring.com had the darker color we liked. This was going to be an expense for after we moved in and caught up on cash but as with anything in building it is less of a hassle to have the flooring in now for when we move in our things. there is some criticism of bamboo as not being green. I pick my battles with the budget and resources we have available but we really think in this subtropical vibe down here the "wood floor" look still works. We'll shall know for sure soon enough.

Toto Eco UltraMax®

2008-01-14T20:00:00.000-05:00

I went with the Toto Eco UltraMax® one piece toilet. "Sleek high profile elongated one piece toilet with 12" rough-in. E-Max Low consumption (4.8 Lpf/1.28 Gpf) siphon jet flushing action." We were going to do a dual flush but when I saw this listed at a simliar price I assumed this was an upgrade from Toto. There is a whole world of toilet technology out there and I can only grasp so much before I just outright buy a product from Toto with "Eco" and "UltraMax" in the name. They have so many models now and I don't have time to find out what their differences are and therefore better or worse.

Ceiling fans

2008-01-14T19:45:00.000-05:00

When I took the Fl Green Home Designation course at the Fl Solar Energy Center I saw a display of a fan they designed called the Gossamer Wind. I found them at the Home Depot and they had 2 models. These 60" industrial fans which require a 10ft ceiling so they can be used on the lanai. They also had a 52" model I can use inside the house. I had to get a total of 8 but for many days down here in FL having a good fan means keeping the AC off. From their website, "The advanced ceiling fan blades of the "Gossamer Wind" allow the use of a smaller ceiling fan motor. The combination reduces ceiling fan energy use by approximately 40% while reducing noise and wobble. The average ceiling fan using 25 - 100 Watts is in operation 6-12 hours or more each day. The "Gossamer Wind" will save the typical consumer $10-$20 per year in reduced energy use. Further, the improved comfort can allow the cooling thermostat to be raised. Conventional premium ceiling fans cost more. However, the similarly priced "Gossamer Wind" can pay for itself through real savings in household energy use while providing improved comfort and convenience."

A 360 view of hall and pantry

2008-01-14T19:44:00.001-05:00

Interior painting

2008-01-14T19:09:00.000-05:00

The pace has picked up for us as the final things are awaiting there place. Much of putting things in place requires the painting be completed. We painted over the weekend using an interior paint from Scott Paint's EcoCare line. We are painting everything white to keep it simple. Since we are doing the painting ourselves it adds to the pressure of timing but so far we should be able to keep up.

Exterior paint complete

2008-01-14T19:03:00.000-05:00

I am just able to post the completed exterior. It was painted with an EcoCare acrylic put out by a local paint company, Scott Paint. This has been done for a few weeks now but I haven't had time to post much since we've been busy collecting appliances, lighting, cabinets, flooring etc. For the exterior I invested $250 in a product called Insuladd which is supposed to act as another layer of insulation. here's what it says on their website, "The Insuladd® insulating paint additive has unique energy saving properties that reflect, resist, and dissipate heat. The hollow ceramic microspheres reflective quality affects the warming phenomenon called "Mean Radiant Temperature," where heat waves from a source such as direct sunlight cause a person to feel warmer even though the actual air temperature is no different between a shady and sunny location. It is the molecular friction within the skin caused by the sun's radiant energy waves which makes the body feel warmer." I have no idea if it works but for $250 I thought I would give it a try.

Introducing Gottfried Green HOME

2008-01-07T14:34:00.000-05:00

Since our project is nearing completion I started another blog which will be devoted specifically to the application process we will be going through to see if the house qualifies for a Green Home Designation from the Florida Green Building Coalition. It follows a very specific checklist in 8 categories: Energy, Water, Lot Choice, Site, Health, Materials, Disaster Mitigation, and a General category. Check in with Gottfried Green Home to follow our progress in receiving the designation.

Kitchen Cabinets

2008-01-07T14:28:00.000-05:00

Before the painting begins, we set up the cabinets to make sure they fit. We did opt for Ikea cabinets mostly based on price and look. They will be high gloss white fronts which we hope give the kitchen a clean open look.

Becoming a Green Home Certifier in '08... Check

2008-01-02T09:24:00.000-05:00

As New Year's resolutions go, rarely have a I accomplished one right out of the gate. On Monday, I received, in the mail, my Certificate of Completion for the Florida Green Home Designation Course. This allows me to become a Green Home Certifying Agent under the Florida Green Building Coalition. The next step is to submit this proof of course completion to the FGBC and I will be registered as an agent. A green home certifying agent is basically the facilitator of all the information needed to get a home certified green by the coalition. The requirements aren't quite as strict as the US Green Building Council's LEED standards but it is a start in cracking the code of green building especially here in FL. Also, by becoming an agent, I can submit my own package for review so that our house could receive a green designation from FGBC. I only need to submit a disclosure that I am the owner.

Stucco

2007-12-13T09:28:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-13T09:18:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-12T10:42:00.000-05:00

Low Solar Heat Gain

2007-12-12T09:39:00.000-05:00

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?

2007-12-11T11:28:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-11T10:52:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-10T10:41:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-09T15:37:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-09T15:35:00.000-05:00

We have the windows in and the framing in place.

Gottfried 360

2007-12-01T16:18:00.000-05:00

Rooms with a view

2007-12-01T16:01:00.001-05:00

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

2007-12-01T15:51:00.001-05:00

Being elevated

2007-12-01T15:39:00.000-05:00

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

2007-12-01T15:29:00.000-05:00

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.

The Florida House Revival

2007-11-29T10:28:00.000-05:00

This is where it all started for us- The Florida House in Sarasota. This was my tenth post on Gottfried Green back in June of 2006 when I first read about the learning center online. We were still in Brooklyn and only just closed on the property. I remember that first on my list when we arrived was to visit The Florida House. It was 12 years old but still was packed with a lot of innovation. We tracked down the architect Osborn Sharp Assoc in Sarasota and they created this beautiful design that was passive solar and had a grey water system. My Green Buildings was bidding our project- who at the time were the only green builders doing more custom and remodel vs. a few builders who were doing model green homes (which after visiting a few I found it hard to see what was green about them). Everything would come full circle. Osborn Sharp and My Green Buildings met through the bidding of our project and now they are the dream, green team in Sarasota working together to restore The Florida House at its new location. With all the greenwash out there, I can honestly say that they are the real deal in green in FL. They really care about the design as the fundamental aspect of what makes a building green. Design is also half the fun of this whole transition into a new way of designing and building with all the common sense to back it up.

Progress

2007-11-29T09:52:00.000-05:00

Here is a view as you would see driving up to the house from the road.
This is the Northwest corner of the house where our bedroom sits back from what will be the lanai.
This will be the length of the lanai which stretches 60x20 along the water facing side of the house. Since there is a 12ft overhang most of the late day sun will be blocked by this overhang while still allowing for us to catch the sunset.
The house looks massive from across the top lot looking over the lagoon. This has to do with the required flood elevation. The actual ac indoor space is 2000sf. As far as footprint we did our best. With a partial green roof and maybe some green exterior walls, I can further insulate and reduce how massive this house feels.

Example: a second home in Oregon

2007-11-12T14:05:00.000-05:00

The NYTimes wrote about a couple who suffered through some hardships building a small, second home in Hood River Oregon but not because of the reasons you'd think. I'm sure it didn't hurt to have backgrounds in architecture, sustainable design and to be building in Oregon (more progressive in this sort of thing?). They did run into similar problems that we found here in FL which surprised me. The county, the bank and the appraiser all had problems because their design wasn't big enough and Tudor style like the others near by and didn't have a 2 car garage. Our bank had a problem with no pool, no concrete driveway, only one bathroom and wanting to wait to add a cooling system. I have to admit I gave in a little more and sacrificed some of what I wanted (without the AC they wouldn't give us the loan and unfortunately for me they were the easiest bank I found to work with us on anything and have a decent interest rate). Without the architecture/green design experience it proved impossible to find all the knowledge and experience to build green in the way that I had hoped and so I am stuck with trying to keep as much of the project for later as I could. It's not saying what the building envelop is but some of their green ideas are in the article, "A KEY concept for the house was “to literally have no footprint,” Ms. Donohue said. The roof is engineered to sustain plants and soil to absorb rainwater. Planters with native grasses, which are embedded in the cedar deck and walkway, also help absorb rainwater while screen-covered inserts in the concrete storage units allow floodwater to flow in and out. “There’s the idea that nature is running through the building,” Mr. McKean said. Other features include tigerwood flooring certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a vegetable wax finish, a water-conserving toilet, an on-demand water heater and in the bathroom a solar tube — a type of skylight that intensifies natural light — to use in place of a regular electrical fixture."

The Greenest Building on the Planet

2007-11-08T10:24:00.000-05:00

From the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center, "The Aldo Leopold Legacy Center has received Platinum LEED ® Certification from the U.S. Green Building Council. Following a rigorous assessment, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) program awarded the Legacy Center 61 points of 69 possible points, more than any other building yet rated in the world." Elements like Photovoltaics, Earth Tubes, Radiant Floor, Wood Heat make up the renewable energy systems. Also, here are some low tech solutions for energy savings from the site:

Low tech solutions yield about half of our energy savings:

Of the energy used by conventional buildings, half typically goes to heating, cooling, and lighting.

Bringing in daylight reduces interior lighting needs.

Higher than standard levels of insulation in the walls and ceiling keep the building cooler in the summer and warmer in the winter than typical insulation would.

Promoting cross ventilation—and providing windows that open and close—allows air to flow freely and allows us to turn off the mechanical ventilation equipment.

Overhangs allow the sun in during the winter yet block the hot sun during the summer.

A “thermal flux zone” reduces heat flow between the main office and the outdoors.

Altogether, savvy design reduces the work load on the mechanical systems, and the smallest, most-efficient equipment was selected to do the job.

Buried Alive

2007-11-07T13:00:00.000-05:00

I can't say how many times I've had to stop and help a gopher tortoise to cross the road. It's always a wrong time wrong place situation for the tortoise. If they could only keep to digging their burrows and remaining safe. I guess even then they find themselves between a rock and a hard place literally. A friend sent me news about the practice of "entombment" where developers build on top of the burrows and the tortoises are left buried alive ultimately unable to dig through the concrete and asphalt laid on top of them. To spell it out more directly here is a quote from the article in The Washington Post, "Trying to dig out, day after day, but not being able to, it's got to be pretty horrible," said Matthew J. Aresco, a biologist at a 50,000-acre conservation area in Florida who helped bring the tortoises' cause to light. "It's truly appalling." This has turned out to be a win win situation as the fine the developer would have had to pay to bury the tortoises was more expensive then having them relocated. When it works out this way it makes for one less excuse when destroying the environment for the sake of development. Visit Nokuse Plantation for more information about the rescue effort. From the site: "Nokuse Plantation is 48,000 acre private conservation initiative in the Florida Panhandle conceptualized and funded by M. C. Davis and Sam Shine. It is designed to be both a model and a catalyst for future landscape level conservation projects, which is the only way to preserve nature’s intrinsic biodiversity."

Fighting for Florida-Friendly Yards

2007-11-07T11:32:00.001-05:00

Mr. Gottfried seems to have lost the camera so I won't have any new photos until next week. In the Herald Tribune, another story about water use and the lack of common sense. I should have a daily section on the blog about how FL bites its nose to spite its face. A couple decided to forget lawns and go with a Florida-Friendly Yard, one that conserves water and needs almost no fertilizers or pesticides. Given the drought you would think this would be made an example of here in Southwest FL. Well, it is being made an example of- what you shouldn't do. The homeowners assoc. of their subdivision says they are violating their rules and will be required to pay a fine of 15k if they do not relay sod in their front yard. They should be able to get out of it using a 2001 state decision that homeowner's assocs can not ban Florida-Friendly Yards.

Distant view

2007-11-01T13:54:00.000-04:00

There is a small area of the lot partially cut off by a lagoon. This is a view of the house looking in from this part of the property.

Building Up Walls

2007-11-01T13:48:00.000-04:00

Progress continues as the stem walls are appearing quickly. This is the view from the waterfront. The outer most part is the support where the lanai will sit.

Happy Halloween

2007-10-31T21:44:00.001-04:00

Building Blocks

2007-10-31T15:27:00.001-04:00

The concrete blocks arrived and the cascading corner foundation sections are being laid. Another survey will then be done to document that the house is physically on the land where it should be. If I had people commenting on the blog I might bring up how non-green I know concrete block is but because of solving the elevation issue and budget it makes the most sense in the grand scheme of things. So beyond that the house is moving forward at a brisk pace so far.

Finding Our Footing

2007-10-30T14:44:00.001-04:00

The trenches are dug for the footers to go in. The inspector just happened to be there when we got there. We had to go but we'll know tonight if we passed because the footers will be in when we go back to Gottfried. The county comes to inspect frequently throughout each phase. The trenches were dug this morning, the inspector showed up by noon and then (hopefully) the footers will be in place later today.

Englewood Water Board Torture

2007-10-30T14:14:00.001-04:00

I just paid $6285 to the Englewood Water District for water and sewer hook-up. Believe it or not I saved $3900 because someone in 2001 paid that amount toward the cost. Yes, it would have cost around 10k otherwise to connect to the county sewer and water. Between this cost and the impact fees, I would assume the county is glad we came along. I think of Olga next door and her struggle with the EWD. They offered to hook her up for free at a certain point. My only thought is that they are still going to have to run the pipe from the road back to our house and they run it on the North property line which borders hers. I'll just have to keep an eye on the destruction. Read more about Olga's experience at the Link.

Energy Star Tax Credits

2007-10-29T12:59:00.000-04:00

While I am on the Energy Star Site it's a good time to also bookmark the current energy tax cuts. There is a very clear chart with all the resources to select products, find out the amount of the tax cut, what receipts/proof you'll need and finally you can print the various tax forms.

Important to note: "Home Improvements
The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has provided guidance for consumers: IRS Notice 2006-26.

Tax credits are available for many types of home improvements including adding insulation, replacement windows, and certain high efficiency heating and cooling equipment. See chart. The maximum amount of homeowner credit for all improvements combined is $500 during the two year period of the tax credit. This tax credit applies to improvements made to your primary residence from January 1, 2006 through December 31, 2007.

If you are building a new home, you do not qualify for the tax credits for "eligible building envelope components" (windows, doors, insulation, roofs) or "qualified energy property" (HVAC & non-solar water heaters). However, the tax credit for photovoltaics, solar water heating, and fuel cells is available for homeowners building new homes."

Energy Star Home Advisor

2007-10-29T12:42:00.000-04:00

Energy Star Home Advisor offers a page on their website where you can enter your location and current energy uses to determine ways to reduce energy use and costs. It highlights the usual list for existing homes:

sealing duct work
more insulation
upgrade windows
upgrade HVAC
programmable thermostat

Energy Star requirements are really just a bare minimum for how far you can go with R-Values and SEER ratings etc. but it is a good start to see where you fit in with home energy consumption.

Site Clearing- Day 3

2007-10-24T16:03:00.000-04:00

Click to enlarge.

It is day 3 of the site clearing. Everything that needed to go has gone and the site is being leveled with a swale running along one side of the house closest to the neighbor. The house corners have been pegged (not yet officially) and it seems massive but then when we picture the room walls within it doesn't feel that big at all. It is basically two pods. The main part of the house is the rectangle which is 1600 sf. The square pod is 400 sf. It is marked as storage but we will finish it later into a guest suite/3rd bedroom. I'll have freedom and more knowledge to try to incorporate some of the features of the prefabs and green homes I admire. I'd like to try to keep the square pod off the grid even though it will be connected to the main space through a shared doorway. Haven't quite thought that one through yet. Basically it would have its own water and power sources set up. I want to be able to try some of these systems on a small scale.

LEAFHouse- Tankless hot Water Back-up

2007-10-24T10:51:00.000-04:00

At the LEAFHouse, they use tankless hot water for back-up. To get started we'll be only using tankless and install solar hot water later. FL is certainly ideal for solar water heating in general.

At the LEAFHouse, "[Their] system features a tankless water heater, the Stiebel Eltron Tempra 20. Maryland’s average yearly “insolation,” or amount of sunlight available to make hot water, is 3.98, which is a little low as compared to a sunny place like California at 5.4. This means that, especially during the winter months, when insolation is low, the backup water heater will be doing its job." This tankless cost $500.

LEAFHouse- Solar hot Water

2007-10-24T10:45:00.001-04:00

For the LEAFHouse, "Apricus water heating tubes provide all the hot water for the house, including the hot water for the radiant floor.

The tubes absorb the sun’s radiant heat in an insulating layer of air-evacuated glass. A vacuum is an excellent insulator, allowing LEAFHouse to make hot water even when it's cold outside.

While the outside of the tubes are cool, the inside the tubes can exceed 300º F. There is a pipe connecting the tubes to various appliances that require hot water throughout the house. The tubes eliminate the need for an electric or gas water heater.

Back to the LEAFHouse- Water Recycling

2007-10-24T10:05:00.000-04:00

I've chosen the LEAFHouse- to pick apart because the website offers many details including costs. For their graywater system, "The [graywater] is held in a tank, gradually filtered through a special planter bed, and used to irrigate the landscape around the house [and wash the car]." They also harvest rainwater as discussed in an earlier post.

Water, Water nowhere

2007-10-23T10:15:00.000-04:00

Simon Norfolk/NB Pictures, for The New York Times

My neighbor Olga believes the end of days is coming soon. She's 8 years shy of a century of living on the earth and sometimes I think she is right. Things do seem dire. I read local environmental news here. Someone in Naples shot a bald eagle last week. How stupid do you have to be to shoot a bald eagle?? There is the Atlanta drought which is translated to the rest of us through pictures of the empty lake. California is on fire and now I read this article in the Times. It's a great piece because it goes back in history to how water "works" in the Southwest since the US started regulating it. Long story short, the decreased "snowmelt" that feeds the Colorado River is causing drastic water shortages for something like 7 states including California. I know here in Southwest FL we have our own drought that I can see by looking in a pond in the back of Grandma Gottfried's house that was full last year at this time and now has about 6 inches of water in it. It takes a lot for things to sink in the minds of humans so I guess we can wait it out and see if the rising seas beat out the lowering levels of potable water.

More green walls

2007-10-22T12:54:00.000-04:00

I am going to end up disecting the Leaf House because it has most of the cutting edge technology in place and working together with the design. They provided the green wall sponsor ELT Living Wall Systems. This is a Canadian company but the website offers all sorts of information about how, why and what to do with some great example photos. At the Link is a list of all the sponsors that helped with the Leaf House.

U of MD's LEAFHouse-

2007-10-22T12:19:00.000-04:00

I was hoping in the future to have a green wall vs. the green roofs.. University of MD won 2nd place in the 2007 Solar Decathalon. If I could have their LEAFHouse- shipped here and put on our lot I'd be happy to move in. They explain everything they've used and done on their website so I'll have a reference for all the details. They use their exterior green wall for rainwater mitigation. "In typical housing developments, water from rooftops and paving is allowed to run offsite; storm sewers must be constructed to carry the water to the nearest body of water, carrying with it all the contaminants it picks up along the way. The LEAFHouse includes a rainwater management system that minimizes run-off and the associated environmental impacts.

Rainwater collection at LEAFHouse is a multi-layered system. At the roof level, downspouts collect rainwater that, at the post-competition site of LEAFHouse, will be directed to a cistern from which the water will be used for garden irrigation. The Green Wall will likewise act as its own downspout, directing water from the roof down to a rain garden. Finally, our decks are equipped to catch the rainwater that passes through them and direct it to a cistern for on-site non-potable uses (irrigation, car-washing, etc.)."

The ground breaking

2007-10-22T11:26:00.000-04:00

This morning was the start of the site clearing. As I mentioned before, although it looks like a murder scene, we were fortunate to only have non-native trees and a few palm trees that needed to be removed. Since we have over a dozen palms throughout the property we were ok with giving up 2 or 3. I'll travel back this evening to see the change with the stumps and debris cleared and the space open.

mkLotusTM Bathroom

2007-10-19T12:21:00.000-04:00

I couldn't find a picture on her website of the bathroom but the bedroom looks almost exactly like ours will look with the high windows over our bed.

Eco-Friendly Bathroom Features:
- FSC certified wood cabinetry
"Not sure we'll be using cabinetry in the bathroom."

- Floor and wall tiles contain 55% recycled glass
"I think this is going to be Home Depot small, hexagon white tile on the floor. The recycled glass can be pricey."

- Eco-friendly plumbing fixtures, low-flow shower head, mixer, and dual-flush toilet by Kohler
"Yes."

- LED lighting
"Yes."

mkLotusTM Kitchen

2007-10-19T12:16:00.000-04:00

Eco-Friendly Kitchen Features:
- FSC certified wood cabinetry
"We're doing Ikea so it is what it is."

- Fly ash concrete, rice hull, and recycled porcelain aggregates countertops
"Looking into recycled counters of some sort but haven't decided which one."

- Eco-friendly/low-flow plumbing fixtures by Kohler
"Yes."

- LED lighting
"Yes."

- EnergyStar appliances
"Yes."

mkLotusTM Interiors

2007-10-19T12:10:00.000-04:00

Interior:

- Sustainable layout for maximum cross ventilation and natural lighting
"We tried our best here but we think we pulled it off."

- No-VOC paint
"Yes."

- Interior sliding door panels comprised of 40% post-industrial reclaimed material
"Tough one but we'll see what's out there."

What's inside the mkLotusTM

2007-10-19T11:29:00.000-04:00

In thinking about how to do the best we can with what we have in terms of budget, knowledge, materials and subs who could work with those materials. I am going to throw all of that out of the window and look at what makes up the mkLotus^TM. We won't be able to do all of it now but maybe we could do some of it later: (The mkLotus^TM list is below with my comments for each in quotes)

- Green "living" roof
"The slope of our roof lends itself to the possibility of a few solar panels someday and also solar water heating. However, I have heard of green "living" walls although I don't know how practical they would be. There is the side of our house that will receive the most sunlight daily and with very limited windows. If it is possible I'd like to experiment with green walls on that side at some point in the future."

- 100% solar generator power
"future goal"

- Rain and groundwater catchment system
"We won't have irrigation needs because everything is going to be native. However, we will have a vegetable garden and so we can install rain barrels to catch water from the roof to use for this purpose. I am not sure if we'll ever have a cistern but we'll start with the obvious options first."

- Gray water system: collected water from sinks and shower is recirculated to toilets
"Should be able to integrate these options as I mentioned here in a past post."

- Exterior siding: low-maintenance, long-lasting integral color cement board and FSC certified wood
"For us this would mean Hardiboard and we simply can't afford it, we'll be doing stucco in gray."

- Sheathing and floor + ceiling framing: FSC Certified Wood
"Because of cost- TBD."

- SIPS wall assembly (Structural Insulated Panels)
"This one we couldn't navigate through or afford up front. It would have been a company called E-Wall.

- High performance, energy efficient spray-in open cell foam insulation
"I desperately want to use soy-based spray foam but once again the cost is a killer."

- On-demand water heater
"We'll be going tankless."

- Energy Efficient HVAC System
"We'll have this one covered as well."

- Double pane, Low-E, wood windows and glass doors with aluminum cladding
"We'll have impact windows with a gray tint to reflect the sunlight, Low-E pushed the windows out of our budget. However, we tried our best at passive, solar design."

Prefab and FL

2007-10-19T10:27:00.000-04:00

Before we actually left Brooklyn to move to FL, we had heard of Michele Kaufman and loved an earlier design, The Glidehouse. I had a post entitled, "Prefab We Can't Have". It's the odd thing here in FL because prefab isn't really going to stand up to strong winds and the other factors that play into a sub-tropical climate. If it were up to us, we would already be living in the Glidehouse but that model was not available to or recommended for FL. That was when we investigated the Rocio Romero LVL model which was designed to withstand 150 mph winds. The problem was it was still a stick frame house of basically particle board and stud sections. Basically we would have paid a few thousand dollars to have sections of lumber shipped from Perryville, MO. These would then have to be treated for termites and mold and then filled with insulation. By the time we would have custom designed the elevated level we needed for FEMA and fortified the prefab structure, the seemingly safe, sound prefab was going to end up being around $250 sf. It was at that point that we left the idea of prefab behind and just designed our own house. Kaufman's new design featured at the West Coast Green Conference is, however, very inspiring.

Dwell Video- Michele Kaufman

2007-10-19T10:16:00.001-04:00

Not only stating her case but the video also highlights something we got into back in the early days with our first architects. You can use Google Sketch Up to place your home in its actual site and see how it fits in. My old architects were able to pick a time of year and a time of day to see how the sunlight ran across the house to better plan the passive solar design. I haven't yet been able to figure that one out and it may only be available on the paid version. Visit Google Sketch Up.

Buchan Airport Aviation Day

2007-10-19T09:50:00.000-04:00

Buchan Airport is a small craft, grass runway airport. We took our bikes up to see some of the planes on display, a few of which were vintage. We also caught a few at take-off. It made for something to do close by on a sunny Saturday in Englewood.

No Love Lost on Local Gov. Idiocy

2007-10-18T22:18:00.000-04:00

I had posted a few days ago about, Olga, my 92 year old neighbor who has lived in Englewood since the 60's. Back in January, The Englewood Sun printed her story. The Englewood Water Board apparently didn't get the concept of "if it ain't broke, don't fix it". She has a cistern system that has been working off rainwater and providing her the water needs of the household for over 40 years. They water board was trying to enforce a law which demanded that she hook-up to the public water supply. I'll need to find the law makers on this one because as the news is highlighting everywhere, a blurb in the NY Times here, we are in a water crisis. Not yet quite as severe here as in Atlanta but anyone who has lived in this area for a few years has noticed it just hasn't been raining as much during the time of year when it is supposed to be raining a lot. I have so many issues with the waste of my big tax dollars locally in Sarasota County. FL embodies somehow the idea of doing things wrong the first time so that you have to go back and fix them i.e. the everglades restoration. She should be featured in every local newspaper as what you should be doing and celebrated for having done so for so many years. Why would someone who has been a water conservationist for 40+ years have to suffer anything but celebrity in the area?

Ready to Issue

2007-10-18T11:23:00.001-04:00

It seems that we've reached a point of no return. The permit is ready to be issued. It has finally sunk in that we are going to be building a house. I still can't help thinking something will delay the ground breaking but I guess that is because it has been over a year since we've been working toward this day. All the heavy duty paperwork is behind us.

We have a Grand Tree

2007-10-15T22:23:00.000-04:00

Indeed it is. During our tree inspection, Bryan the inspector, told us that we had a grand tree- the Live Oak above. It meets all the criteria Sarasota County specifies here. Besides having the beautiful tree which we've always admired there are a few more perks to having it on our lot. Because it is a protected tree, it goes on record with the county and in a way is landmarked. This means in the future anyone wishing to cut it down will have an impossible time (i.e developers). It is because of this unwanted red tape with future freedoms on the property that our property appraisal should be lower and our taxes could see a small reduction. These are all great bonuses for us and the property.

A few more things from the county site about Grand Trees. "Trees produce oxygen, provide wildlife habitat and play many important ecological roles. Certain trees also provide psychological benefits in response to their impressive size and great character. Such trees have been determined by Sarasota County to be “grand” in nature.

Grand Trees are an especially significant component of Sarasota County’s urban forest and have a unique and intrinsic value to the general public because of their character, age, size and ecological importance."

3 Tree Stumps and Erosion Control

2007-10-15T12:50:00.000-04:00

We are having a final site inspection done this week. They want to insure proper erosion control along the bank of the Gottfried Creek. As it turned out, the main clearing will be 3 stumps of non-native trees that would be removed regardless. There will also be a dead slash pine removed and a cluster of 2 palms. This is a plus because of cost but mostly because we won't disturb any old growth or scrub habitat that sits mostly along the opposite end of the site.

A Tankless Job

2007-10-15T10:24:00.000-04:00

Short of using solar hot water heaters, the option of tankless hot water is a good compromise. A good analogy came from Dwell's recent green issue, "we don't keep a kettle boiling on the stove all day for the moment when we want tea, so why do we keep water heated around the clock when all we need it for is a shower..." That makes sense. Our house is also only going to have one bathroom so this too will allow us some options in types of systems we purchase. Bosch has a good site that explains some comparisons with usage and other advantages. Through the end of the year a $300 tax credit is offered.

Here is more general information I received in a Global Green newsletter. "Tankless water heaters have either an electric, gas, or propane heating device that is activated by the flow of water. Once activated, the heater provides a constant supply of hot water distributed at the same temperature and flow rate. The maximum flow rate is determined by the type of heater being used and at what temperature the device has been set to heat the water.

Indoor and outdoor models are available. On the low end, they will deliver between .6 - 4.2 gallons per minute. High end heaters deliver between 7.4 and 9.6 gallons per minute. If your household demand is high, several heaters can be run parallel for a constant flow. When choosing a tankless heater, it is a good idea to analyze your water usages. Tankless heaters work best with low- flow faucets and shower heads. Tankless systems also work best in houses with short hot water distribution lines. Smaller capacity heaters can be installed for appliances that use large amounts of hot water. They are also well suited as boosters for solar water heating systems."

Wood Storks

2007-10-12T14:57:00.001-04:00

Rainwater harvesting in the 1960's

2007-10-11T12:10:00.000-04:00

The rainwater falls from the gutters into the cistern below.

It couldn't get more basic. Rainwater falls into a bucket for use here and there.

As fate would have it, my 92 year old neighbor, Olga, has been harvesting rainwater since she and her husband built their house in 1961. She has never been connected to the county water supply. I found this out the other day when she told me how they had been demanding that she hook up because it was the law. She lives alone now and has relied on her cistern for almost 50 years. She uses this water for everything in her house except drinking water. It is very expensive to run water lines from the road, as our properties are set back a few hundred feet. Not only could she not afford this but why should she have to. She was told that if she refused she would have to pay the water board $27 a month to continue to receive no service. I wonder what we'll have to go through when we build a 600 sq ft guest house completely off the grid? This is of course, part of my 10 year plan. In 10 years, I don't think we'll have a problem because the water supply will have already been depleted.

Rainwater to graywater

2007-10-11T11:13:00.000-04:00

Dwell magazine has decided sustainability is here to stay. I think anyone who reads about architecture and home building on any level could have seen that one coming. This issue does more fine tuning of the big 2- energy and water. It is mandatory to be connected to the public water supply in Sarasota County. (More on that later) But, there is of course rainwater. Here in Southwest FL, the rainy season is usually during the late spring and summer. This would be if you didn't count this summer and drought conditions. That said by August and September the rain did pick up some slack and certainly ever drop counts. All the more reason to collect it for use later. You can follow the diagram above. For our needs and current sophistication, I could see rainwater going through a "green wall" for filtration and being used for laundry. A green wall operates similar to reed ponds in which graywater is filtered by nutrient-absorbing plants and soil. Although the one mentioned here is patented, the idea would be another backyard experiment possibly worth exploring. Find out all you've ever wanted to know about Green Wall at the Link.

Graywater use at Gottfried

2007-10-10T14:11:00.001-04:00

At the Link (with credits) the article contains the following statement: "Graywater systems vary from simple low-cost systems to highly complex and costly systems. The technology involved in such systems ranges from the sophisticated to the crude, from engineered systems with filters and pumps to a washing machine draining directly onto oleander bushes. (Official acceptance correspondingly varies from approval to disapproval.)" We would be closer to the washing machine draining on the flowers end of the spectrum. The reason: Not being on the hardcore end with set ups such as composting toilets, cisterns etc... there are still 2 options that would suit us on Gottfried and would not require an elaborate expensive system that would exceed our budget. Also, if the graywater isn't going to be used for irrigation what are more practical uses for the recycled water. One would be (A) the sink-fed toilet tank, taking graywater from the bathroom sink and using it to fill the tank. There are self contained systems you can hook up under your sink. Also, (B) washing machine water usually spills into a utility tub. Once again there are self-contained systems that could filter this water for other uses. Although contamination and filtering are a bit more tricky depending on the use, backyard ingenuity could come into play and provide some sort of pay-off.

Back to Green- Graywater Systems

2007-10-10T13:21:00.000-04:00

This Old House has a green issue out this month. They've done a good job explaining some basic energy concepts that I understand overall but need a little more clarification of how exactly they works. More importantly how they could be applied to our project if at all. An example of this would be a graywater system. To cut straight to the essence of this system- your house has potable water being generated into the home and non-potable being generated and pushed out of the home through a sewer line. The basis of a graywater system is to further separate the non-potable water into 2 categories: graywater and blackwater. Graywater is bathroom sink, tub and shower, and washing machine water and blackwater would be toilet, dishwasher and kitchen sink water. 2 separate water lines would be established within the home so that blackwater would not cross paths with graywater. Blackwater goes to the main sewer line as usual and graywater is collected into a surge tank. The main reuse for graywater is (subterranean) irrigation which is legal in almost every state. Since we will have native landscaping would we really need this elaborate system for watering a landscape? Check out a full overview of graywater systems at the Link.

Permit In Review

2007-09-27T14:06:00.001-04:00

We closed on the construction loan today and the permit has been in review over the past week or so. There are a few specs we'll need to clarify on plans and some coordinating of a few preliminary inspections on site. Things are just about to officially begin on ground- we hope.

The closing is official- I think

2007-09-24T12:34:00.001-04:00

We will be closing on the construction loan this Thursday. Over the past month, the bank caused one of my other worries to come into focus. Most of the home building in this area are model homes where you pick your own specific interior features or layouts etc. They all have the overall same look which is pictured above. Once you make your selections the contractor and the bank would build your house for you and you'd get keys once it passed inspection. The local bank I used described our project as "a bit unconventional". This comment was based on the fact that we wanted to do a small amount of the work ourselves. Also, we weren't going to have a concrete driveway and it will only have one bathroom and no pool. Well we certainly were never going to have a concrete driveway and other things could be decided down the road as space was left for them. Because of our experience renovating we had always imagined having someone build the shell of our home and we'd complete the rest. With the bank involved this wasn't possible because we aren't licensed contractors. OK, that was fine but then things got complicated based on doing our own interior painting and flooring?! In the end it was worked out but between Sarasota County's strict C of O requirements and the banks preferences we started to feel trapped into building a house for them vs. ourselves. Our house isn't going to be close to the green dream I'd hoped for but this was always going to be a learning experience. We even wanted to wait to get the AC installed so I could take my time and do more research into the systems available. Although the AC layout would have been in place, the bank said they wouldn't close the loan unless the AC was installed during the construction phase. Basically, I've been forced to get an AC installed. If I was paying out of pocket I'd have more freedom of course but what if I was really hardcore and never planned on adding an AC? I guess I couldn't stay here in FL.

The missing month

2007-09-24T12:18:00.000-04:00

I somehow fell out of posting because a few of my potential worries came into fruition. One was the final budget from the contractor would come in above our 300k mark. It may seem unrealistic to expect things to stay within budget but at this point they have to... we've already spent/wasted money for 2 designs we couldn't use. As these things go, the budget did come in over and so I passed it over to Mr. Gottfried because if the budget couldn't be reduced I wasn't going to build the house. We are stuck in a bit of an issue with the market value of our total project- land and building. We have to stay in check with the current market down here to some degree. In order to do this we've cut out a lot of extras that we can do at anytime at our own expense and labor. We did oversee the gut renovation of a 150 year old townhouse in Brooklyn, NY. I think we can put up some shelves and also, we are going to do the interior painting. I picked up this book at the thrift store published in 1961 about how to build a high-quality house at low cost as some sort of validation about the process of getting all the ducks in a row. I think the most expensive house budget in the book was around 35k.

Refrigerators

2007-08-15T10:47:00.000-04:00

The bank is going to do an appraisal based on our house plans
and what is going to be in it. In the end it's a home loan just as if we were buying a house already built on the property. In light of this we need all the specifics on appliances and fixtures. Fortunately, Inhabitat is doing a Green Your Appliances (sponsored by Bosch-hmmm) weekly segment. Here's a little fridge or "icebox" (as Grandma Gottfried used to call it) history. "As Americans in the 60s and 70s wanted a bigger refrigerator box, designers removed interior insulation to make room inside the appliance for weekly grocery trips and larger bottles of milk. The exterior of the fridge became so cool, it would start to “sweat.” So, designers ingeniously installed mini heaters outside of the refrigerator to evaporate the dew. All of this design and workaround put bigger energy demands on these appliances, so that a refrigerator in the mid 1970s used four times the consumption of a 1950s model. Meanwhile, Europe and Japan kept their standards high, their ice boxes small, and to this day total energy use is half that of American fridges." Read more at the Link.

Construction loan locked in, permit... almost

2007-08-06T12:01:00.000-04:00

We locked in our construction loan to close within at least 45 days. Also, we should be submitting the building permit this week or early next week hopefully. At some point in September, we hope to be breaking ground... I guess we'll see if that comes to pass. These next few weeks will tell us more. In the meantime, even in this extremely hot weather, the evenings on Gottfried have been so pleasant with a nice Gulf Breeze coming through. We've been enjoying some nice sunsets as we try to picture how the lot will feel with our house on it.

Nine-Banded Armadillo in action

2007-08-02T13:31:00.000-04:00

I know this isn't very exciting but it was the perfect event to practice embedding my own videos on the blog. In the future I can do this easily to further document some of the house build and things occurring on site.

The holes in the ground

2007-08-02T13:10:00.000-04:00

Ever since we set foot on the lot over a year ago, I noticed these small little holes everywhere. Along with the holes we found little burrows in the thick Palmettos that are scattered over the property. Finally it all makes sense. 3 times now I've arrived at the lot to see a nine-banded armadillo hanging around the same Palmetto which must be where he lives. I caught him in the act of making this hole. They like to dig and find insects and slugs. At the Link are some fast facts about Armadillos from MSU.edu. Did you know that "During the Great Depression of the 1920’s, armadillos were nicknamed “Hoover Hogs” by the people who ate them. The name was a bitter jab at President Herbert Hoover, who had promised “a chicken in every pot” but had instead presided over a collapse of the US economy following World War I."