Green in Lafayette Square

The Last Picture Show

2011-06-01T14:07:00.000-07:00

The house is 98% complete and we have moved in. There is lots to do with setting up a new household and a new garden, so we're totally consumed with projects. One big thing left is to install the solar panels on the roof. Everything is in place to do so and we meet with the contractor this week. We will probably wait to see what kind of incentives and financing we can get, but hope to install the panels soon. The plan is to produce enough electricity to power the whole house and have some left over to provide charging power for an electric car (which we don't have yet because they are freaking expensive).

Thanks for viewing our blog, maybe we'll do it again some time! Here are a few pictures of the inside before we tarted it up with furniture and pictures. There's also one picture of the beginnings of our garden. Enjoy.

Beginnings of the garden. The structure to the left is the garage and to the right is the conservatory. The four beds are to be arranged into the veggie garden. The stone path between the two structures defines two planting beds and in the foreground is part of the rain garden and pond.

The living room with the doors on the left leading out to a walled garden area and the doors in the center of the picture leading to the conservatory.

The doors in the living room that lead out to the conservatory.

A view from the living room into the kitchen. The conservatory door in the previous pictures is to the left (by the pile of junk).

The guest bathroom on the first floor.

The office, also on the first floor.

The library, also on the first floor and it takes the place of what would ordinarily be a dining room (which we only used at Christmas and Thanksgiving anyway). The door leads out to the second walled garden area.

The laundry room on the second floor.

The guest bedroom. The open door leads to the sunporch which interconnects the two bedrooms.

The sunporch between the two second floor bedrooms.

The master bedroom. The Japanese Shoji screen in the center is a movable double door that leads into the green yoga room (no, ladders are not part of any yoga practice I know of!).

The master bathroom sink area. The sink is a smooth poured concrete with embedded fossils. There is another room to the master bath that contains a walk-in shower and a soaking tub.

Still heading onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

One week left!

2011-04-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

We only have about a week left before we can inhabit Planet Mark. I know this seems quick, but that's because I haven't been posting for weeks. The work is finished with some minor touchups and clean up. Final inspections should take place over the next few days and I was told I could set up a move date for the week after Easter. Stay tuned for final pictures, including some interior ones.

Touchdown on Planet Mark

BEFORE

AFTER

Here and There

2011-04-20T07:02:00.000-07:00

We're still here in the leased house and our new house is still next door without us in it! We have gone past quite a few deadlines, so I'm kind of going week by week now. We have been accomplishing some exterior things as well as finishing the inside. Here's a review of the recent upadates:

Conservatory (Liberalarium):
Almost finished, the exterior pictures are below (I plan on posting interior pictures when things are finished). Some electrical and brick pathway work are all that remains. Then come the plants!

This picture shows the conservatory just before brickwork, you can also see the new soil being brought in for the garden courtyards. Note that the courtyard walls have had the stucco applied.

This is the conservatory after the brickwork, gutters are the last thing to go up.

This is a view of the front facade, the steps are being finished today. In a week or two the wrought iron handrails will go up.

A view of the roof line showing the corbels on the entablature (that's the fancy green things on the cream colored cornice).

A view showing part of the front facade and the front wall of the garden courtyards. In the next few days the shutters will go in the courtyard window openings. This picture also gives you a good idea of what the land looks like. We need some green things.

A view of the whole complex, dubbed Planet Mark by our builder. The fence to the left is Eastern Red Cedar framed in the New England style.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark & Isabel

The Petulant Gods

2011-02-19T20:02:00.000-08:00

Well another month has passed since I last posted. Are you frustrated that you haven't seen any progress? We are actually delighted with the changes occurring. Most of them are on the inside and are happening in a piecemeal fashion, so that really no one space is finished yet. Plus to protect those things that are already installed we have cardboard coverings on the floors and countertops. So pictures won't be very impressive right now.

The construction gods have seen fit to smite us numerous times on this project. But after having battled the many tentacled bureaucracy beast and the devilish icy snow demons, we feel pretty good about where the project stands. Certainly we're anxious to move in to a completed home, but it looks like we might move in to a finished inside while the outside structures (parapet wall, conservatory and of course garden area) are still being worked on. Right now the move-in date is about the first week of March.

To give you an idea of some of the complexities our team has faced, take a look at the the photo below. It's a view of the panel of pumps and tubing that connects the radiant floor heating system to the geothermal HVAC system. Scary, huh?

The tubing and pumps needed to circulate water through the radiant floor system.

After some clean up, this system gets hooked into the geothermal HVAC system.

The other dramatic thing that happened recently was the pouring of the concrete into the forms put up to define the garden courtyards we mentioned earlier. The machine in the photos below has a long boom that extended across the yard to fill the forms.

These two photos show the extendable boom that pumped concrete into the garden courtyard wall forms.

After the forms were removed, the result was the raw concrete walls. Impressive looking, but not yet finished. The last three major steps to complete these courtyard walls is to cover the whole thing in stucco, install shutters on the 3 front windows and put wooden frames into the doorways (there won't be any doors, just a nice framed structure). As time moves on we will add plants, pathways and other features to the courtyards. They have already been wired up for electricity.

A view from the front of the walled garden courtyard. The retaining wall out front will get completed and soil will be put in. Shutters will be added to the window cutouts.

This is a shot of the walled garden courtyards. The picture above is a picture of the right hand, front wall in this picture.

This perspective gives a view of the house, courtyards and the liberalarium (conservatory!)

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

The Liberalarium and other news

2010-12-30T15:24:00.000-08:00

Now that the midterm elections are over with, we dread the creeping conservatism that is bound to take over the country. Thus we are renaming our conservatory to now be called the liberalarium! This name is more befitting for a household of bleeding heart, tree-hugging, animal whispering, left wingers. So it's not a greenhouse, an orangerie or a conservatory; it's a liberalarium!

On to other news. The interior is shaping up nicely, but we are holding off posting pictures since the work is proceeding on several fronts and no one room is completely finished. Stay tuned.

The ~~conservatory~~ liberalarium! is now wired for electricity (as are the garden walls) and it has the southern skylights installed.

The skylights being installed on the liberalarium.

Trim and tile work are proceeding well and there is a lot of both. Here's a picture of Isabel enjoying a dog toy on the tile being used for the shower floors:

Isabel on the shower floor tiles. They must be pretty comfortable.

We also had three celebrations over the last few weeks. Jason had a birthday, Scott had his birthday and of course we had a Christmas surprise one morning. Here are the pictures (sadly there isn't one from Scott's party, but he's young enough to have many more):

Happy birthday for Jason (sorry he's blurry)

The Stylecraft crew the morning after a visit from Santa Claus.

Back row: Bruce, Sergey, Scott

Seated in front: Jason

Jason's blurry again (hmmmmm, makes him seem kind of shady!)

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark & Isabel

Planet Mark and Project Updates

2010-12-08T07:30:00.000-08:00

Jason, the builder, now calls our project "Planet Mark" in reference to the complex of structures associated with the main house. Here's a view illustrating what he's talking about:

The main house, garden walls, conservatory, pond, rain garden and garage of Planet Mark.

Here are some pictures to update you on the project's progress:

The conservatory walls.

The conservatory with its roof. Yes, that's the darkest conservatory you may have seen, but the glass skylights

still need to be put in. Wait and see.

The pond and rain garden area. The wooden structures are the supports for the plank walkways. The pond hasn't been filled in this picture.

Another view of Planet Mark.

Onward and Upward,
Mark, Mark & Isabel

The Great Wall of Dolman

2010-12-06T19:30:00.000-08:00

A couple of years ago we visited China and walked up a long section of the Great Wall. Here's what it was like:

The Great Wall of China. You get a Hero card if you make it to the top of this section.

And here's the kind of thing you see along the way:

A formal garden near the Great Wall of China.

Well we don't have the enforced labor of thousands of Chinese nor do we have several hundred years, but we are building two walled gardens as part of our project. The idea is that they will form two courtyards off the south side of the house. One comes off of the living room and the other comes off of the library.

Here's the first picture, I will chronicle the building of these walls as they progress:

View from front of the garden wall forms before concrete is poured. The chalk lines

are 3 shuttered windows that will be put in after the concrete is poured.

View from the roof next door showing the two walled garden rooms that will be created

when the concrete is poured. The one toward the street will be the English cottage garden

and the other one will be the more structured eating area.

And yes, we know they can only be 6 feet high according to the historic code. Give us some time to finish them and finish grading the land. I think the results will be quite pleasing. The courtyard room off the library is going to be an informal English garden and the one off of the living room will be a more structured area for outdoor eating.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark & Isabel

Colonel Mustard in the Conservatory with the Candlestick

2010-12-06T19:17:00.000-08:00

Get a clue! We realized we were re-creating the popular board game by building a library and now a conservatory in this wildly complicated project. We're considering the conservatory to be our project's crown jewel.

I will chronicle its construction in much the same way I showed different pictures of the main house as it went up. Here's the first picture:

This is a view of the conservatory foundation wall. The conservatory is attached to the back of the main house. The doors shown above will lead into the conservatory from the house. There will be a set of french doors in the middle of the wall in this picture that lead out to the rest of the yard.

Dear Mark,

Isn't a conservatory a bit snooty? Wouldn't it be less haughty to just call it a greenhouse?

Sincerely,
A member of the unwashed masses

Dear Unwashed,

You need to pick up a book once in a while. I believe a greenhouse is a structure devoted to the raising of plants, very often veggies or annuals. Such a structure is designed to provide the best environment for plants. An orangerie (that's o-ron-gery) is an example of a greenhouse built at the turn of the century (that's the 19th century) that allowed folks to grow citrus fruits in cold climates. A solarium is the kind of structure people build that provides an environment mostly conducive to humans. But a conservatory is the best of both worlds in that it is designed to accommodate plants and humans (and dogs).

Sincerely,
Mark, the not-so-high and mighty

Our conservatory is designed after the Linnean house at the Missouri Botanical Garden. This is the structure immediately to the left after you first enter the garden from the main building. Currently it's under construction, but is ordinarily where they house the camelias. Our idea is to be able to have a garden all year long and enjoy the fragrance and sight of plants even in winter.

In my mind our conservatory will be the perfect place for breakfast cooked by the maid and served by the butler. Whooops, looks like we are getting a wee bit uppity.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

Achin' in the rain

2010-11-17T16:45:00.000-08:00

We started out singin' in the rain and ended with achin' in the rain. Rain garden that is. Yes, believe it or not we have another eco project going on around the crib. The nice weather has again helped us to start on another outdoor project. Mark and I are even helping with this one (shocking and a bit scary). We did much digging, rock moving and liner laying. Surprising how we could do this in the past without a lot of trouble. Not so much anymore. Now it's work, whine, wince and then wallow in agony with a whiskey. But with the help of Scott Woodbury from Shaw Nature Reserve, his friend and Scott Powers of Stylecraft Homes (one of the amazing crew members working on the house) we have a really good start on a rain garden.

The idea behind this rain garden is that it will absorb rainfall instead of having the water roll off the land and enter the sewer system. We are also connecting some of the downspouts from the house, our garage and the neighbor's garage to the rain garden system. That way even that water, which ordinarily barely even touches any ground, also will not enter the sewer system. We don't have the system set up to be used as irrigation, but in the future we plan to add some sort of storage system that will fill with rainwater from the other downspouts not used in the rain garden. That stored water can then be used for irrigation. We probably won't use rain barrels, because they only hold 50 gallons and we would need a lot of them to really make a difference.

Our rain garden will receive water from rain falling directly on it and from the downspouts. The downspout water will flow through a tube and bubble out like a natural spring. It will then flow down a stream bed and into a pond. The pond itself will have the capacity to hold a large percentage of the water from the downspouts during an average rainfall. But if we have more rain or frequent rain, the pond will overflow into the rain garden planted next to it. This pond and rain garden system will have the capacity to absorb the rain that falls on it directly plus 60-70% of the water that hits the roofs of 3 buildings. It will do this even for a 2 inch rain event, which is twice the normal, average rain fall amount. Then finally, if we have even more rain, the water will flow from the rain garden through a pipe to the sewer system. That should be a pretty rare phenomenon.

Sorry to disappoint those neighbors who thought we were putting in a swimming pool! Here are some pictures:

A view of the pond. The spring that is fed by the downspout water is out of the picture to the left. The wooden structures to the left and right will be boardwalks that will allow us to walk over the stream (on the left) and through the rain garden (on the right).

Here's an example boardwalk from the Japanese garden at Missouri Botanical Garden

that resembles what we are trying to build.

Pond filling ceremony using a bottle of spring water. A hose will be used for the rest!

Our first pond visitor. A fearless Robin made a foray to the water's edge only minutes

after we started filling the pond.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

Can you believe this weather?

2010-11-08T21:03:00.000-08:00

The springlike autumn we are having has been helpful since we fell behind a wee bit on the outside work. On the south side of the house there will be two stucco walled garden rooms. From the inside we can access each of these rooms and from them we can move into the rest of the yard. One will be planted as an English cottage garden (think roses and lots of flowering plants, a little bit of messiness and lots of color and fragrance). The other will be more Mediterranean (think tile, fountain, neat beds of plants) and used as an outdoor eating space. We had to hold up the construction of the walls to get approval from the City (yes, we had to go back again). Then we were further delayed as we waited to get the exterior geothermal system hooked up.

Exterior tubes of the geothermal system buried in a trench about 4 feet under ground.

The picture shows part of the tubing that is buried in a trench. Toward the top of the picture you can see the tubes curving downward as the enter the well hole that was drilled to take them 200 feet into the Earth. There are a total of 4 such holes. A pair of tubes enters each hole, one tube takes water down into the Earth and the other tube brings it back up to pass on to the next well. After the water flows through all 4 wells it can then enter the house and be used by the geothermal heat pump unit to heat or cool the house (see an earlier post for an explanation of how the system works). We just learned today that the solution in the tubes will be a mixture of about 85% water and 15% methanol (the same alcohol that is used in that blue liquid you squirt on your windshield).

There's not much to show on the garden walls yet, but the next week should bring some progress in that area.

Onward and upward (or in this case, downward),
Mark, Mark and Isabel

The walls are up and the floors are down.

2010-11-08T20:46:00.000-08:00

We are ecstatically happy because the drywall is up. It's amazing how fast that happens and totally awesome that it makes the house really look like a place you want to live in. Drywall can contain differing amounts of flyash (the burned residue from coal-based power plants). I believe someone told me that all drywall contains at least some flyash. The use of flyash is a way to turn a waste substance into a useful product. We elected to not use a high flyash content drywall because we were concerned about heavy metals contaminants. So the drywall isn't as green as it could be, but in terms of IAQ (Indoor Air Quality) we think it's better. This is another good example of how going green isn't a kneejerk reaction; it requires you to balance several factors. Sometimes one green aspect (use of flyash) can conflict with another green component (IAQ). Queue Kermit the Frog, who famously said, "It isn't easy being green."

Isabel guarding the drywall.

Also recently completed are the radiant floor tubes. The whole house will be heated with radiant floor tubes. This is the same principle as a radiator that sits against the wall in many old houses in this area. Hot water, produced by the geothermal system, flows through the tubes in the floor and releases its heat into the room. From science class you may remember that heat is transmitted in 3 ways, radiation energy from a hot body (not Angelina or Brad), convection (the heating of air) and conduction (contact between your body and a heat source). Radiant floors will transmit heat using all 3 of these ways, thus partly explaining its efficiency. Of particular note is the conduction transmission of heat. Unless you stand right on top of a floor register or next to a radiator, you don't experience conduction in most homes. In this home heat will be conducted to anything that touches the floor. This means the furniture will be warm, we will be warm and even toilet seats will be toasty!

The radiant tubes for heating the house are laid over

a moisture barrier which is resting on the wood subfloor. This picture

also shows some of the drywall, plumbing and electricity in place.

An important aspect of the radiant floor system is the use of a lightweight concrete under the brand name Elastizell. By using this concrete we get the best possible transmission of heat from the radiant floor tubing into the room. You can leave the concrete as the final surface or you can put carpeting, tile or wood over it. Tile and wood don't affect the heat transmission very much, but carpeting tends to block some of the release of heat from the tubing. We will be using tile, wood, marmoleum and cork coverings. Of all those coverings, cork is the one that might block some heat transmission. Go to this website to learn about Elastizell, including its sound deadening and fire blocking qualities: Elastizell Floors

In this picture you can see the same room from the picture above, but now

the Elastizell concrete floors are poured over the radiant floor tubes.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

Our House Sucks

2010-09-28T22:37:00.000-07:00

Such a shocking statement after not having posted for quite some time. Well it happens to be true, our house does suck. As of this week we have installed the central vacuum system. That sounds like a luxury and may turn out to be so. But the real reason we put it in has to do with IAQ. That's Indoor Air Quality, a very important concept in a green, eco-friendly home. Most vacuum cleaners will put some dust and allergen particles back into the air as you go about "cleaning". With a central vacuum the collection of the dust and dirt is done at a central canister located in the basement. The design of this canister includes high efficiency filters and a moveable stopper all of which keep dust from returning into the air. Furthermore we located the canister in the mechanical room in the basement which is walled off from the rest of the house. The biggest downside to a central vacuum system is the 30 foot hose that comes with it. Where do you store such a thing? BUT the biggest and mostest funnest part of the system is the toe-kick port under the mudroom cabinets. You just sweep up a mess with a broom, push it toward the port, open it with your foot, the vacuum system comes on and you sweep the nasty beasties from the dog's paws or whatever else is on your floor right into the port. Poof! It's gone.

Check out this website on our central vacuum system: Central Vacuum

Here's a little video on the toe kick port that I'm deeply in love with: KickSweep

Other IAQ measures we're taking include the use of bio-based insulation, low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints, glues, sealers, etc., no carpeting which can hold onto dirt and allergen particles (although we will have some rugs), an energy recovery ventilation system (see an earlier post), no ignition source (no fireplace, no burning of fossil fuels for heating air or water) except for the cook stove which is gas because we just can't deal with an electric stove. Oh, and plenty of windows.

Back to why we haven't posted in a while. We took a vacation, one of us got sick and then so did the other. Now that we are more functional, posting can proceed. Even though we haven't posted, much work has been going on. The garage is nearly finished, the basement floor is finished, the windows are all installed and most of the doors too. Electrical wiring and plumbing are nearly finished, making the place almost ready for drywall. Before the drywall goes up we had the last layer of insulation installed today. To refresh folks, the walls are made up of several layers. From the outside moving inward, there are these layers: brick, 1" rigid, closed cell foam (with all the seams taped), the Zip system watering proofing (again with all the seams taped) mentioned in an earlier posting, the actual framing timbers are next, then the cavities between the framing boards contain 2" of bio-based spray foam insulation that seals all the cracks, then today they sprayed in a 4" thick layer of cellulose fibers (old newspapers and blue jeans) and then finally the drywall. The calculation on our walls gives us an R value of 35, pretty darn good. The roof which is also the ceiling on the second floor will have an R value of 70. A value that's practically through the roof!

Jay Anderson insulation from Illinois did the bio-based spray foam and the blown in cellulose fibers. His comment was that this is the most insulated house he's worked on. One measure of that is how quiet it is inside. We should be able to hear those utility bills dropping.

Until next time we are moving onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Bricks and Mortar

2010-08-13T15:23:00.000-07:00

Today's entry is short, but solid. We're going to quickly get down to the real bricks and mortar. Literally.

The most exciting thing in this past week has undoubtedly been the work of the bricklayers from Harlan Brick (followed by putting in more windows as a close second). The bricklayers are surprisingly fast and we really appreciate them working during the hottest days we've had around here. They got a couple of reprieves from rainstorms, but that also made it too dangerous to work on metal scaffolding, so they didn't during the storms. Rain also made everything icky. I'm afraid the soil surrounding the house is a disaster, so I'm getting advice from a lot of horticulture people on how to best deal with rejuvenating the soil structure after the big machines are gone.

Here are a few pictures to illustrate why we are so excited. The pictures are of the south side which took only 2 days to complete. They are now finished with the west and north sides as well. The only remaining side is the front which should be finished early next week.

Installation of the scaffolding. The green boards behind the scaffolding are another layer of insulation which has all of its seams sealed with tape. From the brick inward we have a small air space, then the green panels seen here, then the green Zip system sheathing boards attached to the stud walls, then 2" of bio-based spray foam insulation, then 4" of blown-in cellulose insulation. The walls will have at least an R-35 rating.

About half of the brick up on the south side. This happened in 1 day.

The south side is completely bricked in this picture.

A view of the south side after the scaffolding was removed. The small windows in the upper left corner are part of a 4-season room. Wood siding will be put on around those windows.

Close-up view of the brick and mortar we used. The brick is made to look old (on purpose!). We didn't want the house to look neat and perfect, we thought it would be better to have it look like it has been here for 100 years. The mortar color was chosen to match the trim around the windows and doors.

This is a detailed view of the brick pattern just under the parapet wall (see the upper right of the second photo up). Jason the builder surprised us with this pattern. It's the Roman numerals IX and I, in other words, 9-1. This is the date we count as our anniversary, 25 years ago. How's that for an anniversary present?

Thank you Jason, we'll contact you in another 25 years to build us a golden anniversary house.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

A ton of updates

2010-08-02T10:23:00.000-07:00

Construction is in full swing and I really can't keep up with the daily changes. Here are the highlights from the last week or so:

Garage: The garage shell is finished, it just needs to be made pretty. Sadly, we aren't going to put brick on the garage because we spent big bucks to put brick on all 4 sides of the house. The garage will have wood paneling with some detailing. The roof will be architectural shingles (they look fancier than ordinary shingles in case we ever look down upon the garage). Placement of the garage came out perfectly and it doesn't look like a monolith in the back yard.

Garage exterior before finishing. Believe it or not you are also looking at the future

herb and vegetable garden. Incidentally, we will actually have indoor plumbing, but as a courtesy

to the builders, we now have a lovely green porta-potty. So far 2 homeless people, one drunk person

and one City worker have been grateful for a spot of relief.

Roof: We now have a finished roof. It is bright white to reflect Sunlight away from the house. In technical terms, the roof has a high albedo (NOT libido!). It will act in a fashion similar to snow by reflecting away light and thus heat. In the super hot weather we've been having, everyone who goes upstairs remarks how cool it is. Ordinarily it would be quite toasty upstairs. The roof also slopes from the front of the house to the back at about 1 inch per 10 feet for water to drain away. Additionally there is a layer of foam insulation under the roof material. When you add up the insulative power of this foam, plus the interior insulation, our roof is rated at an R-70!! That's very high and is like wearing a stocking hat, scarf, hood and space helmet. Plus, the white rubber material that coats the roof is a recycled product.

White roof made from recycled rubber materials. Under this membrane is foam insulation. On the interior is more insulation, giving us a roof R-factor of 70! This is a very high level of insulation.

Wall Insulation: Our walls are getting a lot of attention too. In the next couple of days 1 inch of rigid foam panels will go up on the exterior walls. If you remember we had that on the basement walls earlier. Then on the inside of the walls we are having 2 inches of spray foam insulation to insulate, but more importantly, it will seal cracks all around the house. We are using a bio-based spray foam that isn't made from petroleum oils, but instead is composed of plant oils (like soybean oil). Then the rest of the wall cavities will be filled with blown in cellulose fibers (from old newspapers and blue jeans). This cellulose goes in damp to help it bind to the spray foam and to again fill in cracks, it will dry, be trimmed and then the wall board can go up. And don't forget about all of the black tape going on all of the exterior cracks (see the photo above). We have been repeatedly told that thick insulated walls are one thing, but sealing cracks the way we are is mega intense insulating. Our walls will have an R-35 rating.

Bio-based spray foam insulation in the walls. There is 2 inches of this and then

4 inches of cellulose fibers will come later.

Waste wood: Jason and his crew are conscious of our goal to reduce construction waste, so they are constantly using boards from the main house in other applications. We used leftover wood pieces for the garage structure, we will be using leftover foam insulation panels to make cold frame boxes for the garden, and the picture below shows how they used extra wood to create fire blocks in the wall cavities (a fire would have to burn through these blocks before it could get to the second floor).

The horizontal pieces of scrap wood are in place as fire blocks in all of the first floor wall cavities.

A peak at the next week: Scaffolding was put up on the south side of the house so that the black tape could be put in place and then the rigid foam insulating panels, then the windows and finally the brick. That's a lot, but it starts to go quickly once they get going. The scaffolding will move around the house and the same order of materials placement will repeat (black tape, foam panels, windows, brick). We also have the electricians and plumbers working inside. Holy cow, how do I blog about all of that?

Scaffolding in place to finish the insulating, install windows and bricks.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Come and listen to a story about a man named Jed

2010-08-02T09:41:00.000-07:00

He's a poor mountaineer, barely kept his family fed, then one day he was shootin at some food and up through the ground came a bubblin crude.........

Black gold

Texas tea

Limestone, huh?

Insertion of the geothermal heat transfer tubing into the wells.

We didn't hit oil like Mr. Clampett, but limestone we've got plenty of. Sorry to any neighbors who were bothered by dust during drilling. If it ever rains the dust should wash away. Our problem is a bit more dramatic since we have 4 piles of soggy rock dust, mostly limestone.

All of this activity is for the geothermal HVAC system. The next stage is for a trench to be built that will accommodate the geothermal tubes and allow them to be linked together in a big loop. This trench will be filled with the limestone dust and then soil removed to dig the trench. Geothermal heating and cooling is one of the most important aspects of this project. With this system not only do we get a very efficient system, but it is almost completely pollution free. The only energy required is for pumps and fans. We don't need to burn anything. And the energy for the pumps and fans will be coming from solar panels! All of this reduces our carbon footprint pretty close to zero. And did I mention it's pollution free?

Our system is based on the fact that the Earth is a constant temperature (of about 55°F) at 200 feet down. We drilled 4 wells, each to that depth. This gives us a 5 ton system for cooling and a large heating capability. Into each well is inserted a loop of tubing which is then surrounded by a type of grout. This puts the tubes in contact with the Earth where heat can be exchanged. We either release heat to the ground in hot weather or we take heat from the ground during winter. Inside the tubes is a fluid based on a glycol compound (a safe version of the anti-freeze in your car). This fluid warms up or cools down, depending upon the season, as it passes 200 feet down the tubes. The tubes are connected in a loop to allow the fluid to circulate back up to the house. The whole system is ridiculously simple and trouble free.

When the fluid circulates back to the house it will go into a heat pump which will extract heat from the fluid during winter and release heat to the fluid during summer. Explaining that process reminds me of physics lectures, but you can look it up on the web at Wikipedia: Heat pump physics. Suffice it to say that you have a heat pump in your kitchen, most people just call it the refrigerator.

In our whole house geothermal heat pump, the fluid itself never leaves the tubing, it stays within the system to be circulated back down the wells. But before it goes back outside it passes through a set of tubes contained in a giant water tank. The heat the glycol fluid contains is transferred to the water in this tank when we're heating the house (or for cooling, heat in the water tank is transferred to the circulating glycol fluid). Then the warm water in the tank is pumped to the radiant floor system in the house and we are thus warmed. For cooling the cooled water contained in tubes will pass by a fan that will blow air across the tubes. This cooled air then goes into the house and we are thus cooled. The system is known as a water-to-water system (really it's glycol fluid-to-water) because the fluids are used as the medium for energy exchange. Here's a diagram that takes me a bit of effort to digest:

Our system is so efficient that as a side benefit it will also make all of our domestic hot water and store that in another tank, separate from the one used for heating and cooling.

Combine all of that with zoned heating/cooling, a solar panel system, and we should have an HVAC system that doesn't compromise comfort while being energy wise.

What about the "V"? The industry term we've gotten used to is HVAC which stands for "heating, ventilation, air conditioning". One of the things that comes up when building an energy efficient home is indoor air quality (IAQ). A big component of IAQ is ventilation, the "V" of HVAC. Our house is so heavily insulated and sealed that we need to be careful to maintain good IAQ. We aren't burning anything (except a wee bit of gas during cooking when we're not just microwaving leftovers), but the air can still become spoiled. So we have an energy recovery ventilator (ERV) as part of our HVAC system.

Even animals have sort of a biological energy recovery system. Take a snowshoe hare for example:

This little guy has huge ears to listen for hungry foxes and wolves. The blood going to warm those ears would lose all of its heat to the air without a biological energy recovery mechanism. The animal would then get too cold to survive up North. So the blood going to the ears in arteries passes very close to blood returning from the ears in veins. The warm blood gives up some of its heat to the cool returning blood and thus doesn't lose it to the air.

Our house ERV works in a similar fashion. Air is brought in from outside (cold air in winter, warm in summer) through ductwork which runs very close by the ductwork for the stale air being exhausted. The different air streams will transfer heat between themselves. Thus in summer the cool, but stale air being exhausted will pass by warm, but fresh air. The fresh air will thus be pre-cooled by the stale air (and the stale air will be warmed by the fresh air). The reverse would happen in winter. In this fashion we are able to recover at least 70% of the energy that would be lost by this ventilation of stale air. Pretty slick, huh? And we learned that from a bunny rabbit!

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Up on the roof.

2010-07-09T15:40:00.000-07:00

Up on the roof (Click here for a video), The Drifters sang it, Carole King wrote it and we can now experience it. We were up on the roof which is now in place and took some interesting pictures.

Isabel and the other Mark watching roof truss placement

from the yard next door.

This is what she saw, placement of the front roof truss. Check out the Moon to the left.

The roof in its roughed-in state.

Front view from ground of roughed-in parapet wall of the roof.

(Note: the lower front windows will be cut with a curve just like the top ones).

The roof is built with the trusses as seen in the second photo above. Then sheathing is put over the trusses to make a flat roof. Those are then cover with 2" thick foam panels. Then the whole roof surface is covered in a rubber sheathing to water proof it. That rubber sheathing can be brought up and over roof penetrations (exhaust pipes, solar panel anchor points) for a watertight seal. The whole roof is pitched from front to back for drainage. Currently the gutters will empty into downspouts that are hooked up to the sewer system. We wanted the water to go out onto the land surface or into a holding tank as a greener option. We lost that battle with the City, but stay tuned since we are trying some other ideas.

The front of the roof then has a parapet wall around the top (actually I believe it's really called the entabliture, but you get what I mean). This amounts to a wall around the front and part of the sides. This is a very common design feature in this neighborhood. We are planning it such that the solar panels will be hidden from view in the front, but not blocked so much that they don't perform well. The parapet wall will have a design something like these pictures:

A top down view of the roof will show up when they've laid down the rubber sheathing. This sheathing will be white and thus have a high albedo or reflectivity. Thus it will be another feature that keeps our heat costs low and the house more energy efficient.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark & Isabel

To certify or not to certify. . . .

2010-07-09T09:40:00.000-07:00

That is the question, whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the loss of money in the name of enhancing the new green economy or to use that money for further project improvements. A few green certification programs have popped up, the most widely known of which is the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) program from the U.S. Green Building Council.

A good example of strange certification issues came up a few weeks ago. We were looking at windows and doors. We have narrowed our choice to two different manufacturers. Both are selling high level green products, including the use of recycled materials, thermal breaks, long lasting finishes, low emissivity coatings, argon gas between double panes of glass, etc. But if we want to become LEED certified (a question very often asked of us), then we have to buy the same window, but at a higher cost to cover the expense of tracking it through the system.

Or how about this example for ramping up the frustration level: We have frequently engaged the Amish community to custom build high quality kitchen cabinets for us. Our intention is to do so with this house as well. They are a local business and are arguably a very green industry (they don't even use electric lights, working only during daylight hours). I investigated the wood they use and discovered that the mill supplying them is also considered local. Plus that mill produces wood that is certified by the Forest Stewardship Council. There's not much else you can do to be green on kitchen cabinets, so we were pretty stoked. Then we found out that because the Amish woodshop itself isn't certified, the "chain of custody" is broken and we would not earn certification points for using their cabinets.

Many such issues have come up and it's exhausting to work through all of them. The rating systems don't seem to have been fully developed for single family home projects. Plus it's very expensive to get certified. Expensive in that you could buy a nice used car for what it would cost to certify.

The final nail in the coffin came a couple of days ago when we discovered that with the rating system we were intending to use we would receive an overall rating equal to the rating of the lowest category. So even though we are producing all of our own power, have high insulation and geothermal heating/cooling, we wouldn't achieve the highest rating simply because we didn't have a rain barrel. Or because we hadn't protected sensitive habitat. What about the fact that there wasn't ANY sensitive habitat? An empty city lot with weeds and bush honeysuckle is not sensitive habitat.

We understand that with certification systems in good working order you can develop standardized measures of a home's quality. This helps consumers compare builders and gives you confidence that you are really building a green home. We eventually realized that we already have that confidence in our builder and the rating system guidelines are available on the web. We actually went through a whole scoring tool and rated the project ourselves. By doing this we could easily see where we needed improvement and can discuss that with our trusted builder.

It began to seem like we were only rating the project so we could show off a fancy certificate. Our egos aren't worth spending several thousand dollars. So we have concluded that we will do what is called a HERS rating (Home Energy Rating). This is the basis of all the certification systems and is a measure of a home's energy efficiency as compared to a standardized home. It is easily done and costs just a few hundred dollars. Ultimately, our energy bills will also serve as a certification that we did a good job. For other green concerns, such as landscaping, we have many resources available in St. Louis to help us do the green thing.

Sorry there aren't any pictures, see the next posting.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

Second floor goes up

2010-06-29T15:13:00.000-07:00

By the end of last week the second floor was in place. The interior is also framed out. You will notice that the upper windows have a curve cut in them and the lower ones do not. This is the only error made in the whole process and it is easily corrected. At some point in the future, the first floor windows will also have a curve to them. It's essential because of the general look of the front facade and because we ordered the windows with a curved top. And they are fracking expensive. I mean really expensive. If you add the cost of all the windows together, we could easily afford a very nice BMW. As they get installed I'll talk about the design and functioning of the windows.

View of second floor almost completed.

View of second floor from next door roof. The interior walls aren't quite

finished in this picture and the Zip system green walls still need the black tape to seal the seams.

Other exciting news is that we've been shopping for interior fixtures and have made a few decisions. It really is like pulling teeth. Even in the eco-friendly world there are many choices as well as items that distract you with not-quite-true claims of greenness. This is known as greenwashing (as in brainwashing) and it will make you crazy. We also purchased a couch, chair and ottoman (how did Turkish people have their name associated with a piece of furniture?). We purchased these living room items at Crate & Barrel. Now before you say, "oh look, another two Gay guys buying furniture at C & B", let me tell you that we got them on sale and they are eco-friendly furniture. The wood frames are made from wood gathered from sustainably grown forests and the padding is made from soybeans and corn (don't know how, but it feels great).

Next step in the building process is to put up the roof. The trusses are due to arrive on Wednesday this week, so look for us to be under roof soon.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark & Isabel

I can't keep up!

2010-06-24T11:50:00.000-07:00

I promised to post a picture every so often to show the progress of the framing crew from Gerard Branson, Jr. Construction. Well, I can't keep up with them. They're out in 100 degree weather and I can't keep up with posting pictures fast enough from my air conditioned office. The work is high quality and surprisingly fast. I would say they're working like a dog, but from what we see in our household, a dog's "work" amounts to 30 seconds of barking at the mail deliverer from the back of the couch in an air conditioned room! So I've decided to post a series of pictures every few days. Here's the first batch:

Installation of the band board prior to putting up the first floor walls.

First floor walls being placed.

Completed first floor walls.

Installation of band board for second floor walls.

Laying down of the second floor (really the subfloor).

All of the work seen in the pictures above took place in only FIVE working days. Today is the 6th working day and they should have most of the second floor walls up. Tomorrow will then have them putting up the interior walls on the second floor (the first floor interior is already done though not obvious from the pictures). More pictures to come.

You will notice that again our house is very literally green. The walls are still an oriented strand board (OSB) like the floors, but they are also coated with a water resistant barrier. The black lines on the green boards are tape that seal the seams between boards giving us enhanced wind protection. This product is part of the energy efficiency barrier we're trying to create around the house and is recommended by the EnergyStar program. Other ideas yet to come include thicker walls, spray foam insulation and blown-in cellulose insulation. You won't see the Tyvek house wrap that normally goes around new homes because this product eliminates the need for it. If you want to know more, check out this website: Zip System wall panels They have a pretty good, though slightly cheesy video.

The other interesting thing that happened today was that a reporter came to interview us about the project. She's from an internet-based local news site. So even our interview will be environmentally friendly since it won't be printed! Janette's news site is called Your Local Messenger and their website is: Your Local Messenger

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark & Isabel

The first floor is down!

2010-06-21T08:31:00.000-07:00

We've been to lots of places in Europe, the United States and China, but no monument was as gratifying and wholly beautiful as this:

Construction of the first floor showing the floor joists in place.

The first floor completely lain down. Beautiful.

It looks small, doesn't it? One of our goals was to make a house that was not too large for two people and whatever menagerie of animals we end up with. We actually started this project shooting for a 1600-1800 square foot house. However, many factors, such as the 2-story requirement in this neighborhood and the fact that we wanted to have larger doorways and hallways to make the house more accessible as we age, forced us to build a larger house. We are coming in at 2300 square feet which should be enough space to keep peace and harmony in our lives.

The other green aspect of framing the house concerns the materials. The wood itself is a product called AdvanTech which is oriented strand board (OSB). This literally means it is made of strands or small pieces of scrap wood that are oriented in the same direction. These strands are adhered together with adhesives in a process similar to how plywood is made. After years of use OSB has proven to be as durable as plywood. The wood used to make OSB is scrap or low value species of trees. It is considered to be an excellent wood product to use in green building. The AdvanTech product was awarded the National Association of Home Builders Research Center Green Approved rating for subflooring. It is thus eligible to earn points that contribute toward the NAHB Green Building Standard certification.

Here's an article in EcoHome magazine on wood flooring products:
EcoHome article on wood flooring products

The next step is the framing of the walls which should start soon. We plan to take a picture daily from the same location to show the progress of the framing.

Jason has chosen to use Gerard Branson Jr Construction Company to do the rough wood framing work and so far they have worked in driving rain and blazing heat. If it should snow I'm sure their dedication will have them out their in parkas framing up our house. Thanks to J.R. and his crew from Gerard Branson Jr Construction Company.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark & Isabael

The Spine

2010-06-18T15:40:00.000-07:00

Spine. Small word for such an important structure. The spinal column of vertebrate animals (like humans and dogs) encloses and protects the spinal cord. As a bundle of nerve fibers, the spinal cord is the master of communication between the brain and the rest of the body and thus needs the protection of the spine. It holds us up for goodness sake and except for after a day of heavy gardening, I actually enjoy standing. Even books have spines, otherwise they'd be magazines!

Houses need a spine as well. Here's the placement of ours:

I don't know if you can tell from the picture, but it was raining like crazy and yet the crew went ahead and placed the steel beam anyway. Thus our house now has its spine.

Having a spine also means having strength of character, courage or willpower. To get through all of the delays, mis-managed building companies and bureaucratic silliness I think we showed that along with our house, we too have strong spines.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck. . . .

2010-06-18T15:19:00.000-07:00

How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?

A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood!

I don't think woodchucks actually like wood. And since I'm a biologist, I have to point out that this animal is really a groundhog. As in Punxsutawney Phil, the famous weather predicting animal for which Groundhog's Day is named. The name woodchuck has nothing to do with wood, but instead comes from the word “wuchak”, an Algonquian name for groundhog. Chucking is the act of throwing something down, especially something you don't want or care about. Groundhogs are almost complete vegetarians and don't have the digestive system to eat wood. So if they encounter wood, I guess they really would just chuck it aside.

Here's another tongue twister that also applies to our furry friend:
How much ground would a groundhog hog if a groundhog could hog ground?
A groundhog could hog as much ground as a groundhog could if a groundhog could hog ground.

ANYWAY, we had some wood chucked onto our lot the other day. Except in our case we really do want to keep it. The long awaited-for engineered floor joists arrived and will be put into place in a couple of days! The rest of the wood is due by then also.

The floor joists have arrived!

We're on our way to a new house!

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

"Will you have a finished basement?"

2010-06-09T19:16:00.000-07:00

By far the most common question we're asked is if we'll have a finished basement. Well right now that's the ONLY thing "finished"! Progress has been slow for two reasons. Whenever it rains we actually lose the rain day and a couple of days after since it's too muddy to work. The ground is not densely packed immediately around the house since it was backfilled. This makes it unsafe for scaffolding and walking around. The good thing is that the rain is helping to compact this area of soil. The second issue is availability of the wood floor trusses (I think that's the right term). Here's the thing: they are locally sourced from a mill in central Missouri and while they aren't FSC certified, they are nonetheless from a managed forest. Plus they are specially designed to accommodate the high velocity, insulated, flexible duct work we're using. So with all of that going on, it's no wonder the trusses are taking longer to get here than we would like.

Jason is anxious to get going (though I bet we're more anxious) and we're hoping the wood will arrive in time to start framing next week. The framing should only take a couple of weeks, weather permitting. That's fast in my mind since it can take me days to put together a bird house. Such rapid visible progress should be very pleasing to watch over that short space of time. We'll start to see the 3-D shape after living with drawings for almost two years.

And what about that basement? Does anyone like this? . . . . . . .

It fits with our indoor/outdoor concept for the house, but where will Mom stay? Honestly, we have a plan for the finished basement, but will probably wait to implement it. As we age we're actually learning how true it is that you can't do everything all at once.

Where's the frackin' pot of gold?!?

2010-05-28T20:30:00.000-07:00

The Gods are smiling upon us (well, really more of a colorful frown).

We started this project on St. Patrick's Day and now we appear to be building at the end of a rainbow. Sadly, our search for a pot of gold (or even de-valued dollars) was fruitless. At least it's pretty anyway. The whole event had dozens of people out in the Lafayette Square area. After a heavy rain the clouds parted in the West and the setting Sun gave us this show. There were actually two rainbows with a fainter one appearing above the one in the picture. This photo is with an iPhone, so talk to Steve Jobs if you can't see the second rainbow.

As part of this phase the lot was also given its first grading. That's not like what a teacher puts on your report card. Grading in this case is contouring of the land to give it a pleasing and manageable shape. Our landscaping plan calls for a berm or two and a rain garden so the shape will be complicated. With two persnickety people (well, one and a half), what else would you expect?

It's a bit hard to tell from the perspective of the picture (even I don't control enough of the Universe to make a rainbow move into the right position) but the backfilling of soil around the foundation has occurred. The next step is to start framing. Yea! This will be a very dramatic step allowing us to see the house really take shape. The rainy weather has delayed us again, but Jason is planning on starting the framing by the end of the first week in June. Never know if that will actually happen, but we're hopeful. Delays are an expected part of a building project of this complexity. That last sentence sounded like it was written by a sane person, didn't it? Must be a latent part of my personality.

Stay tuned, the drama never stops.

Onward and Upward,

Mark, Mark & Isabel

What once was green, is now blue.

2010-05-28T20:04:00.000-07:00

Blue foam panel insulation on the outside of the basement. Just like a baby boy's blanket.

Blue is a good Earth related color. View the Earth from space and it isn't green. It's blue. And now we have a blue house. The green eco-friendly waterproofing rubber is now covered with blue foam insulation panels. And yes, we do know the difference between inside and outside. The blue panels are the FIRST level of insulation. As we progress there will be spray foam insulation and blown-in cellulose insulation on the inside of the walls. All of this insulating material should give us an effective R-value (insulation level) of 30-35 which is really good. Then the soil is backfilled against the blue panels and will itself act as an insulating material. So the temperature in the lower level (that's basement to all of you non-designers) should be constant and in the range of 65-70 without any heating or cooling for much of the year.

Beneath the bottom edge of the blue panels are three layers. The lowest layer is small stones, then comes a layer where there is a filter covered drain pipe all around the house that empties into a sump pump (a requirement of the building code) and then the last layer upon which the blue panel rests is another layer of small stones. All of this layering is meant to allow water to run into the drain pipe and away from the house or under the house into the groundwater reservoir. This should make for a lower level that is dry even in a season with lots of rain like we've been having.

Since we will eventually finish off the lower level (that's why it's not properly called a basement) we have also decided to install radiant floor heat (which is on the other 2 floors as well) and air conditioning in this area. The air conditioning is true to that term. We don't just mean it's cooling the space, it's really conditioning the air by also controlling the humidity and by filtering it. More to come on the HVAC system in future postings.

Onward and Upward,

Mark, Mark & Isabel

Our house REALLY is green.

2010-04-30T06:50:00.000-07:00

Much has happened since the last blog. The project is moving faster than I can keep up with the blog. The wood forms were removed from the basement walls about a week ago. This occurred only one day after the concrete pour to allow the walls to cure more fully. The wood you see in the picture below (in the center of the house) are the removed forms. Amazingly, the walls stayed up! It's surprising how fast concrete hardens. My sister and I used to make figurines out of plaster of paris in a process similar to the pouring of these walls. The molds we used would heat up quite a lot, then once cool we could remove the mold, paint and admire our creations. Obviously, we didn't have computers, Nintendo or even color TV. Plus we walked back and forth to school for 5 miles, uphill both ways.

The foundation walls after the wooden forms have been removed.

The green lines sprayed on the outside came next and are meant to mark the extent to which waterproofing will be applied. Unfortunately, at this point we had the huge wind/rain storm over the weekend resulting in some small amount of collapsing of the dirt walls around the basement. Sadly this collapse was too small to bring in equipment and it was up to the brave and strong Scott, part of Jason's crew, to hand dig the soil away from the foundation to allow the waterproofing to be applied.

With this delay we are now working fast to beat the next wave of storms. In another amazing display of construction scheduling, Jason was able to get the waterproofers in to do their job yesterday. Here are the results:

The foundation walls after being waterproofed.

Astute observers will note that our house is literally green! We didn't use the traditional asphalt/tar waterproofing and instead went with a product called Rub-R-Wall. This membrane is asphalt-free and according to testing standards is non-toxic, non-carcinogenic and will not contaminate groundwater. It's also rated to last 100 years. Here's a website in case you're interested in this product: Rub-R-Wall site

The next step, happening today, as I type, is to put gravel over the drainage system that was also installed yesterday (which included the code-mandated sump pump). Then this gravel is covered with some of the backfill soil. Most of the walls are left exposed to allow for more curing of the concrete. Eventually the hole around the house will be backfilled completely and the green coating will be covered up. Then the only evidence that we have a green house will be the non-existent utility bills!

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

A Solid Foundation

2010-04-21T06:51:00.000-07:00

We all desire to have a solid foundation in life. Well, we now actually do have one, or at least the beginnings of one. The startling thing is how fast this phase of the project is going. It's only been 5 days since the hole was dug, two of which were the weekend, and already the wall forms are going up. Jason, the builder, says that we need to move quickly on this part to avoid having the sides of the hole cave in during a rainstorm. "Quickly" to us seems like light speed, especially when you remember that it took many times longer to get the paperwork approvals. Shoot, it takes us longer to get the laundry folded.

Anyway, it's great fun to see such dramatic progress. Poor Jason must be losing sleep trying to figure out how to diplomatically tell us that the rest of the project won't go quite as quickly or dramatically. It doesn't help him to see us standing out front with packing boxes and furniture waiting to move in!

We did a lot of research on the best foundation for our house. At one point we were considering a panelized wall system which gets made off-site and trucked here as wall sections. The way that system gets installed has the wall sections resting on a bed of gravel, with no footings. Footings are important to overall stability and durability of the house. We felt that even though the panelized system is touted as being green, a foundation based on footings is also green because of its longevity and stability. Here's a link to read about foundation footings and the forces they must contend with to keep your house up:
http://www.askthebuilder.com/B10_house_foundations_footings.shtml

Now the pictures:

The forms and the metal rebar are in place, next step is to pour the footings. The 3 grids in the center are poured thicker and become the places where steel support columns are put.

Close-up view of the forms and rebar waiting to be filled with concrete to create the footings.

Here the concrete is poured to and we have our footings. The groove in the concrete will fill with more concrete when the walls are poured, this will add lateral stability (as will the additional rebar seen in this picture). The blue chalk lines show the thickness of the walls.

This is the beautiful site we awoke to this morning. WALLS! The wood forms are placed on the blue chalk lines shown in the picture above and concrete will be poured in between the wooden forms. These walls will be the foundation (and basement) of the house.

It looks like we will have basement walls by the weekend if the weather holds out. Not quite sure how they do the windows and doors, but we'll let you know when we do.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Our Hole New House

2010-04-18T17:15:00.000-07:00

I do actually remember trying to dig a hole to China when I was a child. At the time I didn't know it would be an 8,000 mile trip through molten lava. A couple of years ago we actually did go to China, although in an airplane this time. Which if you think about it too long, is just as weird as digging your way there with a shovel. As an adult digging is my least favorite gardening activity. Mostly because it's awful hard to do. But after our builder Jason called to say excavation would start on Thursday morning, I felt like a kid on his way to China. I was very excited, distracted from Wednesday's activities and ready to hop out of bed at 5:30 a.m. to be ready in time for the big machines.

So, in short, we have a hole! It's nowhere near China, but it cost more than two tickets for the tour we took. We consider it to be well worth the money since the idea is to fill our beautiful new hole with our beautiful new house.

The old foundation from a previous house that was taken down decades ago. The stone from this foundation was separated from the soil and will be sold to a quarry for eventual use as somebody's garden wall. In fact we carried a bunch off to the side for our "can't get here soon enough" garden.

Vinnie, the highlift bulldozer driver was a true artist. And after less than 2 days, here's what we have:

We are standing in the basement (we have to have 9 foot basement ceilings in this part of the city!). One floor up from where we're standing would be the hallway between the kitchen and living room.

Something you might not know about Isabel (she's the black one above). She loves freshly dug soil, so probably she was the most excited about this phase of the project. Incidentally, the round, rusted object in the upper left corner is an old water heater if you're interested. We also found car parts, though no whole car yet, and also more clothing and the soles of shoes?!?

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Welcome to the String House

2010-03-25T20:02:00.000-07:00

We now have the house laid out in string. Tried to get a picture of it from the roof of the house next door, but the string didn't show up too well and the perspective is weird. Anyway here's what it looks like:

The String House

The front door is to the right, as is Dolman street. The street at the top of the picture is Hickory. The section labeled "A" is the actual house (about 35 x 35 feet or 2400 square feet in 2 stories).

The part labeled "B" is the mudroom. Section "C" is a conservatory, which is very Victorian and will be built for plants as well as people to enjoy.

The double lines surrounding section "D" indicate where garden walls will be built to enclose two formal garden areas. Beyond "D" and to the left of "B" and "C" will be yard space for more informal and vegetable gardens.

That's it, but it will take quite a while to build and then there's all that gardening. The next steps include having a surveyor come out to make sure the house is located just as it's supposed to be according to our approved site plan. The the big hole gets dug.

Can't wait. It's darn hard to take a shower when you have walls made of string!

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

No Luck of the Irish

2010-03-19T17:57:00.000-07:00

This is the best we could manage for a ribbon cutting at 7:00 a.m. The excavator came an hour before we thought he would. But no complaining because at least we are finally starting the project. We did have a dozen or so people stop by and some even wanted mimosas before work.

We didn't find any pots of gold during our St. Patrick's Day groundbreaking. It even looks like a potato famine blew through:

The flattened lot

Jason, our builder, is the good looking one.

And in case you're as excited by big machines as we are, here's a picture of the very talented Vinny driving his big scooper:

Vinny again, taken from the roof of the house next door:

Not much to say about the groundbreaking which was really just ground leveling. We had soil moved from the back of the lot toward the front and then some had to be hauled away because it contained old foundation and bricks. Sadly much of that rubble was not re-usable, but we had a salvage yard pick up the scrap metal which included gutters, pipes, doors and unidentifiable pieces.

Here are some other interesting things found in our little archeological dig:

Baby food jars that contained bulbs of garlic!

An unopened pack of cigs, making them the most valuable thing found. The lighter is a free bonus.

Not a fossil, looks like an old cow bone dog toy.

Some woman is very chilly right now.

A metal door thankfully taken by the salvage yard.

Many other such treasures were found. We also were able to save some stones to use in the eventual garden and of course, the daylily bulbs we saved the day before.

The next steps involve laying out the "string" house (stakes in the ground with walls of string) and using a laser level to see if we are close to the height of the building next door. Then a surveyor comes by to lay out the official footprint of the house and finally the actual hole (expensive hole) can be dug. Those events should happen over the next couple of weeks, weather permitting.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Groundbreaking on Wednesday!!

2010-03-16T14:38:00.000-07:00

Quick notice:

We just found out that the excavator has a space open in his schedule and is going to start on our 1201 Dolman lot tomorrow (Wednesday, March 17th).

He's supposed to start around 8:00. We don't know what we're going to find buried on the lot, but treasure would be helpful.

We should now have more fascinating things to write about on this blog. Stay tuned.

Here's a picture of the lot before excavation:

We'll show you the "scorched Earth" view in a few days. Then periodically we'll post views of the lot as things progress until that day when we get the keys and start living happily ever after.

Onward and upward,

Mark, Mark and Isabel

Life's problems wouldn't be called hurdles if there wasn't a way to get over them.

2010-01-21T17:05:00.000-08:00

It finally happened, we have our building permit!

Cue the trumpet, we are singing halleujah!

Grab your sweetheart and kiss them, victory has come.

With all approvals in, we can finally get some rest. (Yes, our dog Isabel gets on the bed, doesn't yours?)

Pick up a shovel or a hammer and come over to help us actually make a 2-dimensional dream into a 3-dimensional reality.

After many delays and getting caught up in the ugliness of Sage Homebuilders going out of business in a most ungentlemanly fashion, we are finally proud owners of a building permit. Sometimes it felt like we were too busy mopping the floor to turn off the faucet, but after more than a year of planning we have only to wait for the weather to break.

City Hall offices can be dreary places to visit on a gray rainy day. Plus I forgot to bring the checkbook to pay for our permit and had to return later. But even though I was alone in the dark cave of bureaucracy, when the very nice people handed me our permit I felt spotlights come on. Nobody seemed too thrilled, but I was ecstatic. I wanted to cry like a starlet in pink chiffon with her first Oscar (by the way will someone please give Meryl Streep an Oscar for her role as Julia Child?)

In keeping with an award ceremony I will be brief, but must thank a large group of people and organizations who helped us make this possible.

Thanks go to:

The Lafayette Square Development Committee for being our partners and neighbors.

Jeff Day and Associates Architects for having excellent drawing skills and an even better eraser.

The Cultural Resources Office of the City of St. Louis who were the right people to put us on the right path.

Kacie Starr Triplett our 6th ward alderwoman, who personifies the best actions government can achieve, helpfulness to its citizens.

And finally, but most certainly not least, we want to thank someone whom we will be thanking many times more in the future, a man who was willing to wait for us, our new builder, Jason Walters of Stylecraft Homes.

Now we just have to relax and remember that the only thing which has to be done by next Tuesday is next Monday.

Onward and upward,
Mark, Mark and Isabel

Don't hold your breath

2010-01-11T16:41:00.000-08:00

When I tell folks we are building an eco-friendly green home, I usually get asked what kind of green products, technologies or systems I'm going to be using. Often people are asking about something they have knowledge of or have at least heard about. Sometimes a particularly strident person will tell me we have to use a product or technology they are advocating.

This behavior becomes especially intense in reference to our project because we are trying to achieve a very high level of green. We would like to have as close to a zero energy impact home as possible. The reality is that we will be making all kinds of choices in the next few months and they won't always be what one might think. Remember, we are trying to do what is possible. That means compromises will have to be made. Sometimes we achieve a bright, green result, sometimes more of a dusty avocado colored result. For instance this happens when we find out that something like bamboo flooring, which many people favor as a green product, is shipped thousands of miles, not made by local craftsmen and may cause poor nations to squander other resources just to feed our appetite for this green product. You can see how decisions will be difficult.

Carbon dioxide production is a big part of the concern when trying to reduce one's environmental impact. It is a strong contributor to the greenhouse effect that results in global warming. Much of this carbon dioxide is released in the production of the energy our homes use. So we feel that the biggest contribution we will be making is focused on our energy use. That's why we're insulating well, using super efficient windows, using radiant floor heating, installing a geothermal heating and cooling system; and powering the whole house with solar photovoltaic panels.

Those are the major ways in which we will have the greatest success in lowering our environmental impact. We also hope to do many of the things folks ask us about or recommend to us, but many times there are conflicts or monetary issues that make decisions difficult. If we can hold strong to our low energy use goal, we should be making the biggest contribution to a healthy planet that we can. After all, we can't reduce our carbon output to absolute zero since we breathe out significant amounts with every breath.

Stay tuned over the next few weeks for explanations of the systems and products we're thinking of using.

We're trying our best to be good Earth citizens, but don't hold your breath.

Check out this website that has many forums for discussing various green products. It's a huge website, but nicely organized into categories. http://www.greenbuildingtalk.com

Pigs, a Wolf and a Gentleman

2009-12-08T14:48:00.000-08:00

As you may know, our original builder, Sage Homebuilders, went out of business a few months ago. Sadly, they did not do so in an elegant fashion. This ended up costing us lots of time, some money and gave us quite a bit of stress. But we learned some valuable lessons as we went through the process of cleaning up their mess and finding a new builder. Builders come in various shapes and sizes.

We've seen a lot of them and I can't help but think of the Three Little Pigs fairy tale. Our first builder ended up building us a straw house or more accurately, an only-on-paper house. It never got started, they went out of business and we're left with a pile of paper to clean up.

Another builder wanted to give us a house built out of sticks. It would look better than the straw house, but that was just a cover-up. We eventually learned that they weren't so honest in the bidding and building process. With questionable business practices that house fell down too.

In the meantime the weather is getting colder and various agencies are taking forever to give us needed approvals. We call these forces the big, bad wolf. If we're not careful the wolf may blow down any house we try to build.

Then along came a gentleman. Not part of the original story, but a good additional character. We have seen his work and talked with previous clients. No straws, no sticks, just good solid bricks. This fellow is a true craftsman with a devoted attention to detail. We view him and his crew as local artisans. His name is Jason Walters and he owns the company Stylecraft Homes. His company is small, but mighty. For a quality custom home seek out Jason, he's not afraid of the big bad wolf.

If you will permit me. . . .

2009-11-10T18:24:00.000-08:00

The last few weeks have been a grueling and arduous journey of obtaining permits. We ask for permission all of the time. As children we learn to do so nicely because as you do unto others, so they will do unto you. As adults we sometimes aren't so nice about getting permission. Some of us have been heard to say that it is better to seek forgiveness rather than ask for permission. When building a house that last strategy is probably a bad one. Plus, generally speaking both of us are rule followers although we've been known to push quite hard when provoked. Provocation comes in the guise of bureaucracies. They need their rules and timelines, but what we object to is the inflexibility of these organizations. They seem wholly unable to accommodate individuals or to navigate through a thorny, exceptional situation. Truly maddening is when you get caught in the middle of two warring bureaucracies. That'll have you bouncing around like a ping-pong ball.

In our project we have tried to learn the process for working with several groups that have some hold over and responsibility for the appropriate completion of our house. The learning curve is steep and it's nearly impossible to do it in a quick fashion. Perhaps the most frustrating circumstance arises every time we have an encounter and the agency involved expects us to know what to do. Why is that? I am a biology teacher and yet I don't expect people working in a government agency to explain the life cycle of the bacterium Escherichia coli and why all of our lives depend upon this tiny beastie. Why am I expected to know the jobs of our bureaucratic friends? If it's so easy to understand their job, then why do we need them to be doing it?

Frustration is high in our lives because we have yet to break ground and won't be able to for at least another 2-3 weeks. When we finally have all the t's crossed and i's dotted, our big sigh of relief will be heard around the neighborhood.

This story from http://myhumor.org/clean-jokes/bureaucracy-humor.asp may tickle your funny bone:

Three Wishes

A Government Employee sits in his office and out of boredom, decides to see what’s in his old filing cabinet. He pokes through the contents and comes across an old brass lamp.

"This will look nice on my mantelpiece," he decides, and takes it home with him. While polishing the lamp, a genie appears and grants him three wishes.

"I wish to be on a beautiful island in the Caribbean."

POOF!

He suddenly appears on a gorgeous beach.

After overcoming his initial surprise, he states his second wish.

"I wish to be waited on hand and foot by beautiful women."

POOF!

A crowd of gorgeous women flock to him, attending his every need.

He tells the genie his third and last wish: "I wish to never have to work ever again."

POOF!

He’s back in his government office.

Onward and upward,

Mark and Mark

Our Best Face Forward

2009-10-29T15:23:00.000-07:00

The picture above is a computer generated view of the front facade. It might be somewhat distorted on your screen, but you'll get the idea. This represents months of deciding how the front should look, what we could afford and what we could get approval to do. So don't even think about suggesting changes (unless you pay for them). The landscaping is just representational and will probably be much more extensive in the front and the back. The black pathway to the fence will also be something different.

For now we are just going to enjoy our computer cartoon house and dream about what it will be like to live inside of it. Below is an image of the back of the house. For security reasons we aren't comfortable with showing interior layout views, but hopefully you will all have a chance to see inside, in person, when it's finished.

In the back view you can see the cartoon drawing of the stucco garden walls that will be behind the front fence. We have someone helping us design these walls who already has had some brilliant suggestions. On the second floor is a 4-season room with screens and storm windows. And the best part is the conservatory off of the first floor. Sometimes when we're feeling a bit Victorian, we'll call this structure the orangery. This view of the conservatory is actually not right since we are going to build it out of brick and have big windows, much like the Linnean House at the Missouri Botanical Garden which it is modeled after. As a plant nerd all I need is a bed, an icemaker and some books and I would easily be able to live just in the conservatory.

Thanks again for keeping up with our project,

Mark and Mark

The Lorax might be shocked

2009-10-12T20:54:00.000-07:00

Do you know the Dr. Seuss story called "The Lorax"? Well, we may appear to be bringing that story to life this week. In quick synopsis, the story is about the Lorax, a tree-loving creature who speaks for the Truffula trees "because they have no tongues". The Once-ler is a greedy factory owner who wants to cut down the Truffula trees. With great rhymes and charming pictures the story concludes with an ominous warning to preserve natural beauty.

Go to this site to see a 25-minute movie of "The Lorax" story:

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6650219631867189375#

Welllllllll, this week on our lot we are having most of the shrubs and trees removed. Shocking, but necessary. It doesn't sound very eco-friendly to remove vegetation, but a closer look at the situation will, I think, show that these actions are necessary.

The biggest concept here is "right plant in the right place". Even a large, well established tree isn't necessarily eco-friendly if it isn't right for the place where it's planted. It may need extra water, may have invasive roots, weak wood, lots of seeds that let it out-compete other more native species, it may have lots of shallow roots that put up sprouts thus spreading vegetatively as well as by seed. If it bears fruit there may be no animal adapted to consume that fruit. It may be prone to disease. There are many reasons why a tree or shrub is inappropriate for the space it is planted in.

We have had 2 arborists, several people at the MO Botanical Garden and a well known reference book (Michael Dirr's "Manual of Woody Landscape Plants") to guide us in our decision about what to do with the trees and shrubs on our lot. The consensus is that they are all badly placed weed specimens with little value and may even cause future headaches. Here's an inventory of the major trees and shrubs and their associated problems:

American Elms precariously planted on a hillside, these trees should be in a flood plain or wetter area; they are prone to many diseases, most notably Dutch Elm disease.

Siberian Elms planted on a hillside; are resistant to Dutch Elm disease, but have rapid weak growth and little ornamental or environmental value; Dirr calls them "one of, if not, the world's worst trees".

Silver Maple that is probably an OK tree, but it has been girdled by a thick wire resulting in damage around the whole tree, it has also been "topped" repeatedly and damaged by previous construction projects.

Tree of Heaven which is grown in China as a food source for silkworms; is very tolerant of pollution, but very invasive via root suckers; it has no real landscape value and poses a hazard because of rapidly growing, weak wood.

The main shrubs on the lot are bush honeysuckle, a highly invasive plant that the Missouri Department of Conservation wants to eradicate. Go to this site to see a brochure that MDC produced on bush honeysuckle: http://mdc4.mdc.mo.gov/Documents/15700.pdf

There are a few other shrubs, most notably some Rose of Sharon (Althea) plants that have not been tended and are to be removed.

Other perennials including daylilies and goldenrod have been transplanted onto other property since they are likely to be damaged during the clearing of the other plants.

What about the animals? There appear to be no permanent residents in the trees, although many birds and squirrels visit the honeysuckle bushes (which incidentally increases the spread of this invasive plant). Our tree expert is well aware of our concern for animals impacted by the tree removal and has a history of saving animals while doing his job. We are prepared to take any affected babies or adults to local wildlife rescue organizations. At this time of year there shouldn't be any babies, but we're ready in case. Since we currently live next door to the build site, we will install well stocked bird feeders and even leave out peanuts for the squirrels.

And how about the future? It is our hope that we have planned well enough to control the impact of this tree removal. We are going to transition the non-native, badly placed plantings to MO native species or plants from the MO Botanical Garden's Plants of Merit program. This will take some time since the house has to be built first.

It is our hope that someday the Lorax and his friends will want to come back.

In the beginning...

2009-10-09T11:27:00.000-07:00

In the beginning the City created many long skinny lots. Then Mark and Mark looked at these lots and said, "they are not good". So on the first day our heroes made plans to beget a bigger space. Using their powers of almost limitless patience and persistent whining, they were able to combine 5 lots into a space that's 100 feet wide by 130 feet deep. To people living west of highway 170 this lot would nearly fit inside your great room, but for the City, it's a pretty big area. Here's a picture and a movie:

The first series of tasks we will be doing in this project include having the land surveyed which will include thinking about drainage and excavation issues, determining the location of the house on the lot and eventually getting a building permit. These actions are all currently in the works, so our hope is to begin building in October, but it is more likely to be November. Weather issues will be a concern, but when is that not going to be true?

As long as something new is happening, we will post roughly weekly or bi-weekly updates. Should be pretty exciting, especially since we're living in a leased house right next door to the building site. This will give us the opportunity to count each nail and time the coffee breaks. Or better yet, we're going to close our eyes and wake up next Spring in a new house.