A Roof Over our Heads....Almost!

It has been not quite two weeks since our last progress report. As usual things are moving along. We are seeing changes every day. Here are some pictures showing incremental changes from the point of view of the North Elevation (Photo 1-1 to 1-3) and the South elevation (Photo 1-1 to 1-4) of the house. All of the deep window bucks have been complete and we continue to work upwards to the roof system. The wall system has proven to be fairly easy to implement but it does involve splitting the work into different tasks as we build upwards. We work upwards at one full sheet of foam (True wall from NL styro, custom ordered with 2x4 slots) at a time then stop at the nearest sheet dimension to complete framing tasks above. In photo 2-4 you will see that the trusses have an 18" heel. This heel allows us to add more insulation. You can see that the foam on photo 1-3 is just below the heel on the north wall. The foam will extend up beyond the eave and cover the heel. With cellulose in the attic and the foam outside the double top plate, it will help decrease the thermal bridging to the inside of the house.

The roof trusses were designed by a local company and are fairly typical of a home like this with a 10/12 pitch. That 10/12 pitch is going to be great should we ever consider solar panels now that net metering is an option here in our province. Small scale generation using PV could easily offset all of the power that this house needs. My net metering application has been submitted and is in the process of being reviewed.

We are expecting the trusses to be finished up next week as well as roof sheathing. Then comes roofing!!!!

Photo 1-1 North elevation about 3 weeks ago

Photo 1-2 North elevation about 1.5 weeks ago

Photo 1-3 North elevation today.

Photo 2-1 South Elevation about 3 weeks ago

Photo 2-2 South Elevation about 1.5 weeks ago

Photo 2-3 South Elevation about 1 week ago

Photo 2-4 South Elevation Yesterday.

Comments

Building the Air Tight Barrier: Door Flashing Details.

It took us a while to wrap our heads around the door details on my plans. The main exterior wall is composed of 2x8s. The rough stud opening was substantially larger than the door. Because the walls are much deeper than a standard door frame for a 2x6 wall, the interior of the 2x8 opening was studded with double 2x4s. Outside of these 2x4s, there is 1.5" of foam and another 2x4 on face which brings the door frame opening flush to the exterior 3" of EPS foam. The brick mould of the door will sit against the exterior of the wall. The ganged 2x4s which define the opening will allow the door to open a little further than that of a 2x8 wall. With the door details finalized, I had to flash the opening as per the plan. I specified the size/shape for aluminum sill pans and CBS Eavestroughing made them for me. The sill pans have a kind of end dam to prevent water from entering under the under the stud opening should the door ever...

Choosing an HRV...My Thoughts....

So, which HRV do you want for your home? This is a question not often asked by the homeowner. When the house is built, somebody installed an HRV and that was it. The home owner is rarely involved in anything other than turning a knob on the HRV wall control if they dare fool with it at all. An HRV is probably one of the most important appliances in your house; it expels moisture, eliminates odours, evacuates stale air from bathrooms, provides clean air to keep you healthy and it recovers a lot of heat that would have otherwise been blown out through the vent on the house. It serves three main functions: 1. Supplies the home with fresh dry air. 2. Removes stale air and removes excess moisture. 3. Recovers heat or heat/moisture For a low energy home we need an HRV that is as efficient as possible. With the ventilation unit taking care of exchanging most of the air in the building, having an efficient one will pay for itself...

Introducing: The Flatrock Passive House

So...after 8 1/2 years in our home, we have decided to move on. Well, not right away! We have quite a bit of planning ahead of us. With the likely onset of a 233% hike in the cost of electricity from Muskrat Falls (when compared to todays rate of $0.0972/kWh) we decided it was time to take energy consumption seriously before its too late to do anything about it. The land has been acquired, the planning has started! I am planning on nipping my energy bill in the bud before it becomes a major sinkhole in my pocket book. Upon investigating current building standards, I realized that the Canadian Building Code is below the standards necessary to really make a difference in energy consumption. There are some standards like R2000 which can make a difference to total energy usage. A R-2000 home can use up to 50% less heating energy compared to a code built home; if built properly! A blower door test will reveal the truth about that. Now....Imagine ...

Flatrock Passive House: A Passive House in Newfoundland

Search This Blog