Today we officially broke ground at our "patch of dirt". I have been conspicuously absent from blogging for several months. There was lots being done behind the scenes. Re-designs and revisions, contract negotiations, permit applications, choosing of finishes etc. Lots of decisions to be made and with so much up in the air I didn't want to report until things were a little more settled. Now we are settled back down on the ground and diggin' it!
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| A big CAT on the land. |
Paul has spent numerous hours researching Solar PV (electricity) and Solar Thermal water heating systems. He'll blog abut the details of that aspect of the plan. Our secondary goal after achieving Passivehouse standard is to be as close as possible to net zero in our electricity usage. We want to generate enough electricity to cover our anual consumption. We will still be connected to the grid, drawing electricity in the winter when our capacity to generate power will not meet our needs, and selling back to the grid in the summer when we should generate more than we will consume. Paul the math guy has been crunching the energy numbers to size the solar array properly.
While that's fun for him, I've been having fun choosing backsplash tile and faucets, light fixtures and door knobs. Though not so important to the Passivehouse aspect of the project, it's these design details that will make the house our home.
I will try to document each phase of the construction and highlight the Passivehouse elements. I'll show what makes this house different from standard house construction. Soon they will be pouring the foundation. We have been super lucky that the weather has been mild this winter (knock on wood). The temperatures have been above freezing during the day and there is no snow on the ground. First the site prep. It feels good to be back in the blogging business.
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