Update on solar and other things

Okay, my theory on using PV for electric heat didn’t work. One of my assumptions was that using an efficient electric boiler to heat the water for radiant in-floor heating would use about the same amount of electricity as the rest of the house combined. This was a faulty assumption, as it would use way, way more. By using solar for thermal, I’m able to use about 80% of the energy from the sun. PV only is able to convert 10-15% of the energy from the sun into electricity, so it’s really inefficient. IPS estimated that I’d need about a 13kW PV array just for electric heat, so that’s way too inefficient. We’re back to thermal solar after a short detour.

I’m pretty sure I’ll go with IPS and their thermal solar drain back system, with a separate HVAC contractor doing the floor.

As I mentioned in my June 9th entry, cost overruns are killing me, and I was speculating on what I could cut to meet budget costs. I was just providing examples of the extra cost of building green; I’m not actually planning on cutting out any of the green features, like the solar, living roof, or metal roof. So far, the biggest cost cutting measure has been to buy the used kitchen, which gives me way more kitchen that I could have afforded new. My original estimate on kitchen cabinets was about $20,000, which caused me to scale back and reduce the number of cabinets (uppers, the lowers stayed) by about 40% to cut costs. Now I’ll have all the cabinets I need.

I’m definitely going to have to do more of the finishing work than I had planned, especially indoor and outdoor trim. I’m handy with tools, and I have a number of real carpenters as friends and acquaintances, so I’m reasonably sure I can get someone to show me what to do and I can do it myself. I own and have used a router saw, and most every other kind of saw needed for trim. I have friends who have volunteered to help some on the house, so if I can get everything ready myself, I have people who will help me with things that need more than one pair of hands.

I’ve temporarily cut out the back porch and pergola. We’ll lay the slab for the back porch and put in the footings for both the porch and pergola, but delay those unless I have more money left over than I think I have. The pergola I can do with help from friends; the back porch will need to be done by someone professional.

The other thing that I’ll probably do to save money is do the finishing on the MgO board, the green alternative to sheetrock. If it’s hung properly, I’m not supposed to have to mud and tape it, just use a filler. You can see how this is done on the MagnesiaCore website. I may have a hanging party (to hang the MgO board) to save even more money. MgO board is much heavier (and way stronger) than sheetrock, so there’s no way I can do it myself. I remember hanging sheetrock by myself in college (I rehabbed apartments for my landlord to pay for college), but I don’t know how I did it then, and I sure as heck couldn’t do it now. At my age, I don’t even think I could pick up a piece of sheetrock. Anyway, there’s only one job I detest more than finishing wallboard, and that’s plumbing of any kind. But finishing the wallboard would probably save me $10,000, so I may not have a choice.

The longer I take on this, the happier my mom is, since she does not want to move. She’s 84, and has lived in her current home for over 40 years. She doesn’t want to move, but knows she can’t stay there by herself when the house is completed. She’s the principal reason why the main floor is handicapped accessible. The other reason is that this is my retirement home, and I’ll need it that way eventually.

I’m hoping to close on the construction loan this week or early next week, and hoping to break ground next week (week of July 14th) or the week after at the latest.

Jeffrey Swainhart, my General Contractor consultant, has been more help to me than I could ever say. What a great guy, too! He’s nailing down the contracts, and has saved me at least $30,000 in the process. The most important thing, though, is that I’m not having to worry any more about contracts and how this house is going to get built.

Jamie Queissar, an architect student from Germany who is the nephew of a good friend of mine, is helping with the project, too. He’s done a cool 3D diagram of the house using Google’s Sketch-up. Hopefully, the house will be well underway before he has to go back to Germany to school.

Things are looking up. Looks like we’ll be breaking ground very soon.