Photovoltaic modules about to be installed on the MCNZH roof
Things are progressing nicely on the Mill Creek NetZero Home. The exterior is almost complete, not including the stucco that will be applied in the spring. Continue Reading →
In-depth Insulation Strategies For Wood-framed Homes in a Prairie Climate
By Albert Aris
If you own an older home and your heating bill is waving the red flag of inefficiency, there is plenty you can do about it yourself.
Estimating Your Home’s Efficiency
The first step toward greater efficiency is to find out where your house stands in efficiency ratings compared with other houses of the same vintage.
Some rules of thumb based on the approximate age of the house are:
Image Source: Albert Aris Continue Reading →
The MCNZH foundation. The rectangle that’s jutting out is the cold room, located under the front steps/landing.
A frequently asked question regarding the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH) is: “Why didn’t you use Insulated Concrete Forms (ICFs) for the foundation walls?”. The short answer is: “using traditional concrete forms and innovative insulating techniques, we can achieve a much higher R-value for less money”.
ICFs are concrete forms made of styrofoam that you set up, pour concrete into, and leave in place to act as insulation. Here’s a picture of someone setting them up:
The advantages of ICFs include decent insulation value, ease of learning for the do-it-yourselfer, and ease of setup (foam is a lot lighter than plywood).
There is a myth that ICFs provide walls with an “equivalent energy loss performance” to an R 50 wall. The argument goes that the mass inside of the concrete walls acts as heat storage, thereby buffering heat as it goes in and out of the building. The counter-argument is quite complex, but suffice to say that I’ve heard very knowledgeable people say that ICFs performing like an R 50 wall is complete bunk. The argument makes sense, too. When it’s minus 20 outside, the relatively small amount of thermal energy stored in a concrete wall will have little effect. R value is R value. ICFs provide about an R 22 wall, with no thermal bridging. That’s pretty decent, but it’s not R50.
Update
As the house is coming very near completion we continue to discover more things to inspire us, and our passions are expanding if you can believe it. Wow looking back over the past three years it is interesting to see where passion has led. From our first date three years ago, to marriage 6 months later, buying our land with mom and dad joining in the fun, completion of our cob wood working shop, building our sustainable earthen home, education programs, tours, publicity, policy, politics, and gardens. All while weaving much learning into each of these phases. Passions outside of our manufactured culture has provided us more personal reward in such a short period than either of us had known throughout all our previous years. We hear the stories about following your passions, or the importance to choose a job that fulfills your passion, but at every step of our lives we are veered away from them, towards… earning an income. Continue Reading →
Every year as temperatures plunge we return to the age-old feat of staying warm. We unearth our familiar woolies, don knitted slippers, and gradually slip into a 6-8 month hibernation period. This year, why not put extra layers on your house as well?
Insulation Types
Choosing a sweater that brings out your eyes is far easier than selecting and installing one or more layers of insulation in your house. So, let’s start with the basics. Natural Resources Canada has compiled an extensive list of different insulation types, how they work, and what their R-values are. The University of Alaska also has an informative at-a-glance chart (pdf) to easily compare your options, while HGTV’s Ecologue’s snappy insulation overview video is sure to warm you up to the idea.
The best two things a home builder/renovator can do in the name of energy efficiency is to insulate and seal a house. It’s almost too bad, what with our culture’s obsession with everything high tech. When people ask me about the Mill Creek NetZero Home (MCNZH), they’re often expecting to hear about technology’s magic answers. When I start talking about insulation levels, eyes start to glaze over, but the truth is that 75% of the difference between this house and a conventional one is that it’s sealed as tight as a plastic bag and it’s super-insulated. Continue Reading →
We tore down the house at 9805 – 84 Avenue about 45 days ago, and Peter Amerongen and Habitat Studios have made a lot of progress since.
The very beginning was quite stressful due to some difficult neighbour relations, but we go through that (for now). In the meantime, our foundation is poured and backfilled: Continue Reading →
Update
As the house is coming very near completion we continue to discover more things to inspire us, and our passions are expanding if you can believe it. Wow looking back over the past three years it is interesting to see where passion has led. From our first date three years ago, to marriage 6 months later, buying our land with mom and dad joining in the fun, completion of our cob wood working shop, building our sustainable earthen home, education programs, tours, publicity, policy, politics, and gardens. All while weaving much learning into each of these phases. Passions outside of our manufactured culture has provided us more personal reward in such a short period than either of us had known throughout all our previous years. We hear the stories about following your passions, or the importance to choose a job that fulfills your passion, but at every step of our lives we are veered away from them, towards… earning an income. Continue Reading →
