30x40 Earth Berm Passive Solar in Maine

Started by Bishopknight, October 13, 2008, 09:33:23 AM

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Bishopknight

Ya i took it down, I'm going to fix it so 2" will fit between it. There was only room for 1"

I just bought 18 sheets of 4x8 2" blueboard. Cost $466

3 rolls of miradrain 6200 was $394 with freight charges

100' of 4" perf drain pipe was $50

I'll post an updated pic when it looks right.  ;D

speedfunk

#451
sweetness.  Thanks for the prices on these items.  So it looks like your getting ready to backfill!   ;D

whew that blue board costs alot ... I'm glad i've switched to using tekfoil for insulation skirting.  All though I still need alot of the blue board


Bishopknight

#452
Weekend update:

This is how you move a stove by yourself into the house   ;D


Here's the materials for the back berm wall.


I got some free cabinets on craigslist. This isn't all of them mind you. They look like crap right now but when I'm done they'll look great. I'm in the process of rebuilding the shelf on the base sink cabinet. I almost have everything for the kitchen. It will probably be under $1000 for cabinets and appliances by the time I'm done.

Stove - $250
Dishwasher - $80
Cabinets - FREE
Sink & Faucet - $50
Countertops - ( to be determined, guestimating about $250)
Microwave - $130
Fridge - $75 ( for the mini I have, I plan to get a full size for around $200 )
Paint - $5 ( Lowes bargain paint )
Cabinet hardware - $10 ( Lowes clearance liquidation stock )
Cabinet trim & crown molding - $90 ( Lowes special order returns, heavily discounted, 90% off )
----------------------
$1065 estimated



It rained all day saturday so I did a lot of drywall.  I'm working in sections so I can see progress and keep my sanity  d*



EcoHeliGuy

Hows your truck handling all the loads on the trailer  :)

Bishopknight

It does pretty good if I keep the weight (including occupancy) at or below 750 lbs.  c*

To this day I haven't seen a hitch on another corolla yet. I'm just trying to be a trendsetter  ;D


drainl

Nice score on the cabinets!  In our last house we sanded down and painted our crap wood cabinets from the 70s.  It made a huge difference and cost next to nothing.  Looks good!

EcoHeliGuy

If you can put a hitch on a motorcycle or a smart car you can put one on a corrola.

I say a Harley the other day towing a trailer with another Harley on it  c*

soomb

Nice progress.  Are you to the point where you notice the insulation and thermal mass when compared to the outside?
Live- Phoenix, Relax- Payson

HomeschoolMom

I commend you on your maturity.  I know we are around the same age and I don't know that I wouldn't "want" all new. 

I can't wait for you to get it bermed and see how it does this winter!
Michelle
Homeschooling Mom to Two Boys
Married to Jason, Self Employed

Wanting an earth bermed hybrid timberframe...just need some inheritance  ;)  Will never have another mortgage again!


Bishopknight

Thanks Michelle  :)
Without a job soon, certain corners need to be cut, most of all Kitchen Cabinets. Plus I like the challenge of shining up a penny. 

Soomb,
The house definitely takes a while to change temp. For instance, during a couple of 90 degree days, it felt like I was going into an air conditioned house. By the time the sun went down ,the house had started to heat up perfectly. Also. I would say so far that the house feels nicely humidified, not too much though that it requires a dehumidifier, but I'm monitoring that.

As for it getting cold, It did get chilly saturday night, but only because it dipped to 48 outside pretty quickly. I would say it felt in the upper 50's inside but nice. Once the back is bermed, I'm sure it will help even more with the temp swings and I promise to do some temperature analysis and report that to you all.  If there was a cheap way to collect that data it would be nice.

Again, I'm pretty pleased with everything. I'm hoping all I'll need is my wood stove and not a backup heat source this winter. We'll see!  ;D


Mike 870

Are you planning to spend the winter in the house? 

You could just have a couple thermometers and record the temps in different locations a couple times a day/week/month.  If you chart the delta from the outside temp that should give you a good idea of performance. 

EcoHeliGuy

Not sure if you have your internet access out there yet, but there are lots of weather stations you can get that send info across the net, I know radio shack sells some. and the price isn't much more then a regular weather station

Bishopknight

#462
Mike,

Its a possibility. I will probably do what you said and just manually track the temps in/out via MS excel. I'm getting my DSL connected next month.

Eco,

How is your design/land/home search coming? Where do you plan on putting roots down?

And by the way, to any young couples out there looking for some land, I do have 4-5 back lot acres I could sell. It would only be to a couple or person in their mid to late 20s , early to mid 30s who wants to create a homestead, garden, ect. We'd be looking for about $8,000 but would work something out for a couple we liked.

EcoHeliGuy

Well the design keep changing the longer its on paper  c*

For land I almost jumped on a 5 acre lot in Smithers BC, it was perfect. had a new cabin to live in while building, power already connected, and we planed to use the cabin after as a guesthouse/BnB. It also could have been bought with a mortgage...... downside? 40mins for town which to me isn't an issue, but 20 of that was on a dirtroad with no house's between, so in the winter it my be a bit tough for the lady to get to work, and no school bus pick up if I decide to infect the planet with more of me :)

We are looking into a condo on Vancouver island for the time being, make a little money on the condo, to buy land we can afford later.

that property that I looked at, guess how much?  120K  :(   so keep my eyes open, but still no land yet.

I will be updating the house plans in the next day or too, might finally open a topic on here for it, but I was waiting until I had land to drop it one.

I wish I could do my job back in New Brunswick, I still remember what land goes for back East.  ???


Dog

Looking good! Those cabinets are great. With paint and the hardware they'll be better than new for sure.
The wilderness is a beautiful thing for the soul. Live free or die.

soomb

#465
Quote from: Bishopknight on August 31, 2009, 04:42:37 PM


And by the way, to any young couples out there looking for some land, I do have 4-5 back lot acres I could sell. It would only be to a couple or person in their mid to late 20s , early to mid 30s who wants to create a homestead, garden, etc. We'd be looking for about $8,000 but would work something out for a couple we liked.
As someone who just turned 40, I think I should be offended at the age discrimination.   ;D
Live- Phoenix, Relax- Payson

MikeOnBike

My brother uses an Oregon Scientific WMR100 to record the outdoor, indoor and greenhouse temp/humidity to a computer.  He had to add an extra sensor to the base package to get the greenhouse.  You could use the extra sensor to track your root cellar.  I picked it up on sale at Fred Meyer about a year ago for $99 for the base package.

http://www.samsclub.com/shopping/navigate.do?dest=5&item=374890

http://www.ambientweather.com/orwmr100n.html

poppy

Gotta like craigslist.  ;D  Free is the best price.

BTW, I like your arched window.

MountainDon

Quote from: MikeOnBike on August 31, 2009, 06:17:18 PM
My brother uses an Oregon Scientific WMR100 ....


One thing I found with this unit is that it can be picky about the computer it's hooked to. Mine refused to run on one laptop but was fine on another; different make computer). That one uses the USB port. I have also read about some folks having issues getting a weather station with a serial connection to run using a USB port and an emulator. Sometimes I wish mine was simply hard wired.

Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Bishopknight

#469
Ah cool, ya that sounds perfect. I can't afford it right now but once I'm working again I want to pick one up. Unless I can find it really cheap on craigslist or ebay.



Bishopknight

Here are some mock ups I worked on today in my 3d architect program. Its highly likely I wont use these colors, have wood floors or get a yellow lab, they're all just for demonstration purposes.   c*

P.S: I do want a Yellow lab though  ;D




MikeOnBike

Quote from: MountainDon on August 31, 2009, 08:06:44 PM
One thing I found with this unit is that it can be picky about the computer it's hooked to. 7

He has had to reset the main unit about 3-4 times in the last year to get it to start sending data to the computer.  Not too bad but these are probably about as basic as you can get and still get some reasonable functionality out of them.

I don't think they are junk but hobby grade at best.

MountainDon

I have one computer that the weather station liked for over a month. Then one day it refused and hasn't been able to connect since.  d*  Like you stated, not the highest quality, but servicable for most uses.

I'll add that when/if this weather station causes any serious trouble it'll be replaced with a cheap indoor - outdoor thermometer and humidity unit like the one I have had in the RV for years. I think it was only $15 and has worked for years. I use it now to monitor the temperature inside the refrigerator.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.

Bishopknight

Why do you monitor the fridge temp, is it propane powered?

MountainDon

Propane - yes.

Why? - Same reason I monitor the cabin interior and exterior temps, the solar batteries voltages and specific gravities. I'm just a little crazy that way.   :-[


BTW, it seems happy on thermostat setting 4 (out of 10) and sits at about 35 to 36 degrees. Not sure what the freezer runs at, but it makes ice and ice cream is very firm. Maybe I'll run the thermometer on the freezer this weekend.
Just because something has been done and has not failed, doesn't mean it is good design.