The experiments are over

[mvk]

Lost my post again

Great looking house John the wrap around hips and overhangs on gables and dormers make the differance but $$$$. What kind of siding? Shakes or shingles I hope and wrap the corners

Some questions

What brand of windows, and are they casement and awnings?

Do you ever use cellulose or just BIB's if so why, Moisture? whats the R for BIBS and do you have a ballpark cost per sq. ft. Can you DIY?

On the 2x8 walls double top plate?

Ever use Larson trusses?

Mike

[John Raabe]

Windows are Loewen. The siding (if done per Dwgs) will have galvanized iron below the windows with a water table band, board & batt (site milled) siding above with singles on the gable ends.

Yes, double 2x8 top plates. BIBS is a proprietary system with special equipment and costs a bit (10-15%?) over a fiberglass batt job. Cellulose would also be a good choice if it can be blown to the right density and stay there. BIBS doesn't settle and does an excellent job of filling all the small voids that kill the R-value of most wall insulation. Here's more BIBS Info.


No, I've never done a Larson truss (but we show one in the Super Insulation book). It needs a very cold climate to repay the trouble is my opinion.

[mvk]

John thanks

Did you spec. Loewen if so why? Never used them, or heard of them, I've been out of the business for 15 years.

Great Idea with the metal down low on the house, must work great with all the rain you got out your way. Got any pictures? Never seen it out here. Like the idea of B&B with shingles on the gables. Might do that, I still prefer the reverse B&B and I'm thinking of horizontal slabs on gable, shingles are getting up there in cost, but you live where they make them. The real old house's out here used to use 3" exposure on the clapboards for the bottom 3or 4 feet.

Do you use a vapor barrier on those double walls with the BIB's if so what kind?

There are folks building in the northeast with a variation of Larson trusses and cellulose no vapour barrier, supposedly the vapour moves in and out of the wall cavity with no ill effects. Do you have an opinion on that. They fill from the attic I guess that it is open all the way down. don't know about fire blocking or code, we just got code in NH and don't even know which one.    Since cellulose is a fire retardant I wonder if it acts as fire blocking. I also guess that if you fill from the attic then that would eliminate settling since there would be a big layer of insulation that could self fill from the top? I have seen pictures of the install and looks like the have a couple of house's in the bay at the same time and they reach all the way to the floor and they pull them up as the go. They also try to build with out any or limited amount of manufactured products Plywood, OSB, etc, to avoid the glues. I'm not real hung up on that but if I could do it with out to much trouble I would.

Your book is out of print? When was it last updated? Is there a current book on super insulation?

I'm kind of re-thinking the whole heating/insulation thing, we will have wood for heat forever but will I want or be able to do it in 10, 20 years if I last that long

Mike

[MountainDon]

Did you spec. Loewen if so why? Never used them, or heard of them, I've been out of the business for 15 years.

Is that the Loewen from Stenibach, Manitoba? If so they've been in business a long long time. They started making church pews. Steinbach is close to where I grew up.

[John Raabe]

Here's a link to the window mfgr: http://www.loewen.com/home.nsf/index_homeowner. The local window supplier the owner's and I worked with was able to get a good combination of the windows we wanted, with good R-value and at a reasonable price. They had the beefy frames that fit in with this semi-traditional design.

As for a VB on the walls you can use two coats of primer if doing drywall or 6 mil poly if not.(This is for colder climates - not always the same for climates with cooling needs). More important than a tight plastic vapor barrier is good control of air flow. Sealing up an air barrier is far more important. An unsealed ceiling with light fixtures into the attic, for instance, can cause lots of moisture problems and heat loss.

Yes the Superinsulated Design and Construction book is from the late 80's and is out of print. The three co-authors decided to list ourselves alphabetically. Tom Lenchek now gets the credit most places. If my name had only been Adams . I see that a copy today will cost you $184!! . There were only 5000 copies printed and this must be a small effect of the oil prices!

For the best current thinking on high-efficiency construction techniques see Building Science Corp. This link goes to a page of climate determined strategies which is a good place to start (we did the same thing in our book).