900 Sq. ft Earth Bermed Passive Solar Home in Upstate NY

Started by speedfunk, November 22, 2008, 11:50:08 PM

Previous topic - Next topic

0 Members and 1 Guest are viewing this topic.

Bishopknight

Wow, looks great! I like the pics of the electric company hooking everything up! How exciting!

Basically when I built my shed, it was under 200 square feet so technically ( in maine ) no permit was necessary.  ;D

speedfunk

Thanks!  Yeah the electric is good to get going.  Can charge stuff on site now!  Also need cement mixer.  Debating on weather to use redimix concrete or buy sand, peebles and mix it custom.  Not sure what would be cheaper or would it be worth the added time.  I have a bunch of cores to fill in the block and a bond beam at the top and some window headers that all need to made from concrete.   d*  So much stuff to think about lol.

That would be nice to have that under 200 no permit nessecary.  From what the code guy said EVERY building needs a permit.  It's a very simple permit process i believe for sheds and such..they just want to know where it is on your property.   Probably so they can get a bit more money out of ya  :P



drainl

Copied from our blog... more updates to come!

Cement day (5/16/09)!  After some late night calculations, Jeff was confident 7.5 cubic yards of concete would be the right amount.  Since it cost about $100/cubic yard, it wasn't something we wanted to go way over on.  On the other hand, being short concrete would stink too.  We also ran out and got a bigger wheelbarrow.  We arranged for our friend Ron to assist, since he's done several footers himself.  The truck showed up promptly at 8am.  The driver was able to get up the hill to the house on the first try.  The downside was he couldn't hit all the footers with his shoot, so the guys put the wheelbarrow to use.





Once the footers were full, we had about 1/2 cubic yard left.  The concerete guy said that was a pretty good estimate.





They got everything smoothed out.  The walls bulged a bit in spots, but never burst.



When we were all done Tucker and Grandma June came up to check out the progress.  Tucker went straight for the wet concrete!



The total cost of the cement was just under $800.  Another expensive day!

Redoverfarm

drainl I must apoligize for not posting when I saw your original footer forms.  I thought to my self that you needed some extra exterior pins ( About 1 every 4 feet) but I got sidetracked by something and never got around to it.  2X forms will hold well and is probably the choice when forming a footing but they are not much in the way of strength.  Sorry but it looked as though it all worked out.  A little wider will not hurt but too narrow gets you into problems.  I might pass something else along.  I always have a reserve area for over-run concrete.  Just think where you want something else and have the form ready and make stoops, sidewalks, shed floors and the like.  I had several pours on my house and I managed to pour a 12X36 shed floor just out of over -runs in a two year period.  It looks like the work is about to begin.

Wheel borrowing is no fun.  I had an area that couldn't be reached as well.  I had some rather large tinbers which I managed to make a bridge over the footing to allow the truck access to the back. Once he was out away again I removed the timbers and poured this area last. If your timbers are higher than the forms and fill the forms with timbers as well it will not hurt him driving over it.  Just a thought but you are already over that bridge.

Good Luck 

drainl

Hi Redoverfarm - we actually thought about both the things you mentioned - adding some rebar 1/2 way through the boards and making forms for extra concrete.  Obviously we didn't get to either. 
If we do a concrete floor (still trying to decide) we may make more of an effort on making some sort of form for the extra.  You're right - it's a great way to put the over-run to use!

I forgot to mention a nice side effect of wrapping the footer boards in plastic - the side of the footers came out super smooth.  Doesn't matter much since it'll be underground, but I thought it was interesting. 

 



glenn kangiser

It's always nice to get some footings down and have someplace positive to start from.
"Always work from the general to the specific." J. Raabe

Glenn's Underground Cabin  http://countryplans.com/smf/index.php?topic=151.0

Please put your area in your sig line so we can assist with location specific answers.

Bishopknight

#81
Wow awesome! Great job guys!  [cool]

Jeff,

I am going to be working on my back berm within the next month or two and I'm starting to research french drains.  My local farmer supply sells 3' x 300' of typar landscape fabric for $79.99. I thought it would be a lot more expensive for the fabric!

Since I have a moat around my house but its 4' from the perimeter, I'll probably have 2 french drains around my house, just incase. I figure its better to be safe than sorry. One drain will be in the moat and another will be upclose to my house around the perimeter with drain pipe connection to the lower drain at a few places.

I'll probably do it similar to this picture.

speedfunk

Yes it is Glenn  ;D.  However now that I'm setting block and trying to work out the rest of the plan in my little melon here it's just a part of the large process.   I'll post pics soon but I finished getting the spring fixed up so now I have water to spot (170 foot from spring) where we are mixing concrete! woot.  Won't get much done this weekend as we have a barbeque and the band has 2 shows. 

BK: Yeah man , I don't think you can be careful enough when it comes to water.   Esp with an earthberm you NEED to make sure water doesn't sap away the heat you intend to store there.    We are doing a horizontal skirting membrane that goes out 20' to a curtain drain that we be at or below the footer level and drains all around the house.  I'm erroring on the side of overdoing the water management  8).   


Updated pics to follow.

drainl

Jumping back in time a bit...

On May 21st we got our first shipment of blocks.  The block company is local and it's nice to get these supplies actually made in our hometown.  9 pallets total - I think about 1/3 of the total amount we'll need.  We were optomistic that since the cement truck got to the site pretty easily, the delivery truck would as well.  We REALLY didn't want to have to haul the blocks up the hill by hand or a trailer full at a time.  Jeff pushed the driver a bit and after a few tries he was up.  Phew!  He put most of the blocks inside the footers.





Jeff took the footer forms off.  They came out great!  A funny side effect of the plastic wrapped boards was the glass smooth concrete.  It's real pretty, but eventually will be under a few feet of dirt.



I removed the plastic from the boards.  Only a few were really dirty and some are damp, but definitely useable!  We're happy we took the time to wrap them up so we can re-use them instead of tossing them.  They'll just need some cleaning.  We moved the boards back to our house so we could store them in a dry spot.



Another expensive day.  Don't I keep saying that!?  Over $1800 for the block delivery bill.  It was good to look at the bill again.  I thought we had a whole pallet of surface bonding cement.  It seems there should be some concrete mix bags in there as well.  I'll have to check with Jeff.

$900     720 8"x8"x16" two hole concrete blocks
$189     180 8" half blocks
$251.10 18 50# surface bonding cement
$98.75   25 80# concrete mix
$126      9 wood pallet deposits (refunded $12 each if returned soon)
$135      9 pallet delivery charge
$138.22  Sales Tax



drainl

Our two top priorities were getting the electric in and get the spring water to the building site.  Now we've got both!

Jeff started last fall(?) on building a box around the spring.  He got to the point where he needed to pump out the water so he could cement the inside (with surface bonding cement).  Too much water in your spring isn't a bad problem to have!  So in the end of May he finished up most of the spring work.  Here's a photo of the spring in 2006.



With walls built and pumping out the water...



Jeff put in the cool keyhole with some rocks bordering it.  The idea is for the water to go through the keyhole, but we've still got some leaks, so it's not making it that high.  Even with the leaks, we have awesome pressure!



Jeff was having a hard time finding the pipe he wanted in town.  He finally heard about a company that had what he needed, just didn't typically sell to home owners.  Jeff said they were very helpful and great to work with.  The plan is to run a 2″ pipe from the spring 100′ towards the house.  Then we'll split with a 1″ 100′ pipe down to the building site (and further down the hill where our gardens will be) and another 2″ (?) pipe going to the house for water.  Jeff got the 2″ 100′ line and the 1″ 100′ line run.  He got some expensive but heavy duty brass connections.  We'll be burying these pipes eventually and wanted quality items that'll last.

Our trailer has been a huge help while building



2″ to 1″ joint



2″ pipe running down the hill from the spring



So now we have water at the building site which is needed for concrete work.  Woohoo!  Another bill with the piping of course - the total was over $400.

$179.36     2"x100' 160 Poly Pipe
$42.68       1"x100' 160 Poly Pipe
$185.86     Brass fittings, ball valves, and clamps
$32.64       Sales Tax


drainl

5/30

On to the block laying - yay!  The footers are nice to look at but we can't live in them.  My motivation for getting the walls up is to get some shade.  We bake in the sun on the site.  Good southern exposure for a passive solar house, but not good for my sun hating body.  The plan is to first get all the corner blocks level, square and set in morter.  I had to move a bunch of blocks so we could measure the diagonals for sqaure.  Just warming up my block moving.  After a gazillion measurements and movements we finally got everything in place.  Jeff is the morter man, and set the corner blocks.

This photo must have been late in the day, because I sware there is rarely shade on the site.



Morter man hard at work



Tuck and I were busy building our own house.  It's since become a cement bag house.  Maybe one day we'll reclaim ownership.



Receipts for today?  None!  Unless you count our takeout dinner order.  It's hard to cook after a day of working.


drainl

Here's a panoramic shot of the building site from the driveway that Jeff's mom did for us.  




Redoverfarm

Good progress drainl.  There is just something about kids and construction sites.  I have several of mine at various stages of their childhood on different projects I did.  When they get older they just end up eating your lunch when you are not looking.

drainl

Thanks Redoverfarm!  As we get the walls up the house is like a giant muddy pen.   ;D


drainl

Here's our progress for the first couple weeks in June.  Jeff's continuing to work on setting the first row in morter.  I've been doing the dry stacking.  I can only go up to 4 rows for now until we mark out the doors and make adjustments for those.  Both jobs can be frustrating - maybe we're being too anal.  We bought a new level (to replace a crappy crooked one)which is helping, and Jeffs favorite new toy - an electric cement mixer.  It was pricey - $391+tax, but so far is working great.  It can do up to two bags and is the same type the store rents out, so it should hold up well.  Renting a mixer was $40-50/day.  We'll use this for the first course and core filling, plus any extra stuff we need to build around the windows, doors, etc.

Old school mixing...



And the new way...  You can see in this photo the 4 rows done on the front of the house.  Ground level is actually going to be 2-3 blocks up.  It's hard to picture that now.



We have some gaps that we'll probably fill with cut blocks, but for now we're using cement.  We need to get the right size blade for our saw.



We had our 32′ beams delivered last week.  The store we ordered them from is closing and Friday was the last day of delivery, so we had to get them a little sooner than we wanted.  Hopefully it'll do OK covered in plastic.



We're going to try to sand it down and leave it exposed, but if that doesn't work we'll try to figure out some sort of wood to cover it with.



Here's how it all looks as of today.







Jeff left yesterday with the band for a 10 day trip south to Alabama.  The band bought a new (1993?) van just last week so I'm anxious to hear what sort of issues they run into along the way.  Jeff's the most knowledgeable on cars in the group, so he may be busy!  Unfortunatly the trip means little will be done at the house unless I can get some free time.

I'll update with finances soon!



soomb

by having ground level up at 2-3 blocks will the interior floor be poured or built up (floor joist) to that level?
Live- Phoenix, Relax- Payson

drainl

soomb - we'll be filling the inside of the house with dirt (probably in July?) and then will most likely do a cement slab.  Jeff may do something different in the bathroom area to make plumbing easier. 

soomb

cool.  So will you have to dig under the footer for plumbing or just punch thru the block?
Live- Phoenix, Relax- Payson

drainl

We'll be going through the block for plumbing.  Hopefully it won't be too hard to punch through.  A reason to buy more tools I'm sure!

Bishopknight

Wow it looks great guys! I love all the pics. Thats the same way my blocks were dropped on my pad.

I don't miss this phase, its a lot of hard work, thats for sure! I'm glad I hired help laying the first mortar course. As far as water drainage. I have to be more careful because I'm on grade slab. No water has ever gotten inside my house but the concrete has gotten moist in some areas.

I'll probably take my time backfilling one area to test drainage and see how the french drains perform and how moist the footer gets. You're absolutely right about water robbing you of stored heat so I'm going to take all steps to avoid that.

Good luck with your road trip!


speedfunk

BK:  Yeah that first row is taking it's toll on me.  It's quite time intensive!  Maybe if your a mason it would go quicker.  I am getting quite a bit better though.  I've come to the conclusion that the best way is to keep a level on the block as you lay it and constanly keep checking each direction for level.  Don't forget to keep it close to the string without going over or you will have to move it again!  Completing this stage will be very good.  The machine was cool to watch becuase it has that neat knuckle and allows the pallets to be placed in almost any spot!  Nice idea BK, there's no rush before backfilling, once that's done it's alot harder to fix a water issue.

The concrete mixer has really made the job easier.  I'm not sure but it seems like when I hand mixed it was curing as I mixed it.  So when I was done it was semi-cured and did not apply very well.  The cement mixer makes a much more uniform batch and stays malleable much longer before setting up.  The amount of concrete work we are doing should pay for the mixer. 

Taking a break right now from working in the 3:00 heat with the black flys trying to suck the sweat out of me.  I have 1/2 of the eastern side now done and hopefully will compelete it today when I go back.

Trip to alabama was quite the adventure.  We blew a tire in Alabama and in Tennesee the car refused to start.   Turns out the solinoid had failed.  Then on the way home I felt tranny slip and discovered one of the lines to the radiator was leaking.  Keep an eye on that till we got home.  Alot of driving but the band did well and kept an optimistic outlook on the trip which says a lot!

Alabama was over 100 with almost 90percent humidity.   Very cool people who helped along the way though, good peeps.  I would have to say that tenessee is one of the prettiest places I have seen south of NY.  The hills the fields...very gourgous.  We will be visiting again, maybe to hike and camp.
thats all for now.



Bishopknight


speedfunk

The band has a 1993 for Club Wagon inline 6  8)

hopefully it will be a reliable!

drainl

Here's how the house looked as of July 3rd. Jeff and the little guy were gone for a couple days so I had hoped to put a lot of block stackin time in, but rain slowed me down! I could have used the time to add up bills, but that's no fun!   ;)




 






drainl

Here's how things look as of today - July 12th

9 days later and the house is really starting to take shape.  We're high enough on the walls that we've started leaving space for doors.  We also need to make final decisions on locations of the taller windows.  Jeff cemented in PVC pipes for incoming water and outgoing septic.  Now that he's done mortaring the first row, he's flying with the dry stacking.  We've got around two pallets of block left, so we'll need to make an order soon.  First we need to SBC the walls so we can have the dirt filled inside the house to bring it to ground level.  Then we'll have the pallets put inside the house again like last time.

Exterior door from our bedroom and interior door from bedroom to living area