Serious About Windows

From the very beginning, Scott and I understood there would be three (at least) big-ticket items for the house: the roof, the solar heating system and windows. As the roof and the solar heating system near completion, it is time to turn our attention to the windows.

We actually began investigating windows even before Wayne had drawn up our blueprints. Early in the planning stages, Wayne took us to the Loewen Windows show room in Salt Lake. Loewen is the brand Wayne has in his straw bale house in Idaho. According to the literature, Loewen windows have extremely high thermal performance which has led to their Energy Star designation. And, as we saw in Wayne’s house, the douglas fir casing and brick mould are absolutely beautiful. As you can guess, they also have a price tag to match.

Still, we had agreed to spend what was necessary to have excellent windows. After all, since our walls have an R-value of 40 +, we better have high-performing windows to fill the holes we make in those walls. We were planning to go with Loewen window until two things happened. One - I asked my mom how she liked her wood windows. She said, if she were to do it over, she would NOT have wood because they require so much maintenance. And two - we learned about Serious Windows because Scott, always one for extensive research, learned they were the most efficient windows available.

Plus, get this, the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, in a retrofitting project, will be using Serious Windows. Hey! If they’re good enough for the Empire State Building, they are good enough for us. And we won’t even have to worry about cleaning glass 1,250 feet off the ground.

Yes, there is a big price tag for their performance, but we’re excited to have such a great product in our house. Last week, I took a big gulp and wrote the check. The windows should be delivered this summer!

Ten Thousand Pounds of Insulation

Whenever we pick up a magazine these days, it’s common to see articles entitled “Seven Steps to a Green Home,” “Affordable Solar Energy” or “Create the Perfect Home with Alternative Building Systems.” We get a little chuckle when we read those articles because we continue to be reminded that those seven steps are not necessarily simple or affordable, and the definition of “perfect” encompasses a range as broad as the Rockies. However, when it came time to insulate the roof of our house, the nexus of simplicity, affordability and perfection seemed to land very neatly on our doorstep.

When we left the house in November, 16-inch scissor trusses had been set in place on top of the interior sheathing. Off and on throughout December, subcontractor Kirk Chappel and his employee, Brian Briel, added the exterior roof sheathing and built the east and west gable end walls. Our next task was to fill the cavity between the interior and exterior roof sheathing with insulation.

Wayne, our architect, designed an unvented roof that would have an approximate r-value of 60. To achieve this, we would use cellulose insulation purchased from Mountain Fiber Insulation in Hyrum, Utah. You might ask why we would bring insulation all the way from Cache Valley to Torrey when we could have, perhaps more easily, purchased it from Loa Builders. That is a fair question especially considering our determination to use local products and employ local people.

For us, there are two "locals." We chose to work with this Cache Valley business because the product is made from 100% recycled paper, it fit our needs exactly, we know the owners personally, they allowed us to use their heavy-duty equipment free of charge and they gave us a great deal.

Scott arrived in Torrey on January 11, one day prior to the semitruck delivery of 484 bales of insulation. With the help of Kirk and Brian, in less than four days, that insulation had disappeared inside our roof, and Scott was back in Logan the following Sunday. Here’s what happened, step by step.

This is our roof as we left it last November. Notice the 16-inch scissor trusses. The insulation will be blown between and across the trusses.

Here, on January 11, it looks like the roof is essential done, but the space between the interior and exterior sheathing is empty. In must be filled with insulation.

The insulation begins its life as 100% recycled paper - the crossword puzzles, comics, magazines and phone books we throw away every day.



 

This machine shreds, grinds and pulverizes the paper...

into cellulose insulation that is then treated with 100% borate fire retardant that also provides fungicide protection.

Using the Mountain Fiber equipment, the contents of 398 bales (almost 10,000 pounds) is blown into the roof cavity at a density that is so compact, it will not settle...hence an r-value of 60.

When Scott left Torrey, he brought 86 unused bales of insulation and the machine with him. It was covered with the tarp because it began to rain on the way back to Logan. We were lucky. The rain held off while Scott was working. The weather gods smiled upon us one more time.

Next week, Tyler Torgerson and his crew will install RMax Thermasheath as the next layer on the roof. This is a rigid foam plastic thermal insulation board composed of closed cell, polyisocyanurate foam which is bonded to reinforced aluminum foil facers. Our ASC standing seam metal goes next. Then, and finally, Phillip Winters will be able to install our solar heat exchange panels...all just in time to meet the deadline for our alternative energy grant.

Our Front Yard

North, south, east or west, the view from our porch is beautiful enough to make your heart stop. It's a wonder we get anything done at all when all we want to do is look and look and look. All of the photos in this movie were taken from the front door of the yurt or from the house construction site.

The State of Things

We left Torrey to return to Logan at 11:15 on Saturday, November 13. Stegner, Arion and Charlie (our llama family) peered out the windows of the trailer not happy about spending the next six and half hours in such close proximity to each other. The paraphernalia of Torrey life was crammed into every available crevice and gap of the truck.

Dave at the saw

Tyse on porch decking

As we pulled away, Dave and Tyse were finishing the last of the decking on the porch roof. There was nothing more Scott and I could do for the moment and Logan obligations called from the north.

Reviewing the progress of this second building season, we have...

* put a wood-burning stove in the yurt
* planted and fenced 20 trees - 10 cottonwoods, 1 Fat Albert blue spruce, 5 blue spruce seedlings, 2 apple trees, 1 plum tree, 1 cherry tree
* installed the PEX for the entire floor
* poured the concrete floor in the bedroom, office, kitchen and master bathroom
* laid the first five inches of the earthen floor (the last one inch to be installed later)
* insulated the foundation with Pink Panther rigid foam
* mortared slate to the entire exterior of the foundation
* built a sill plate for the straw bale walls
* buried the 21,000 pound water storage tank for the solar water heating system
* graded the building site to eliminate piles of dirt and fill in holes
* finished and raised all of the timber frame (HOORAY!!!)
* assembled the core of the Tempcast masonry heater
* purchased and stacked 500 bales of straw in the garage and to the north of the garage
* cut, sanded and sealed all of the porch posts, rafters and beams
* erected the porch
* framed the interior walls
* selected and purchased almost all of the lights for the interior and exterior of the house (This had to be done in order for the electrician to wire the house.)

Solar Mechanical "Room"

Trent Hunt has placed all of the electrical wires above the ceiling. Phillip Winters has completed as much of the solar heating and water system as is possible without a finished roof. Tyler Torgerson and crews have completed the decking for the entire ceiling and porch plus added the waterproof felt layer and the metal drip edge.

While we work here in Logan, Tyler and crew will continue working. Eventually the phone will ring, and we’ll head back to Torrey to blow the insulation into the roof.

For now, Scott and I have called a hiatus. We know the first, middle, last and nick names of every piece of wood in our entire house. Our sweat, tears and not just a little blood linger everywhere. There is still so much to be done. Maybe we can complete our 2010 "to-do list" before the 2011 season begins.

November 2010

November 2009

So Much For Plans

6:45 AM; Wednesday morning; November 10; Torrey, Utah; Mary and Scott’s yurt...19 degrees F inside, 21 degrees F outside. It’s hard to drag yourself out of bed when your breath is visible in the air and the water in the teapot is frozen.

We force ourselves out of toasty sleeping bags and stoke the wood stove just enough to boil tea water and thaw our fingers so we can eat breakfast. The decking for the porch, waiting in tall stacks around the house, must go up. Last night the weather service predicted a 50% chance of snow – this morning the revised forecast is 70% chance of snow.

The roofing crew of two, Dave and Tyce, show up at 9:00. Scott and I have the chop saw ready for action. The pale sun disappears behind darkening clouds descending quickly from the west. By 10:00 the snow begins to filter toward us from thickening skies, and, by 10:30, the 70% chance of snow becomes a 100% chance of snow. Work ends for the day.

So much for plans...

It begins to snow...

A Chance of Snow

Six wonderful days of hiking! It’s hard to believe that we would actually be seeking shade in November, but it was warm and so fabulously beautiful. Harris Wash, the creek wending its way to the Escalante River, golden cottonwoods, deep silence, enigmatic petroglyphs and quicksand. Quicksand as deep as Scott’s waist! After two days of hiking, we agreed it was too dangerous to continue and retreated to a different trail, this one along the Escalante River starting from the bridge at Calf Creek on Highway 12.

Again, luxuriously warm (for November), a meandering river and camping at Sand Creek Wash. We spent the last day out exploring Sand Creek. Brilliant cottonwood leaves reminiscent of stained glass windows, river birch juxtaposed against monumental sandstone walls patterned with desert varnish and deposition layers petrified with time, mountain lion footprints in the sand. This hike was a glorious reminder of why we love this region.

Now it’s back to work on the roof and the weather forecast is for snow across the state. Monday there was a 70% chance of snow in Torrey. All day long we sanded and sealed 2” X 8” tongue and groove. Dave and Tyse began putting the porch decking in place while Phillip and Dale worked on the solar heating system. We worked mostly in sunshine but always in wind and only briefly in snow, in late afternoon. So what, exactly, does 70% mean? Does it mean 70% of the hours will have snow? Does it mean 70% of the land area will experience snowfall? For us it meant we had the entire day to work until rain with occasional snow began at 4:00. So much for 70%.

This morning the temperature inside the yurt was 25 degrees. Outside the yurt it was 24 degrees, but we worked the entire day in sun (and, of course, wind) while the decking on the north porch was completed.

Who knows about tomorrow. The forecast  says 50% chance of snow with a high of 34 degrees. Luckily Scott and I have thermal coveralls to fend off the weather. We are determined to get this roof done. Twenty-four hours from now, we’ll know what 50% chance of snow meant.

Roof, Rain and a Looming Deadline

Scott returned to Logan last Monday and together we are heading back to Torrey next Monday. We haven’t been on a single backpacking trip for an entire year. To remedy that sorry state, one of the very first things we’ll do when we arrive is pack up our llamas and hit the trail. We plan to head down Harris Wash for a late-season, multi-day trip ensconced in red rock heaven.

This begs the question, how is it possible we’ve found ourselves with this backcountry deficit when we love exploring that landscape so much? The answer is a combination of a roof, too much rain and a looming deadline.

One reason we’ve chosen to build with straw bales is their high r-value. R-value, or resistance value, is a measurement used to designate the insulating value of specific materials used in construction.  Higher R-values indicate a material's greater ability to insulate. Three inches of fiberglass insulation has an R-value of 11. Straw bale walls have r-values ranging from 40 - 55. This means we’ll be very toasty in winters, cool during the summers and our low utility bills will put smiles on our faces.

With walls like that, it only makes sense to have a tight roof as well. The design of our roof should provide an r-value in the neighborhood of 60. From the inside out, our roof consists of 2” x  8” tongue and groove from salvaged ponderosa pine trees, roofing felt, 16” scissor trusses filled with nearly five tons of cellulose insulation made of recycled newspapers, 5/8 inch sheathing, 1 1/2 inch foam covered with reflective radiant barrier and, finally, metal that matches the roof on the garage. I guess you could think of it as the Dagwood sandwich of the roofing world.

To make our project a little more interesting, the wiring for the entire house must come through the roof. That’s because we don’t want any penetrations in the walls since those could conduct moisture into the straw.

Let’s just say the progress of the roof construction has been hindered by busy schedules and atypical rain. Scott was in Torrey for 12 days prior to his return to Logan. It rained for nine of those days. Not much building happens when the sky is pouring on your project.

As it stands now, there is tongue and groove plus felt on about half of the roof. All of the scissor trusses are up.

Most of the wiring is in. But there is oh so much more to be done. It’s raining right now. There is snow on the peaks. Our season is coming to a close. Without a roof, we cannot get the solar panels on the house. Without solar panels, our heating system isn’t complete. To get our grant from the state of Utah, this all must be done by March.


We’ve worked hard all season. The trip with our llamas will be wonderful. Then we’ll see what can be finished before winter sets in.