Friday, 3/20, Brick Making

While we were installing the radiant system below, Willy, John Morris and Aaron were outside manufacturing the TerraBricks/CEBs. During the afternoon, we welcomed a number of Falls Church staff who dropped by to observe the CEB making. While civilizations around the globe have been building with earth for generations, it's now a unique construction process here in the U.S. where the "norm" is construction methodologies designed for quick assembly. Unfortunately that results in a disposable house with a significantly shorter lifespan than expected for our solid CEB house.

Willy on the left and John Morris on the right, ensuring the quality of each and every CEB!

Matt Brown and Jason Widstrom, City engineers, observing the CEB manufacture.

Andreas protecting his hearing and wondering if and when
they'll make a quieter version of the Green Machine!

Our clay soldiers all lined up, ready to be stacked as a wall.

Friday, 3/20, It's Getting Hot

Aaron picked up the staple system early in the morning, so we met him at the lot to start work on the pex tubing installation. We worked diligently for approximately six hours installing the tubing. The staple system made it very easy, as compared to the other method of zip-tying the tubing to a metal grid. We took lots of pictures through the installation process, and the final product. Some of these photos are for our benefit in the future (after we win the lottery) when we install the wine cellar and build out another wall to create a media room. If you see in the photos below we left one area open without radiant tubing (for the wine storage) and a wide area in another section for a wall to divide the basement area to create a separate workshop and media room space.

A note on Radiantec - the company that we purchased our hydronic radiant floor heating system from. These folks there were extremely helpful, supportive, and responsive. We called a few times in advance of the purchase with questions and once since we received the product shipment. They were happy to take our calls and extremely helpful.

Thursday, 3/19, Change of Plans, but Good Progress

We were scheduled to install the pex tubing in the basement for our radiant heat flooring system. But things fell a bit behind schedule on Thursday as there was a last-minute change in plans on how to install the tubing. Our architect learned of a staple system that fastens the pex tubing to the 2" extruded foam board insulation. So that stapler had to be obtained while the plastic staples were sent overnight for a Thursday morning arrival. Well, that didn't go as planned, but it all turned out fine in the end (as you'll see in the next post) and Andreas and I didn't have to work in the cold rain.

Meanwhile Bartley Corp.'s team was on-site to add yet another 4" of stone to the basement, plus the 2" extruded foam board. They wrapped up their work while our contractor Aaron, Willy Obando who oversees the crew for making and stacking the TerraBricks/CEBs, and John Morris from TerraBuilt who was training the crew and managing the operation of the Green Machine, were testing out the machine and the getting everything set for brick making.

TerraBuilt's Green Machine Arrived Today

I spoke with our contractor, Aaron, a few moments ago and he shared that the "Green Machine" by TerraBuilt arrived on-site today. Aaron is working with John Morris from the company to find the right mixture of clay soil, sand and Portland cement to make the TerraBricks (CEBs).

When asked why we chose to build with TerraBricks/CEBs, I would have to say there are a number of reasons this innovative technology appealed to us. Primarily it is because the thermal properties from this construction method will allow us to use much less energy and, if we want energy independence as a nation, we need to CONSERVE energy in addition to increasing our sustainable, clean, domestic energy capability such as solar and wind power. And to conserve energy while living in a home that proves to be comfortable, acoustically pleasing, and sustainable - it's a match made in heaven. While I hope to video the demo of the Green Machine on our lot this Saturday, if you can't wait, please visit http://www.terrabuilt.com for their video of TerraBrick/CEB construction.

Not So Big House Yet Again

After the foundation was poured, one concern we had was how far out of the ground the house appeared to be. It made our intentionally small footprint house look like a much larger house. When we were planning our house, we read some of Sarah Susanka's "Not So Big House" books in earnest, enjoying her perspective on designing a house for how we really live and using each room daily. Anything else is would be unnecessary extra for us. You can learn more about Sarah's philosophy, which we certainly share, here: http://www.susanka.com/.

Now that Bartley installed the window wells and did the rough grading around the house, the home looks like it will be a much more management size. What a difference a little dirt can make.

When the weather clears later this week our Contractor, Aaron, will be on-site to test the dirt/sand/cement mixture in order to make the Compressed Earth Bricks for the walls. Then the team will get into full swing with brick manufacture! We're looking forward to the demonstration of the brick-making this Saturday. If you'd like to come by and need our address, please email me at flybymike at gmail dot com. (replace at with @ and dot with a period).

One more note - the HUGE pile of dirt in our neighbor's yard is now a much smaller pile of dirt, which will be used for making the CEB.

Mother Nature 1; Liquid Nails 0

In my last post, I listed a number of upcoming tasks. We're taking two steps forward, one backwards, and, thankfully, making progress. The radiant heat system arrived late last week, ready for installation this week. On Friday, the 50 sheets of 3" extruded foam insulation came, so I spent all yesterday installing the foam board on the outside of the foundation. I was armed with dozens of tubes of liquid nails and my caulk gun. I organized the work site and got about 8 foam boards installed, and then "the rains came."

Since I'm not the wicked witch of the west, I needn't worry about melting, so I worked away, getting all of the foam boards installed. I was worried, though, that the rain would affect the liquid nails' ability to cure. So I used leftover cuts of wood from the first floor installation to hold most of the board to the house. I didn't have enough leftover wood for all of the sheets of foam board, so once the boards seemed firmly affixed, I moved the boards to hold the next set of sheets I installed. I left the lot about 9 hours after I started the project, exhausted, covered with mud from head to toe, and soaked to the bone.

It rained through the night. After church this morning, I drove by the lot to see how the liquid nails held up. Mother nature won the battle, at least with the five boards on the west side of the house, which were no longer affixed to the foundation. Not surprisingly, those were the only five boards I did not wedge the wood up against, since there wasn't a good way to do that on the west side. Fortunately, all of the other boards still were affixed to the house, albeit not to firmly. The liquid nails simply couldn't cure with the steady rain for more the 28 hours.

I waited until the rain slowed significantly and then headed back to the lot this evening to fix the problem. While I was there, Helen and Jeff from across the street, two of the nicest people we've ever met, stopped by to say hi. All of our neighbors have been extremely kind and their visits while we're on-site are always very welcomed. It's such a great neighborhood and we can't wait for the house to be complete so we can be there full-time. That reminds me, yesterday Chris from directly across the street came by to visit in the rain and offered me some tips on sump pumps - a very timely discussion because of the rain, and since we'll be buying those pumps this week.

Back to today - after Helen, Jeff and I chatted for a bit, I put more liquid nails on the five western boards, and I propped the boards up with some wood. The wood only needs to hold the boards up through the back-fill which is scheduled for tomorrow morning. Then the earth will hold the foam boards to the wall forever and the liquid nails become a moot point. I'm hoping that none of the other boards will fall down this evening, but, if they do, I hope that our contractor, Aaron, will be able to put them back in place Monday morning before Bartley back-fills.

What is Dimple to Board, Drain to Tile, Water to Proof?

Ladies and gentlemen, some of the most important preventive measures are being addressed during construction this week -- that is the waterproofing and water removal system around the house's foundation. This was one area where we wanted to spare no expense, in hopes that we won't have water challenges in our basement.

The good folks at Bartley Corporation came back to the lot to coat the foundation with a waterproofing product, install the draintile around the perimeter of the house, and install dimpleboard which acts slightly as an insulation and predominately as a means for water to drain into the black plastic draintile. The draintile then was covered with stone and a filter cloth. All of this will soon be covered up when Bartley returns on Monday morning to backfill around the house. This all will be matched on the inside with a double sump-pump system with battery back-up.

In the meantime, we have ordered 50 sheets of 3" extruded foam which I will affix to the foundation exterior walls this weekend. We've placed the order for the WeatherShield windows & doors with Quality Window & Door in Beltsville, MD. And we ordered the energy-efficient radiant heat system and high-efficiency gas water heater from Radiantec in Lyndonville, VT. The windows & doors will take five-to-six weeks and the radiant heat materials should arrive early next week. I have scheduled vacation for March 19th & 20th to install the radiant heat system in the basement.

Check out our fancy waterproofing system:

FSC Wood Arrives! FSC Wood Installed!

One of Earthcraft's requirements to certify a house as green, is that more than 50% of the wood used in the house must be sustainable/green. One program that promotes sustainable practices for wood products and certifies wood as sustainable is the Forest Stewardship Council. The wood we purchased from T.W. Perry's branch in Gaithersburg, MD is FSC certified. Also, our first floor deck (not outside deck, but actual subfloor on the inside of the house) is AdvanTech, a green engineered wood product. Here's our stack of wood products just after delivery: And here's the framing crew, headed up by Hector, working away early on a Saturday morning to install the floor joists and first floor deck:

CEB Demonstration

We will be demonstrating the manufacture of Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) on Saturday, March 21st from 11:00am - 2:00pm. If you would like the details for this demonstration, please email me at flybymike at gmail dot com.

Mike

Character Is Like the Foundation of a House - It Is Below the Surface

I'm not sure who that quote is from, but I like it. Don't worry; this isn't a philosophical post, it's an update on our house foundation!

Today, Bartley removed the forms for the walls and the foundation looks great!

The lumber package has been ordered and our primary contractor, Aaron Holmes with Cornerstone Building Services, will be on site over the next couple of days with a crew to install the first floor decking. We're actually building a house and I can finally prove it!!!

The Children Were Nestled All Snug in Their Beds

Another pleasant surprise. The folks at Bartley Corporation showed up on an extremely cold Tuesday morning and hustled, completing the forms for the foundation. They then poured the concrete. They wrapped the forms in blankets at the end of the day, and our new basement walls were snuggled up in their beds for a long winter's nap.

Thank you

It stopped snowing in downtown DC today at approximately 2:30pm. After work, I picked Andreas up at the Dulles Jet Center, where he was waiting after the last leg of a charter flight today. We rushed to our lot in Falls Church with a broom and shovel to clear the sidewalk and we found it already had been shoveled by one of the neighbors.

Whoever you are, thank you very much for shoveling our sidewalk. We're looking forward to the house being finished so we can enjoy the company of the fine people who live nearby. The City of Falls Church boasts of the benefits of a small town atmosphere and our experiences so far certainly have proven there is truth in their advertising!

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And a quick update on construction: Bartley Corporation did not complete their work with the foundation forms on Friday, and they didn't show up to work on Saturday as we were led to believe that they would. Obviously they didn't pour the foundation walls yet. Of course with the big snow storm in the DC area yesterday, it is understandable that they could not work today. So if all goes well, they'll finish the forms on Tuesday, pour the concrete on Thursday, and we'll be able to set the first floor trusses/decking the week of March 9th.

Footer Fetish

A good bit has happened this week. And today, if all goes as planned, it may actually start to look like a house is being constructed! On Monday, Bartley Corporation had to re-do some mud excavating work they did not properly do in the area way. They admitted their mistake and corrected that, at their expense, and finished placing the #57 crushed stone. The good folks at CIS had caught Bartley's mistakes and after they were fixed, CIS signed off on the soil stabilization. That cleared Bartley to set the forms and pour the footers for the foundation. On Thursday, Huntley Nyce Associates came to do the brick pointing. Today Bartley is scheduled to set the foundation forms and pour the foundation. See the progress:


This is the area way that clearly had not been properly cared for per the engineer's instructions; mother earth eventually would have won this water battle if this hadn't been fixed before the footers were poured:
Brick points:

Brick point close-up:

No River Too Deep

On Thursday, Bartley's team was back on the lot to start scraping the 6" of mud. They finished the mud scraping and removal on Friday then laid the geotextile material. Truck after truck backed into our driveway to dump the first deliveries of #57 crushed stone from the Loudoun Quarry of Chantilly Crushed Stone. Using a Bobcat, they moved the stone from the construction entrance into the excavated pit, covering the entire area with approximately 4" of stone. On Monday, the crew will return, and more trucks will deliver much more stone, and they'll sling the stone from the trucks into the excavated pit for a total of 18" of stone to mitigate mother nature's high water table in this area.

When looking at the pictures, you can see the grey markings around the side of the excavated area. I stopped at the lot today on my way to the gym, to check on Bartley's progress, and Tim Gary - the Vice President of CIS Engineering - our soils consultant, happened to stop by at the same time I was there. He explained to me that the grey markings show there was a river that went through our lot and that's the sediment that was deposited at the bottom of the river. He was a super nice guy and extremely knowledgeable. You don't think about how water moves underground, but it clearly does. It's not confined to streams, rivers, lakes and the ocean, but Mother Earth is moving water all the time, right under our feet.

There's still a little bit of water showing in some areas, but there's no stone in those areas yet either. I'm guessing that Bartley noticed water seeping from the side walls of the excavated area and they decided to let it collect in spots order to pump the water out on Monday, scrape some more mud, then add the stone to ensure stability. The good news is that water level was below the 4" of stone that surrounded it and when there's another 14" of stone, we're confident that the water will remain well below the footers and foundation of the house. That's the goal!

Yes, Virginia, There is Such a Thing as Green Power in Virginia

Today I received an email from Dominion Power telling me that my latest power bill was on-line for viewing (I switched from paper statements a long time ago). The first sentences of the email said, "Your Dominion online statement is now available. You have the power to choose renewable energy! Click here to sign up or learn about your Green Power options." Very cool - I had to check it out.

This is a voluntary program from Dominion Virginia Power that allows customers to support renewable energy. While it the power provided to my condo won't necessarily be renewable energy, it does mean that the 1.5 cent per kilowatt-hour extra charge allows the power company to purchase renewable energy certificates.

I did some calculations and it would cost just over $5 per month more for this green option -- it's a no-brainer! I'm signing up.

According to the charts on their website, this is what my choosing renewable energy translates to, based on our 4,368 kWh usage in the past 12 months:

• 82,241 Pounds of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Avoided
• 37.35 Metric Tons of Carbon Dioxide Emissions Avoided
• 6.88 is the Equivalent Number of Automobiles Removed from the Road (In terms of greenhouse gas emissions avoided)
  
• 81,565 Equivalent Miles of Automobile Emissions Avoided (In terms of greenhouse gas emissions avoided)

Does your state have a similar program? If you're in Virginia, check out these links for more details:

http://www.dom.com/customer/efficiency/vares_greenpower.jsp
http://www.dom.com/customer/efficiency/pdf/greenpower_cost_chart.pdf

Swamped, Scraped, Crushed, Ouch

Swamped:

In the past week, we watched that little bit of ground water that you saw in last week's pictures start to rise throughout the entire excavated lot. See for yourself:




The ground along the sides of the lot have settled into the excavated area in some areas, which will require re-pouring of some deck pier footers. We were frustrated by this since Bartley - the excavator and concrete company - plans to charge us again to re-do this work. But they were the ones who took the risk of digging the deck piers before excavating for the house. We're not the excavation experts, they are. So when there was a problem based on their decision, why should we have to pay the cost for it?

Scraped:

As reported last week, we had to hire a soils consultant to look at the lot and make a recommendation that will allow us to proceed with the construction. The best option was to pump the ground water out, scape 6" of mud out, haul that mud away, and then put down a geotextile matting and then 18" of stone on top. 12" for water avoidance & stability + the 6" of depth for the scraped-away mud = 18" of stone.

Crushed:

18" of #57 crushed stone across the size of our excavated area translates to 205 tons. That's more than the empty weight of a Boeing 747 aircraft. The stone will go into our scraped, excavated pit. It then will be compacted. As I understand it, this stone serves two purposes: 1) along with the geotextile, it will create the necessary stability for the footers of the house; 2) it will provide a drain plane for the ground water, allowing the water to stay away from our foundation. That's a great thing.

Ouch:

We expected to run into some challenges and additional expenses while constructing this house, and this sure is an expensive one. We're trying to find ways to save money on this, but the extra $12,000 hit on our budget is not very welcome. Maybe we can do without a roof on the house to cover this extra cost?

I've Always Wanted Waterfront Property

We can't say we weren't warned. Our neighbors had warned us that the City of Falls Church has a high water table, so we planned accordingly with our home design - no expense spared on waterproofing, sump pumps, etc. The one major concern we still had with construction was the fear of the unknown when they start digging - the high water table being at the forefront of our minds. As you can see from these photos, and as determined by the city inspector, there is too much ground water on our lot to simply pour the footers for the house. Also, the soil was too soft in that area. Bartley's crew already had set up the forms for the footers, so that all had to be undone. The good folks at Bartley had a soils engineer on our lot within an hour and he recommended two possible solutions, with one being a far superior one. Needless to say, that's the option we're going with. A geotextile will be installed to provide stability to the soil, then 12 inches of stone will be poured on top of that. This will provide a strong enough base to pour the footers and provide an excellent drainage field for water underneath our entire basement. Yes, it's adding several thousand dollars to the budget, but it raises our confidence that the house will be nice and dry in the basement, which is worth the investment. Hopefully they'll be able to continue work in the next day or so, so the footers can be poured and inspected, then on to the foundation!

The Big Dig

Bartley Corporation, who is doing a lot of the early work for us including excavation and pouring the footers and foundation, started the Big Dig this week! The construction project finally is starting to seem real! See for yourself:




A special thanks to Mrs. Brown who owns the house & lot on the north side of our property (the old house that's for sale) since she gave us permission to use her backyard to store the dirt that's excavated. We'll repay that favor by removing the branches/debris from the trees that have accumulated at the back of her lot over the years, which will improve the appearance of her property.

We're just hopeful that our Big Dig isn't as expensive or fraught with problems like the city of Boston's Big Dig!!!

A Sign of the Times

The professionals who have helped us through this project so far have been absolutely wonderful, amazing, patient, and helpful. This is definitely a team project - we couldn't do it without them. Several have marketing signs in our front yard, which we're proud to display:

Earthcraft - the green program our house will be certified under.
Mike Terpak with Access National Bank - our lender.
Aaron Holmes with Cornerstone Building Services - our general contractor.

If you are building, we recommend EarthCraft and Cornerstone. If you need financing, we recommend that you call Mike.