Green Home Award

Greetings! After a nearly three-month hiatus from this blog, I finally decided an update was entirely overdo. First, I'd like to welcome any Dickinson Magazine readers who have stumbled upon this site. Dickinson Magazine, the college's quarterly alumni publication, published a wonderful story on our house in the latest issue. Titled "Green on the Inside," the article gives some insight into how we plan to connect with students via the college's sustainability initiative.

Click image to read Dickinson Magazine article.

Patriot News Earth Week Article

On Sunday, April 17, the Harrisburg Patriot News kicked off Earth Week with an article on our house titled "Our Green Home."  It's a little strange--and fun--to open the paper and see a large color picture of yourselves staring back out at you.  The article was written by Diana Fishlock and overall I think she did a good job.  However, there are a few places where the point we were trying to make didn't quite come across in the article.  Thus, I thought it would be reasonable to try to clarify a few points made in the article and to provide additional information for those who are interested.  If you didn't have a chance to read the article, you can read the online version at PennLive.com.

Photo from Patriot News Article (Click image for more photos.)

Visiting Hours are 1:00-5:00

The March 26 open house was a big success. We had a steady stream of people from 1:00 until 5:00 and probably had 60-70 total visitors. And the weather cooperated perfectly. A few days before the open house we got a cold spell. This allowed us to fire up the masonry heater so it would be good and warm when the visitors were here. To top it off, we set a solar record by generating 35 kWh of energy on Saturday (and then set a new record the very next day!). All in all, we were quite busy talking with everyone and had a really good time. It seemed like everyone who visited thought the event was worthwhile. I certainly hope so.

March 26 Open House

March is here and it has certainly come in like a lion in terms of sunshine.  The first four days of March saw the sun shining brightly with not a cloud in the sky.  It's still cold but spring is definitely on the way.  March is also the month of the Pennsylvania Home Show in Harrisburg.  It runs from March 5 through March 13 and as usual, Bridlewood Builders will have a booth.  Following the home show, on Saturday, March 26 from 1:00-5:00 we will have an open house to give potential clients an opportunity to see their work.  Of course, anyone who has been following this blog is certainly welcome to attend.  Brian Klipfel, the mason responsible for our masonry heater should be here as well.  So if you're interested in masonry heaters, are thinking about building an energy efficient house, or even if you're just curious, feel free to stop by.

A Net Zero Energy Day

When we first starting thinking about building a house, our plan was not to build the most efficient house in the world.  But as we got started with the design phase, we decided that we would let energy efficiency be the driving force behind many of our decisions.  Of course, we also decided that we were not prepared to live uncomfortably; what's the point of designing and building a house if you're not going to be able to enjoy it a little?  But as the process continued, we were able to include so many energy efficient features that we began to think that the house might actually end up "net zero energy."  We started monitoring our usage and production pretty closely starting on Jan. 1, 2011 and on February 15, we had our first net zero energy day!

The Sun Lights, Warms, and Powers our Home (Click image for more photos.)

Winter Performance

For the past month or so, Carlisle PA has been pretty darn cold. High temperatures have been averaging in the upper 20s and low 30s and lows have been in the low 20s and into the teens. I'm not complaining - I know there are places that are far colder. But now that we've gotten into a routine with the masonry heater, this past month has given us an opportunity to get a feel for the winter performance of this house. In short, I'd have to say that the house performs as good as, and perhaps even better than, we were hoping.

The Masonry Heater Comes to Life

A lot of things have happened since my last entry and I hope to post some updates in the next few weeks. The year is drawing to a close and we are definitely in mid winter here in Carlisle, PA. While I do appreciate all four seasons, I must admit that winter is not my favorite season. Having said that, I have been looking forward to this winter more than any other because we would finally get a chance to try out the masonry heater. If you've been reading this blog from the beginning you'll recall that the masonry heater was something we decided to splurge on without ever having experienced what it would be like. Well, the winter weather meant it was finally time to experience what a masonry heater has to offer. We've been thinking about it for more than a year now. Would it live up to our potentially inflated expectations?

All dressed up for Xmas (Click image for more photos.)

VIrginia's 40th Birthday

I finally found some time to organize the pictures from Virginia's surprise party, so this post comes a few months after the actual event. The party was difficult to plan because I really wanted it to take place in the new house but I wasn't sure if the house would be finished. Plus, I needed to give people as much advance notice as possible. Even still, a good number of people were not able to attend. As it turns out, the house wasn't quite done but it was close enough to have a party in. Of course, it was still a construction zone so a little cleanup was in order (okay, a LOT of cleanup was in order).

Robin prepares for the party (Click image for more photos.)

Solar Panel Saga Ends

It's been over a month since my last post and I finally have something significant to report.  After all kinds of paperwork problems and a 5-month delay, the photovoltaic (PV) system was finally installed!  Although we are heading into the shortest days of the year, the weather was spectacular for the installation.  After two days of work, the system went live and we were generating electricity!

Solar panels being installed (Click image for more photos.)

Solar Panel Saga

Now that we've been in the house for a while and life is getting somewhat back to normal, I thought I'd fill you in on our solar panel saga. In the beginning it all seemed so simple. Build a super efficient house, add solar panels on the roof, and then watch the meter to see how close we are to net zero energy. And with all the federal and state incentives for solar panels right now, it seemed like there would be a good number of companies to choose from. I'm still not exactly sure why this process turned out to be so darn difficult.

We Moved In!!

Well, it's been quite a while since the last post, but I'm happy to report that after about two years of planning and designing and approximately 9 months of construction, we finally moved into our new house!  The last two or three weeks have been an absolute whirlwind as the builders tried to finish up everything on the interior and get a Certificate of Occupancy (CO), plus the move itself threw our lives into absolute chaos.  There was no driveway or sidewalk and there's definitely some exterior work to be finished, but we're all moved in (though far from being settled) and it feels absolutely amazing!

1004 Hillside Drive! (Click image for more photos.)

Above and Beyond

Virginia here, once again, with the softer side of things. I wanted to write a little tribute to Terry & Robin, husband and wife team who make up Bridlewood Builders. They have been a JOY to work with throughout this process—going above and beyond over and over again.

Not for the Faint-of-Heart

As we approach our moving-in date, it has become clear that Virginia and I are officially overwhelmed. The list of tasks to take care of in the next few weeks is paralyzing and I'm not quite sure how we're going to manage. It's funny, at the beginning of the house project the decisions were "big" in the sense that the actual structure of the house was involved. Now, the decisions have become "small" and it seems like they shouldn't matter too much. But it turns out that they do matter because these are the things that everyone will see.  Plus, there are a lot of them and they're coming a mile a minute.

Floors, Counters, and Cabinets

Wow! A lot has happened this past week. Bamboo flooring, carpet, kitchen countertops, the rest of the kitchen cabinets, bathroom cabinets, some sinks, faucets, toilets, hot water heater, and more. It's been a busy week. All of a sudden, the house seems completely done on the inside. Well, maybe not completely done, but the end is clearly in sight.

More finish work and the DWHR unit

Although there have been a lot of delays recently (and I'll have more to say about that in a future post) some of the finishing work has been progressing quite nicely. I mentioned the masonry heater in my last entry, but in addition, tile and vinyl flooring has been installed and wood ceilings and walls have gone up as well.  Although it still looks like a construction zone, there are glimpses of the house coming closer and closer to completion.

Slowly Nearing Completion (Click image for more photos.)

Delays and the Masonry Heater Phase II

The past few weeks have seen a lot of progress and a lot of delays. It's been frustrating because so many things are co-dependent at this point, a delay in one item causes a delay in another. For example, the bamboo floors were supposed to be installed last week. This can only take place once the bamboo has been acclimated to the proper humidity level in the house. But the humidity level in the house is not well controlled until the ground source heat pump is actually running. Unfortunately, although the drilling has been completed, the geothermal system has yet to be "plugged in and turned on." Thus, a delay in the completion of the heating/cooling system has delayed the bamboo floor installation, which delays the installation of the kitchen appliances and pushes off the carpet installation. We've had other delays as well which result in their own domino effect of delays.  Sometimes it seems like we'll never move into this house.  Sigh...

Exterior, Drilling, and Interior Doors

It's been a few weeks since my last post and visually, the house looks completely different. After waiting nearly two months for the delivery, the exterior siding finally arrived and was installed. Now the house finally looks like a house on the outside. In addition, the masonry heater entered its second phase (stay tuned for a separate blog entry), they completed the drilling for the geothermal system, and the interior doors arrived.

Finishing Phase Underway

Now that the drywall is in place, it's time to begin painting, installing kitchen cabinets, putting in lights, and other things of that nature.  Very little of this involves energy efficiency or any kind of innovation so this blog entry will be relatively short.  I did want to at least keep people up-to-date on what is happening with the house.  In some ways, this is a very exciting phase for us because things are starting to look like we might actually move into this house in the near future.  What a concept!

Dry Wall, Water/Sewer, and Some Local Publicity

Two big things happened on the house front over the past week or so. The most visible is that the drywall is now up. This completely changed the look and feel of the interior. The least visible, but most problematic (because of rock), is that the sewer and water lines are now connected to the house. In addition, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the past week was the publicity we received from the local papers and television news.

Follow-up on Locks

Virginia here.

I know you're all on the edge of your seats about the bedroom locks issue.  (Okay, I'll take Mildly Curious).  If you're just tuning in, a previous post polled readers about whether or not locks should be put on the kids' bedroom doors.  I thoroughly enjoyed everyone's input and stories.  Some left comments and some emailed me personally.