Window woes

I spent a lot of time trying to get the right windows for the cottage. The first priority and problem was trying to find a window/glass that would allow heat in. Most windows today are designed to keep heat in the house and use the title E2 ('E-squared') to indicate the efficiency. The problem with E2 windows is that in addition to keeping heat in they keep heat out while I'm counting on the sun to warm up the concrete floors.

So I called lots of companies; retailers, window manufacturers, and glass manufacturers to try and get the right window characteristics - one with good solar heat gain (SHGC or solar heat gain coefficient) and good efficiency (as measured by u-value or the rate at which heat transfers through the material).

I thought I had reached a reasonable solution with Milgard's Hardcoat Low-e product but I was disappointed when, after already ordering the product, I found the SHGC numbers to be moderate at best. But, what's done is done and we'll see how they perform.

Roof sheathing on before first rains

Still had to cover with plastic to avoid getting the sheathing too wet.

Roof on!

Mike Wright's crew moves very quickly

Framing

Well, a lot has happened since my last post. Most significantly, in the week after Thanksgiving Mike Wright and his crew framed the house from floor to roof in one week!

Slab maintenance

We were lucky to employ our good friend Adam Kaiser to drop by and water down the slab while we were away.


A man who takes his job seriously.

Slab pour

The pour begins. Eva says it looks like brownie batter.


Steve Ramirez and crew screed the concrete.


Then, after the concrete has set-up, Steve and partner trowel the surface smooth


Randy, the pumper, and his dog Cody


Steve, on the right, and one of his crew after the job is complete.

The foundation coming together.

After the footings were poured we added about 6" of gravel


Then a layer of plastic to keep moisture from coming up into the slab


Then a layer of insulation


Then sand and rebar


Contralo and Samuel did most of the inner slab work at Mike Wright's direction


Then I added the radiant floor tubing


Rick Wilson came by and helped pressure test the tubing and on Friday afternoon we received approval from the building department to proceed with the slab pour, scheduled for Monday.

Foundation Details

Here are a couple of photos showing some of the foundation forming details


Hold downs for engineered strong walls


Anchor bolts and holders, the bolt on the left is a smaller hold down


Rebar coming up from the footing and out onto the slab, will be connected to a grid of rebar across the slab. The wood inside of the footing holds back the concrete at the door threshold. When we pour the slab we'll remove the board and the colored concrete will flow into this area creating a seamless look.

Plumbing

Plumbing the slab turned out to be fairly easy. Scott from S&K Plumbing kept the drain line high so that it will hopefully meet the existing drain lines in front of the house with the required slope (1/4" per foot) I dug a trench outside the foundation and strung lines where the walls would be. I plan to add a second drain pipe to the laundry that drains to the outside where it can be used to water plants (greywater)

The Framing/Forming Crew

I lucked out and Mike Wright, who I had agreed to use for framing, called to say that one of his jobs had been delayed therefore he and his crew could form-up the foundation if I liked. What a relief to have a team of guys show up, Monday morning 9am, ready to go. They layed out the perimeter, leveled it, and began driving stakes and setting up form boards in no time




The steel in the corner are forms for hold downs


Also arriving right on time was the port-a-potty

Excavation

Encountered some problems
When Williams was here to bid on the concrete removal I asked if they could also excavate the foundation. Dennis replied that his brother, Dale, could do it. First problem was that Dale was on a long term project and therefore could only work on other projects over the weekend. Second problem was that because Williams don't normally excavate foundations they didn't have the right tools, specifically their excavator had only one shovel that was 24" wide. This was OK for the outer perimeter where we needed an additional 6" more than the 15" footing with to set the forms, however with the interior footing the trench was 9" wider than needed which meant pouring lots of extra concrete - $$$ ouch. Later, Mike Wright, the framing contractor, suggested forming up the interior footing and doing two pours, one for the footings, the other for the slab floor. This would allow us to control the amount of concrete in the footing pour and then fill in with more gravel before the slab pour.


Some other problems occurred as well. Once we realized that we were excavating more soil then we needed, Dennis Williams brought in a tractor and large debris box to remove the extra soil. First he lowered the debris box, with the tractor inside out in the street - resulting in a huge bang and bringing out the neighbors. Then he began to load the dirt with the debris box in the street, dropping some dirt along the way, not a lot but enough. One of our neighbors came over and was very upset, so we stopped loading the dirt and cleaned up the street. I should have known better. Following this incident I printed up a letter to all neighbors apologizing for any inconvenience and encouraging them to contact me if they had any problem with the construction.


Layout after leveling


Dale and Dennis working the yard


Me with a water level to check height

Removing and Replacing fence 10/5 - 10/10

The old fence on the north side was being pulled down by ivy and dry rotten and termite ridden in many places so the excavation company pull the fence down






With occasional help I rebuilt the fence in a style similar to our neighbors fence. The fence still needs to be stained.

Removing the old concrete patio

The existing house had a large concrete patio that had been uplifted by a redwood tree (that we removed). There were also walkways around the house and one out to the far corner of the lot. I got a couple of bids and decided to go with Williams Tree Service, the company that removed the redwood tree. They did a great job busting up the concrete and packing it out.

Design Elevations

Elevation drawings.

The addition is designed for passive and active solar heating and electricity. For passive solar heating the house is oriented to the south. The floor is concrete which will absorb the solar heat during the day and release heat at night. A couple of solar hot water panels will be used to warm radiant tubing in the floor when needed and provide domestic hot water. An electric tankless water heater will backup the solar hot water. The solar PV system should be enough to power the addition (net zero), plus possibly feed surplus power to the main house.

Design

Copy of the site plan. The roof will be changed, instead of the hip roof shown, it will be a gable roof. Also, instead of percolation pits to capture displaced run-off, per code, I plan to install a rainwater catchment tank. We're holding off on the patio until after the building is up so that we can see what material, size and shape will work best.