Re: Sustainable Building Materials

["Eugene F. Monaco" <EFMonaco@compuserve.com>]

I'd like to offer my two cents on this one.

First the structure.  You'd be well advised to make the house partially
earth-sheltered, like into the side of a hill.  I say this not beause I'm
such a fan of all the waterproofing and damproofing issues associated with
this concept (I'm not), nor of the tendency toward dankness; rather, one of
wind loads.  As an engineer, I can tell you that IMHO, there are certain
building codes that are totally inadequate, opposite of what you might
think.  Codes are designed to give the novice designer a go-by so that the
buildings stand up to the extremes of wind and snow (to name a few),  and
so that public safety is assured by minimizing risks from harmful
waterbourn diseases, all without going overboard and running up the costs
too much.  So the codes may require design for say a 50-yr occurance of
some event, but not a 500-yr.  If we get a 500-yr snow and a bunch of roof
structures fail (like they did in Dalton, Ga a few yars ago), then we call
it an act of God; the insurance pays (if you have it) and we rebuild the
same designs becuase, well if it happens again, the insurance will pay
again.  During this process, insurance rates may go up, and the codes may
evolve like they have in California after the recent spat of earthquakes,
but it's business as usual.   We in permaculture like to scoff at codes (me
included) because they often straightjacket us; but that's another
discussion.  Now for my point.  When it comes to structural issues, the
codes are designed for certain mile-per-hour winds, and certain snow loads.
 These loads are stated IMHO from a group of engineers that either don't
understand, or don't want to believe the effects of changed weather
patterns set in motion by the rapid increase in deforestation and CO2
emissions caused by agriculture and industrialization in the last 2/3 of
the 20th century.  How is it that in the past ten years we have seen at
least four separate 500 year events?  The atmospheric instabilities now in
place will ultimately cause code writers to redefine the loads thought of
as being infrequent, as being more frequent and hence worthy of everyday
consideration in desiging buildings.  In other words, expect higher winds
and heavier snows inbetween the long hot droughts.

How do you build a building to withstand the wind?  Either build it out of
reinforced concrete like they do in the Florida Keys, or shield it from the
wind.  Windbreaks come to mind, but so does earth sheltering, the
techniques of which are another thread, should anybody want to take it up.

Next the roof.  Better make sure it'll take that 500-yr snow, so make it
pitched like they do in Switzerland.  As far as cheap materials that you
can drink the water off of, a darn good choice is standing seam steel,
coated or painted.  If you were a pioneer 200 years ago and set out into
the woods to build your roof  you couldn't afford it.  But things being as
they are, there are a number of steel-producing companies that make these
coils of steel at fairly efficient economies of scale, and others that
cold-roll these coils into all kinds of shapes and sizes.  You can build
your whole structure out of them for less than $7 per SF erected, yes
erected.  There's no cheap labor in the United States, unless you're
willing to ruin your marriage; exceptions acknowledged.  The standing seam
roof part alone runs maybe $3 or $4/SF installed which is higher than
asphalt shingles but is much more durable and you can drink off of it.  It
can be designed to withstand wind loads that asphalt shingles can't take. 
It also looks sharp which is important for your middle-class spouse and the
neighbors.

Another roof option that is very inexpensive is painted plywood.  You
install plywood over the rafters then tape the joints like drywall, then
paint with an elastomeric paint (there's several products to choose from). 
It's fairly inert after it dries, like a plastic bucket.  I've seen this in
the carribean where the water goes to cisterns.  There's no reason why it
couldn't be applied in colder climates.  Comes in a variety of colors, but
in the carribean its always white for heat reflection.  Which brings me to
my last point.

Heating.  Good God Frank, whatever you do don't build a fireplace!  It's a
criminal waste of wood, plus a point source of pollution.  Go to Lowes and
buy some double insulated stove pipe sections, 6" diameter, and put
together a flue: total cost, less than $500.  Mount it to the roof
structure with a bracket they sell, connect it to your air-tight
high-efficiency wood stove with a piece of stove pipe and you've got all
the back-up heat you'll ever need to go with your well-insulated
solar-heated house.  Spend your money on a good wood stove.  In Kentucky,
its the only way to go unless you can't afford it.  To me its one of those
basic essentials, along with a good chainsaw.  For hot water get a solar
hot water heater, and some point-of use propane or electric heaters to go
with it.  Collect your water off the barn uphill from the house and
gravity-feed it to the house.  Even if you determine that this is
impossible, then pump your water up hill to an in-ground tank and still
gravity feed it to the house.  Keep the tank full.  Imagine what it would
be like if you had a fire and a power failure at the same time.

Enough for now,
Gene Monaco
writing from Atlanta

Message text written by "Franks Farm"
>
3) Had planned on metal roof with baked enamel or ceramic? finish for
better
rain water collection. But have found that $$$ for such a roof might be
quite
high, and that unless baked on finish is well sealed that water off metal
roof
may contain high levels of zinc, and other metals(lead?...can't remember
study
results right now) that are harmful even after a few hours of rain. So even
if
you set up a system to drain off several minutes of first run off you could
still have a problem.
Thatched roof sounds great...but who has the skills and expertise to build
such a roof today . Seems amateur attempts could lead to major problems if
not
done well...and that could result in expensive repair/replacement.
Seems all asphalt shingles would leach mineral grits etc.
Slate would be great...but too expensive.
Ceramic tile too. Not sure about some of new concrete materials?

We are considering a 12 over 12 oe even 15 over 12 to get more height, and
space in the attic.

Appreciate your comments on the above.

Heating/Cooling

We hope to rely on good ventilation system that would use a variety of
devices...ceiling fans, small fans, transoms, floor registers and good
cross
ventilation from well placed windows for distribution of conditioned air.

So we are leaning towards high efficiency ground source heat pump on an in
ground horizontal loop . Since we plan to have a solar room for passive
solar
gain that could reduce our heating requirement by 50% or more we can
undersize
that system plus there is a local rebate program that will cut costs.

We love a fireplace, and have lots of free wood but the costs of chimney
construction, fire potential, maintenance costs etc. have us leaning
towards
an outdoor water furnace, which can drive a hot water system, which we
prefer
over hot air. It also makes hot water when in use.

For back up we have a number of electric baseboard units, and small
heaters. 
I'm not sure what the best backup would be for electrical outage since
water
furnace, and heat pump use electricity. We are considering an ONAN
generator
as a backup but they run several thousands dollars for a low speed model
that
runs off propane. We are told that gasoline can be a problem if system is
only
used periodically.

We are also planning the space for a fireplace and wall in the center of
the
home so that it can be added at a later date $$$ permitting. Someone
mentioned
that a new chimney cost over $10,000.

Not sure whether we will need a water heater with above system, but am
considering Aqua Star on demand heater.

We'd like to use composting toilets, but we are uncertain over performance,
and units run well over $1000. We have heard  of odor problems , and some
to
facilitate "composting", and odors use electricity and exhaust fans for
such.

We hope to install a rain water collection system, and also have water
drawn
and stored from a spring and run through filters for household purposes.
We want to include a greywater treatment system at a later date, planning
and
piping will be included from the start. Later we will build the lagoons and
utilize plants/gravel/sand to help purify water (like the systems John Todd
developed  at New Alchemy many years ago. )
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