Sjodin Dream Home

Nifty Cost-to-Build Calculator for 30 Bucks

2008-12-16T16:15:00.002-06:00

Yeah, so I still am trying to stay current even though our project is on hold. I came across this really neat cost-to-build calculator for $29.95 that may be very useful to you guys. Here's the link:
http://startbuild.com/

It seems easy to use, and great for when you're in planning mode if you know some details of your house. It seems you can buy a stock plan and input your criteria in there and it will do an approximate cost to build of the house.

If you try this out, please comment on here to see if it's worth anyone's while. I have yet to play around with it, since I have done my own spreadsheet, but might like to see what number it generates since mine was pretty high.

EPA Fugitive List?!? And other things... like India and our house budget updated

2008-12-11T10:58:00.009-06:00

So... not only do we have to worry about terrorists, but also eco-fugitives??? I saw this on the news and was extremely surprised at the audacity of some people:
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081210/ap_on_go_ot/environmental_fugitives

It's unbelievable how people can consciously, nevermind unconsciously, destroy the planet!

Anyway, I haven't posted in awhile and wanted to put something interesting on here since our project is ON HOLD. You know, it is actually turning out to work better this way, since I found out recently that both my husband and I may have a 1-2 year job assignment in India! This is another blessing in disguise since we will have the ability to save more cash if we live there for a bit. And since we didn't start the house yet, it makes us more mobile, which will work to our advantage. Everything is turning out well, so I am actually pretty happy.

Also, I have been getting a couple inquiries on our house budget. Since I no longer am in the bidding process, I am posting the budget to help anyone. Now, keep in mind that in Austin, we have different style homes that may be more expensive to build (like we use a lot of stucco and stone compared to siding and brick). Our job market can affect the cost of subs as well, as we have cheap labor from Mexico, as well as the construction industry is still apparently doing well. Also, there are some trades/subcontractors' bids that are more expensive and special to SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels used for walls and roof), for example the electrical wiring and framing bids. Hope it will be useful and write me if you have questions!

Good luck to you and your projects! You all have been lovely and supportive people, so keep in touch - we'll be building our dream home soon enough when the stars align and things are feeling right... and by the way, have a Merry Christmas and Great New Year!!!!

News on the house...

2008-08-21T15:48:00.004-05:00

I have to inform you that after many attempts with brokers and banks, we were unable to get financing on our house :-(. The reasons cited:

- need more cash reserves/savings, even though a lot of it was used toward design, fees, etc.
- too high of a budget (which can be reduced, but we still need point 1 above to work first)
- the economy, the state of the mortgage industry is making EVERYONE 10 times stricter than normal! Even people with $40,000 in the bank are not getting approved because of hella-strict guidelines (at least that's what my banker told me, or maybe she was trying to make me feel better???). Oh well.... :-I

Actually, I don't feel as bad as I thought because we think maybe the timing is just not right for us. I am dealing with health issues right now and so I need to heal. Maybe it's just not in the cards right now to start this stressful project and deal with huge house payments when the situation is not ideal.

BUT... I am optimistic that we WILL start this house, but it's going to be later rather than sooner, I promise! For the next 6 months we're going to be frugal and cheap - no more eating out excessively or we'll have to find a way to hit a jackpot! We're going to SAVE SAVE SAVE. I will let you know when that time comes.

Please feel free to come back to our blog and check it out! Thanks guys for all your support, but it's not over yet!!!

Want to always stay updated on the oil crisis?

2008-07-15T15:24:00.004-05:00

I suggest you visit this website for tons of shocking information about our oil dependencies, our global impact and what's being done in the industry:
http://www.theoildrum.com/

Silence & A New Solar School in Austin

2008-07-15T12:43:00.005-05:00

Silence is not golden in our case. Sorry it's been too long since the last post! Let me tell you, it's been one LONG ride to the financing finish line, but it will come, I promise. We are working on getting it, it's just taking much longer because of the current economic climate. I'm confident we'll get the money soon. Pray or meditate for us that it will happen sooner rather than later!

Anyway, I wanted to let you know about this Solar Design Workshop class we found at this non-profit company that wants to promote solar solutions and new technologies by way of education. This organization is newly formed in Austin and offering an off-grid course including lunch for $40 this Saturday! We are definitely going to go. Here's the link to learn more:
www.hubbertspeak.org

This is a part theory/part hands-on course that will allow us to design, build, and install a photovoltaic(PV) system. We will have an exciting opportunity to build a 500+ watt off-grid trailer complete with solar panels, wind generator, inverter, charge controller, and battery bank. This would be a valuable lesson for us, because we need to save money on our expensive dream green home. Every dollar will help, because PV systems are definitely not cheap.

I will report what we've learned. Also, I'm thinking of starting a green e-book series that will address various topics and will be available SOON!

We're coming back, promise! See ya at the Austin Cool House tour?

2008-06-20T13:14:00.006-05:00

Yes, it has been too long, but things are finally coming together. So, you should hopefully be hearing back soon!!!

Also, I wanted to post the Austin Cool House tour brochure, because there are a lot of COOL (figuratively speaking too!)& green modern houses on this tour. It will be Sunday, June 22nd from 12 noon to 6 pm. You can download it here.

Hope to see some of you there.

Budget & appraisal being updated, and bathroom dreaming...

2008-05-12T16:58:00.009-05:00

Sorry, I've decided to update my budget so I took it offline and edited out this post.

I'll just leave you with dreamy photos of our beautiful, contemporary Japanese soaking tub that's made of stainless steel. You can get these luxurious tubs at Diamond Spas.

Imagine meditating in one these after 8 hours of work!

Our green home brochure...

2008-04-20T22:01:00.012-05:00

Now available, a brochure giving you details and background on how we came to build green! Feel free to download the Sjödin Residence Brochure in PDF format.

Property rights gone wild....

2008-04-14T15:43:00.007-05:00

I had to post these hilarious pics of signage we saw while driving around the Garden Oaks area of Houston. This disturbed "patriot" (see flags in background) posted these signs ALL OVER his front yard and let his neighbors and passerby's know EXACTLY what he will not put up with.

No, I'm not joking with you... these signs are FOR REAL. And, the real kicker is this sign below (see graphic if you don't understand what "defecate" means... heeheehee)

What I really loved are the complementary graphics that accompanied the text. Like people need a visual... hahaha. And this was just a sampling! We didn't have time to snap photos of his other colorful signs posted like every 4 feet....
"Smile at the Camera: God is Watching You"
"Do not throw condoms, needles or other trash on property"

I would have loved to talked to the owner to find the background of how he came to put up these signs, but was afraid I'd be shot if I stepped a toe over his property line. :-)

Where's Myleen (and other goodies: LEED-H certification for homes, SIPs weekend, LED lights)

2008-04-14T01:48:00.009-05:00

I know I've been silent for some time, but for good reason. I am just waiting patiently for the money to hit the bank so we can get this party started! My champagne bottles are still chilling, and I'm waiting for the big day when we can sign our construction loan.

I had such a great weekend in Houston. First, the weather was unusually and pleasantly cool and dry, which is a rare treat in April. We were outside enjoying the weather in Kemah and staring at some sail boats that Jan wants to eventually get. My poor baby doesn't want much, but a boat is his goal. He's been perusing boat ads for weeks now. :-)

Then we saw Ted, who gave us some great information for getting your home LEED-H certified. If you go to this link, you can download an Excel spreadsheet to tabulate the number of points of your home to determine your certification level. You can go certified, gold, silver and platinum. Guess what we figured? Platinum!!! Woohoo! Although, I'm not sure I did it completely right. Anyway, this is thanks to high efficiency appliances, xeriscaping, geothermal, rainwater collection and site stewardship. I didn't realize that it doesn't cost all that much to get rated. Here's a chart:

We also went out to see Ted's other client's SIP home (Theresa). I have pictures for you to see of her house frame, which we'll post later with more details. She's compiling a list of "What Not to Do for a SIP Home" that I'm going to be following with great interest. It will be of tremendous help because we will be about 2 months behind them and so we can learn from their little hiccups, but it's going relatively smoothly so far! There are a few things to watch out for, because SIPs are so precise, you have to take extra care of how you lay it up and put it in. Check out her blog, as she has put in videos of her framing.

Also, we talked a lot about lighting and Jan wants to use white light LEDs on all the track lighting, and compact flourescents in the recess cans. Why LED? Because they are so much more energy efficient and don't get very hot like halogens. They have come out with SUPERLEDs that are even brighter than halogens! There are now dimmer switches for the LEDs that are relatively new on the market. Now all the above is super expensive unless you build your own, which of course, Jan wants to do. He is the self proclaimed do-it-yourselfer... he can't stand paying for something that he can do better, so we'll have a lot of his inventions around the house :-).

Besides all the above, we have a lot of business and marketing ideas brewing in our heads that will help promote SIPs, our green home and green building in general! I am working on getting our spec sheet, home article and ads out to home tours, building green mags, and other outlets. Stay tuned, because I want to get more people to build this way! Mail me if you want to learn more (free information).

Pictures of the complete casa, garage & rainwater tank storage facility

2008-03-18T02:14:00.012-05:00

Yay, Jan finished the house, garage, rainwater tank storage area & retaining walls, so here they are!

And for those of you needing more technical detail or need some ideas on how we will do our garage, gabions, and rainwater collection system, check out these graphics:

A more detailed video on SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels)

2008-03-17T18:13:00.003-05:00

They will answer questions like

Why they will save you 50% in energy bills...
Why they are superior in strength...
Why they are highly insulative...
Why they are earth friendly...
Why they are easy to build...
Why any framer can learn SIPs...

Check out this longer video

ON BEHALF OF ST. PATRICK'S DAY, BE GREEN AND GOOD!

We're mentioned on Money Magazine!

2008-03-14T09:31:00.004-05:00

Still thinking of building your dream home? Maybe this article will convince you. We were interviewed and mentioned in this article in CNN's Money Magazine. Check it out!

http://money.cnn.com/2008/03/10/real_estate/build_home.moneymag/index.htm?postversion=2008031218

Pretty neat Google Sketchups of our house in 3D

2008-03-07T00:31:00.019-06:00

A guy named Dan who commented on my blog introduced me to Google Sketchup, and we got hooked immediately! You can create 3D renderings of your house or any object you desire, and the best part is that it's free to download! There are even premade 3D sketches of things you can add to your own Sketchup (for example, mid-century modern furniture even!)

Jan got so into it, that he did a DETAILED rendition of our house, including the doors, windows and cedar siding that will look pretty close to reality.

We're still working on the interior and garageport, but here's our completed exterior of our house!

CLICK TO ENLARGE PHOTOS

See how much detail you can put into it, look at our Crestview Door that we're going to use ... it's very cool, but very timeconsuming to draw up!

We're excited! Jan is going to finish this baby up and we'll probably post an animation of our house on You Tube for you to see later.

Got our appraisal in!

2008-03-04T01:36:00.003-06:00

We're happy to report that we got our house and lot appraisal in, and although it's not the highest we wanted, it's above what we expected. I won't report what yet, in the interest of getting the best possible bids. I will, however, need to cut costs and am working on "trimming the fat" on our budget. I am getting some updated bids on things to see how prices have changed, hopefully for the better!

I have heard that lumber prices have come down. Yes, let's hope so!

Right now, one of the challenging things to do is to find a lender that will accomodate 100% financing for an owner builder and a one time close. We are right now searching for the program that suits us. I'll update you when we find out who we'll go with!

I desperately need a vacation and a backrub... over the weekend we moved apartments, so I'm sore. But, I have planned a nice little getaway to New Mexico, one of my favorite places in the world. We can't wait!

The Green Misnomer & Other Issues

2008-02-20T17:06:00.005-06:00

I just received a comment today about our house design being too invasive and "commercial looking". Well folks, I'm not building a conventional home, so prepare for something cool, hip and yes GREEN. And first of all, looks are a matter of personal taste, not a factor of how green is your green built home. I happen to LIKE MODERN. I don't want our house to have A-line gabled roofs, fake shutters or embellished exteriors that aren't the original thing (don't get me wrong, I like old European architecture, just not on our new house!). So, if you're looking for a green lawn roof or an Earthship looking abode, this is not our house, nor is it a point to make it look any more different than another modern house. The point is building green any way you like it (and to your taste!)

As I said in my post, just because it "looks" commercial, doesn't make it any less green or lower impact. Low impact doesn't only encompass natural building materials and making it "look natural" (which is just a facade anyway). Low impact also encompasses energy efficiency (our's is super efficient at 950 sf per ton HVAC, compared to 350-400sf per ton HVAC!), as well as sustainable (our SIP home will use a lot less dimensional lumber than normal stick built and that combined with our geothermal will save us about 60-70% in energy).

So, here's how I see how our house is GREEN:

- Sustainability by way of reducing the use of non-renewable resources (by our house using less energy and naturally efficient geothermal heatpump, we are reducing our carbon footprint by many folds, as well as using very sustainable bamboo, sorghum and local natural stone)

- Increased energy efficiency (like fiberglass windows and high quality insulation (SIPs)).

- Reduction in pollution (like using more fly ash in your concrete or using less electricity)

- Healthier environments (like the no VOC paints)

- Lower impact on resources (like our rainwater tanks)

So you must look at the entire picture, and not just one part of the whole green movement. It irks me that someone is calling our design unsustainable without seeing all the factors. Just wanted to make my point on my blog.... thanks for reading.

p.s. Our original goal was to make it more affordable, but I have come to realize that there are huge hurdles in this industry and a lot of people monopolizing on the green building effort. For example, subcontractors want to charge a hefty premium just because their unfamiliar, it's "new", and it's hip at the moment. This is VERY unfortunate, but only people like us can change this. I guess the only way is to raise awareness and get more people to build like us so that we can have more competition in this field. I have a few tips on this, how to make it more affordable, but it still needs to be worked on!

Financing, appraisal concerns for green homes...

2008-02-14T23:37:00.010-06:00

I'm starting to feel sorry for myself :-(... nah, I know I shouldn't, but it's been tough because I am finding that this house and lot appraisal method is so frustrating because we are building green.

Why? You see, in order to get a construction loan for your house, you have to get your houseplans and lot appraised so that the lender can base the loan on the total appraised value. They basically compare your house square footage and the area where you're building and try to find comparable homes in your neighborhood. The problem is, there aren't too many green built homes to compare to, so they end up comparing your house to the shoddy stick builts and it's simply NOT FAIR because stick built is much cheaper to build so the price/sf is a lot lower!!!

I've been talking to appraisers around town and they are saying the same thing... it doesn't matter because we have to go by what is around you. So tell me, how are we going to get comparables around us when they make it so hard for people to build green in the first place? Add the fact that they don't appraise green features/building for a higher value, even though you're saving thousands a year in energy costs, you're not breathing dangerous vapors, as well as being the benevolent and eco-conscious hero of your neighborhood.

And so I ranted and vented and said, but we're building with SIPs, got geothermal and rainwater collection and all these other cool features but to no avail. I am so thinking of going political over this. If anyone has any insight on how I can go about lobbying for making it easier for green built homes, then I'm very open to suggestions and will put on my marching boots.

Here's our situation, and I'll be an open book (as if I haven't already exposed enough):

We need to appraise both our house and lot at about $740K so that we can get 100% financing for our construction costs which came to be approx $590K (80% of the appraised value). This allows us to put no money down because in essence we are using our equity (difference between appraisal value and costs) for the 20%. We are doing this as owner builders with U Build It. And if that's not hard enough, building green can be costly upfront, and so we require more of a loan than if we went conventionally stick built. Then add on the fact that the nation is under a housing decline at the moment....

We did find ONE appraiser who has specialized in green building in Austin, can you believe that? Here's his info (free PR for him):
Ward Appraisal Services

I guess when people build green, it's their 2nd or 3rd or more house, but of course, we are the pioneer-spirited ones who decided to build our very 1st home properly and green! Woohoo! :-D

The hope is that our land has appreciated enough to cover any large differences. Acreage lots around the Hill Country are getting expensive, so maybe that will be a good thing for us. It's almost becoming a mini California out here (pre 2006). They even built the Hill Country Galleria 8 miles from us, so there's a lot of development coming out this way.

Despite the above, I am trying to stay positive. Really truly, because we deserve this house and want to do it right!!! I am SO HOPING we get the appraisal we want. Wish us luck and as always I'll update with what I find out!

I should do a before and after picture of us when we start the building.... :-)

Quick 3 minute video on SIPs from HGTV Pro

2008-02-04T12:21:00.000-06:00

Some more SIPs cheering... here's an excellent 3 minute video showing you the benefits of building with Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs) from a non-sales biased point of view (HGTV Pro's website). It also shows how they are put together, saving you time, money and the planet!

http://www.hgtvpro.com/hpro/pac_ctnt/text/0,2595,HPRO_20196_55073,00.html?c=484&videoid=66936

And the winner of HVAC efficiency is...

2008-01-31T01:14:00.000-06:00

...Us! We did a manual J calculation of our SIP (Structural Insulated Panel) home and found out that our house was very efficient at 941 sf per ton! The average HVAC contractor normally sizes HVAC units at 450-550 sf per ton.

What does the ton mean? Your HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) system is sized by the ton. Typical sizes for single family residences are between two and five tons. Each ton equals 12,000 Btuh. Basically, it means our house is so air tight, insulated and efficient, it would take a 3-ton HVAC unit to cool our SIP house compared to a 5-ton HVAC unit to cool a stick built house that is the same size as our SIP home.

Our future house, a 2419 sf home, is the most energy efficient home that our green architect has ever designed. :-) Sorry to toot our own horn, but it makes us a bit proud to know this.

Bush's stimulus plan actually making us happy?!

2008-01-26T10:42:00.000-06:00

This is maybe the first thing EVER from Bush that has actually made us HAPPY. With the stimulus plan, they intend to increase the jumbo loan limit to $625,000 for 12 months. You see, anything under the jumbo loan limit gets a much lower interest rate than above that limit. Before it was around 417K which would have caused us to get a percent or more interest rate higher because our loan would have been around 575K. Here's a quote from the news:

"For instance, the interest rate difference between loans that fall
within the cap limit and jumbo loans was more than 1 percent on Thursday
-- 6.39 percent compared with 5.30 percent, according to Bankrate.com.
On a $500,000 mortgage, the difference is about $350 a month."

Below is the full story:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/25/real_estate/stimulus_plan_targets_pricy_housing/index.htm

Duct, duct, goose!

2008-01-25T12:31:00.000-06:00

I'm glad I'm not Mrs. Cheapo, because my husband is insisting on metal ductwork for the house which is the most expensive way to go for your HVAC (Heating Ventilation Air Conditioning) ductwork. My husband, the typical Swede, is so quality driven that he absolutely insists upon it.

From what I've learned, there are a few good reasons. We talked to several geothermal, HVAC consultants and took a couple of classes where they have said the same thing - Metal ducts are better. Metal ductwork lasts longer, is easier to clean, doesn't get particle buildup as easily as flex duct and the air flows better (less possibility for restricted airflow, which causes A/C inefficiency!). A/C usage and inefficiency accounts for a lot of Texan's house bills, so this is pretty darn important. You must insulate the metal ducts on the exterior to keep it from sweating if it's cool air or losing its temperature if it's heat. The only disadvantage I can see besides the expense, is that there have been cases where sound travels through the metal ducts to other parts of the house. There are solutions to fix this (duct liners), but I don't know what that does to the efficiency of the ducts (which will defeat the purpose of the metal ducts!).

The alternative has been to get flexduct (the most common in new homes) or fiberglass ducts (made with a rigid fiberglass duct board). The advantage is that it's way cheaper and already insulated. The problem that occurs is that flexduct bends, restricting airflow and being a lot more inefficient. They can also bust open (some guy found a little rat's family home in one once!EWWWWWW) if little critters can get in, and they are difficult to clean.

Also, you will want to clean your ducts periodically, as there is always a danger of getting fiberglass particles, mold or dust in the ductwork. You do NOT want to breath fiberglass, as that is super dangerous to your lungs, which is why you always need a mask when putting in batt (fiberglass) insulation. With metal ducts, it is easier to clean very thoroughly with a brush. Another tip is that if you are sealing your ducts, always use MASTIC tape not DUCT tape, as mastic tape is better quality and does not wear out as easily as duct tape.

Metal ductwork will cost us about $4,000-5,000 more than using flexduct or fiberglass. But again, my husband says it's worth it! (*sigh*). I guess we're going to have to wait a little longer to get another car :-).

Localvores... a growing trend that's good for us

2008-01-22T23:52:00.000-06:00

With all the talk of building and buying green, how about eating green? There's a growing trend (or maybe I'm just late) of people who only want to buy local or nearby food and produce. They are called "localvores".

According to a Canadian researcher named Vicky Blatt, "If you’re buying green, you should consider the distance food travels. If it’s travelling further, then some of the benefits of organic crops are cancelled out by the extra environmental costs."

We try to buy at minimum 90% organic, to make sure that we're not putting dangerous chemicals in our bodies, but this localvore concept adds a whole other layer of awareness that's important too. According to localvores.org and the guy's relentless research, organic produce is "racking up" more miles than conventional produce in many cases.

So, what do you do? Whatever you can, really. Awareness is always the first step. Read signs in your produce department and buy things in your state as much as possible. It supports the local farmers, economy, and reduces your carbon foot print. What better way? Also, if possible, try to get at least these fruits/veggies as organic, as they are the most pesticide ridden of the bunch. Known as the Dirty Dozen, conventionally grown peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes contain the highest levels of pesticides, according to the Environmental Work Group (EWG), a nonprofit research organization in Washington, D.C.

Also, try going to your local farmer's market! They are a joy to go to, reminiscent of how people used to shop in the old days. Produce is fresher and mostly organic. We have 3 great farmer's markets here in Austin where they sell other wares, baked goods, hormone-free, grass-fed meat, raw or low pasteurized milk, cheeses, as well as the vegetables at usually way less than Whole Foods (in Austin, where they were founded, there's a local motto for them, "Whole Foods, for the healthy and the wealthy").

Besides making our own garden for our consumption, there's still something you can do to be as green as you can!

And something interesting to know for you carnivores, have you ever tried grass-fed meat? I'm a foodie, and its out of this world. You see, cows by nature like and want to eat grass. That's what they are supposed to eat until farmers started feeding them grains and hormones to fatten them up. Cattle aren't even designed to eat grains (who knew!) and also aren't supposed to be fat creatures! Look at these lean guys.

Even organic meat isn't as tasty. Because even though they are eating organic grain feed, it's still GRAIN FED. And not only that, grass-fed meat has more Omega-3 fat and is naturally more lean too! I just made tacos with grass-fed ground beef, and couldn't believe the taste difference.

The best would be to get grass-fed, no hormone/antibiotic free beef. Trust me, you'll never go back. More information on grass-fed beef, go here.

Understanding what a geothermal system is...

2008-01-20T11:33:00.000-06:00

As you can see from our green features list, we are going to use a geothermal heat pump for the heating and cooling of our house, as well as for our swimming pool. It is an extremely effective system that can be up to 2.5 times more efficient than a normal HVAC 12 seer system and uses very little electric. Add that to an air tight, well insulated SIP home, and you'll save yet even more money on cooling your home, probably 75-80% of what a stick frame/batt insulated/regular HVAC home would do.

There is one guy we talked to, J.D. Holt, who owns a 1650 sf SIP home in Austin, TX with a geothermal system to cool his house. In the summertime he pays about $60/month without being conservative with airconditioning. That is rather significant!

In Austin, there are only a handful of geothermal subs that can install geothermal. It is also a very effective system in cold weather climates. In Sweden, it is commonly used for heating, especially large apartment complexes.

At first, I had a hard time truly understanding the science behind a geothermal system and even harder to time to explain it to other people. :-) I copied a Geothermal FAQ from one of the subs we're considering as well as included a link to a video presentation:

http://www.aetinc.us

Q: What is a geothermal heat pump?
A: A Geothermal Heat Pump is an electrically powered heating air conditioning system that uses the natural heat storage ability of the earth. In Texas the ground temperature 6 foot down stays a constant 68 to 72 degrees.

Q: How does it work?
A: Like any type of heat pump, it simply moves heat energy from one place to another. Your refrigerator works using the same principle. By using the refrigeration process, a Geothermal heat Pump removes the heat from the home and transfers it to the ground.

Q: How is heat transferred between the earth and the home?
A: The earth has the ability to absorb and store heat energy. To use that stored energy, that constant 68 to 72 degrees temperature is extracted from the earth through a liquid medium (water) and is pumped to the heat pump or heat exchanger. In the winter, the heat is used to heat your home. In the summer, the process is reversed and indoor heat is extracted from your home and transferred to the earth throughout the water.

Q: You mentioned heating and cooling. Does it do both?
A: One of the things that make a heat pump so versatile is its ability to be a heating and cooling system in one. You can change from one mode to another, just like you do on a conventional heating and air conditioning system via a thermostat.

Q: What types of loops are available?
A: There are 2 main types of loops: open and closed. The closed loop is the most common in Texas. The same water is circulated throughout the entire system. An open loop is used when a water table, such as a river, lake or a pond is used for the water source.

Q: Which loop system is best, open or closed-loop?
A: The net results in operating cost and efficiency are virtually the same. It all depends on whether you have an adequate groundwater supply and means of disposal.

Q: Where can the loop be located?
A: That depends on land availability and terrain. Most closed-loops are drilled vertically about 250 to 300 feet deep. One hole per ton of air conditioning and about 4 1/2 inches in diameter.

Q: How many pipes are in a hole?
A: Actually, two. Polyethylene pipe in the 3/4 inch (one inch in South Texas) size, one down, a short over, then back up. Then the hole is almost filled with a type of grout called bentonite. This acts like a radiator in the ground for heat extraction and rejection.

Q: how long will the loop pipe last?
A: About 50 to 75 years. Polyethylene is inert to chemicals normally found in soil and has excellent heat conducting properties. PVC pipe should NEVER be used under any circumstances.

Q: How efficient is a geothermal heat pump?
A: Geothermal heat pumps are more than 3 times as efficient as the most efficient gas furnace, and more than 2 1/2 times more efficient than a 12 SEER air conditioner.

Here's a video presentation that will give you a visual on how it works:
http://www.heizung-waermepumpe.de/en/this-is-how-a-heat-pump-functions/heat-pump-principle/functionality.html

Picking subs and feeling the housing crunch...

2008-01-19T20:29:00.000-06:00

We're still picking the subs (aka subcontractors) for our house project, and it's not as easy as one thinks. You shouldn't always pick the cheapest, as I've heard time and time again. So, what are my tips so far?

- Always rely on your conversation with the sub. I have found that not only do I use my gut instinct to see who I like to work with, but I also like to get an idea of how the sub thinks. I try to see if he (sorry ladies, 99% of them are Hes) think outside the box or is open to new methodologies (like anything green!), that scores a lot of points with me. You know, great minds think alike :-)... my hubby is pretty darn smart, and he can usually tell when a guy is bluffing with the tech stuff and if the sub can understand what we want to accomplish. In the end, we usually will think he is worth the extra bucks if he's of sound mind.

- Follow the "He's just not that into you" tip. If the sub doesn't seem that enthused over your project, then I think they wouldn't put as much extra effort or give you any innovative tips. It's definitely a turn off to work with people who don't have interest in what you want to do. Also, it's always nice when they have the same sense of style as you. Most of our subs we chose like the modern style and want to do something different from a conventional home.

- Always check the LAST THREE references. Any hesitation on the part of getting these references is a huge red flag. I got one "excuse" the other day from a sub who said that those references probably aren't living in those houses any longer and that he didn't have any contact with them. He avoided giving me their contact information, so it lead me to believe that there was something wrong.

- Beware of rushed, impatient or temperamental people, whether with you or with other people. Your sub's emotions are contagious. If he is stressed and angry, it will make you stressed and angry. We have found that even-keeled, patient and calm people are what make your project easy to deal with and harmonious. We lucked out. All of the guys we have talked to so far seem helpful, patient and jovial. That's what you need when you are creating your baby.

- If someone's a LOT more expensive, compare bids by seeing how much detail is in them. Usually, the person with the most detail is probably the most accurate bidder and won't shock you in the end. Therefore, it is less likely you'll be surprised with a change order or additional costs. If someone is cheap, make sure you get him to detail what is included in his quote, that way you know what you're comparing.

- Check his response time. If he responds in a reasonable amount of time or responds to all your messages, then it's a good sign. Otherwise, you should really ask yourself if he's flaky now, what about when the building starts?

- Realize that you're a "one home" show and he may prioritize a bigger home builder over you. If this is the case, I would be cautious of working with him. Make sure you feel like you're taken care of! You're important too, as you have a mouth that can spread the word!

I've got more probably, but I can't think past these. Also, lately I have been feeling the housing crunch as more and more subs are calling me instead of me chasing THEM around. This is good, as I can get more competitive bids. The only thing is the cost of transportation (thanks to oil prices) and materials have gone up significantly, even though labor is easier to come by.

Hope this helps. I know some new owner builders are nervous about this whole thing, but it's nothing too difficult.

Budget meeting and the next step... financing!

2008-01-08T15:10:00.000-06:00

I just updated our budget for those curious eyes who want to see how the costs are stacking up. Well, they stacked up pretty high, but that's how it goes with green building! Anyway, tomorrow, we are meeting with U Build It to go over this budget and make any tweaks and adjustments. They have a list of subs that we may go with in exchange for ones we have gotten bids for. Also, we went through this spreadsheet for any line items we can do ourselves (marked DIY). For example, painting came in at about $3,400 labor only, but we opted to do this ourselves. The cost of paint can also vary depending on what you get, but we are getting the No VOC paint, so we want to select it ourselves.

The hard part was trying to find and budget for all the little stuff, which can add up! For example, door hardware, tiles, track lights, etc - you would put it in the spreadsheet as allowances, because you don't know exact costs just yet. You just need to be a good shopper.

The next step is to find financing for the construction of our house. Because we are owner builders going through U Build It, we have limited choices as to who will finance us since we need to get a construction loan first and then it will convert to a mortgage loan. We are trying to do a Loan to Value ratio so that we can get 100% financing. Here's how we will do it (simplified version, as I'm not a Finance person :-)):

1) Once the bidding is done, you have to choose the subcontractors you want to go with and input their costs in a budget spreadsheet.
2) This budget spreadsheet will be simplified by consolidating some line item costs for the lender to view the costs.
3) The lender needs the budget, all the architectural plans, your credit history and income to appraise your house and determine a construction loan amount that they can offer.
4) In order to get 100% financed, the total costs should be at minimum 80% of the appraised value of the house and lot. For example, to get a construction loan of $480,000, your house and lot needs to be appraised at least $600,000 by the lender's appraiser to get 100% financing.

The tricky part is to get an appraiser that can appreciate and not undervalue green building methods, as they are more expensive up front. Also, they have to realize that you save money in the long run. This is probably our greatest fear right now, that our appraisal won't come in at a sufficient amount, but we think we'll make it! Our lot has appreciated a great deal and we will do a lot ourselves, so I want to stay positive!!!

Getting green building certified

2007-12-29T11:48:00.000-06:00

The Austin Green Home Meetup group (of which I'm no longer the organizer, due to my crazy schedule) passed this information to me. There is now a way to become "Green Builder Certified". The Green Builder College is offering online courses for homebuilders and . Here's a snippet from their site:

"Green Builder® College is an educational program focused on one of today’s most pressing questions: What is Green Building?

While green building rating systems throughout the country have done an excellent job of certifying building projects, Green Builder® College is the first educational program to offer certification and continuing education to individuals in the homebuilding professions. This program augments the information provided in existing project rating programs so homebuilders and their employees can learn the science behind high-performance, resource-efficient construction."

Building in art in your home

2007-12-19T15:19:00.000-06:00

It's been awhile, but I've been swamped with work as a Tech Writer, building our house, and also working the Keep Austin Bizarre Christmas Bazaar selling my Scandinavian wares. It's been slow sometimes, but I'm sure it will pick up! Besides, everyone here is so friendly and fun, so we're really enjoying ourselves. There's a lot of unique gift items and stuff for the house.

Anyway, I've talked to a couple of vendors here that would be interested in doing some art projects for our house. For instance, we wanted some art of different mediums that would really make our place look like an art gallery. This guy, Darren Minke, said he could integrate these lovely stained wood pieces into our walls to give it a very unique look.

And here's a sample of his digital artwork:

Another artist that speaks to me is Rassouli, who makes very positive and spiritual images of women. I love his use of color and the radiance his paintings evoke to me. Here is a couple of samples of his work:

Also, I found a guy that will make some outdoor benches for us here in cedar mixed with some very cool New Mexican tiles :-). It will be certainly eclectic and interesting.

I think it's always great to surround yourself with art or objects you love and admire, as it brightens your home and your spirits!

P.S. I am taking it easy until '08 before beginning up again on the house. It will be crazy busy with everything during the holidays.... talk to you next year and have a happy holidays!

Thinking outside the building box, some sources

2007-11-27T21:52:00.001-06:00

My hands have been on this keyboard for 100s of hours now, researching these last details of our house. Since most of the materials, applications and fixtures are not normally used in residential applications, I've had to swim through oceans of information to find these items with the help of my architect. Jan says that most of the residential norms are crap, so we HAVE to research every little corner and crevice for the ultimate THING. Most of the stuff we want has primarily been used in the commercial sector or green building, and as Ted says, it's because those things are built to last and simply are better (sigh!)... so here we go, I am freakin' tired, but am grateful that the Internet was invented in my lifetime.

First, insulation. Yes, we are using SIPs for most everything. But because our 2nd story cantilevers (overhangs) out above our pool, we have to use something other than our beloved SIPs. So, Ted suggested using batt on the floor of our 2nd story overhang to save money, but now I want to look at this natural fibre insulation that's safe, environmental because their made with post-industrial waste (recycled blue jeans!) and they are good quality for not too much money. The advantage is that even though they are more expensive per square foot ($0.39/sf batt insulation vs. $0.89-1.09/sf natural fibre insulation), you will save in labor costs because batt has to be stapled in and handled with care because of the itch and fiberglass irritation. This stuff can be put in by hand and don't need to be stapled in, so they are quickly installed and safe to handle as you can see with the baby below.

I found this company:
Bonded Logic at http://www.bondedlogic.com/

I couldn't resist posting this adorable photo:

Then on to ventilation ducts. We learned of a system that removes humidity from our bathrooms that can be planned with fewer punctures through our roof because they share the same vent to the outside. They are quieter & better designed so that you can control 2 or more bathrooms with the same ventilation duct.

Here's some information on them:
Fantech at http://www.fantech.net
and there's even this nifty timer that can clock the amount of time the vent fan should run (it's recommended that you run it for at LEAST 20 min after a shower):

As for our roof, since we're doing rainwater collection, we had to find an application that would make our flat roof design safe for drinking water. It had to be both ANSI/NSF Standard 61 approved and be able to waterproof our flat roof. We found ONE solution! It's called Hydrostop, and it's mostly used in commercial buildings.

Also, under our stucco, we had to find a plastic rainscreen that will draw water out so that it drains down in channels called Mortairvent. It is not commonly found in stucco applications, but of course we had to have it :-). According to the website, "Current construction designs call for manufactured stone directly against the metal lathe, which is placed against the plywood sheathing and housewrap. This allows moisture that penetrates the exterior cladding to become trapped between the exterior cladding and interior plywood sheathing. In time, this trapped moisture will cause rotting, mold and general deterioration of the plywood sheathing. Rainscreen technology should be used to allow this trapped moisture to drain." So that's why.

Windows and doors, who knew

2007-11-11T09:30:00.000-06:00

It's been a while since I posted due to me constantly having to attend to my bids on the house. We have been getting some extreme prices on certain subcontractors, so it's a matter of checking 2, 3 or sometimes more bids to see that you get a reasonable price! It's an art in itself.... but anyway, I wanted to post about windows and doors, since I learned more about them. I didn't realize the complexity, but they are a crucial part of the house and affect your energy efficiency, structural integrity, not to mention your personal style.

There are a number of different frame and door materials, and costs vary greatly. Our architect wanted us to get fiberglass windows (vs. wood, aluminum or vinyl) and I wanted to know why and what the differences were. Here's what I have found out:

Dimensionally Stable
Fiberglass expands and contracts at similar rate as glass (1/3rd the rate of aluminum & 1/7th rate of vinyl)

Less torsion and stress between glass and frame in cold weather

Reduced air leakage

Decreased stress on locking mechanism

Thermally Efficient

Fiberglass is an insulating material
Does not require a “thermal break” as do aluminum windows
- Even with thermal break aluminum windows not as in same category as fiberglass
Does Not require steel/aluminum STIFFENERS as many vinyl windows do

Durability

Fiberglass is a structural material that will maintain its strength in every climate
- Strength allows slim sightlines – especially in the casement and awning
- Larger glass areas
Unlike wood will not rot or warp
- With today's higher indoor humidities wood windows often rot or at least discolor from the inside
Unlike vinyl will not shrink, sag or crack
- Over time even when not painted a dark color vinyl can shrink, sag and embrittle

Although fiberglass windows and doors are not new and have been on the market for more than 20 years, they have slowly been introduced into the construction industry, due to the industry's notoriety for resisting change. The problem for us was that not all the window styles were available in fiberglass. Our second choice would be aluminum windows, but they aren't as eco-friendly because of the fact that it takes a lot of energy to produce aluminum. Vinyl windows are a lot cheaper, but then you get the warping problems detailed above. So, we have had to compromise by doing mostly fiberglass and then having certain windows in vinyl (for example, the casement windows that open like doors). Since our casements don't see sunlight (under the cantilever of our 2nd story of our house), it doesn't matter too much.

As for our doors, we are opting to do solid wood. Although we will have to probably replace or stain/paint them every so often, we wanted to keep a certain look. It's probably a small concession in the whole scheme of our green home, but I think it will be worth the extra trouble! Anyway, I finally found a cool front door and mudroom exterior door that fits our style. It wasn't easy because the internet and building supply places are FULL of those horrendously ugly beveled doors, but I guess this is a subjective topic. :-)

Here are a few pics of mid-century design doors that are made in Austin at Crestview Doors (but you can also order them online line and they deliver nationwide):

I was so happy to find these doors, as they're not too overly priced (between $1000-1500) and all the modern ones we saw were in the $6K and up range, like this fancy stainless steel door from Neoporte (which I love, but can't afford right now):

And here's a pic of our garage door that we're going to get from BP Glass Garage Doors:

Greenest building in the WORLD....

2007-10-29T16:35:00.000-05:00

This is the highest LEED Platinum rated building on the planet, called the Aldo Leopold Legacy Center. Now for some nice news, this building uses SIPs! :-D

As if I haven't cheered loudly enough about SIPs.

"Considered by many as the father of wildlife management and of the United States’ wilderness system, Aldo Leopold was a conservationist, forester, philosopher, educator, writer, and outdoor enthusiast," according to his site.

Read about this extraordinary building at:

http://www.aldoleopold.org/legacycenter/

It uses 71% less energy than a building just built to code. That's a huge difference!

Permits approved, bids getting worked on, and more about how owner building works...

2007-10-28T12:11:00.000-05:00

After some leg work, I got all our permits approved!!! :-) Celebrate! We can actually start building once we get our bids for the various parts of the house (foundation, framing, materials, plumbing, electrical, etc.). We have been working really hard the past 3 weeks getting our houseplans and structural engineering plans printed and distributed to all the various subcontractors. You have to be on the phone a lot and do a lot of follow up calls!

Since we are owner builders, we can opt to choose U-Build It's contractor list or get subcontractors of our own (or pick and choose which ones we want to get on our own), which is great because we can vet the people ourselves and put more money where we want to. This is the biggest advantage of being an owner builder since you can control costs and quality much more closely than if you rely on a builder to do it. I have heard horror stories of people who give too much trust in their builder and that builder turns around and cuts corners where you don't want them to. In some instances, you're paying them 20% of building costs to basically just write out checks and little more than that.

Here are the categories of contractors. You may have more or less than this list:

Foundation
Materials
Framing
Windows
Electrical
Structured Wiring
Garage Doors
HVAC
Plumbing
Roofing
Roofing Supply
Drywall
Paint
Cabinets
Flooring
Glass/Mirror
Front Door
Masonry/Stucco
Stairs
Pool builder
Steel fabricator (for stair cable railing)

After getting our bids, we have to decide which subcontractors to go with, create our budget and then submit that to the lender doing our construction loan. We, by the way, haven't selected our lender. You will have to prepare documentation for your loan (called "full doc"), such as pay stubs, tax returns, stock/bonds and account/retirement statements. In today's market, you have to do "full doc" to get the best rate possible. Banks and lenders are being more stringent in lending out money than ever before.

When you owner build, part of what you pay for when you sign up with an owner builder program is the support you get when obtaining a construction loan. I believe there is a law in Texas that says that you have to be a registered builder to do your construction loan, and so that's why we had to sign up with U-Build It. The lender (whom we haven't decided on yet) will then get an appraiser to look at all our plans and do a house appraisal. Based on the house appraisal, credit history and income, we will get approved to loan a certain amount for the construction loan.

During the construction of the house, you will get guidance by U-Build It's consultants and their builder's manual on how to schedule the construction project. You write the checks, you decide the subs, and you must do daily site visits, as you are replacing the builder's (a builder is also called GC for General Contractor) Building Supervisor. You will have plenty of inspections (by the structural engineer for the slab, third party inspector, bank inspector, and owner builder inspector) at various phases of construction and THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT. Make sure the appropriate inspections are done at the specified time, especially before and after slab pour (your foundation). This is all detailed out in your builder's manual, which is provided to you by your owner builder program. Even if you were going with a builder, it is still good to know these details, as you need to keep an eye on your GC and make sure s/he's doing these steps. It's always good to "trust but verify" as Reagan says, probably the only good Republican quote I'll ever use :-).

It does seem like a lot of trouble, but is worth it to us, because as future home owners for our first house, we want to be totally involved, probably much more than most. It's always good to be ahead of the game, as well as always well informed, whether you go with owner builder or a GC (builder).

During construction, you are paying a higher construction loan interest on the money you draw. Usually, this term is up to 12 months. Once construction is over, your construction loan gets converted to a mortgage loan. As far as we're concerned, we want to shorten the construction as little as possible. We have been told that our house can be ready in 6 months, even faster because we are going with SIPs that can be prefabricated at the manufacturer's. That would be great, as the pool can be ready for the summer time! We hope to break ground end of November/December. As always, I'll keep you posted!

Bunch of backwards, good ol' boy contractors (ARGH!)

2007-10-24T14:31:00.000-05:00

This is not a nice post. But, learn from my grievances. I am steamed with ContractorTalk.com. Never have I met such unprofessional, backward, good ol' boy mentality contractors that live in plastic bubbles. Don't go there, as you'll be told by a lot of unprofessional folks WRONG information. These are people that believe global warming doesn't exist, and their most famous argument "I've been working with building for 30 years, and we know better than you about building" is meritless, they only look at bottom line dollar figures, and call me a zealot because I like SIPs. They try to call you names like hippy, tree hugger because you want to see change in the industry. When all they are doing is covering up their ignorance and closemindedness with name-calling and irrational arguments.

Never have I been treated so poorly by a company site. I am very level headed and don't name call, but I was basically kicked off for having such progressive views in building. These guys will try to talk homebuilders out of building green because they don't understand these green concepts or they will say they'll do it cheaper going stick built. It is a very very closed minded, conservative way of living, which I highly disapprove of. It's either take the bus or stay behind, and there's a big ass group of them back there picking their teeth and holding their precious dollars until their hands bleed.

Industries change and improve, and these people will never understand that. These people are afraid of progress and don't want to even investigate improvements in methods. They would rather be stuck in their own little worlds, defending themselves with their semi-automatics and sit on top of their precious tax money. They don't invest in their surroundings. They say bottom line, you have to pay more. Well, I always look at it as a living investment not just what I save NOW. I believe you have to pay for the society you want to live in, not let everything go haywire around you while you live in your gated community with guns under your pillows. Jan and I are wealthy beyond the $ signs, with a consciousness of both our wellbeing and society's wellbeing, and that's much more important than fending for yourself and keeping your money.

And this infuriates me to no end - they think "Humans first, fish and birds second" (yes, I kid you not, some Republicans in Texas actually had this slogan going against environmental rights). It pisses me off to no end how unreal their minds work and how short sighted they are about stuff happening around them.

I've actually lived in Sweden, where you have the right to camp/travel across all natural areas (even people's backyards), free health care, free college tuition, free school lunches to highschool, child stipends, 1 year maternity leaves (with 80% of your pay during this period), and where I gave 40% to taxes. However, I have never been so stressless and relaxed as I was there. People don't worry as much about money and health as they do here. Besides, you pay your money to SOMEONE here in the U.S., if not to taxes. I know for a fact that health insurance can cost $1000/month for a family of 4, and that's a lot of money! Please don't give me the "high taxes" excuse BS, I know how that works since I lived in both worlds!

Whew... I had to rant, and since this is my blog, I guess I can say what I want. I don't normally talk politics on here, but it has a lot to do with your life here in the U.S., and I have pretty strong beliefs. Ahh, I feel better now! :-)

Foliage plants for removing indoor air pollutants from energy-efficient homes

2007-10-23T07:49:00.000-05:00

My husband Jan found this interesting paper on using foliage plants to remove pollutants from air-tight energy efficient homes that will be useful to many of us homeowners. It is important for the house to not only be eco-friendly and energy efficient, but to also be healthy. Even though our foam SIP walls (EPS sandwiched between 2 OSB boards) won't offgas, the furniture you may have can "leak" formaldehyde and other pollutants. Plants are a beautiful and economical way to cleanse the air of your house.

Here is a snippet from the paper written by B.C. Wolverton, McDonald and Watkins, Jr.:

"Under conditions of this study, the spider plant proved most efficient by sorbing and/or effecting the removal of up to 2.27 microgram formaldehyde per cm2 leaf surface area in 6 hours of exposure. The immediate application of this new botanical air-purification system should be in energy-efficient homes that have a high risk of this organic concentrating in the air, due to outgassing of area-formaldehyde foam insulation, particleboard, fabrics and various other synthetic materials."

You can download the paper here:
http://www.sjodinweb.com/house/foliage_air.pdf

Or go to these links to look at the following studies on plant effects:

http://www.gdrc.org/uem/stat-plants.html

http://www.cleanairgardening.com/houseplants.html

http://www.oxford.net/~steve/sick.htm

More SIPs cheering and info on proper installation and flashing of windows

2007-10-20T00:00:00.000-05:00

We just came back from a very informative and intelligently put together SIP class at EH Systems. They are a SIP manufacturer that we are definitely considering to buy our panels from, as they offer great customer service, are within a 100 mile radius of Austin (so I can knock on their door if I need to), and hopefully will have prices that are reasonable.

If you're STILL not convinced that SIPs aren't the best way to go, please research and read up on the SIPA website and Oak Ridge Laboratories (government agency). There are tons of articles and technical information for you skeptics, proving its energy efficiency, structural integrity, superiority and payoffs. Yes, they cost a little bit more to build than conventional stick framing, but you can get your money back after 4-5 years of energy savings on your electric bill!!! As I've said many times before, green building costs more upfront, but the money comes back to you in several ways. You are putting your money in your house rather than utility company's pockets, you are saving on electric bills and you are more comfortable in your house, period. Just read about my raves on the Owner Builder Book's forums, you'll see I'm quite the SIP activist :-).

Anyway, the class was free and we got a free hot (and delicious!) lunch and a tour of their plant where they build the SIP walls and roofs. Here's a pic of Jan (who is 6'1" but looks short here!) at the SIP plant with all the panels stacked.

I learned a lot about SIPs, and how they are put together and framed. As a mechanically challenged female, it seemed pretty easy! It sort of goes in like LEGOs. I guess all that practice putting together IKEA furniture paid off in some way. :-).

One of the most useful tips we learned today is about properly installing and flashing windows using ProtectoWrap and Tyvek wrap. This method can be used on any wall system, but is the way that windows SHOULD be installed to allow proper water sealing and drainage. This is especially important on SIP panels because you will not be able to know about water damage as easily, and rot can still happen under your masonry if things get wet and aren't channeled for water drainage.

I have a few pictures of how it was done, but the step by step manual can be downloaded from here:

See "Dupont Flashing Systems Installation Guide" and go to pages 4-8.
http://www2.dupont.com/Residential_Construction/en_US/knowledgeCenter/
or download here from my site.

It's not easy to find this information yourself as a homeowner or owner builder, so we appreciated getting information like this at the SIP class. The guy doing the window demo said you might get resistance from the window installer (usually your framer subcontractor), but MAKE SURE YOU DO IT THIS WAY because this is the official and best way to install and seal your windows. You don't want to get rot and it's very expensive to fix these problems at a later point !

Here are a few pictures if you need to see more than the diagrams in the installation guide.

First, you should do an upside down martini glass cut on the Tyvek wrap where the window opening is, NOT THE TYPICAL "X" FORMATION, and fold the Tyvek around the window opening and secure with nails.

The guys are using Protecto wrap at the bottom of window opening to create a sort of "shower pan" sealing of the bottom, then the window is placed in the hole.

Once the window is set in, you put Protecto Wrap on the the other sides on top of the window edges and Protecto Wrap on bottom of the window so that it is completely sealed from moisture. The Tyvek you see left at the top sticking out is to allow for the run off to go outside the ProtectoWrap.

This entire demo took about 15 minutes to put in one window this way. So, you can safely calculate this number x number of windows for time estimatation purposes.

By the way, we are of course going to be getting low e, argon filled dual pane windows which are very energy efficient. Right now, we are deciding to get fiberglass windows and aluminum windows for a few awning type windows. We haven't decided yet.

Yeah, it was great to learn some new things. Also, I met some great new contacts, and that's always a plus!

Updated floorplans and elevations!

2007-10-18T03:33:00.000-05:00

These actually have measurements on them! And by request of my architect, I toned down the colors a bit :-), so it will be more of this dark slate colored concrete (believe it or not, it looks beautiful in reality with the wood and stone accents). Actually, we will not treat or paint the stucco so the concrete will be its natural color.

I've included a description of our plans to give you the background of why we designed it the way it is. A lot of it is for practical reasons!

SITE PLAN
Here's the site plan of our 3 acre, Hill Country lot, 8 miles W past Bee Cave on 71W. We're practically Willie Nelson's neighbor :-).

FIRST FLOOR PLAN
Downstairs features a guest bedroom almost completely separate from the rest of the house. We did this on purpose, as this would be convenient for my elderly parents (no climbing of stairs). Whenever guests stay over, they have a more private area and a beautiful patio area where they can sunbathe nude if they want to :-D (there are big bushy trees surrounding the guest patio). The living room is open to above and has an open layout, combining the living, dining, breakfast nook and kitchen. We wanted to avoid walls, as I don't like having a very compartmentalized house. Also, we used a spiral stair to conserve space for a stairwell. The kitchen will be made of IKEA cabinets and have a hidden large pantry to hide ugly appliances. We will have only drawers there, as cabinets are impractical (ever try to get something at the back of a cabinet?). One amazing experience, as Ted calls it, is that when you look down the countertop, it goes from inside to out in one continuous countertop material (probably concrete). There is an exit to this floor in the mudroom that leads to the separate garage port. Our utility room is very large to accomodate for the geothermal system and a laundry room with Jan's little private "dirty" work area and my work storage. Our chem-free, Eco-Smarte swimming pool is made out of fiberglass for low maintenance and will be 16' wide by 40' long. I intend to use it a lot for exercise and cooling myself off in this heat! Notice that the green area is how the 2nd story is placed above the first story.

SECOND FLOOR PLAN
One of our wishes was to open the door to an indoor balcony, and this moderately sloping lot calls for a catwalk to lead into the 2nd story of our house. When you open the door you are lead to the indoor balcony that overlooks our open living room. When you look to your left, you will be greeted by our roof garden where we'll grow lots of organic vegetables and herbs. Our masterbedroom is modest sized, but has a parting divider to our master bath (the wall doesn't go all the way up to the ceiling, and is only 90% up). We plan to have all showers in the guest bathrooms (who uses those rinky dink tubs that get so filthy anyway?) and in our master bath, we want to do a "slate" tiled shower/japanese style soaking tub. There will be sliding doors to the 2nd bedroom for when a little one comes and we can opt to remove the door and make it into a separate room. The exercise (or bedroom 3) and office (or common area) are separated by a chic sliding door wall divider. The remarkable part of this 2nd story are the two balconies, both north and south that are nice when you want to get some fresh air.

SOUTH ELEVATION
The catwalk leads to the 2nd story of our house (see purple door) and you see a view of the master bedroom's balcony.

WEST ELEVATION
Here you see the side of the house where the roof garden is located and a large trellis where the guest suite's private patio is. Feels like a B&B. :-)

NORTH ELEVATION
Here's the back side of the house where you see the 2nd story overhang the pool lounge area. The balcony shown on the 2nd floor here belongs to the common area/office.
EAST ELEVATION
Here's the other side of the house which shows the side where the swimming pool and pool lounge are under the 2nd story overhang of the house.

The exterior uses stucco, wood siding and gabion walls (wire baskets that contain stone). This style is called a Hill Country Contemporary home, which is beautiful against the landscape of the surrounding area. Here's a pic of a gabion wall with bench. I like this idea a lot:

Keep your house clean & green with flooring, products

2007-10-14T23:27:00.000-05:00

Yet another fabulous shopping weekend looking at eco-friendly products for the house. We discovered the Eco-wise store, which got the Best of Austin 2007 award for the most eco-friendly, green store. Good for them!

We met a very animated, yet friendly sales guy giving us the scoop on eco-friendly/sustainable flooring, countertops and rainwater collection.

Basically, there are several types of flooring that are "in" nowadays:

Bamboo flooring, which is a fast growing type of grass that is easily grown and harvested, but shipped from China. Bamboo is hard, resilient and can be made into many different beautiful patterns. There's a variety of quality, so be careful what you pay for!
Cork flooring, which is made from the bark of cork oak trees, and when stripped, does not destroy the tree. Advantages are that they are softer on the feet, especially in an area where you stand a lot (i.e., kitchen), and are recycled and have no VOCs (volatile organic compounds).
Linoleum flooring, which is an all natural, non-toxic flooring made of linseed oil, produced by pressing seeds from flax, an easy to cultivate and abundant plant. They are usually warm and softer on the feet than cold tile flooring and come in a variety of colors. The problem is the look of it, in my opinion, as it has that 70s retro look that doesn't evoke beauty to me, but hey, beauty is the eye of the beholder :-).
Local or reclaimed wood, specific to your area. Check out wood that has been taken from buildings that were demolished. You can sometimes find great deals in reusing it for your flooring, banisters, ceiling beams, etc! We are checking out using hickory, which is a near diamond hard wood that is found in Arkansas and milled locally in the Hill Country. It is a beautiful wood that can be stained to your desired color and will last decades.
Stained concrete with fly ash, which is basically the mineral residue resulting from coal plants and when mixed your concrete, greatly reduces cement production and therefore eliminating much of the carbon emissions. They are quite fashionable in homes nowadays, as it can make your home look very modern by staining or creating patterns in the concrete. It also provide a large thermal mass for your home. A thermal mass is some sort of structure (i.e. stone) that keeps a constant temperature and thereby positively affects the temperature in your home. Concrete floors are relatively cheap, as they can be part of your foundation, and you can then stain it, and then instantly have your floor ready. You can easily repair them if they crack and are durable, but the only problem is that concrete can be hard on the feet and unforgiving if you drop something on the floor.

We also looked into concrete countertops with varying degrees of recycled glass in them or using sorghum or bamboo as a countertop as opposed to concrete. There are even countertops made of recycled paper that are even stain, scratch and heat resistant! You have a lot of options to create the look you desire.

Then you must also remember to keep your sealants and paints healthy and VOC free. Off-gasing is the culprit, and you don't often see or smell these toxins anymore, as people forget that they are even around, but unfortunately always attack you. Ever wonder about mysterious allergies or the seemingly healthy/athletes that get cancer?? I personally believe that a lot of it is in your house environment. The Eco-wise salesguy mentioned that if you're on a budget and are ever going to "green" anything, you should start with your bedroom and work your way to every room in your house. That includes paint, adhesives, light bulbs, cleaning products, flooring, sheets, mattresses, etc!

We also looked at smaller barrels for rainwater collection for the roof garden of our house. A 55 gallon rain barrel costs about $55 and is terrific for watering your plants. These are some of the things you can add to an existing home that will help you start conserving without investing huge amounts of money. If only everyone can do something, even no matter how little it is, things can change drastically overall.

Our project estimate - do you really want to know?

2007-10-10T20:41:00.003-05:00

I have created a spreadsheet of our house construction costs for those to see. It's still just a ballpark estimate, but you can see where we are putting our money into (Note: IKEA kitchen and bathrooms vs. rainwater collection, geothermal HVAC, swimming pool and SIPs).

The total comes out to $527K, but note that includes our soft costs, lot and swimming pool. We may decide to swallow designer fees (pay it out of our own pocket), as we are trying to get close to $500K as much as possible.
(4/3/08 - updating our budget right now)
I will update this when we get real numbers in and see if this number rises or falls!

Details and photos of residential flat roof in action

2007-10-08T09:48:00.000-05:00

Some folks have asked us how the roof will be constructed, since there aren't too many of the flat roofs on houses around here. Well, you actually do see them everywhere, but they are found on commercial buildings and according to the roofer guy we talked to (Pepe at Pro-tect Roofing Services), they are much better made and last 5 times more than the conventional, heat absorbing dark gray asphalt tiled roofs. They are a little more expensive to build, but not enough to offset the energy efficient and durability benefits of this roof. I will post prices once I get them from Pepe.

I was lucky enough to be able to get on top of a roof while it was being done. Pepe let me see his work and he's a prospective roofing sub that we want to hire. He was very knowledgeable, as well as nice and helpful and not condescending like many of them can be - especially to a female. He wanted me to witness his workmanship in person, which says a lot about him. Anyway, I took some photos to help you understand how this will be done (and it WON'T leak!). I took some pictures of the roof he's working on (not our house in these pics, sorry!). This is called a commercial grade, residential flat roof/low slope taper roof system using a single-ply membrane:

First, our roof will be an 8.5" SIP panel (foam sandwiched between OSB wood boards, see earlier post about this), then styrofoam wedges (see A) are attached to the SIP that will give a pitch or slope (see B).

The Tyvek house wrap goes above and over the parapet wall (see C). Then the single-ply membrane is rolled over the styrofoam wedges and attached using screw attachments (see silver round attachments in D-E). Pieces of the membrane are layed up on top of the parapet wall (see H on the left parapet wall) and also cover the screw attachments (see E) and then roofing adhesive is used to adhere the membrane to the parapet (see F-H). Finally, all edges and seams are heat-sealed using this hot melding tool (see I, sorry, I don't know the official name of this thing!).

It has a 1/4" slope for every foot, so it's VERY gradual, but enough to drain out the water on the roof. Since we are doing rainwater collection, this is very important and the single-ply membrane must be safe for drinking water. We found a really good brand called Duro-Last that is a reinforced polyvinyl chloride polymer and comes in 40 mil and 50 mil thickness, which is safe for rainwater collection. If you go on their website, there is a lot of technical specs for those that need to know the chemical makeup and information on finding a contractor near you.

If you look carefully at the far edge (click on the picture to enlarge), you can kinda see the low slope in the following photo. Also, we will have a much higher parapet wall then this house, but it gives you a good idea:

Pepe says this is a superior construction to using tiled roofs. The ceramic tiles you see on Mediterranean homes are VERY expensive and high maintenance, and this one in comparison is very low maintenance and lasts 5 times longer. Not only that, but the foam adds added insulation to your roof (even if not using SIPs) and the white or light colored single-ply membrane reflects a lot of heat giving you a very sweet, energy efficient home.

Here's a pic of how it looks on the side of the house (see A) and see how nice and clean it looks, as you don't see an ugly roof when you look at the house (I am biased towards not showing roofs, and don't care for the A-line/many gables look). Also look at how creative you can be with the underside (see B) of the roof, by adding lights or wood siding to give it an architectural element.

You can also mount solar panels on here as well as have rain water collection, adding to the greenness of your home. Note that if you do add solar panels, make sure a professional roofer is on hand with commercial experience to seal the attachments of the solar panels with the same method explained above with the parapet wall. You don't want your single-ply membrane to be punctured or damaged!

Natural stucco, wood siding, our masonry...

2007-10-08T00:27:00.000-05:00

We went to a house on the Austin AIA's Homes Tour, and we actually picked a SIP home that has an exterior similar to ours. The stucco on this house is not colored or treated, so it has a natural sand color. We think the stained wood and this stucco look beautiful and very organic. The effect looks like this:

You don't see this of course, but the wood panels and stucco is set over a gap to allow for venting and water drainage.

Later, I will write more about roofing, rainwater collecting and more details and pics of our project.

My Fabulous (Window) Shopping Weekend & My Favorite Part of Houseowning... FURNITURE!!!!

2007-10-07T23:17:00.000-05:00

This weekend was really my weekend, as I love to window shop and Jan was even willing to look around for furniture. Jan is working on a model of our house and we are needing to check to see that all the furniture we desire fits in the rooms. It's so much fun! I'm totally in my element right now.... too bad that I have extremely expensive taste in furniture. :-) I can't help but love my Danish, Italian and French design.

We discovered this fabulous store called Motif in (of all places) hickville Kyle, TX which is 15 miles south of Austin. It really has awesome, affordable and modern furniture that definitely fits our style. They even deliver all over the U.S.!

It's difficult to find modern furniture that doesn't look like that cheezy, Nagelesque 80's zany modern look that is so distasteful (nice modern stuff is NOT black lacquer with gold trim, sofas shaped like lips, frosted glass with aluminum legs, etc.). This stuff looks like high quality stuff, but at half or more of the price! Here are a few pics of some of my favorite pieces that I want to get:

Love this oh so chic bed, and looks very zen-like to me, and not bad at $999 for a King...

This sweet little sofa is on sale for $599!!!

Also, I totally dig this square dining table where you can converse with everyone at the table ($999):

.... And debating whether to get this sofa at $1799???
or this Italian beauty at $7200 at the Nest store (which I absolutely love love love, but need to choose between it and another car :-) hehe.... YES! ;-)

I am totally into that firm and very tight fabric over chunky, cubic sofas, as well as oak colored woods at the moment. I just enjoy the clean lines and minimalist design that go with our lifestyle and attitudes of life. And while I would love to buy all eco-friendly furniture to go with our green home, at the moment it is still very much out of our price range, unfortunately. For example, sofas made of organic cotton and formaldehyde-free binding is still in the $4000 and up category. We saw some really nice ones that you can order online at Vivavi. Maybe we'll build up our eco-friendly furniture slowly....

Take a look at this beautiful side buffet made of this interesting sustainable wood called Kirei. The kirei doors are made from the reclaimed stalks of the sorghum plant and made using a formaldehyde-free adhesive. People are also using it as wall or accent wall treatments. It's gorgeous and has a much more interesting pattern than bamboo....

And even rugs made with Finnish paper! It's very tough, stain resilient and eco-friendly, and I may even sell it some day on my online Scandinavian store, Aktuella.net. Check out Woodnotes:

Renewable Energy Roundup Thoughts & Lots of Green Goodies

2007-10-04T01:46:00.000-05:00

Yeehaw, that was a great roundup in Fredericksburg! I didn't bump into anyone I knew, but I met some people and learned a lot in the 2 short days there. It went fast and furious, and the people were very interesting. I was overall impressed by the level of advice and amount of information that was presented for so little money ($20 for all 3 days!), which is very much what we believe in. This information should be had by all! We also felt the hippy vibe there, and everyone was friendly and really wanting to share the information in true Texan spirit.

Here are some highlights of the event. Jan and I tried to split up and cover as much ground as possible. He leaned towards the highly technical parts and landscaping lectures, and I towards the more understandable and design lectures :-).

The LEED program - (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) A non-profit agency created to rate your home based on a number of criteria such as location (how and where you build, close to public transit, amenities, agriculture areas?), sustainability (site stewardship, landscaping, non-toxic pest control, surface water mgmt.), water efficiency (water reuse like graywater and irrigation system), indoor environmental (humidity control, combustion venting, no VOC paints), energy and atmosphere (Energy Star home, light fixtures), materials and resources (home size compared to number of inhabitants, local sources of building materials, material efficiency), and site recycling and reuse (materials that can be reused for landscaping, driveway sidewalks, building materials). It costs a few thousand dollars to be LEED rated and the criteria can be tough, but it might raise property values or make it more desirable to prospective home buyers since you are getting an official "stamp" on your house for green design building and sustainability.
Sizing the A/C in your home properly - 30% of all homes in the U.S. have airconditioning units that are oversized for its home. ACCA studies have shown that the average A/C installed is 150% bigger than what it should be. When you shop for an A/C unit, the "normal" standard A/C guys will quote you is 300-400 sf of your airconditioned space in your house per ton (A/C units go by number of tons, for example, 3 ton A/C unit), but depending on your windows, insulation values, etc, you can sometimes go 600 and up sf/ton of your home or even 900-1200sf/ton for a foam home. Our home will be made of SIP walls and roofs and have low e windows, so we can get away with probably over 900 sf per ton!!!! You should always do a manual J load calculation, a software program that is used to measure your A/C load and has a built in 15% buffer. This means that you shouldn't round up too much. Also, the main reason you don't want to purchase too big of an A/C unit is that it will not dehumidify the air properly if it shuts off too quickly. The A/C unit must run for at least 15 minutes before it can properly remove moisture from the air. If your unit is too large, it will cool and shut down too quickly, not allowing the time to dehumidify. Moisture is a big no-no, because it can be uncomfortable, inefficient and cause mold in your home. The big misnomer in A/C design is "bigger is better" but its simply not true. Even A/C installers don't know or don't want YOU to know about this. One other thing to check for is duct leaks, because 25-30% of the air can be escaping from leaks in ducts. This will also lower the A/C efficiency by a considerable amount. The lecturer, Doug Garrett, highly recommends you go over seals, seams, and joins with MASTIC tape, not duct tape. You should try your hardest to have a tight home and good ventilation to greatly improve energy efficiency and lower bills.
The Unforeseen movie, directed by Austinite Laura Dunn and produced by Robert Redford, this film is a moving and beautifully filmed story about the rise and demise of Austin developer, Gary Bradley, and how his development detrimentally impacted a natural spring, Barton Springs, and the areas around Austin. It showed how the laws were changed and how development encroached on a simple farmer who wanted to be in the country but found himself in a suburban jungle. What was also shocking to see was people marching for property rights who don't want to follow the protection laws of natural preserves and this ridiculous woman saying "human first, then birds, then reptiles". DUH.... I felt our evolution cycle back a few hundred years when I heard that one. >:-( Then the icing on the cake was to see Baby Bush lift the law that says that developers can basically build whatever and wherever they want and can grandfather back in order to circumvent the current environmental laws. Argghhh... that's FRUSTRATING!!!!!

In addition, we visited booths covering everything from German rainwater filters to creating a wildlife habitat in your own backyard to a SIP manufacturer to looking at chem-free products to viewing eco-friendly and healthy materials and seeing cars that run on corn oil or electric. They also had all natural/organic food and drinks and cooking presentations. There were a few bands playing music too. It felt like a county fair there but much more informative! We got a chance to find a good metal roof for our garage port, which is safe for drinking water and rainwater collection. Also, they displayed the latest in LED lights (that use VERY little energy and last forever), where they now come with dimming options! There was also a Geothermal guy there that seemed smart and will be giving us a quote on our system. We covered a lot of what we need for the house, so I'm very happy.

Ted, our architect, also came with us, so he was able to help guide us to some great lectures. We ate dinner at the Nest, which seemed like a perfect ending to a very glorious day.

Getting it together for the ACC and what to do next!

2007-09-25T23:59:00.000-05:00

It's been a rough few weeks, with getting everything done and together and then having work and family calling our attention, it's great that we were able to finally submit our houseplans and forms to the Architectural Control Committee (ACC).

For those unfamiliar, all the hard work you put into the design, your lot and specifications now lies in the hands of the architect who was hired by your neighborhood homeowner's association (HOA) to review your plans and elevations to approve it for the subdivision or neighborhood where you will build your house.

First, we submitted our permit applications for the building, septic and driveways to the county office (Travis). Then, we had to take copies of these receipts, our completed houseplans (not the structural engineering), and forms from the HOA to the architect hired for the ACC. Every month they have a meeting to discuss houseplans of houses that will be built and will either approve or disapprove your plans and make recommendations.

Simultaneously, our structural engineer is working on the structural plans. Once those are all done, we can submit all our plans to the U-Build It guy who will go and get a preliminary bid for us from sub-contractors they know are good and use frequently. It is completely optional to use their sub-contractor bids or get our own bids for subs. We might get a few extra bids for a few line items (for example, plumbing, SIPs installation/framing, etc.) , but might keep some bids from our rainwater collection and geothermal system which have a lot fewer subcontractors.

Next, the financing begins, and in order to do that, you have to get your bids/budget for the house done, get your documentation together (like your paystubs, tax forms, etc. if you go for a full doc loan) and make sure your credit is repaired or already good so that you can get your construction loan. The construction loan will be modified at the completion of the house to a mortgage. It's a slightly different process, which will be explained in greater detail in a future post.

Overall, things are going smoothly! I am going to update the houseplans with dimensions for those interested. Also, we are just waiting to get our permits, financing and then we are ready to go! I plan to also document everything in better detail for an e-book that I've decided to make more affordable since I am going to base it off how things are in Austin. But feel free to get it to get an idea of costs, as well as our trials and tribulations! I think it will be an overall happy journey!!! Can't wait :-).

P.S. I just read on Yahoo News that Austin is the 2nd largest Green city!!! Hurrah!

Green screen used for climbing plants, trellis, possible pebble wall use

2007-09-20T01:32:00.000-05:00

I happened upon this great looking Green Screen wall that can be used for climbing plants, trellises and possibly even a pebble wall. The best part is that they are made of recyclable material. They would look terrific on our landscape, and we're hoping they are affordable. I'll call them up and see then will post prices on my blog. Here's the link and photos below:
http://www.greenscreen.com

I love the look of climbing plants, giving a "soul" to the house. Here are some preview pics:

Good Questions on SIPs and using a Designer/Architect

2007-09-13T11:36:00.000-05:00

Sorry it's been awhile since I last posted, but I'm about to start a flurry of new posts because of all the activity happening with the house. Add that to the fact that I've been swamped at work. Anyway, no more excuses! :-) I am about to get this party started, and we're so excited!

A gentlemen here in Austin wrote me with some good questions on SIPs, so I thought I might post with my answers. He and his wife are wanting to custom build their home, and I thought to give them my unbiased take. Remember, costs and the permitting process information mostly applies to the Austin area, but it still gives you a good idea (I'm not afraid to post costs for things, as I like getting and giving the idea of what you'd be getting into cost-wise).

Q: We took a 6 week class offered by the Owner Builder Network at ACC and were thinking about going with them. Why did you choose U-Build It program over OBN?
A: We researched Owner Builder Network, Owner Built Custom Homes, and U-Build It and found not only was U-Build It the most professional, organized, and responsive, but they were cheaper fee wise. They charge by only the A/C square footage and don't count patios, decks, garage ports etc. More details at this link. Not only that, but the classes we found to be unnecessary. We thought the most important factors were the support, the fact that we don't pay the entire fee up front but in installments and the 20 site visits.

Q: Did you get quotes on what the cost difference was between traditional framing and SIPs?
A: Yes, we certainly did a cost analysis, and basically, 2x4 or 2x6 stick built wood framing costs approximately $5.50-$6.50/sq ft for labor+material versus SIPs that would cost about $9-10/sq ft. HOWEVER, if you were to at best save 50-60% on your cooling costs, through time, SIPs pay themselves off and are cheaper to maintain, as well as extremely energy efficient. Basically, much of green building is a higher upfront cost, but cheaper in the long run in use and maintenance. Besides, we all need to think about global warming and our planet! :-) When deciding on a getting a SIP home, you are investing in more than just your house value, but in a legacy home that will last forever and be cheaper to maintain for years to come.

Q: We like the flat roof idea. Do you have any details on how much weight a SIPs roof support?
A: One of the videos we saw about SIPs has a huge pick up truck on top of a SIP roof to show their strength and they really are that sturdy. They are the choice material to use in hurricane prone areas, because they have actually shown several SIP homes that have survived against massive hurricanes while their stick frame counterparts were obliterated. SIP design meets or exceeds windstorm code which means its design withstands a 5 times stronger windstorm than a conventional new home. All the information about SIPs can be found here: http://www.sipweb.com/learningcenter/default.asp When getting a flat or low-slope roof, make sure you get a COMMERCIAL grade flat roof, lined with a single ply membrane up to and including the parapet wall. And don't let anyone tell you they will leak! They won't if you design them correctly and to commercial grade. If you will notice, 99% of all commercial buildings have flat/low slope roofs, so if they don't leak, yours won't either.

Q: I noticed that your designer is based in Houston. Do you feel like this distance was in any way a drawback to the process?
A: Honestly, yes, it was a bit of a drawback but not too bad because my parents live in Houston and our designer allowed us to see him on the weekends. I'm a telecommuter, so I work on the computer by trade, and it was easy to get stuff via computer from him, which I'm used to.

Q: Why didn't you go with a designer in Austin? Which ones did you look at?
A: We searched far and wide for a designer who would design a "SIP-friendly" home, and the closest SIP designer was in Houston. I found Ted through the SIPA organization directory. We were determined to get one who had SIP experience and was amiable towards this alternative building method. He fit the bill. The one remarkable thing about him, is that he's VERY frugal and has suggested ways for us to cut costs without compromising quality and the look we are after (like the flat roof design).

Q. In your research, did you get a sense for what the average cost per sq/ft one would pay for the design?
A: A designer/architect can cost about $8-10/sq ft to custom design your house. Depending on how many projects are going on for your designer/architect, it can take 6 mos. to a year to properly design it according to your lot and your specifications. You could also opt to buy a "stock plan" that can range from $1500-5000 which are all over the Internet, however, I don't recommend it because it's not the same thought and process that goes into doing your own design. The advantage is that you can place things in a more space, energy or sound efficient way, tailor the plan to your lifestyle, and get cost saving tips from your designer/architect during your building process. Believe it or not, it actually is advantageous that your designer/architect is independent from the subcontractors or builder (General Contractor) you work with, because your designer/architect can act as your personal consultant, letting you know if something isn't built or done correctly as opposed to your GC "hiding" imperfections or cutting corners you don't want cut.

Cheap information - 8th Annual Renewable Energy Roundup in Fredericksburg, TX (1.5 hours west of Austin)

2007-08-14T12:19:00.000-05:00

If you find yourself in the Texas area end of September or are lucky enough to already live here :-), make sure you come to the 8th Annual Renewable Energy Roundup at http://theroundup.org/ in Fredericksburg, TX September 28th-30th in the center of Texas Hill Country.

It's $10/Friday, $12/Saturday or $20 for all three days! That's a bargain for the amount of information you can get on these hot topics:

Solar
Wind
Geothermal
Water Use & Reuse
Energy Conservation
Rainwater Harvesting
Green & Sustainable Building
Organic Growing
Alternative Transportation
Straw Bale Construction

And there will be:

Exhibits
Free Guest Speakers
Natural Food
Family Activities

Come and learn something new or meet contacts in the green field. Besides, it will be a fun trip and nice drive over there, as you'll pass some beautiful areas, and the historic town of Fredericksburg with its German influence and charming old west appeal.

Our architect and I might exhibit there and advertise our blog and my upcoming e-book. Let us know if you live in the Austin area and want to carpool! Thanks to Maverick for passing this information along!

About SIP walls and a residential flat roof, logic behind these alternative building methods

2007-08-09T11:58:00.000-05:00

As our design is coming together under our structural engineer, Green Earth Engineering, I thought I should explain how and why we chose SIP walls and a residential "flat" roof design. They are
mostly because of cost-effective and energy efficient reasons, and I'll explain why in layman's terms.

First, SIPs are a composite building material. They consist of a sandwich of two layers of structural board with an insulating layer of foam in between. The board is usually Oriented Strand Board (OSB) and the foam either expanded polystyrene foam(EPS), extruded polystyrene foam (XPS) or polyurethane foam .

They are not commonly used in the building industry due to knowledge or resistance to trying new methods, which is very unfortunate, because they are superior to conventional stick framing and pay themselves back in cost due to energy savings.

So here's a breakdown of why we chose SIPs pulled from my architect's website:

Benefits for homeowners
* Extremely strong structure. There is considerable evidence that homes with SIP wall and ceiling panels have survived natural disasters like hurricanes, tornadoes, straight-line winds and earthquakes better than traditional stick-framed homes right next door.
* Lower energy bills. Discounting the "human factor"-thermostat settings and so forth-a number of side-by-side tests show that between 15% and 40% less energy should be needed to heat and cool a home with SIP wall and ceiling panels. In tests by Oak Ridge National Laboratory, SIP walls outperform fiberglass walls by over 50%.
* Improved comfort. Thanks to extra R-values and tight construction, the wall and ceiling surfaces in a SIP home will stay warmer than in stick-framed homes. The warmer those surfaces are, the more comfortable the home is.
* "Freeze proof." What happens if the power goes down? During the late 1990s, several New England SIP homes survived over a week without power or a wood stove and never came close to freezing.
* Indoor Air Quality. While there is no guarantee here, most homes built with SIPs are tight enough that builders can't ignore upgrading mechanical ventilation compared to that found in a standard home. In many studies in North American housing, the best indoor air quality is found in homes that are tight and equipped with upgraded mechanical ventilation.
* Green building product. On a life-cycle basis, a more energy-efficient house built with SIPs will be less damaging to the environment, in terms of overall resource consumption. Much less dimensional lumber is used in a SIP home than in a traditional framed structure.
* Interactive systems benefits: For example, a more energy-efficient home may cost slightly more to build but in turn can be heated and cooled with smaller equipment that costs less to install.

Benefits for construction
* Speed of construction. You can order the panels with all pre-cutting performed in a factory. They show up on the jobsite all pre-numbered, ready for assembly.
* Fewer framers. A crew can consist of one lead framer assisted by minimally skilled helpers.
* Shell installation option. If you're having a tough time locating skilled carpenters, a growing number of manufacturers have regular crews who will install a shell on your foundation for you to finish.
* Rigid frame. It's easy bracing SIP walls. In fact, once you have two corner panels up, you can lean a ladder against the panels when needed.
* Less jobsite waste. If you've ordered a set of panels with all rough openings for windows and doors pre-cut at the factory, the only true waste you'll have is taking a few cases of empty tubes of adhesive caulk containers to the dump.
* Less theft. While 2x4s and 2x6s are prone to "walking off" unsecured job sites, panels are too specific to the site's building system to be worth hauling off somewhere else.
* Cost competitive. While most builders say they pay a little more for SIPs than for the comparable framing and insulation package in a stick-built home, as a group they believe the benefits are worth the costs. The amount extra they pay varies; while a few say it costs them an extra $1 per square foot of finished floor area, the amount may be higher when roof panels are used. However, when roof panels enclose extra living space in a loft, the price per square foot is surprisingly competitive. If at the design stage you optimize a structure to use panels, the most experienced SIP builders then say a house framed with SIPs should cost about the same as a house framed with comparably sized dimensional lumber, and maybe even a little less.
* Easier to hang drywall. There is solid backing for all drywall against exterior walls, which means there is less cutting, faster attachment and less waste material.
* Fewer framing callbacks. Wall panels go in plumb, square and straight. Once in place, a SIP won't warp, twist or check.

As for our "flat" roof design, our architect advised us that a good way to SAVE MONEY is to get a commercial grade "flat" roof because you don't have to pay for those beautiful Spanish ceramic tiles found on Spanish/Mediterranean style homes, which can get extremely expensive. Besides that, the flat roof goes wonderfully along with our design aesthetic, it being modern and clean-lined. Now, many modern homes use metal roofs with overhangs, which are equally as nice, but we chose this design for cost reasons, having to be "cheap" but not compromise a good quality structure.

The way our roof will be designed is it will first be a SIP panel, then styrofoam wedges to give the roof a 1 to 12 pitch for rainwater drainage, then a thin membrane lining. There will be a parapet wall (wall that goes higher than the roof line) as shown below:

The reasoning behind the parapet wall is to both protect and "cover" all that is ugly on top of the roof. We will also prepare our roof to be solar panel ready.

As you can see in this design, we will not have a truss or attic space under the ceiling as the interior will soar all the way up to the SIP panel, creating a spacious looking living room with extremely high ceilings! High ceilings make any room look bigger, which is the effect we are after. The duct work from our HVAC will be in the floor of the 2nd story, thereby not needing an attic or truss at the ceiling.

Learned something new - solar water heating

2007-08-06T09:47:00.000-05:00

Yesterday, we met with Maverick, a guy who builds solar powered "everything" and does it as a hobby! He even has a solar powered lawn mower, and we couldn't help but ask what his house must look like :-). Anyway, we were at the Alternative Energy Meetup, and though it was just us three, it was a greet meeting with lots of free information. The guy is an engineer who likes to build solar power projects, and the topic for the day was solar water heating.

There are several systems for heating your water, some really cheap and/or simple, and some can be elaborate, but a very doable DIY project if you know how to put together pipes.

1. Batch system, where sun heats water directly on the tank. The tank can be painted black to absorb heat and can be used alone or with an On-Demand water heater. Con is that it can freeze over because it is exposed to the elements. Typically used in the tropics, where the only likelihood is when hell freezes over! :-P

2. Thermosyphon, similar to the batch system, except in structure, where heated warm water travels up the tubes and to the top of the tank and cool water enters at the bottom of collector. Batch and thermosyphon systems are both non-automized systems, they work with physics, saving electricity, obviously!

3. Open loop direct, preheats water as it is consumed and controlled with a snap switch or digital controller in your house. A small pump (usually PV powered) circulates the hot water.

4. Glycol system, designed to be freeze resistant, where the collector fluid is a glycol/water mix and the heat exchanger transfers the heat from the collector loop to the consumption loop. It is within your home

5. Drainback system, similar in construction to the glycol system, but the collector fluid can be just plain water and requires the least maintenance. Water does not come in contact with freezing temperatures. The advantage is fewer parts and no chemicals!

A system with new parts and installation can cost about $3,500-4,000, or you can buy used parts & PV panels (solar panels) from e-bay, craigslist or through Maverick Solar and install it yourself for about $1,000 if you're a good DIY person.

Anyway, Maverick was very informative and gave us some great resource material. He says if you are considering solar panels, you must visit these places:

www.homepower.com (a must for solar power users, he recommends you subscribe to the mag and download the free PDFs)
http://www.eere.energy.gov/
http://www.fsec.ucf.edu

Alas, here's some free PR for him (although this is his hobby, he probably will consult):
Maverick Solar (http://www.mavericksolar.com)

If you contact him, please tell him where you heard about it!

Thought you couldn't afford solar panels?

2007-08-01T16:50:00.001-05:00

Now there's an affordable and totally attainable solution! I was so happy to find that there is a way to have solar panels without spending the $25,000-30,000 for a 3 kW system. Unfortunately, we don't live in the Austin Energy service area, so we don't get to take advantage of their generous rebates AE members get (something like 75% of the costs!).

Basically, a company called CitizenRE, would rent you the solar panels and you buy the energy produced from those solar panels at about the same cost or much cheaper than what your electric company charges at a 25 year locked in rate if you sign the 25 year contract! CitizenRE would handle the installation and maintenance, and you only need to put in a deposit, but at least there's no big system purchase to worry about and the contract is transferrable if you sell your house. More details can be found on the CitizenRE site, and there's even a nifty solar calculator:

I like the part about how many trees you save, your carbon print on the planet and how many autos you take off the street.

I found Christian Soeffker's profile, an Independent Ecopreneur of CitizenRE, on an Austin Meetup board. He filled me in on how this is done, so if you contact him, please tell him where you heard about it!

House plans almost finished!

2007-07-29T20:49:00.000-05:00

We used a designer/architect (Ted Mengers, Pyranak Design Group) to design our house plans as opposed to ordering ready made plans online. It was a VERY long process (took almost 1 year), but it was very much worth the effort. We did this for several reasons:

1. We searched several hundreds of plans online and none fit our needs. I wanted a guest room downstairs and the rest of the bedrooms upstairs, including the master bedroom.
2. We tailored the plans to our lifestyle. I love to cook and entertain, but don't like to be apart from company, therefore we have an open layout (no walls and halls!).
3. We wanted a modern home that is unique. None of the plans simply did not fit our style.
4. We wanted a higher standard, energy & space efficient plan. We don't think bigger is better and we are building with energy efficient SIP walls/roof, so we needed plans that were designed green.

We just got word that our plans are just about finished, and we have to approve the electrical and acoustic plans. In the electrical plan, you decide where the light switches, electrical outlets, lights, ceiling fans, cable/dataports and phone lines go. Though we will do wireless, Jan thought it was good to always be able to plug into the network for stability reasons. He's a total computer geek, so I believe him :-). Here's a sample pic of how an electrical plan looks like:

The $ are light switches, the filled triangle is a phone connection, the empty triangle is a data port, the circle with 2 slashes is an electrical outlet, etc...

In the acoustic plan, you decide where you want extra sound insulation in your walls. In the following picture, it is denoted with squiggle lines on the walls:

Next, we have to get the Structural Engineer to finish the structural plans. This should only take 1-2 weeks and then it's time to submit for permit approvals and financing!!! Can't wait!!!

Choosing the U-build It Program

2007-07-28T02:00:00.000-05:00

Owner-builder programs can save you huge amounts of money (in our case, we would easily save $60,000) because you are basically taking over the builder's job of managing your house project and controlling cost and choice which suits us perfectly fine. We are extremely picky about design and quality, due to our backgrounds, so this type of program is very appealing. You have to spend at least 1-2 hours a day and keep track of the schedule, do daily site visits, keep on top of things, etc... but it is a rewarding thing for us and many others...

Sound daunting? Yes, but you have plenty of support and information available to you and it's not rocket science. At the minimum, it is at least worth the investigation to see if you want to do it this way. Check out the various owner builder links I have listed and read up on it if you want more details.

After researching 3 owner-builder programs, we decided to go with U-Build It. They ended being the most thorough, responsive, and professional of the 3 networks. We also checked their references, and they received stellar reviews here in the Austin area.

So here is the cost breakdown to join up (in the Austin area, at least).

2419 square foot home x $5.50 per A/C square foot = $13,304

This includes:
- 20 site visits throughout the process
- Advice and guidance from professional builders
- Comprehensive manual on what to do next
- A list of reliable/tested subcontractors that we can use which is completely optional
- Financial backing when getting financing for your construction loan (they basically are responsible for your home if you don't end up finishing it!)

All 3 networks are listed on Better Business Bureau, and you should meet with them for an hour or two to see what kind of vibe you get.

I'll post our bids for our house in the next few days. You will see how costs have risen considerably since last I posted about our budget!!! I hope we can make it :-)!

Unique rock wall for drip cooling can be made affordably

2007-07-20T22:36:00.000-05:00

Our architect, Ted Mengers, recommended making this gorgeous and unique pebble wall enclosed in wire mesh for catching and cooling breezes on our landscape. The possibilities are limitless, and we're considering using these dry pebble walls for surrounding our carport and storage for our rainwater collection tanks...

OUTDOOR SINK

WALL

EXTERIOR WALLS, EVEN!!

They should be cheap to make with wire mesh and odd size pebbles... and it looks beautiful in a very organic way.

Swedish toilets - why they rule!

2007-07-12T21:28:00.001-05:00

I think the following story sums up why Swedish toilets are superior to American ones (and why my Swedish husband insists we get 3 of them for our home). It's a hilarious, yet honest take on poorly designed American toilets. By the way, if you're easily sickened, don't read :-).

Anonymous post on a message board (only corrected spelling):
"I have apparently used low-flow toilets here in Sweden all my life. I
have no problem with them. They have the water level lower so that the
flushing water gets higher speed when falling down.

So then I went to the US for a trip and found that not only do you pull
carpets into the bathroom and around the toilet (EWW!), the toilets
themselves are totally stupid! They hold a gallon of water in a bowl so
close to your ass that you have to hold your penis while taking a shit
so that it won't hang down into the water! Then when you flush, the
toilet pours another two gallons of water slowly into the bowl so that
you get to watch your turds carousel around and around for half a minute
before exiting the drainpipe. That is just plain silly!

Our low-flow/high-speed toilets go SLURP! and all the crap is gone and the
porcelain is washed clean from the aggressive burst of water in five
seconds. And we use less water too."

We found these Swedish toilets here in the U.S.:
http://www.ifo-usa.com/

Mainly, they are superior because they have a much larger pipe and use very little water. My husband says that they NEVER need to be plunged. In fact, he has never even used a plunger before in Sweden! Not only that, it's eco-friendly because you're saving that precious resource and getting much better performance as well. I'm sold.

Anyway, we are definitely going to buy these, they're worth their money.

Picking Concrete for Our Kitchen/Bath Countertops

2007-06-28T23:59:00.000-05:00

I absolutely love this concrete that's so popular in modern homes. Mixed with river rocks and bamboo, I think it will have a very Japanese and modern effect that we are after. It's a very monolithic and organic looking material that we would like to use on our kitchen and bath countertops... and it comes in so many colors too!
Our designer told us about this company:
http://syndecrete.com/main.html
Here's a few photos:
EXAMPLE OF BATHROOM SINK

EXAMPLE OF ANOTHER BATHROOM SINK

UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL, NOTICE THE ORGANIC TEXTURE...

SO MANY COLORS TO CHOOSE FROM, YOU CAN EVEN GET IT MIXED IN WITH COLORED, RECYCLED GLASS!!!

WE LIKE THIS STAINED BLACK CONCRETE FLOOR WITH BROWN MARBLE.... WE THINK IT WILL LOOK GORGEOUS WITH CONTRASTING COLOR FURNITURE:

A Word About Septic , Septic Design and Graywater

2007-06-11T16:32:00.000-05:00

For those of you unfamiliar, most of the lots that are out in the countryside aren't connected to town sewerage, so you have to get your own septic tank. It is where all your wastes go after you flush your toilet or clear your garbage disposal, if you have one. We are opting to use compost for our organic trash instead of a garbage disposal, since Jan likes to garden with it. It's basically thrown in a container and fed to worms that make a juicy soil that plants love :-).

Graywater is the water flushed from your laundry machine, sinks and showers. Many green people use graywater to water plants, which is perfectly fine. You have to plumb for it, but Texas has restrictions that you can only use graywater from laundry machines as of now. We are plumbing for it, but I'm not sure if we are going to use it for watering yet. We will be using our rainwater collection for most of our watering needs.

Anyway, so we got the Septic guy out there. In Austin, there's a process you have to go through before you can get to building. It goes like this:

1. When plans are finished and engineered, go to the Travis County office and apply for your building permit. It's like $35 for the permit application. You'll get a building permit number, but the building permit takes time to process.
2. Tell your septic installer that you got your permit number, and you supply him with some documents and then he submits the septic design and application to the county office. ($460 fee for this)
3. Your building permit gets approved based on septic design, and it will take about 30 days for you to get your permit and septic design approved.
4. You can start building!

About the septic design, our Septic guy was very adamant about only designing CONVENTIONAL PRESSURE DOSE SYSTEMS - NO AEROBIC SYSTEMS!!!!! He says that big builders always put in aerobic systems, and they are high maintenance and costly because with aerobic systems you have to sign a maintenance contract with a septic guy that LINES their pockets. They basically want you to buy aerobic systems because they get so much in maintenance agreements. But here's what happens:
1. You have to pump out your aerobic system every 1-2 years. The holding tank for the aerobic system is so much smaller, so you have to pump more frequently (yuck!). The pump is used all the time, wasting energy and it wears out faster.
2. Sign an agreement with someone to do this maintenance, and if he dies, moves, or disappears, then you are screwed the money!
3. Aerobic systems don't last, but they are cheaper, so builders get it, but the homeowners are stuck with the maintenance costs and headache. Builders wash their hands of it after building completion.

Conventional Pressure Dose Systems:
1. They have much larger tanks, so you only need to pump every 5-6 years and have a much simpler design.
2. Pumps are only used when water is flushed, so since it is used so much less, they last up to 15 years.
3. You don't need to sign a maintenance agreement, and they don't require maintenance much. They are a few thousand dollars more expensive, so that's why more people/builders don't get this system, even though it is better quality, folks!

Septic costs (in Austin, Texas but they'll at least give you an idea!):
$14,500 - Septic total, 1250 gallon septic tank (for up 2800 sq. ft. home), using conventional pressure dose system, includes installation, materials, labor, design fee of $800 for septic engineer
$350 - Soil test drilling
$460 - Septic application approval fee (goes directly to Travis County)

TOTAL=$15,110

Here's a sketch of our septic design:

Sweating for this View

2007-06-05T00:45:00.000-05:00

We (or more like Jan and Sami) started clearing out our lot. And we discovered this beautiful oak nestled between water-sucking cedar plants:

Here in Austin's Hill Country, live oak trees are prized if you have really large ones on your lot. They give a very bonsai-ish/African Serengeti look to your landscape. But beware that cedars (the ones that look like large bushes) try to surround oaks and hog up the water, so it's best to clear them away from the oaks so you can enjoy the beauty of them.

Here's another look at this stunning oak tree from our future breakfast nook:

The other day, we had to get the septic guy to start designing our septic and get our application in and approved before they can even start to build! Yeah, it's the first thing on our list of what to do.

And now, we have to decide who it shall be for the owner builder network, OBCH or OBN?

Our Budget

2007-05-30T18:08:00.001-05:00

This is the most Frequently Asked Question, so here it is, straight from the hip:

Our max budget:
325,000=construction costs for 2500 square foot energy efficient SIP home
77,500=3 acre lot cost
25,000=soft costs (home/septic design, structural & septic engineering)
55,000=swimming pool (16 ft x 40 ft)

TOTAL=$482,500

However, we may swallow the soft costs and pay for that out of our own pocket.

We'll let you know if we go over or under this budget. We will try to reduce the construction costs as much as possible.

Floorplans!

2007-05-17T11:46:00.000-05:00

And introducing... the Leyonberg Estate (story to follow)
This 2500 square foot home, utilizes a lot of outdoor spaces to take advantage of fine Austin weather (8 months of the year, at least!). There will also be an open-air, detached garage port not shown on these plans.

These are pretty much finalized, but we have a few tweaks to do:

CLICK ON PICS BELOW TO ENLARGE

1st FLOOR

2nd FLOOR

The name "Leyonberg" is my husband's paternal grandmother's maiden name in Sweden, which is going extinct. There are only approximately a dozen people left in the world with this name. Not only is it relatively unique, but has a strong meaning, which I love... "leyon" is Swedish for "lion" and "berg" means "mountain". Lions are symbols of courage, honor and strength, and we think this house will fit it well, being one of the best green projects, requiring honest/good quality materials.

Elevations (Colored In)

2007-05-17T11:31:00.000-05:00

I spent many hours coloring the elevations of our dream house... yes, I know, I'm a bit overzealous when it comes to our future home. I hope this will be an informative blog as well. Here are the 2-D images:

SOUTH (front)

NORTH (back)

WEST

EAST

Last weekend, we went to the Austin Energy Green by Design Workshop, which was an 8 hour, enlightening experience. According to them, as well as our own wonderful designer, Ted Mengers at Pyranak Design Group, either North or South should be the front elevation and the sides of the house should be oriented East-West. Yippee! We did it right.... and it looks gorgeous too.

Welcome to the Sjodin Dream Home Blog!

2007-05-07T16:59:00.000-05:00

We are this daring couple, ready to start our modern design, energy efficient, eco-friendly and healthy dream home. This is where we will detail as much of this process for you who are trying to do the same, or are just curious how this baby will turn out!

This is our first home. And it will be custom designed, and we're considering being our own builders. Sound ambitious? Yes, we are. But, that's us!

Below is a rough color sketch of our future modern house on our 3 acre Austin Hill Country lot! We haven't decided on the colors yet, but just to give you an idea, we picked the purple/yellow cream below. The catwalk will have horizontal cable and steel railings. Keep checking this profile for more updates!!!

Southwest 3-D

Northeast 3-D

Here is more information about it:
Our walls and roof will be made from SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels made of styrofoam sandwiched between OSB wood boards) that will cut energy costs to up to 75%!!! Our roof will appear "flat", but actually be a low slope roof supported by styrofoam blocks and lined with a thin membrane surrounded by parapet walls (walls that are higher than the roofline to hide the slope). To the left is a roof garden where we want to grow organic vegetables/fruits. There will be 2 balconies, a part/open-air garage port, chemical free 16'x40' swimming pool, geothermal heating and cooling, solar panels, rainwater collection, and might be plumbed for graywater use. We will not have a lawn, but keep the natural dry terrain, using a lot of regional plants in our landscaping (called xeriscaping). The exterior will use stucco, stone, and wood panels, hardwood trellises, horizontal cable-steel railings on the front catwalk and north balcony. There is a 2nd floor entrance from the catwalk and a 1st floor entrance by the pool and carport (hidden and to the right). We will use stained concrete with abundant fly ash in it on the bottom floor and very sustainable bamboo flooring at the top floor. All bathrooms only have shower stalls except for master bedroom that will have a custom-made Japanese style soaking tub/shower combination done with stone-slate looking tiles and stair to get into the tub. We are importing Swedish toilets with larger pipes that use less water and NEVER stop up! We will have energy efficient European Electrolux appliances and a Swedish washer/dryer because they are high-quality and worth their extra expense. To save money, we will also use IKEA kitchen components (drawers only, no cabinets to crawl down into) and will either have a custom concrete with recycled materials mixed inor quartz countertop. There is an inner balcony that overlooks the 2-story open living/dining room and kitchen and a spiral stairway that goes down to the 1st level. We tried to avoid walls, halls and also incorporated a lot of sliding doors for the guest bathroom and small bedroom upstairs. I'll post more fun stuff as it develops. Slated to start Summer 2007 and should hopefully be done SOON after!

And in addition, here's what the pool will kind of look like, accept I want the coping (edge around the pool) to be more straight line with no curves.

Anyway, we will be updating this blog even more frequently when the building breaks ground.

Deciding to be an Owner Builder?

2007-05-07T16:50:00.000-05:00

Our dream house is just within reach, but to make it a reality, we must consider being our own owner/builder.

After searching for months, it's as hard to find a good man as it is to find a perfect "builder". Either we felt they didn't understand our aesthetic, or they just didn't sound as enthusiastic as we'd hope. Not only that, but they are SLOW as maple syrup to get bids to you. And I am still faster than any of them, trying to get bids on my own!

Anyway, the OBN (Owner Builder Network) guy has been very good with answering our questions, and they basically guarantee that they will provide the following:
1) The design/build stages in a hard copy manual, step-by-step, from scratch to finish including who to call, when to call, and when to inspect.
2) A resource list of tried and referenced subcontractors used by other OBN people and have been put through the interview test.
3) Support and guidance from the OBN representative and other OB people through their forums and blogs.
4) The BIG ONE-They will guarantee your construction loan!

All this so you can save around 15% off your total construction costs! (like $50,000 in our case) because why pay a builder that which I am already doing?

More info can be found here: http://www.ownerbuildernetwork.com

It all sounds very promising, so I will update you when we have decided what to do.