My wife Linda and I built a new house last year. We call it White Oak Cottage. We actually moved in this past March. From the beginning, we wanted to build an energy-efficient home. This was driven partly by a desire to lower our monthly utility bills, but we also wanted to be comfortable. I have come to see them as two sides of the same coin. If you get one, you will have the other.
Plus, we also wanted to have a design that hearkened back to an earlier period of American architecture. We both love Craftsman-style homes, so we tried to incorporate some of those elements into our home's design, especially the interior. For instance, all of the woodwork is quarter-sawn white oak -- a signature Craftsman feature -- including the interior doors. The doors and trim were made in my son's cabinet shop.
After speaking with several builders and architects, we settled on a builder (Drew Sneary) from Rogers, who specializes in using insulated concrete forms (ICFs) in the walls of the homes he builds. As we began to meet with Drew and explain what we were hoping to accomplish, we were impressed with his openness and attention to detail.
Linda is a retired civil engineer, so it fell to her to draw all the blueprints for the house. We spent quite a bit of time talking and looking at house plans as we developed a plan of our own. One of our guiding principles was the thought that we wanted to build a house that we would live in the rest of our lives. We also wanted a home that felt spacious and roomy. With that in mind, we designed the house with ten-and-a-half-foot sidewalls and cathedral ceilings. This, together with an open floor plan, makes the house feel larger than it really is (2,800 sq. ft. heated area).
One thing we did was to install 3 inches of rigid foam insulation under the slab. I didn't want heat getting sucked out of the house through the ground. This is one area that many people fail to consider when building a home. For heating and cooling, we chose to go with a ground source heat pump -- or geothermal, as it is also called. Because a geothermal system is so energy-efficient, there is a 30 percent tax credit offered by the the government for homeowners who install it.
We also installed 24 solar panels on the roof. These panels produce electricity that helps offset our monthly utility bill. There is a 30 percent tax credit on solar panels as well. Carroll Electric Co-operative was very helpful in working with us to make sure everything was installed correctly. It takes a special, two-way meter to keep track of electricity going back to the grid as well as coming into the house. We have been very pleased with the results. Most months our solar panels produce all the power we need to run the house.
With the insulated concrete forms for walls, there are several benefits. For one thing the house is very quiet. Another benefit is the safety factor. Living here is kind of like living in a big safe room. The basement walls have 8 inches of concrete reinforced with rebar. The main floor is 6 inches of concrete with rebar. This has the feel of solidity that makes for a certain peace of mind when storms are in the forecast. And, even with a metal roof, we simply don't hear the wind or storms the way you do in most buildings. It is very quiet here.
In the attic we used cellulose insulation to get an R-45 rating. I was for using more insulation in the attic, but Drew assured me this would be sufficient for our region. So far, he seems to be correct. I have been asked why we didn't use foam insulation in the attic up against the roof to make an envelope. My reasons were cost (cellulose is cheaper) and the fact that we didn't want to condition the attic because there is nothing up there. All of our ducting for the heating and air is between the basement and the main floor.
For lighting, we used LED can lights throughout the house. We carefully caulked around each one in order to seal off air leaks to the attic. Each light is equivalent to 10 watts of energy usage, but gives off the light of a 60 watt bulb. Plus, they are designed to last a long, long time. We haven't had a failure yet.
So what can be said about the house after six months of living in it? Well, we seem to be using about 500 kilowatts of electricity per month. That is a little more than half of the average home in Arkansas. We believe that is a result of building a very tight house. (There seems to be an idea out there that you can build a house too tight. I don't think that is as easy as some seem to think.) We haven't had any issues with moisture in the basement or anything of that nature. We love the even temperatures and the ease of keeping the house cool in the heat of summer. The air conditioner didn't run all that much because the house holds its temperature well. We simply don't notice outside temperature changes all that much. It was 44 degrees last night, but the inside temperature was down one degree this morning. I don't even have the system on right now. We are curious to see how things go this winter.
We had a blower door test done on the house before and after we finished it. Prior to completion, the house had over six air changes per hour (ACH's). After completion, the house had only one and a half ACH's. The average new home in this area has about eight or nine ACH's. Anything under three ACH's needs some kind of mechanical ventilation to ensure enough fresh air gets into the house. We have an automatic ERV fan in one of our spare bathrooms. The only thing I have ever noticed in the house is a slight smell of polyurethane from the floor and woodwork. The smell of a new house I reckon.
In short, we could not be more pleased with the house so far. Y'all are welcome to come see us anytime!
Sam Byrnes is a Gentry-area resident and weekly contributor to the Eagle Observer. He may be contacted by email at [email protected]. Opinions expressed are those of the author.
Editorial on 10/07/2015