THE WINTER SOLSTICE

TODAY, 22 DECEMBER, IS THE NORTHERN WINTER SOLSTICE. I would love to be in my little house, checking out the fall of sunlight in the southern rooms, especially the sunroom/potting room beneath the deck. But here I am, after five weeks in Oz, visiting with my daughter and granddaughter in Colorado. I was thinking that three weeks of skiing would be rather nice but, despite it seemingly everywhere else, none to speak of has fallen here.

I have been away too long; I miss my house and wonder will it remember me when I finally return. Really, a lot has happened since my last posting. The deck and sunroom are completed and double French doors now open from the deck into the kitchen area what will be the enlarged upper bedroom. Here is a photo of the sunroom as sent to me by Daniel, my contractor, while I was in Australia.

As you can see, six double glazed surfaces light the sunroom: two windows facing East and three to the South, plus the door. This should let in enough light and heat during the Winter period. I calculate that light will fall over half the floor and the lower half the inner wall at the solstice noon. In addition, the revision of the heating system has included a radiant heat loop under the sunroom floor. Occasionally warm air from the clothes dryer will exhaust into this space as well. My hope is that I will have sufficient control of growing conditions for my seedlings once spring arrives. When I return the task of tiling the floor awaits me. This should be a comfortable room in the colder period. The inner door opens into the laundry area where there is plenty of room there to set up my Winter/Spring workshop.

Above this space runs the extended deck. The sliding patio doors that formerly opened into the breakfast/eating area have been replaced by French doors matching those entering the bedroom, which you can see opposite. Adjustable slat blinds within the double glazing help to regulate light and keep heat inside the house at night. While glass is good at letting heat in it also is quite good a letting it escape as the outside air cools.

We enlarged both the bedroom and the living areas by removing load bearing dividing walls, having first strengthened the roof timbers

After all, this is to be my bachelor's abode; two bedrooms (one in the lower level) are sufficient, as I love space and hate partitions. This makes for more efficient heating and cooling of the house. I will paint these rooms on my return and then emplace floating floors in these areas. Since the utility room is exactly below the kitchen area, a vent/register in the kitchen floor will allow heat to rise from the furnace area and so promote circulation between the two levels of the house, an advantage to staying with older furnace technology when revising the heating system, not to mention saving about three thousand dollars.

Since these photos, the fencing of the deck has been completed. However, you can seen the stairs descending from the deck at the left of the last picture. The outside work and the revision of the heating/hot water system are now complete. I have been very fortunate with both contractors, Daniel and Ray. Now it is essentially up to me. I will keep you posted as the interior work proceeds. By late Spring, the work I have mentioned should be well in hand and I must be thinking of work in the garden. Other than that, I have to ensure that the house is as airtight as possible so I will be looking for leaks as well as fashioning internal insulated shutters for the lower level windows to conserve heat.

The house is well lit, efficiently heated, and insulated so can be expected to function well in all seasons. Being on a slope leading up to the surrounding hill slopes, it is well served by breezes in the warmer weather. The white painted roof has kept internal temperature down during the warm days of last Summer so I am pleased with progress and anxious to see how well things go in the cold weather when I return. So far so good.

Planning the garden area will be important to assisting the house fit well with the environment so I will be thinking of the chi a great deal as I plan the placement of trees and shrubs over the planting, growing seasons that are forthcoming. No doubt this will keep you amused as the project goes on. The overall plan is to have a tidy but commodious home set in an environment that assists it to use the least energy possible and ensure my happy occupation in this the final quarter of my life.

ALMOST THERE!

THE DECK PROJECT HAS BEEN SLOWED BY SEEMINGLY ENDLESS RAIN BUT...
the end is in sight! With just a week or so before I head off for Australia, it looks as if all the outside work will be in hand. The deck is completed, as also the stairs leading up to it and a smaller set leading down to the entrance of the 'potting room', and the patio doors are installed.
When I recall how the rear of the house looked I am amazed at the change. Here is a 'before' photo to refresh your memories.

And now a pic taken this evening (October 6) of the current state of construction. You may notice that the windows have been installed in the room beneath the deck. There are two more on the eastern side of this room. so plenty of light and heat will enter from the early morning to fairly late in the evening, particularly when the leaves fall from the trees bordering the rear lane, when the sun is lower to the horizon.

It is really starting to look like a house to be lived in! Ray, the heating man, is 99% done with some final bits awaiting the completion of the interior of the 'potting room'. Every thing is working well; just as well as with clear skies at night, temperature is descending to hear freezing presently. The heating (by hot water baseboard units in each room) is divided into three zones, one of which is the radiant heat floor in this room, each with its own thermostat. I now refer to the 'potting room' somewhat tongue in cheek. As it will be fully lined, the floor heated and tiled, and with so much light entering, it clearly is shifting in conception to a sun room. Daniel, the contractor, thinks I will spend a major part of my time there during the winter months.

Finally, in this posting, here is a look at the deck. This has been an exciting project beyond my imagination and my satisfaction with it continues to mount. Remaining work is cutting a doorway from the sun-room into the laundry. This will have a door with a half window while the outside door will the fully glazed. Then remain the lining, dry-walling the western end wall and the ceiling, wiring electrical outlets, and some plumbing edits.

It will be a wonderful addition, especially in the Winter and Spring.

While I away (until after Christmas). Daniel will complete the demolition of the wall between the breakfast room and the living room, after strengthening the roofing frames, as well as some dry-wall repairs. The recent incessant and heavy rains have revealed some roof leaks that need fixing. Hopefully, when I return, there will be lots of work for me in the way of painting, renewing the floors, and chasing down air-leaks in the structure.

THE DECK SAGA...CONTINUED

THE RAIN HAS SLOWED THINGS SOMEWHAT but the construction of the potting room/mudroom/rear entrance has continued. Daniel, the contractor, (courtesy of the remnants of tropical storm Lee) has lots of work and used the rain period to get on with other jobs. Prior to three or so days of steady rain, I thought to seed over some of the ground disturbed by the earth moving. Rain was forecast for the next day and I got a bag of seed broadcast. I guess you know the saying, 'It never rains but it pours.' So it proved to be!

At last the rain passed on and Daniel returned to resume construction of the potting room. Here you see him working on the sill plate to top the foundation walls. He is also thinking hard about how to roof the potting room when the framing is done. I have been filling in time clearing up mess and being anxious about the germination of the grass seed.

About this time Ray, the heating contractor, arrived to deliver some tools and to exchange banter with Daniel. These fellows know each other from 'way back' and work around each other's work very well. Amongst other things, Ray will connect the hot water coil in the floor to the revised heating system.

Like politics, building is comprised of compromises. Two of the heating contractors quoting on this work were quite happy to fit my ideas of the latest in energy efficient equipment. On the other hand, Ray took time to educate me about the differences between the old and the new, relative efficiencies, and which would result in the lowest maintenance costs. The result is that he has the work and I am paying much less (around $3K less) for the revision of the heat/hot water system.

Meanwhile, Daniel seems to have figured out how to construct the framework of the potting room and to do the roofing. The deck will be constructed over this roof, using this construction as the foundation. The roof will drain and divert water passing between the deck planking. The potting room will have five double-glazed windows (two to the East and three to the South) so should collect a lot of light/heat from the winter sun. Of course, this will also permit considerable heat loss at night so I propose to have up to five fifty gallon (US) black plastic barrels filled with water to capture heat during the day and provide radiant heat a night. Of course, the radiant floor will also assist this as a back up system. Eventually, I plan to build thermo-shutters for each window to close up the potting room at night, as required.

We will have to wait out the Winter to see how all this works. I am of the view now that I may be able to pipe heat into the house proper via the second door into the laundry room. So now you see the completed roof (since well flashed to the house wall) and Daniel and Richard who worked to complete this work. The roof had a good test last night when the rain returned.

A lot remains to be done, like the completion of the deck, breaking though the house wall at both levels for door ways, fitting of the doors, and other odds and ends. We are hoping to see all the work done by the end of the month. I have decided that I have sufficient light entering the bedroom by means of the double patio doors that will replace the window you see, and the bedroom window to the East.

Preparatory to the work, I have removed some of the drywall inside the southern wall of the bedroom. The rest will be up to Daniel.

To remind you...what inspires this work is the possibility of optimizing passive solar heating during the cold months. At the Summer Equinox (just eight days away) the sun will shine in at at angle of about 46 degrees and then continue to descend until the Winter Solstice. However, it will continue below this angle right through to the Winter Equinox, so the sun's rays and heat will reach well into the potting room and also into the upper level for most of the cold months. The plan is to promote scattering of this light from off the floor and walls to take light and heat the length of the room (some 27 feet). I am thinking of a bamboo floor and relative light colored walls and ceilings. The eastern wall, however, will feature the colors of my Japanese bed and will likely be a striking orange in hue. The floor will continue into the passageway to the enlarged living/dining room. I am working now to remove the wall that separates these two spaces.

My daughter, Bronwyn, and granddaughter, Stephanie, plan to visit in the late Spring, so lots of work to do until then. Just now I am content to have the place ready for Winter. I will be away from mid-October to the New Year (in Australia and then Colorado), so the whips are cracking!

YIKES...WHAT TO DO WITH THE FILL?

DEAR READERS, in-between rain periods (very welcome, as Corning is suffering a 'mini-drought') work is continuing of the deck extension project. As this is central to reshaping the house, other work on the interior has seen a lull. Since my last post, a floor for the potting room has been poured, incorporating a radiant heating loop. Daniel, the Contractor, is about to commence the timber construction that will result in the deck. This will include the descending stairs leading to the outside doorway of the potting room, and stairs going up to the deck. This result in a proper rear entrance from the back yard.

It has been quite fun to stand within the foundation walls, on the new floor, and imagine how the room will be. I imagine myself working there in the coming Spring, light streaming in, in pleasant warmth. Quickly I saw three of four black plastic 50 gallon barrels filled with water to conserve heat from the day to be dispersed through the night. Very likely I will tile the floor with reddish brown tiles. How pleasant one's conversation with the house!

Meanwhile, we confronted quite a problem with the fill (that heap of white stuff from out of the hole). We thought it just a matter of carting it away; however, no one wanted it except at a high price to take it (a very high price). Hmm...what to do? Finally, I recalled thinking how, each time I walk around the side of the house, how much I need a broad, level surface. Why not take off the top soil and bury the fill on one side of the house? We settled on the West side. where we were reasonably sure no services were connected. The next day three machines were at work, moving the fill, spreading soil and tamping down the earth.

In short order, the job got done and all the fill is now buried at the side of the house and very glad we all were to have it so. The fill was most likely residue from the manufacture of corelle crockery and who knows what elements and compounds it might contain. Buried it was, briefly saw the light and now...buried once more.

With that bit of anxiety behind, we are now ready to begin the construction of the deck itself. Daniel will start of this tomorrow (September 2nd.). Now I have to settle how to proceed with the revision of the heating/hot water system and get back to removing dry wall.

DECK FOUNDATION COMPLETED

HERE YOU SEE Daniel, principal contractor, setting out the form-work for the footing in the Big Hole. Daniel is a remarkable fellow and has been in the business some 28 years...I count myself lucky to have discovered him.

While the excavating went along, I removed the fence on the existing deck (destined to be come compost pile frames) and treated the timber. All the timber from the renovations has a recycling destination within the overall project.

Once the form-work was completed, along came the Ready-Mix. Readers not living in North America may wonder why the footing is so deep. The reason for this is that, during the cold months, water in the soil freezes down about a metre causing the soil to expand displacing upwards any building elements above the 'frost level'. Footings either have to be frost protected or lie below this level. This is the main reason houses have basements. In the case of my project, the footings continue those already beneath the house structure, which is semi-buried within an earth berm.

Throughout the year, beneath the frost level, the earth remains at a constant 55 deg. F (13 deg Cel) which acts to cool the lower part of the house in the Summer and to warm it in the Winter...no kidding when the ambient temperature is below freezing, any assist from Mother Earth is very welcome. In the Winter, the challenge is to keep heat within the house structure. This house has two temperature controlled levels and I plan to keep the lower level at around 60 deg F to minimize loss to the surrounding earth. The upper level will run at 67 deg F and will mainly be heated in the day time by passive solar means. More on this later.

Within the footing will be a 'floating' concrete slab with a radiant heating loop supplied from the house system. This loop will have cold/hot water mixing to reduce the water temperature. The existing baseboard radiators require water at about 180 deg F. The reason for a radiant floor is to permit me to work with plants before Spring. As the area will also provide the main rear entrance to the house, it will also function as a mud room during the cold, wet months. The adjoining lower room is the laundry area which will also include a work bench. The deck will be extended over this new room, incorporating a roof below it to deflect rain and snow. With windows to the East and South, it should be pretty snug.

From the rear entrance steps will ascend to ground level. The window you see at the left middle will become the doorway into the laundry/work room. Now that the brick work is finished, the next job is to surround the foundation wall with insulating foam and provide a drain for the footings.

Beyond that will be the construction of the deck. Once that is done, Daniel will break into the laundry room to complete the entrance and also break into South wall of the upstairs bedroom. Here the plan is to introduce double French doors and a taller window to improve fenestration and passive solar heating. This will lead to the completion of the main upper bedroom (lots of work for me). On completion of this stage of the house remodel, the Japanese Bed will be moved from the lower level recreation room to this magnificent setting, and 'Yours Truly' will be able to wake with the morning sun and stroll out onto the deck. Yippee!!!

At the other end of the deck, the present sliding patio door (which has lost its seal) will be replaced with matching double French doors. The two deck areas will be joined by a narrow bridging deck at the top of ascending stairs from the rear path. All of this is a major alteration of how the house works in terms of egress and access. In cost, it will run to about 15% of the overall capital expenditure. The remaining pre-Winter project will be to turn the kitchen/dining area and the living room into one area.

During this time, the upgrade of the heating/hot water system will be proceeding. While it is somewhat 'rickety' and I am almost of the mind to let it go for another Winter and see how the house performs at heat management. Decisions about this over the next two weeks.

Critical issues are how well passive solar heating works with the enlarged areas and extra fenestration, and to what extent I can work to keep heat in by sealing air leaks and the like. The house has a lot of windows (equivalent to about 18 standard windows) all of which are good at loosing heat at night despite double glazing.

RESHAPING THE HOUSE

TWO OVERLAPPING PROJECTS: As I am the only continual occupant, three bedrooms are one too many. On the upper level, there were two bedrooms on the East end. The task has been to turn these into just one large room. Separating the two were a large built-in wardrobe and a storage closet. These formed part of the original structure and one partition supported the roof trusses. I had little compunction about removing these as I am adverse to doors and walls within a home. Usually, there is just me about so privacy within the house is irrelevant.

There was quite a bit of work involved and for the final stages, my contractor gave assistance. Anyway, I plugged away at it most days for most of the day. This is what it looked like at the midpoint of demolition. Prior to this, while working on the attic ventilation, the contractor (Daniel) strengthened the roof trusses so these would not need the support of the partition between the rooms. This view to the South. One reason I purchased this house is that it has a full Winter exposure to the sun, which (here in the Northern Hemisphere), gets closer to the southern horizon between the Winter equinox and solstice.

The reason for this is to take full advantage of passive solar heating between the Autumn and Spring equinoxes. The next pic shows the 'demo' work near the end. You can see the window in the wall facing South. This is to be replaced by a taller window and 6 foot (1.83 metres) sliding patio door opening onto the deck. The present deck will be extended across the width of the southern wall, covering a potting room and lower entrance that will be opened to the laundry room. A little more sunlight will enter this room than into the kitchen/breakfast room section, but the whole thing will be nearly symmetrical about the mid-North-South axis.

Presently, all that needs to be done in this new room is finishing drywall repair to the wall and ceiling. I will wait for the completion of the window and door work before doing this. When completed, it will be great to be able to walk right out onto the deck and catch the warming sun.

All this will allow heat and light to enter the southern rooms. At night this will have to be conserved, since windows are about as good as letting heat out as in, so I will use the lumber from this demolition to construct insulating shutters to cover the windows at night. There is an equivalent of about 18 windows around the house, so this will take a bit of work and I might not get it all done. We shall see.

Yesterday, the work began preparing the foundation area for the potting room and the deck extension. This is how it looked at the start of the day. You can see my little garden. So far, six zucchini, one cucumber, and the promise of a dozen tomatoes. Lumber from the bedroom 'demo' is stacked under the present deck. On Wednesday of this week, I disassembled the external stair. The next day the Bobcat arrived on its flat bed and was unloaded.

And yesterday they got to work; here we go! Lots of interesting stuff came out, bits of the previous house which had a gas leak in the basement back in 1972 or so and exploded, as well as a lot of rubble which looks like ceramic moulds for casting glass ware.

I now have a big hole in the back yard. The laundry window you see in the lower left will become a door, opening into the potting room. Rear entry will be into this room below the deck via descending stairs. The deck will get a new stairway leading up to a bridging section between the two decks. I plan to use this room particularly in the Spring to bring on early plantings. The floor will have radiant heat available on demand so should be a good place in which to work.

We think about three weeks to complete all this work. Further work will relate to making the living room and kitchen/eating area into one space, as with the bedrooms. Whether I can attempt this prior to going back to Australia for two or so months, mid-October, I am not sure. The main concern is to get the house ready for Winter. I will offer short postings so you can follow the work. This will mostly complete work that I cannot easily do myself. The rest will be up to me.

On the energy conservation front, focus is on upgrading the heating/hot water side. The house has hot water driven baseboard heaters. The current boilers will be replaced by a high efficiency combined system. With passive solar heating and nocturnal heat conservation, I hope for really low winter energy bills. Waiting for my natural gas supplier to come up with the research on this.
I hope you keep on watching this space.

TEARING DOWN AND BUILDING UP

TWO AGENDA DRIVE the house project currently. First, make the house into my home; making it work for me. Secondly, optimize the fit of the house to the environment. Mostly, I am following these principles in parallel.

MAKING THE HOUSE WORK FOR ME: this house was built in the early 1970s for two aging parents and perhaps one resident adult child, with room for three other grown children visiting from time to time. It has three bedrooms, two in the upper level and one in the lower. with two full bathrooms. The kitchen/dining room opens onto a large deck (with rather rickety railings), steps going down to the rear yard. Also in the lower level are the laundry and a recreational room. This is the only rear entrance. The garden consists of lawn and a few shrubs. When I purchased the house, it lacked a garage or a garden shed. My first action was to purchase a garden shed and site it on a concrete pad just off the rear lane. I got this from a local Amish company that makes rather good sheds at a very good price. I have no clue what the pad was previously for but it takes the shed and my car very nicely.

The roof/attic was poorly ventilated and, consequently, ran very hot on summer days. So the next task was to have a contractor install a proper ridge-cap and soffit ventilation system. I also got him to paint the roof with a special highly reflective white paint specifically designed for composite roofs (very expensive at about $80 per gallon). My roof is in good condition and took less paint to do the job than estimated. This makes the attic space, and therefore the house interior, now much cooler and will extend the life of the roof by about ten years. Here you see the front roof partly painted.

In the next posting, I will tell about the plans for the bedrooms and extending the rear deck. These will convert the house from a family home to a bachelor's abode.

MY HOUSE AND MY RELIGION

WHAT IS HE TALKING ABOUT?  Well might you ask.  Can there be a connection between a house and faith.  We are not talking here about how to get to one's place of worship from one's house. Since we all know, even at a superficial level, what a house is, let's look at what 'religion' might be.

There is a lot of misunderstanding about the nature of religion.  Never talk about religion and politics, some say.  Did you know that there is no word corresponding to 'religion' in the Chinese language?  We get the word from the Latin language, where it had the meaning of the degree of commitment or devotion we display toward our most important interests.  Today, for example, we can still say that a person who is devoted to fitness attends the gymnasium 'religiously'.  Religion is about values and principles.  This can find expression in spiritual practices.  Currently, I am thinking about this in my other Blog.

I am one of those who never really settled down.  By the time I started High School, I had lived in six houses, about one house per each two years.  After my four years in theology school, I averaged one house per each three years, except for one period of thirteen years prior to my first divorce, and another period of eleven years prior to my second divorce, the first long stretch bring in Adelaide (South Australia) and the second in Portland (Oregon).  You might say that I had very little commitment to any house.

Approaching the final quarter of my life, I have given a lot of thought to the home that would be just my own.  As some of you know, I had thought to build one...a very small house of perhaps 750 square feet.

Here some of the principles or themes I have taken up as important for my life, to be expressed in my physical home:

• I can access places of beauty and interest easily
• Essential services related to shopping, medical care, and recreation can be accessed without reliance on motor transport
• The location will encourage walking and cycling
• The house will be energy efficient, particularly in the cold months
• It will not be large and it will inhibit the collection of things
• The house structure will assist sustainability
• It will be located in a small community, able to sustain itself should the economic going gets tough
• It will facilitate, even require, continual effort and work, especially gardening and carpentry
• It will constitute the framework for a healthy, active, and demanding lifestyle
• It will have neighbors
• It will always have room for family and friends who wish to visit.

I am sure there are some others.  However, you can use these to test the religion I bring to bear as I pursue my dreams of home.

HERE IS THE BEGINNING HOUSE

So, folks, this is the house. As you can see, surrounded by lots and lots of lawn. It is a split level ranch style structure. In a moment, I will show you the rear view.

This how it was when I found it. The front faces to the North. The two windows on the left of the picture look out from one of the two bedrooms on the east side. The other looks into the back yard. On the west side, we have the window of the living room. Behind is the kitchen/breakfast room. Between the kitchen and the rear bedroom is a bathroom.

Entering through the front door, on the left a short staircase leads to the lower level while the right hand stairs ascent to the entrance of the kitchen and also the living room. Taking the stairs down, one enters a short passageway. A second bathroom is to the left front and, on the right front, is the utility room. Turning right takes you to a large recreation room running the width of the house. Going to the left leads to a third bedroom at the front and a laundry room to the rear. So there you have it...three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a living room, a recreation room, and a large laundry. Way too much house for me.

Quite by accident, I discovered the house during my first serious week of house hunting. It wasn't on my list. This bit of Corning is a little 'higgle-piggly' and my GPS has fallen from its attachment to the windscreen. I turned into Sterling Street and there, up ahead on the right, I spied a For Sale sign. Cruising by, there it sat, well back from the footpath, surrounded by lawn, on the largest block in the street. This how the house looked from the rear alley.

The yard cried out to me...'Help, make me into a beautiful garden.'

I had to see inside.

Which I did that very day. I fell in love with the possibilities it offered me. Structurally, it is very sound, so not quite the fixer upper. Nonetheless, lots of work and creativity lie ahead.

It has an interesting history. Built in 1973, it is at least a hundred years younger than the surrounding homes. The former house may have been one of the farm houses. It may have been quite large. However, soon after the Great Corning Flood of 1972, a catastrophic gas leak led to the house exploding. By this time the four children had pretty much grown up and a more modest home was built for their parents. First their father died and then, some two years back, so did their mother.

When I saw it, the house had not been lived in for two years. But I have dreams for it.