HERS rating

It's probably not what you think.  HERS is the acronym for Home Energy Rating System.  We scored 45.  That doesn't sound so good, but we were quite happy with it.

A score of 100 means that a home meets the requirement of the energy code.  Every one point decrease represents a one percent decrease in projected energy usage. Our score of 45 indicates that we are projected to use 55% less energy than a baseline house designed to meet the 2006 IECC energy code.

The HERS rating takes into account many factors including insulation levels, HVAC equipment efficiency, window efficiency, the blower door test and water heater efficiency.  This is not a superinsulated house and we didn't take extreme measures.  The house, though, is well insulated and the HVAC equipment is efficient, but we couldn't even use the some of the new highly efficient windows because we had to use impact resistant windows.  We did have an ace in the hole, though.

The PV solar system provides about half of our electricity.  I don't know how much this adds, but seemed to really help with the HERS rating.  The HERS rating also factors into our final LEED rating.

Blower Door Test

Yesterday Building Diagnostics performed the blower door test.

This test measures the air leakage of the house.  At 50 pascals the leakage was 658 cubic feet per minute.  That sounds like a lot, but it's really pretty good.  The total house volume, including basement and attic, is about 23,000 cubic feet, which translates into about 1.7 air changes per hour (ACH).  According to the "blower door test" link above, less than 5 ACH is tight, 5 to 10 ACH is moderate and more than that is leaky.

I wanted to see how much the heat recovery ventilator (HRV) added to this number.  The HRV has two 6" diameter ducts, one intake and one exhaust, going through the outside wall.  I took a piece of newspaper and put it up to the intake.  The air going in the HRV intake hood held the paper in place.  The CFM reading went down by about 10 percent just from this.  I would guess that, if the opening was sealed, there would be about 15 to 20 percent less infiltration.  However, the purpose of the HRV is to allow ventilation.  About 75 percent of the energy which would otherwise be lost can be recovered when it passes through the HRV.

When I took the photo above, I had the camera angled down, which skewed the perspective.  I decided to fix that, which is pretty easy with photo editing software.

The mat inset into the tile and the bench both factor into the final LEED rating.  It is recommended that dirt and contaminants be contained rather than tracked into the house.  The purpose of the walk-off mat is obvious.  The bench is a spot to sit down and remove your shoes.

Building Diagnostics will take the infiltration information, along with other information regarding insulation levels, HVAC equipment efficiencies and other factors including the capacity of the photovoltaic solar system and will use this to calculate a Home Energy Rating System (HERS) score.  This score indicates how much energy this house uses compared to a code minimum house.  Then that number will be translated into a point score that will factor into the final LEED score.

Labor Day plus one year

One year ago we had a foundation.  If we knew how much work this would be, we might not have done it.  We've spent many weekends working on the house and often quietly wished for bad weather so we wouldn't mind the fact that we were inside working.  The weather this summer has been, generally, quite nice.  Then came Earl.

Earl veered out to sea further than expected and the wind wasn't so great, but about 4" of rain fell overnight.  Our basement is only about 14' above sea level, but flooding isn't an issue.  There was a very large puddle down the hill and a bit of wash-out, but otherwise it was pretty benign for a hurricane.  It did really effect businesses, though.  Labor day is kind of the last hurrah on Cape Cod, and many people left early or came late because of the potential threat.

WINDOW SCREENS

Most people don't give much thought to window screens, but we never do things the easy way.  We have simulated divided lights (SDL's) and I hate to see them obscured by screens.  This is what I would like things to look like.

Some of the windows don't have screens, like this one which is over an opening in the Living Room and out of reach.  However, this is what the front of the house currently looks like with screens.

Most of the windows and this side of the house have half-screens.  This way the top of the window is unobstructed and the depth and shadow lines of the SDL's show through.

The view from inside is a bit better without upper screens too, although the half-screens disable the upper sash, so the double-hung windows are more like single-hung windows.  The top-down/bottom-up shades allow us privacy from the street and a view at the same time.  I like how even the little screens for the awning windows have the same lawyerly warning label.

This is a TruScene screen, which is about 50 percent more transparent than a traditional screen.  They are quite a bit more expensive, though, so we used them judiciously. 

The half-screens do require an adapter and stick out further than the upper sash.  I was worried about how they would look because of this, but it's not too bad.

We have full screens on the side and rear of the house.

You can see how they obscure the SDL's.  Also, the full screens are white and the half-screens are Cinnamon Toast color.  I was concerned that the white divider bar at the center of the screens would look out of place, but the screens do obscure this somewhat.

We really love the casement window in the Kitchen.

The sashes look like the double-hung windows but open WIDE.

The window goes all the way down to counter height and really lets the outside in.  The window opening was mis-framed and is off by about an inch from where it should have been.

I installed the tile over a month ago, but have not yet grouted it.  It looks great and will look even better when it's finished.  There are many little jobs like this left, though.

Old Home Week

August 8 through 15 was Centerville's 106th Old Home Week.  Activities included a concert, presentations, a road race and an ice cream social for the kids.  The Main Street walking tour provided an interesting introduction to some of Centerville's history and architecture, including some unexpected surprises.  There were numerous Crosby family houses on Main Street and the James Crosby house started out in the Greek Revival style, was totally transformed into a Queen Anne style house

about 20 years later to match The Howard Marston house (now the Fernbrook Inn) across the street, and then expanded and completely reconfigured

about 25 years later in the Colonial Revival style.  If you look at the three windows on the left side of the second floor you can see the little bit that remained.  The turret, porch and detailing were all removed.

That night there was a bonfire and concert on the beach

and the modern version of the pied piper.

Although not a part of Old Home Week, on Sunday we took a shellfishing class,

caught a mess of quahogs and enjoyed them that evening.

Now, back to the house-
We were able to fit a small Powder Room on the First Floor.  This is the Toto dual flush toilet.

The room is so small that we were worried about the space that the towel bar and tp holder take up.  They do fit but just barely.

The corner pedestal sink is from Porcher.  It was supposed to get the more rounded Grohe Eurodisc faucet, but the more angular Grohe Essence faucet that you see here wouldn't fit in the upstairs vanity.  For some reason the vanity was built 20" deep rather than the more typical 21" to 22".  There wasn't enough room for the pop-up for the drain so we had to swap them.

We searched for a mirror and finally found just the right one on Craigslist.  It looks great and it was only $10.

Lots of Guests

In June I invited my mom along with my brother and his family to visit the new place for a week in late July.  I knew they wanted to spend some time there and also extended the same invitation to my siblings.  There are five 'kids' in my family and we're pretty spread out geographically.  All of them came, along with some of their spouses and children and a couple of my mom's sisters too.  It's just a two-bedroom house but is designed for gatherings and this was the experiment to see how things work out with a hoard of people.

We can't comfortably accommodate all of them, and a few stayed at the Centerville Corners Inn, which is just down the street, and the Fernbrook Inn, which is a beautiful former private estate turned B&B.  The beds, trundle bed, sleeper sofa and futon accommodated the rest.

Since the five of us aren't together often, I arranged a photographer to do a group photo shoot on the beach in Osterville, although I don't have those photos just yet.  Here's a less professional version.

Rain threatened and I had to modify the time with the photographer.  The exact time was undetermined until just about time to leave, and gathering everyone was a little like herding cats, but we made it.

We had 17 for dinner that night.  The table stretches out to 10' and the bar seats 3, so we did all fit in the Dining Room.  The built-in hutch

is still MIA and would have been a real help.  It's intended as a set-up area to free the table and peninsula/bar.  It's just another example of what I called "Cape Cod Time" in my blog from June 28.

The Real Front Door

What a long process this has been.  We finally have the actual front door - although it's not really the front door, per my post from February 21.  It's painted a dark marine blue so it's hard to make out the window, especially in this light.  The shadow puts the glass in full shade.

Long ago we installed the birch temporary door, thinking we'd replace it once the major construction was done.  I was looking for a mahogany Arts and Crafts style door, but because we are participating in LEED for Homes, any tropical wood in the house has to be FSC certified.  Few manufacturers make FSC mahogany doors, and the ones I could find were quite expensive.  And most of the stock Arts and Crafts style doors are made of mahogany.  I finally found a door similar to what I was looking for at wooddoors4less.com.  Their AC901 was very close to what I was looking for, although I really only wanted three panes rather than six.  I like natural light at the front door, but it's nice if people don't see directly in as they're standing at the door.

The door was delived promptly but did not come with the FSC certification.  The supplier was supposed to get it from the manufacturer but wasn't able to.  Even if the wood was sustainably harvested, without an FSC certificate we could be disqualified from the LEED program.  They'll take the door back and refund all of our money, but it doesn't seem very green to ship a door from Chicago to Massachusetts and back.

I had to start looking all over again.  There are some fiberglass Arts and Crafts doors available which have a pretty realistic mahogany wood grain, but fiberglass doors can't be trimmed down to fit the existing jamb.  Some of the other doors I found were quite pricey.

I ran into a local woodworker who makes beautiful furniture and he enthusiastically said he could make a door for us.  I called him several times but never received a call back.  I stopped by his shop, dropped off a drawing, and he said he'd get back to me with a price.  I called several more times but never received a call back.  I called again and finally caught him.  He said he was laying up some woodwork and would call right back - but that didn't happen.  After a few more calls I caught him again - but he was laying up some woodwork again and would get right back to me.  I never heard back so it was time to start looking all over again.

I found that by modifying a stock door pattern, Rogue Valley Door could make the door I was looking for at a reasonable price.  Unfortunately it would take a couple of months to get it.

Then someone recommended Cape Cod Carriage Door.  The price was relatively reasonable and Chris Jones, the owner, was able to make it quickly and have it installed within two weeks.

It's painted wood, in part, because of Gromit and is made exactly to my drawing.  Gromit doesn't necessarily understand that you don't just scratch a door if you'd like to go out.  It's a simple door but really fits the house.  It has the Arts and Crafts style shelf and corbels.  I'm not sure who first thought of putting a shelf on a door.  It has no function but just looks right.

4th of July

I like the parades in Centerville.  They're short and just up the street.  We can walk there, see the parade and get on with things.

Main Street is quaint, but certain modern necessities have gotten in the way.  Notice the electric service running across the front of the Historical Museum.  There must have been a better way.

I think just about every kid in town was in the parade. 

The fireworks in Hyannis take a little more effort.  You have to get a parking space early before they fill up.  While waiting for darkness I took this photo of the pre-firework sunset over Hyannis Port.

As we were waiting I couldn't help but think about all the things I should be doing at the house instead.

The cupola light is finally in.  It was low on the list of electrical tasks so it took a while.  It has a 5 watt long-life cold cathode bulb hooked up to a light sensor.  The electrician mistakenly put in a 13 watt compact fluorescent bulb and it looked like a landing light in comparison.

And the photovotaic panels are finally installed.  We've had our deposit in since January but a number or missteps on the installer's part delayed things until July.  The inverter is at the roof deck level because apparently the DC current from the PV panels cannot run within the house.  The inverter converts the DC to AC.  They wanted to run a conduit around the back of the house and down to the basement, but I want to avoid looking like the Historical Museum.

And the Kitchen is still not quite done.  The cabinets, doors and drawers seem to come in installments.  It's all looking good, though. 

The Ikea appliances look sharp, but the controls sure aren't intuitive.  You actually have to read the manuals to use them.

This is one of our many, many cardboard and trash runs.  Can you believe that the dump is closed on the on the 4th!

I can't count how many full wagon loads of cardboard we've hauled away.  The quantity has been incredible.  At least it all gets recycled.