Homeowner's Blog » Structure

Building a small, energy efficient barn

Paul — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 00:54:56 +0000

We like living in this house, it is a great area. The kids love running wild in the woods, bears not withstanding. My wife has a good job at the local school district, the commute is less than two miles. All in all, it is a great location.

The house itself is just a bit too small. We also have no general outside storage. The lawn mower, roto tiller and other equipment lives under a tarp when not in use. That is less than ideal. I would also like a separate space for my home office.

To answer all those concerns and more, I decided that a small outbuilding should be constructed. Nothing major, something long the lines of 200 square feet or so. That was the size at the beginning of the planning process. The final size is 640 square feet and I fear that it may be too small.

Floor plan, barn project

The floor plan is pretty simple, the first floor is on a slab and is 20×16 feet, the second floor is also 20×16 including the stairwell. I wanted to get maximum use from this project, therefore, I build in several options not normally found in an outbuilding:

The first floor slab is 8 inches thick, insulated and has PEX embedded for radiant floor heating
The walls are all 2×6 construction, for the added insulation space.
All doors and windows are double glazed.
The walls are to be insulated with spray in foam.
The second floor will have radiant tubing installed under the floor.
The major building face is oriented to true south, solar thermal panels will be mounted on the south facing roof for space heating.
The roof pitch for the south facing roof is 55 degrees, for best winter solar gain.
Under the stairs will be located a 12 KW propane generator for backup power to the house and battery charging.
A large lead acid battery bank will reside next to the north wall on the first floor.

All of these things point toward using solar heating, using the slab as heat storage for energy collected during the day. The theory is, at night time, the floor will release its heat into the structure, thus keeping it warm. The overall floor was just under seven cubic yards of concrete during the pour. The specific heat for concrete is 0.18 BTU/lb/°F. Seven cubic yards equals 27,405 pounds of concrete. Thus, a temperature rise of 1 degree F equals 4932 BTU of energy storage. If the solar panels can raise the temperature of the slab from 40 to 100 degrees F in one sunny day, that represents 295,974 BTU, which is significant.

The plan is to have about 94 square feet of solar collector, which should easily handle this amount of energy collection on all but the cloudiest of days.

The batteries will be primarily charged from the grid, however, they can also be charge by the PV panels in the event of a prolonged power outage. If the solar panels cannot charge the batteries for whatever reason, then the backup generator will kick in and charge them. The backup generator will hopefully be used vary sparingly, it is a four cylinder, air cooled unit. In the winter (which is when most of the power outages occur) the waste heat from the generator will also heat the building.

This project is already underway, but I am going to break up the posts into general topics, like footings, slabs, framing, etc.

Removing the deck, part III

Paul — Sun, 22 Aug 2010 20:34:53 +0000

It is hard to believe that this project started almost two years ago. I started removing the old deck from the front of our house but had to stop for several reasons:

The zoning laws had changed. The deck no longer met the required setback from the road for the front of the house and I wanted to get clarification on what I was allowed to do.
We decided that we were not going to replace the deck in kind, but rather install a covered porch along the front of the house, which will require more money.
Lack of time.

After last fall’s mix up when installing the footings for the solar system, I wanted to be sure that we weren’t going to run afoul of the town code enforcement officer. I reviewed the situation and he said what we were planning was fine, reducing the encroachment into the required setback is always welcome.

removal in progress

So, last Saturday, I got busy and removed the rest of the deck. What I found explained quite a few things. I think it was constructed around 1980 or so. First of all, not all the wood used on the deck was pressure treated. Several supporting members were full of carpenter ants. Secondly, the deck was not properly attached to the house, it was nailed to the siding. Thirdly, no flashing was used, so the ledger board was extensively rotted. In fact, it is so bad under the front door that the rot made its way into the rim joist.

pile of junk

I used the trusty skilsaw, sawsal and 10 pound sledge hammer to get the job done. In the end, I had a pile of mixed wood, some treated, some rotted, some not. I took the stuff to the town transfer station, which charges $0.05 per pound for C&D material. It ended up costing me $64.00 to get rid of everything, which works out to 1,280 pounds.

Front deck removed

Apparently I wasn’t quite tired enough, so I also got out the chain saw and removed the two overgrown rhododendron bushes as well. The front of the house looks a little bare right now, but I kind of like it.

Fortunately, the rotted rim joist is one small section and it doesn’t seem to affect the sill plate. I will examine the sill more closely when we get ready to replace the rim joist.

In the coming weeks, I will get a building permit and put the front porch on before winter time. It will be nice to have this project done.

Building a Boat Dock

Paul — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 21:29:44 +0000

This is what I did on vacation:

I made a new dock for the cottage in Canada. The old dock was built about 20 or more years ago, nobody is really sure. It had a useful life but last winter the ice caused the dock part to become detached from the crib and fall in the water. Since Parks Canada no longer allows crib docks in this part of the lake, I had to construct a combination pole/floating dock.

This is the old dock when it was being taken apart:

Old crib dock being disassembled

Here I am working on one of the sections of the new dock:

New dock sections

They are made from 2×10 fir with heavy duty galvanized corner brackets and gusset plates. I used 3/8 galvanized bolts to secure everything. The decking is 5″ by 1 1/4″ ACQ deck lumber. Treated lumber is only allowed on parts that do not have contact with water. I used 24 inches on center for the decking support, it seems to be very sturdy.

Assembling an eight foot dock section

There are three sections, on 16′ by 4′ section that is attached to the boat house and supported by concrete filled poles.

The next section is an 8′ by 4′ floating section, and at the end is another 4′ by 8′ section forming a T.

This will allow the dock level to change with the water level, which can vary as much as 30 inches over the course of a season.

Since the cottage is on an island, it was easier to build the dock on the main land and tow it into place with the run about:

16 foot dock section underway

Once the dock was secured to the boat house, the poles were driven into the lake bed as far as they will go. This worked out to be about 24 inches before they struck solid rock. Still, these are 10 foot 2 inch schedule 40 poles:

Sixteen foot dock section secured to boat house

The main section is secure, the inspector is here and approves:

Code enforcement officers are a rough bunch

T section underway in the channel:

Towing T section into place

Pumping out the poles and filling them with concrete. This should make them more rigid and better able to resist the ice movements. The floating sections will come out during the winter.

dewatering support poles

filling support poles with concrete to make them more rigid

Construction is completed, now it is time for the test:

Dock under test

Test is successful

Basement work

Paul — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 23:18:04 +0000

This is something that I meant to get done last year. This year, it is my goal to finish the basement work. It is, for the most part, dirty unglamorous work that no one but me will see. I would love to put a deck or covered porch on the front of the house, perhaps next year. I’d love to get at that siding too. The fact is, I can’t, in good conscious, do that work without completing all of the basic structural work first. The basement is key to the whole house, it needs to be done. That project includes:

Finish repairing the walls. I started fixing all of the cracks in the walls last spring. Things are looking pretty good and I am almost done. I have a few small cracks to fill in with .
Paint the walls. Basically to cover up all the repairs and make it look better. This will also allow me to monitor the basement and see if any new cracks develope.
Replace the rotted rim joist under the front door. This requires that I finish removing the front deck, which will be done this weekend, weather permitting.
Seal up air leaks around sill plate. This is important in the two additions as I know that they were jacked up and whatever seal was in place was destroyed. I will use expanding foam to make a good seal around the entire house.
Insulate the ceiling between the main house and the basement. I know that we are loosing a lot of heat to the basement every winter. Now that oil prices are $4.40 per gallon I want to minimize that loss as much as possible. I am looking to install unfaced R-19 insulation bats in all of the open bays. This work should pay for itself in the first year.
Finish repairing the termite damage on the main support beam. Termites are interesting creatures. They seemed to consume just one part of one of the 2 x 6′s in the main support beam. It does not seem to have changed the structural integrity, nor can I find any evidence of termite activity in the other two 2 x 6′s. I have looked and drilled several inspection holes, which I will fill with epoxy. The beam work may take place over the winter months
Replace all of the lolly columns. They are all looking a little rusty. I am sure that they will last for several more years, but if I am doing the beam, I might as well replace all of the support columns as well. I may pour concrete pads under the columns.
Build storage shelves and better organize things. Since our basement work last spring, things are sort of piled up in the middle of the floor. It would be nice to set up several large storage shelves.

The most important of all of that work right now is the insulation. I am going to try and get our oil usage down to one tank full (275 gallons) this year. It may be a bit of a stretch, last year we used 450 gallons, but I have some strategies.

First off, the insulation and air leak sealing. Every year I do some work on this and every year it gets better. I think if I can get the basement sealed up, a lot of heat loss through the floor will be avoided. It will also make thinks like the furnace and hot water heater more efficient because they won’t be sitting in a cold drafty basement.

Secondly, I am working on a solar furnace. Right now, I think I have a unique design and I am researching existing patents. If no one else has come up with my design, I will patent it. I am building a few prototypes to try out. I am working on something that will take advantage of snow cover and can be mounted on south facing vertical walls.

Thirdly, I am going to have more wood available this year to better utilize the wood stove. It can be a pain sometimes, but it does save money and the wood supply is still free. Free heat is good heat. More on the woodstove and wood supply later.

Projects, finances and priorities

Paul — Sat, 28 Jun 2008 19:40:43 +0000

Earlier this year I wrote out my project list based on what I thought we could afford to do this year and what the highest priority items where. The first item on the list was the raised beds for the vegetable garden. That project was more labor than money as I used locally available rocks to make the beds and a few yards of crushed stone for the walkways. Not too hard on the bank account.

The next item on the list was to build a shed. With the high cost of gas, food, etc, we have to look closely at the family budget to see what we can afford. The shed may get pushed back to next year in favor of fixing the front of our house.

I started removing the old front deck, basically because the thing was about to fall off of the house. The builders used improper hardware for pressure treated lumber and all of the nails are rusting through. The whole thing will likely collapse under one more heavy snow fall, which we seem to receive quite often around here. Rather than have the “Front door to nowhere” look, I want to replace the deck with a covered porch that runs along the front half of the house. Of course, this is a much bigger project than I initially thought.

I did a couple of really quick drawings using google sketchup. I will have to go back and fix them up for the building permit, basically my idea is something like this:

The porch would be 8-10 feet wide, running about 24 feet along the front of the house. There would be one step on the end. The roof would hip into the house roof about 1/2 way between the edge and the peak. I will have to measure, but I believe that span would be about 14-16 feet long. I believe the porch roof will require 2 x 10 or even 2 x 12 lumber. The porch and roof would be supported by 6×6 posts on 12 inch footing to a depth of 48 inches.

I believe this would greatly improve the front of our house and once this is done, we can get the siding done and all of that will much improve the curb appeal if we decide to sell. This would be the view if one were walking up the path from the drive way, just about to step onto the porch. Of course, I will put shutters on the windows, and perhaps some hanging plants, a bench or some Adirondack Chairs, etc.

The other project for this summer is going to be a photovoltiac system. The cost of electricity just keeps going up and up. While the solar hot water is doing great (our electric bill for May/June is 50% of last year’s bill) I would like to reduce that even further.

The shed will have to wait until next year.

Removing the old deck, Part II

Paul — Thu, 24 Apr 2008 23:11:02 +0000

This has been slow going for a number of reasons:

I am trying to save as much lumber for re-use as possible. There is one 2×8 that cracked in half around a large knot. The rest of it seems to be pretty sound and can be re-used for the decking material on the new porch. This means removing each piece, removing all the nails, then stacking it neatly next to the side of the house, out of sight.
I have been distracted by many other things, such as winter cleanup, the grass growing, the garden rototilling, planting new grass before it gets too warm to name a few.
I have also been very busy at work and at the side job

Regardless of all that, I hope to have the entire deck removed in the next couple of weeks. Here is an updated picture:

And, just in case you are not enjoying all this good weather we are having around here… Last year at this time it looked like this:

Personally, I rather like the 75-80′s vs 6 inches of snow…

Domestic Hot Water Solar Installation, Part I

Paul — Sun, 02 Sep 2007 00:10:09 +0000

Today, the weather was perfect, temperature around 73 degrees, no wind, no rain, just plenty of bright sunshine. What better day than today to install my Hot Water Solar system? And you, being the astute reader, will say “none,” and you will be quite correct.

If the saying “save the best for last” holds true, that means the worst must come first. Good God, I hope so. The worst in this case was crawling around in the attic installing the back bracing and drilling the mounting holes up through the roof to attach the collector mounting brackets. The main problem is in the back addition, the attic is only 3 feet high in the center. Towards the edges, it is more like 18 inches or so. Drilling and screwing a 10 foot long 2X6 with only 18 inches of space, most of which is taken up by insulation, is not a happy task. I was going to crawl back up there and take some pictures after I mounted the panels on the roof, but I just don’t have the heart. I will take some pictures tomorrow and post an update.

The roof rafters are 2X6 and the sheathing is 1/2 inch CDX. I mounted a 2X6 laterally across the rafters and screwed it to the bottom of the rafters. I then drilled the mounting holes through the 2X6 backer and the roof as close to the 2X6 rafters as I could. Next the the mounting bolt, on the opposite side of the rafter, I placed another 2X6 spacer block to help support the sheathing.

Then I used 8 by 3/8 inch bolts to attach the mounting hardware to the roof. I used plenty of roofing cement on the up hill side of the mounts to prevent leaks. Jay stayed outside on the roof and tightened down the mounting bolts, while I was still in the attic holding the nuts with a wrench.

The next part was to lift each collector up on the roof. They are 4 X 10 feet and weigh 147 pounds each, according the the manufacturer’s spec sheet. We leaned the collector against the roof, then lifted it up and slid it as far up onto the roof as we could. Then Jay, who is a good bit taller than I am, held it there while I ran up the ladder and grabbed the other side. We then slid it further up on the roof, then I held it while Jay ran up the ladder, etc. Finally we were able to get the collectors positioned over the lower mounts and I attached the lower side of the collector to the roof.

I used an old piece of lumber to prop up the back of the collector and took a measurement with my digital protractor. I was looking for a tilt angle between 50 -54 degrees. For more information on why I choose that particular angle, you can check out solar hot water system mounting and location. The first angle was too great, around 59 degrees. I trimmed 10 inches off the board, propped up collector, then measured again, 50 degrees. I figured that was as good as it gets, so I cut and drilled the aluminum back strut to fit the mounts and bolted everything down.

Collector manufactures specs:

Next I sat down and did a few calculations to see how the weight was distributed around the roof. Since the collectors are mounted at a fifty degree angle, some of the weight is on the back mounts, but most of it falls on the front two mounts. To figure this out, we can use a little bit of trigonometry. The Sine function is simply a ratio of the opposite side over the hypotenuse on any triangle. The tilt angle is 50 degrees, so the sine of 50 degrees is .776, therefore we take 159.8 lbs (collector weight 147 lbs plus 1.6 gallons of water, 12.8 lbs) x .776 and get 124 pounds. There are two mounts, so 124 lbs divided by 2 equals 62 lbs. There is 62 pounds static load on each of the front mounts. The rear mounts carry less. 159.8 lbs minus 124 lbs is 36 pounds, divided by 2 is 18 pounds on each of the rear mounts. This does not include additional loads such as heavy snow and uplift from the wind. Those calculations would be pretty complicated and I don’t feel motivated enough to sit down and do them all. Fortunately, the collectors are mounted almost sideways to the prevailing winter wind, which usually blows out of the north west, so there wind load should be relatively minor. What do you think, Todd?

Tomorrow, I start soldering pipe and all that fun stuff. Special thanks go out to Jay for driving over and helping me lift those things up on the roof, and to my Mom for taking the pictures.

Today it's flooding outside!

Paul — Mon, 16 Apr 2007 18:57:33 +0000

But not so much inside. Yippie! My work on the sump pump, the gutters, the surface drains in the yard, the retaining wall, and swale in the back yard seem to have paid off. About half the basement floor is covered with water, flowing across to the sump. Some water is coming up through the drains was well, which means I will have to rent an excavator and dig up the drain pipe and replace it. It has probably been compromised by roots from a tree or something.

We have received about 5 inches of rain in the last 36 hours. Here are some local flooding pictures:

This is the Wallkill river, near Gardiner, NY. Normally it does not flow up over the roadway like this. That house in the background is cut off, the fire department had to take the people out by boat early this morning.

Another shot of the Wallkill river, this time flowing into a farmer’s field.

Here is my sump pump in action. As you can see it is keeping up with the incoming water nicely. Much more than this however, and I think we would have a flood. It has happened several times in the past, so I am happy that it seems to be working better now. This summer, if the ground ever drys out, I am going to put some more surface drains in around the back door and the deck area. The surface drains are routed into the gutter drains which are 3 inch waist drain PVC pipes buried in the ground. The exit about 20 feet from the house on the down hill side.

Sump pump drain exit onto lawn down hill of the house. Flowing pretty good, that is a combination of the sump pump, the gutters and two surface drains on the patio.

Tomorrow, who knows what the weather will be, we may have a heat wave.

New Soffits

Paul — Wed, 18 Oct 2006 17:15:28 +0000

Today was a beautiful day out, just right for installing new soffits. I swung by the local Lowes to pick up the T/4 vented soffit (GP 423590) and “F” channel (GP 6ZZOTJ46) needed. I used the high quality Georgia Pacific material, but unfortunately, they did not have enough “F” channel to do the whole job, so I ended up going to the local hardware store to pick up the rest of the material.

The installation went along pretty good, but I did make the discovery that the soffit on the front of my house varies from 15 1/8 inch on the north end to 14 1/2 inch on the south end of the house. Not a huge deal, but inconvient none the less.

I installed the F channel with zinc plated screws every 8 to 10 inches. I cut in a miter on the gable end. The pieces of vented soffit lock into each other nice and snug. Over all, the result looks pretty good. I will finish up the back of the house over the weekend.

Tearing down the old soffits

Paul — Sun, 24 Sep 2006 11:28:15 +0000

As a part of adding insulation to the attic this fall, I determined that I needed to remove the old soffits to get the rafter insulation spacers in place. The old soffits had no ventilation and I noticed in some mold on the under side of the roof sheathing. It started out rainy yesterday, so I made an excuse to not start on the project (yet again). Finally, around 5 pm or so, I got a little bored, so out came the hammer and ladder and I began ripping down the old soffits.

I caution anyone who is going to attempt this; it is a dirty, nasty job. Forty years of dust, dirt, mice nests, bee