Beauty of a roofline

This is what happens when an addition is added to an addition which is added to a not so well designed building. Not only does it have to go.....it's going to go!

Screenings

Screenings go down over the clay. They need to be spread to the correct depth then compacted.

Ramp for the bobcat

Backfilling is basically complete and now a ramp to allow the bobcat to bring the bring clay into the building.

Backfilling grade beam

The grade beam is up. 2" of SM rigid insulation around the perimeter with the top portion covered in treated plywood. The plywood protects the SM but is primarily in there because of the spray-in foam that we will be using later in the walls.

Prepping the grade beam

Boe and crew finalizing the forms for the grade beam

footings continue

Concrete, rebar....hardly finishing work but there wouldn't be any finishing work without it. It's a great feeling to see it going in.

the footings begin

Boe's Concrete is handling the footing and grade beam work. I'm glad it's them and not me.

thanks feldspar

Raymond and his crew did a great job with the demolition and trenching for the concrete footings. Thanks guys, you're great to work with.

what a wonderful entrance!

I guess the sign says it all.

trenching for concrete footings

I thought that last night's rain might hold us up. Feldspar, however, got right at it this morning. Boe's Construction is scheduled for tomorrow to get the footings in.

It's happening!

concrete is green

Not very long ago I thought that concrete was not a very green product. And in many respects it isn't. It is, nowever, green in the sense that it lasts a very long time and can be recycled, and in this case relocated and reused.

this is not recycling

Definately not recycling. What a mess!

what not to do

This is what happens when you don't think things through. I'm not impressed or proud of this.

trying to salvage the walls

We spent a fair bit of time trying how to salvage the existing basement. If I was going this again I might have got it right. As it turned out the approach failed miserably.

disconnecting water lines

So....now that the house is gone we have to dig down to disconnect the water and sewer lines.

silk purse from a sow's ear

Well this is what we have to work with. My apologies about the past few photos. Not sure what is happening.

You just have to love those roof lines. One big challenge is how we tie all these together. We have a plan!

Moving the house

Always interesting to see.

our palette

This is what we have to work with. It has been challenging trying to integrate the new structure with these existing additions. The next step is to have the yard prepped and ready for our footing.

finally it starts

I guess there's no backing down now. Finally we've started. Our house was sold and is being moved to an acreage north east of town.

It has been a very busy time organizing the project. Hopefully I can how keep proper updates on this blog.

Eco Artists

Jayne Lindskog of Ecoscape has finalized some sketches for our green deck area and Laura Hale the artist in residence at the Barr Colony Heritage Centre has made great progress with our exterior facade. Things are really falling into place and these ladies have done a great job.

Lloydminster Showcase

Hey! We're down at the Exhibition Grounds in Lloydminster at the annual Showcase. We have a stage and some information on our suppliers and trades. Our Eco 6 stage will be featuring three speakers on the following topics:

1. super insulating the building envelope - PFM Engineering
2. green parking - Expocrete
3. green roofs - Carlisle Syntec, Harty Roofing

See you there. Watch for updates throughout the weekend.

You're right from.....

"you're right from your side an' i'm right from mine.......we're both just one to many mornings and a thousand miles behind"

How can a guy this young write stuff like that. It's just not fair.

Speaking of not being fair.... you know what's not fair? People looking at you and laughing about the payback on your eco purchases. Well guess what I have a response to that.

To me its like the difference between a chuckle at an off color joke and the joy you have when you hold one of your grand children in your arms. We're choosing to be on the "holding in the arms" end of the spectrum.

I am the Egg man you are the Walrus

"The time has come the walrus said to talk of many things"

So now, dear Saskatchewan MLA's, its time to talk about the Ontario iniative and how you might respond to it. I'd appreciate comments from someone out there in the Saskatchewan political universe.

Morgan Solar is a cutting edge company in Ontario. They have developed some very innovative products that will soon be on the market. Here's their perspective on the program. It's well worth the read.

http://www.morgansolar.com/blog/2009/03/13/new-ontario-feed-in-tariff-rates-for-solar-energy/

Today its cool to be Green

Happy St. Patrick's day! The original Greenpeacer? Perhaps.

Ontar - i - o Hurries Hard

Hey! Who would of thunk! Me cheering for Ontario. Well I'm not in curling - but in terms of a forward looking solar policy. Go Ontario....go Ontario. To say the least, a pretty significant policy for the promotion of solar energy.

Tyler Hamilton of the Toronto Star follows the energy beat. His articles are great and he also has a great blog - Cleanbreak. Check out this article on the Ontario solar policy:

http://www.thestar.com/comment/columnists/article/600018


http://www.cleanbreak.ca/

Window Coverings

Hunter Douglas has a pretty impressive window covering - Duette Architella. If their numbers are accurate they offer R values of up to 7.18 to the R values of your windows. For a breakdown on their different models follow this link: http://www.blindalley.com/portfolios/hunterdouglas/portfolioslarge/duetteenergyefficiency.html

Hunter Douglas is represented in Lloydminster by Decorators Den - Dell Dyck and Bonnie Armstrong, 306-825-2478

Hurry hard, hurry haaaaaaaaaaard

Well it was a great weekend in Calgary. Caught the semi final at the Brier. So now it's "hurry hard" for this project. We had a very good visit with our solar PV and solar Thermal supplier and hopefully we will have the details for that portion of the project finalized by the end of the month.

As well, we are getting close to finalizing the details on the green roof portion of the project.

Two other important events to report:

1. we met with Conrad Norbert at his Net Zero house in Edmonton. What a great visit. I'm hoping to have some links to his project soon.

2. Ontario has just made a very important announcement regarding solar power. Details in a future post.

Calgary here we come

I know this blog has been a bit lame lately. Primarily we have been waiting for the plans to be finalized, WHICH THEY ARE NOW. Therefore things should be heating up substantially. Ruth and I will be visiting a photovoltaic supply company, our green roof people and an eco store in Calgary on Friday. I'm hoping we can finalize our dealings in that regard.

When we get back - the heat draw on the building will be completed and we can get down to the details on our heating requirements and options. So stay tuned. Don't bail out. Things are going to get very interesting.

this cute little guy

What has this cute little guy got to do with the project?

Stay tuned. As it turns out he's a very important critter.

lakeland college interior design

Well, they did it again. Fiona McLeod and her Interior Design students presented their final proposals to us yesterday. What a great job. Now all we have to do is decide how many of their ideas we are going to incorporate. Have a peek a Newcap's news story. Thanks to all.

pretty lame hey?

How lame is it that only two people are following this blog and one just happens to be my daughter. I'm still waiting for David Suzuki or Al Gore to sign up. Anyway, thanks Hannah, I appreciate the moral support. And number 2 follower, thanks also.

Today I am getting ready to meet with the Utilities and Environment Committee at the city. I hoping we can begin discussions regarding municipal support for sustainable building projects. We'll see.

Tomorrow I will be attending a seminar in Edmonton with the folks from Lakeland College's Renewable Energy Program. The Edmonton seminar is on "Connecting to the Grid". It's put on by Gordon Howell, P. Eng, Howell-Mayhew Enginering, http://www.hme.ca/.

Gordon was heavily involved with the Net Zero project "Riverdale"
http://www.riverdalenetzero.ca/Home.html

insulation

Maybe the biggest decision we'll have to make is "which insulation should we use". Two of the best articles I have read on the subject are:

http://www.buildingenvelopeforum.com/Foam.htm
http://www.buildingenvelopeforum.com/pdf/airtightbuilding.pdf

did you know?

I don't think I have commented enough on the most important aspect of this project -"the building envelope". The theory here is - "reduce your requirements so you can reduce the cost of meeting those requirements".

Did you know:

1. that 40% of our green house gas emissions are from our buildings
2. that with the proper building envelope you can reduce those emissions by 90%. Yes that is not a typo. 90%

Two of the best sources for information on this type of envelope are:

http://www.e-colab.org/
http://www.passivehouse.us/


If you are interested at all in this type of building, check them out.

it shouldn't be this hard

Maybe I'm just tired and cranky. But it shouldn't be this hard. Really it shouldn't. What I'm referring to is the amount of time and energy that is required to access information and grants from the various levels of government.

It's just a maze. Just trying to find out what's available takes an enormous amount of time and energy. And then there's the forms OMG.

So, I was thinking.......Why doesn't a really progressive lending institution (BDC are you listening) or accounting firm (MNP are you listening) take this little problem under their wing.

NOW THAT WOULD BE A SERVICE. Not only would they be helping me out - they would have a solution for many others down the line.

MARKETING GUYS ARE YOU LISTENING!

So, for all you REALLY REALLY REALLY progressive lending institutions (are you listening BDC) and accounting firms (are you listening MNP) out there.....I'd be jumping all over this.

Just imagine you:

a. could be green heros
b. could have a great marketing tool
c. could even charge for this service ie. a percentage of funds accessed.

Yes if I were you, I'd be all over this. But then again, that's just my opinion.

insulation decisions

I met with Rod Sieben of Louvic Spray this morning to finalize pricing and materials for the project. Rod comes highly recommended and has a wealth of experience. I have been debating which product to use and we have narrowed it down to BASF's Walltite Eco and Polar Foam's Soy based product. I don't think we can go wrong with either product but my gut is telling me to go with Walltite Eco. But in my mind, this is probably the most important decision we will make so I am being very deliberate in evaluating them.

We've decided to run the product spec's past our engineers. One of the issues that needs to be nailed down is how the insulation application ties in with our green roof. There will clearly have to be some careful and thorough discussions with all parties to ensure that we get the building envelope correct. And, finally we will have to determine just what R value we are trying to achieve.

Regarding building envelopes, check out these sites:

http://www.e-colab.org/
http://www.passivehouse.us/
http://www.netzeroenergyhome.ca/

a meeting with the city

Part of this whole project is to encourage education and discussion regarding environmental issues. With this in mind we have just set a date to meet with the City of Lloydminster's "Utility and Environment Committee". My goal is to take the first tentative steps toward responding as a community to carbon emissions. I look forward to hearing what council and civic administration have to say about our project but more importantly environmental issues as a whole.

Lakeland College Newsletter

Check out page 4 of this newsletter for a description of our project.
http://www.lakelandcollege.ca/files/PDF/The_Link/jan_to_may_09/LakelandLinkJanuary262009.pdf

green deck design

I met with Jayne Lindskog of Ecoscape Design regarding the design for our intensive green roof / deck area. Jayne just happens to be my niece and it is going to be a great deal of fun working with her on this project. I think we have a pretty good understanding of the parameters we have to work with. Now we're just going to sit back and see what her creativity comes up with.


ecoscapedesign@yahoo.ca

Lakeland College Interior Design Presentation

On January 19th the students in Lakeland College's Interior Design program presented Ruth and I with proposals for the interiors of both our commercial and residential spaces. We were very impressed. The next day I provided them with our feedback and they are now working on revisions. We can't wait. Congratulations to Fiona McLeod and here students.

Introduction

Welcome to Signs 'N More Eco Six Project Blog!

In the months to come, please follow our progress through this expansion and renovation of Signs 'N More in Lloydminster.