Darkling

Downstairs Bathroom

2009-04-16T09:33:04-07:00:00

Well the drywall is all done: http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/20090201#
Now we've moved on to the downstairs bathroom which is almost done, then we'll move on to the kitchen. April 23 we go to IKEA to pick up the cabinets then we'll spend that weekend assembling them. Painting is an on-going task that fills any gaps between other projects.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/FarmhouseApril2009#

Drywall

2009-02-27T13:10:11-08:00:00

Well we got 4 feet of snow which has slowed progress but the drywall is hung and 60% textured.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/20090201#

Snow

2008-12-18T12:38:53-08:00:00

Well the snow hit, we had about a foot. I plowed the road with the tractor but then got it stuck in some soft dirt.
There are new pictures at the bottom here:
http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/DarklingVictorianFarmhouse#

I also got the Lister into the power shed and got it running:
http://www.youtube.com/user/jedon13

Moving Along

2008-11-20T09:45:15-08:00:00

Well once again I lag and don't post updates here, I did upload some pictures to my Picassa account.
We now have all the parts to our power system ( Lister CS Engine, ST-5 5KW generator head, 2 Xantrex SW+ 5548 Inverters and 16 Trojan L-16H batteries) so I'm eager to get it all hooked up.
http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/MetroLister61#
http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13/XantrexSWPlus5548SAndTrojanL16HS#

The house now is wrapped, the windows are in, the rough electrical is mostly done as is rough plumbing, the interior framing is done. Next up is the carport, the metal roof, and the fiber cement siding.

Sorry it's been so long!

2008-09-18T17:25:18-07:00:00

Well I've been so busy actually working on house stuff that I've been lax in updating this. I posted some new pictures in the gallery section as well as here: http://picasaweb.google.com/jedon13 The SIP walls are all up and the trusses are being assembled, the roof should go on Oct 1. I'm working on power, should be buying a Listeroid 6/1 650 RPM Diesel soon to hook up to the acquired industrial UPS system.

Foundation

2008-07-17T12:35:51-07:00:00

The foundation walls have been poured and the 1200SF of porch slab is being poured tomorrow morning at 6:30am.
Next week the sub floor gets put in; mud sill, TJI floor joists, sturdifloor sheathing etc.

I wired up 6 6V golf cart batteries in series and parallel to give us 660AH at 12V through a Xantrex 1000W inverter, charged from 3 15 Watt solar panels.

It's GO time!

2008-05-09T15:17:41-07:00:00

Well it's go time since we have our permits and the money. Now it's just a matter of getting all the bids and picking contractors.
Tao is on the land right now with a Woodmizer LT40H milling 3000 board feet of doug fir, white fir and incense cedar into lumber. Earthworks has Allen there with an excavator and a CAT4 dozer clearing the driveway turnaround, leveling the garden, digging the septic lines and making a pad for our trailer.

The CAT4

Marking out the foundation

Sigg and Allen

Soon to be lumber

Power

2008-04-11T09:31:58-07:00:00

I have been monitoring my current energy use and taking steps to get it as low as possible. I got a Kill-O-Watt meter and started measuring everything. We were using 700-800KWh/month, then I started replacing all the bulbs with CFL's, ran a gas line so we could switch from an electric to a gas dryer, got an energy efficient washer (Fisher & Paykel) etc.

In Feb we did great:
Last Year: 626 KWh
This Year: 381 KWh

March wasn't as good
Last Year: 700 KWh
This Year: 564 KWh

But we are always gone for a week in Feb so it's not true indication of a full months use.

I think we could be totally comfortable off of 400KWh/month
We have a 52" 1080p DLP that draws around 150W when in use, more troubling is the DVR which has to stay on to record shows and it draws a steady 120W.

Now the figures for last year it was just my wife and I, but this years numbers include our daughter who came back from college for a while but she won't be living in the new place since she'll be heading back off to college.

As far as refrigeration goes, none of the "solar" or propane fridges are at all satisfactory to my wife so they are right out!

Power Generation:

HYDRO:
There is a spring that flows 30+GPH even in drought conditions that I would like to tap for some hydro, I should be able to get 100+ feet of head since it flows from around 3750FT and then empties into a larger creek at 3400FT over a span of around 2000FT. In another post it was speculated that I should be able to get 240KWh pretty handily.

PV:
Right now we have the HF 45W PV kit, 3 15W panels with an el-cheapo charge controller.
Eventually we would like to get 16 200W Kyocera panels or whatever is best at the time, but I'm hoping to start off with perhaps half that and work my way up as needed.

GENERATOR:
We have an Onan 6000W portable gas generator that I'll use until it burns out and then get either a diesel or propane generator that is a bit larger and will last longer and be quieter. It has 42A 120/240V AC as well as 8A 12V DC out.

WIND:
I'd like to put up an Otherpower "Complete 10 foot axial flux wind turbine kit" as well, I'm not sure on the timing.

BATTERIES:
I have been using 2 6V golf cart batteries from Costco, charged from the HF PV kit to power the water pump, lights, radio etc in my travel trailer which we'll be staying in a lot while we build. Considering all the battery research going on right now I'm guessing that there might be some really cool developments within the next 10 years so adding more golf cart batteries sure seems appealing given their low cost, plus it's easy to add more as needed.

I don't want to buy the whole power system until the house is done and I know how much money I have left , so would like to build it up in stages so we have some power while we build without having to run the generator 24/7.

Here is what I was thinking to start off, charged from the HF Solar and Generator.
16 6v golf batteries ( 2 rows of 8 = 48V )
$1,280.00 200AH @6V, 100AH @12V, 50AH @ 24V, 25AH @48V, 25 * 16 = 400AH @ 48V
Inverter - Outback 3600W -VFX3648    $1,900.00
Misc Solar Equipment, wire, cutoffs etc    $300.00
Outback charge controller MX-60 $500.00

I figure the inverter will hold us for now, then we can add another one when needed, and investing in a good charge controller would pay off in the long run.

Response to Dave's comment

2008-03-10T11:27:36-07:00:00

Our land is on the North San Juan Ridge just north of Malakoff Diggins. It sounds like the people you know are on the ridge over, the one that hwy 20 runs up?
email me at jedon@darklingdesign.com and I'll share my budget with you.
Trusses: I was going to go with a traditionally framed roof instead of a SIP roof for cost reasons but after researching it the money saved was modest at best so I switched to 10" SIP with engineered trusses. The quote for the engineered trusses came in a lot higher than I expected so I then switched to post/beam style but the ones the engineer came up with looked too modern to me and the engineer showed me trusses made from PSL ( parallel strand lumber ) that he had just made for his house and I really liked them so switched to that. Now there are 4 large trusses, 3 across the main part of the house and one across the office. The large ones have a 32' span at 10/12 pitch, I'll post some pics of the AutoCAD layout. The trusses and the beams they sit on are all fully inside the house walls and exposed.

Progress Update

2008-01-15T12:21:06-08:00:00

I have been lax in updating this site so here are some things that have happened:
The house plans have been through drafting and engineering and have been submitted to the County for approval. They said it would be 4 weeks which would have them ready on Jan 23.

I've been working with the drafter and engineer to replace the current post/beam system with large exposed PSL timber trusses. This will cost a bit more but should look awesome.

We got our septic and grading permits and the septic tank is in the ground but still needs leech lines and plumbing.

The building site is cleared and rough graded. The 1100' driveway is in but will get some fixup and more "rock" when the building is done.

The well is in, the 2600 gallon water tank is in and plumbed and working, we need to have the water tested because when I went to drain the tank in preparation for the coming winter, it was stinky.

We have a 20ft shipping container on a level gravel pad for storage.

We recently acquired a Home Comfort wood burning cookstove as a backup to our gas stove as well as being a Victorian accent to the kitchen.

More to come, I'll be move vigilant about posting updates.
-Jedon