Friday, June 30th 2006
Of rain and tires!
The weather isn't on our side this year, we only manage to work about every other day. Nevertheless, we filled 40 tires in the last week and with the strength of the thunderstorms, it was a good idea to cover them up. We'll have to dig some more gutters to divert the water that dug it's way to the West side of the house. We didn't realise while completing the French drain that we altered the slope in the back portion and that the water would no longer flow into the ditch. It was hard to put the dirt somewhere else than inside the future "U" since we're right into the hill and, for now, the other side of the drain is a 10" wall of dirt.
Tuesday, Alain and Cyrille picked up our beautiful washer. It's an antique that doesn't get the "EnergyStar" rating, but we realised that you have to look at things in a different way when you produce your own power and you have more than enough water. At first, last winter, we had the reflexes of all good green citizens to stop the water when brushing our teeth, turning off the lights when not needed and to avoid using electrical appliances. We first found out that since we used water only for drinking and cooking, we had to let it run regularly so that it would stay clear (non ferrous). Since the water from the spring flows whether we use it or not, we started emptying half our reserve every second day, now the washer will do part of the job. We also made a habit of vacuuming and internet only when they call for sunny weather and it'll be the same for the laundry. Even if we use an old washer with an inefficient motor, we have more electricity than we need when it's sunny and it's perfect for drying on a clothesline. For us, it's a very different way of looking at energy conservation all of a sudden.
Next Monday, we should start placing the 2"X12" bond beam on the wall and then cut the logs that will support the roof trusses. I can't wait to see how we'll manage to do that on a curved wall. If you remember, last year we worked on straight walls since that back wall is now the front part of the room we're building this summer and we can't place the windows on a concave wall section. On the other hand, the wall we're doing now will have to retain the weight of the hill behind the house… and we like the idea of having no sharp corners. So far, it doesn't show much.
We also looked at how we'll finish the earth-berm and insulation just below ground. We'll have to get serious about collecting old carpets because we need a foot thick and many feet wide under the membrane on three sides of the house. The West wall will probably be insulated with straw bales again and we're thinking of making a shelter for the fire wood there too.
A technical note. Our decision to give the windows a 30 degrees incline seems to be the right choice in a least one way; the sun hits the whole planter even in summer when it's at it's highest in the sky. And no overheating problems to date, it's a nice 22C (72F) indoors whatever the temperature is outside. If we'd followed the recognized practises, we'd have windows that were close to the vertical so that the sun would be perpendicular on December 21st. We made the bet, after observing the climate in Quebec, that with the limited number of sunny hours around that date, we'd be better off taking advantage of the fall and spring rays instead. The consequences of that choice will become more obvious in the next year! To be continued...