The East Johnson Street Tiny House is rolling along. As you might expect, the speed of construction of a home this size is much faster than a larger home. When I stopped by the site earlier this week the house had quickly gone from a hole in the ground to a structure that has form and will soon have windows and wiring.
There is plenty of storage space above the bedroom.
Let us know what you think so far.
Click HEREto see previous posts about the project.
I work hard educating readers of this blog on ways to be prepared, energy-efficient, healthy, and durable in the built environment. This weekend I failed to follow my own advice. We have lived in our “new” old home for 5 years now. Over that 5 years we have gotten water in our basement multiple times. Each time I blamed it on a stuck switch on the sump pump or a clogged drain outside the door. We worked on the switch, but left the pump. I did not fix the problem, instead as The Beatles said, I let it be.
So with more than 3″ of rain at our house this weekend I woke Saturday morning to check on the sump pump to make sure it was working. It was not and this time, the switch would not engage even with me forcing the issue. The pump was dead and the water was 1″ from the top of the sump pump hole. So for the next couple of hours we were bailing water from our basement. Fortunately we called on our neighbors, my in-laws, to borrow their spare sump pump. While we bailed water fighting back the rising tide my father-in-law was nice enough to get his spare pump and install it. This was his old pump and was not the right fit, but worked long enough to get a replacement. Fortunately we have an incredible locally owned hardware store, Randy’s Hardware, that had the parts and even glued the pipe needed for me to make install easy.
So we did not get water in the basement through a gracious neighbor and local hardware store that had the needed supplies. The better plan would have been to address the issue after the first time the pump let me down. The thing I need to do to finish the job is to install a battery backup system. I hope to get this done in the next couple of days – especially since we lost power today – a rare occurrence but it does happen. So I encourage you to take care of the things around your house that you know are not right, right now.
Voting is done, thank you very much for your support!
Please help us win the Marvin Windows Architect’s Showdown – vote once a day for the Shenandoah Farmhouse! We are in the TOP 5, thanks to your support.
Thank you so much for your support to get us to the TOP 5!!!! This contest is strictly done based on internet voting and you have propelled me into the top 5 of the Marvin® Windows and Doorsarchitect’s challenge. Our design for the Shenandoah Farmhouse is the only Virginia project left in the contest. In fact, it is the only east coast project left in the competition. If you like it and want to help us win, vote daily HERE.
You can vote once a day (and only once a day – multiple votes from different devices are not counted). You can also spread the word by sharing this blog post to your Facebook and Twitter page or share it by email.
Marvin® Windows and Doors hosts an annual Architects Challenge, inviting architects to submit their best projects using Marvin products. This prestigious contest also includes a Showdown event to select a winner by people’s choice. This is a separate award based solely on Internet voting.
If I were selected for top honors, I win a trip to the Greenbuild architecture conference in Washington, D.C. this fall.
As you can see, there are a lot of amazing projects entered. I’d be proud to be selected from this fantastic group.
Green Term Defined: Grasslands Conservation Carbon Offsets
A grasslands conservation carbon offsets are similar to forestry, native grasses and other vegetation provide a natural source of greenhouse gas (GHG) absorption and sequestration. Carbon offsets from this category focus on maintaining native plant life through permanent land conservation and avoided conversion for commercial development or agriculture.
Grasslands provide habitat for many different species of wildlife. A Prairie is an ecological system dominated by grasses. Planting a native Prairie increases biodiversity of native plant species and conserves rapidly disappearing topsoil and it low maintenance.
This time of year is torture on your energy bills vs your comfort. You can suffer an uncomfortable home to keep your electric bills low or you can pay a premium to achieve comfort in your home. Here are some things to make the struggle a little easier.
1. Vampire loads are a constant draw on your electric loads that can easily be stopped. Finding them and turning them off will reduce your electric loads so that you can focus energy used on achieving comfort.
2. Install a smart thermostat. These thermostats learn your habits and adjust heating and cooling patterns in order to minimize energy usage while achieving home comfort. A smart thermostat can also be controlled remotely so if plans change and you will not be home as usual you can tell your HVAC system to use less energy.
3. Take advantage of the cooler days by opening windows and turning off your HVAC system. Use the energy you need on the hot days so that you can maximize the value vs comfort equation. There are not many days later in the summer so take full advantage early on to reduce your electricity usage overall.
4. If you replace appliances this summer, be sure you select energy star rated appliances. These are solutions that meet the highest energy efficiency standards.
5. Install a clothes line instead of running a dryer. A clothes dryer dumps plenty of warm moist air into your home and keeping it out of your house will reduce your energy usage.
6. Use a ceiling fan when you are in the room. The air moving around the room will allow you to keep the thermostat adjusted higher while achieving comfort. It is said that the room will feel 5-7 degrees cooler when blowing across your skin. Turn the fan off when you are not in the room – it does nothing if you are not there.
7. Reduce the appliances usage that produce heat in your home. Your stove, dishwasher, and television are all adding heat inside your home. Use them as little as possible to make your home as comfortable with the lowest energy used.
8. Replace the air filters in your heating and cooling system. If it has been a few years, you probably also want to clean the ducts. Make sure the system that uses energy and provides comfort is running in top form.
9. Add a humidistat to the ventilation system in your home. When the humidity gets to a certain level it will turn on automatically. This ventilation strategy will help keep your home more comfortable.
10. The humidity in your house can be diminished through the use of indoor plants. Using plants such as a Peace Lily, Reed Palm, English Ivy, Boston Fern to pull moisture out of the air will improve the comfort in your home.
I love the idea of creating a place for people to experience life, make memories, and build friendships. It is a lot of pressure to put on sticks and bricks, but with the right focus it can happen. We can create better solutions that provide the infrastructure needed for living a life full of joy, hope, and love. A building can stand as something more than just shelter, a building can be a place of refuge or celebration. A single heinous act cannot take that away.
I first visited Charleston South Carolina in 1996 with Professor Barton’s studio to start our design project for that semester. We did the tour of historic Charleston that everyone does when visiting. Justin Green and I skipped the football watching and walked the streets of downtown while others watched UVA lose their first football game that year. We all then traveled to our design site in a poor section of Charleston. As I learned that day, it was only poor in the sense of money, the neighborhood was rich with history, people, and culture.
This was the first design project that I was assigned where I needed to understand a culture that exists in a place different from my culture. This was a culture that was completely foreign to me from my days of growing up in West Virginia and Virginia. The oppression and brutality that African-Americans have experienced in Charleston is real and apparent on every street corner. It is in every story from those mansions on the peninsula to the poor neighborhood where I was designing. It is preserved in the buildings from small shacks to slave auction houses to church cemeteries. The place tells a story that we should all know and understand. However, it is not just a story of evil, it is a beautiful melting pot of cultures, music, dance, love, joy, and hope. The sounds coming from the windows of houses in that neighborhood were alive with emotion. The African colored flag flying over the neighborhoods told the story of heritage. The art installation challenged those living for today to look towards tomorrow.
In 2000 I returned to Charleston to do my thesis work. I spent time trying to figure out how to use architecture to build bridges of understanding between different cultures in a community. My focus was on telling the story of commonality through understanding the culture through design. I worked to find ways to use the built environment to celebrate the physical, cultural, and spiritual place.
I have returned to Charleston many times – I do love that town. It speaks to me architecturally, culturally, musically, and emotionally. It is not one thing or one building, it is the place that has been created over many years that is so moving. It is church steeples, side porches, gardens, gates, and cobblestones. It is the history that you can feel and the hope that exists in the market downtown and the vibrancy on the streets. It is not just the built world, but the built community. Charleston is a beautiful town with beautiful people who come from many backgrounds and histories. It is a place where we can celebrate diversity and hope for the future.
