Wednesday, January 28, 2009

Trust me....there IS a metal roof up there....

I have been needing to blog about the house for a bit...



A lot of stuff has happened. We got our roof on with its FAB new kind of insulation as well as the metal. The soffets (I think thats what they are and how to spell it) went up as well as the plumbing!!!



HVAC was supposed to go in, but because of the thermal mass of the concrete as well as the insulating properties, the HVAC system needed to be "planned" a little more... It also will need to be smaller than what a "usual" house this size - GOT TO LOVE SAVING MONEY ON THE FRONT END AND THE BACK END!


Here are some pics of the progress:

The shiney part is an insulation called P-2000 - the foil reflects the heat and the "insulating part" is made up of the stuff that Styrofoam peanuts are made of - its has a higher insulating factor than just about anything else for not much space. Its a new product and we are pleased to be using it.



Below is some of the HVAC stuff they unloaded while we were talking about the plan. After this day, they havent been back, but have been looking at the ICF's we used as well as talking with an engineer who is familiar with this type of building and giving them the information they need to design the plan. Typically, a stick built house uses 1 ton of HVAC per 500 square feet - because of the ICF, we purchase 1 ton per 1000 to 1200 square feet - 1/2 the size....got to love the money in our pockets instead of the electric company....

In the basement you see more HVAC stuff and if you look real close, you see the plumbing :)


I cant want to get the windows and doors on. Its all I can do not to sweep the basement every time we are out there....

So here we are - waiting for things to thaw a bit so we can get back on track....

11 comments:

The Scavenger said...

Hey Pearls, the house is looking great and you're gonna love that metal roof. Get you some rain barrels and catch some rain water. The best thing for the garden is that good stuff that falls from the sky.

Chris

Mayberry said...

Interesting design. Metal roofs are where it's at!

Cygnus MacLlyr said...

I'm so envious! It all looks GREAT!
Love the energy savings!

Bro. Brandon B. said...

Since you are going to have a flat roof, did you plan in an easy way to have access to the roof, also? Perhaps a hatch or the like?

Would be a great way to maintain some solar panels...

FarmerGeek said...

The house is lookin good! Compared to the insulation and heating factors of my 62 year old brick house, I'm extremely jealous!

I drive my tractor in pearls... said...

Scavenger - that is the MAIN reason the roof is like it is - its the easiest thing we could figure to run rain water 1 direction!

Mayberry - I cant wait for it to rain or "Thunder Sleet" and listen.

Cygnus - We hope to be able to take it off the grid at some point.

Bro. Brandon B - Yes my husband has planned a hatch. It pops up to get on the roof as well as be a look out.

Farmer - I know what you mean about a brick house. Ours leaks energy - I might as well put dollar bills in the garbage disposal!

Thanks for your comments! We just cant wait to get this thing done!

Anonymous said...

I'm going to have to put a metal roof on my log house some day. I went with cedar shakes, which look right in the forest, last a long time. BUT, they blow off in windstorms and you have to go up on the roof and replace them. If you have a house fire, they breech so your insurance is a lot higher. If I had it to do over, I'd go metal. Looks good, lasts forever, won't breech.

Ramon said...

Very nice. I built my own about 23 years ago. Lived there about 5 years. We had to leave when employement moved on. I like yours better! The open functional design is the greatest.

Anonymous said...

The styrofoam peanut insulation you refer to is called "rigid insulation" or "rigid foam board" in the field and usually comes in pink and blue. Great stuff.

Is the main room really going to be that large? It seems massive? Or is there a lot of framing to go?

Any reason you're using wood framing instead of C steel?

I drive my tractor in pearls... said...

Hermit - I had always thought that metal was really expensive. If you have your "regular" roof in place, to just put metal over it is a cheap option considering it lasts forever. We had a place quote us a roof for over 20 grand here in town, but drove 40 miles out and saved about 75% - I think more....

Its amazing how much you can save by just making a few phone calls and knowing what you are looking for!

Ramon - We like the design. If ever we decide we need walls somem place, we can just put them up - but I dont think we will :)

John - the P2000 stuff we used was white inside with a foil backing facing up. It was pretty flexible and was not a true hard styrofoam under the foal.

The design is all open and yes, the room is bigger than we imagined. It was just so easy to draw it out on graph paper - it didnt seem that big when looking at the little boxes. We wanted a warehouse/loft feel so I am not complaining because that is exactly how it feels. All the framing is done and I am going over it and over it in my head to see where the little furniture we have will go as not to feel so tiny inside the space. The Hubs has said he sees where a basketball goal can go - I only PRAY he is joking ;)

Tiffany Larsen said...

Excellent choice of roof material, Pearls! P-2000 is not only a good insulator and heat-reflector, but it also saves you a lot of energy cost. Our house is much more comfortable because of P-2000 and we plan to install more of it in other parts of the house. Nice work!