the Otherpower.com Discussion Board || Comments Dreaming about a new home

Front Page - [Homebrewed Electricity-- (wind) (solar) (hydro) (steam) (controls) (storage) (mechanical)] - Classifieds - Site News
Everything - Newbies - [Remote Living-- (housing) (heat) (light) (water)] - Rants & Opinion - Diaries - Our Products

Dreaming about a new home | 8 comments (8 topical, editorial)

Re: Dreaming about a new home (3.00 / 0) (#5)
by TomW on Sat Feb 9th, 2008 at 05:40:05 AM MST
(User Info)

All good advice. I would add:

nice, big PVC conduit attic to basement. Fair size flex conduit with gradual curves [if needed] to all family areas. The next step is fiber optics and who knows what specifications will be needed there? At least with conduit in place its just a matter of fishing the stuff thru it when the time comes.

Of course, none of this is "cheap" now but it will be much cheaper than the tech doing it in 10 years.

I installed lots of extra cable in my office when I built it. Phone lines, coax, Cat5, etc and it still was not enough. Next time it will be 2" PVC to all corners in the attic space, or what passes for an attic in addition to all the stuff I know I need at the time.

Cheers.

TomW

"Education consists mainly of what we have unlearned."--Mark Twain
[ Parent ]

Re: Dreaming about a new home (3.00 / 0) (#6)
by Birdmmjb on Sat Feb 9th, 2008 at 08:23:42 AM MST
(User Info)

Thanks for the thoughts. At this time I had not given much thoght to the phone jacks ect but if the bank is crazy enough to make the kind of loan that we will need to build this then I will really have to be ready as the builder plans to complete in 90 days.

I had not thought of the pex in the concrete for heat I will need to do some reading on that and see what kind of system I might be able to get installed.

One of the things I want to do as there will be no basement is have a battery box in the atic storage space and vent it through the roof. I'm thinking of insulating the box to keep the battery temp down in the summer. then the re controls could be placed in the area near the box if it were placed in the south storage area the wire run from the pv panels would be very short and line loss cut down. I currently have to run 75 feet from the pv panles to the battery. Did I fail to tell you that the new house site is much better for pv and wind as it is clear of obstructions trees barns ect.

The inverter could also be placed nearer the batterys which would be a big plus.

I almost hope the bank says no. I bult my last house when I was 22 after that experence I decided that I would never do that again. My husband built his last house at the same time and after we married and compared notes on the experience we agreeded to never build again.

25 years must have soffened the memory some as here we are about to try again.

Jan I must have lost my mind Bryant

[ Parent ]

Re: Dreaming about a new home (3.00 / 0) (#8)
by mbeland on Mon Feb 18th, 2008 at 01:16:10 PM MST
(User Info)

I think the main motivation for building yourself from scratch is to make it your special way. You probably know more what you want than at the time. Martin
Eau, soleil, le vent
[ Parent ]

Re: Dreaming about a new home (3.00 / 0) (#7)
by zap (bell47g5a at comcast dot net) on Sun Feb 10th, 2008 at 08:47:20 AM MST
(User Info)

As Tom said, "All good advice"... I'll add this:

Take a serious look at a Ground Source HVAC system. In Arkansas your heating needs may be modest but I imagine your cooling needs will be greater and with a ground source system you could save quite a bit.

Here's an article with some numbers from my Dad's system.
http://www.fieldlines.com/story/2005/9/1/34455/70334

zap
[ Parent ]

Dreaming about a new home | 8 comments (8 topical, 0 editorial)

Menu

· create account
· How to use the board
· FAQs
· search the board
· Google search the board
· Old Otherpower Board

Login

Make a new account

Username:

Password:

You must be a registered user to post here. It's easy and free, and the link is on the upper right side of your page.
All trademarks and copyrights on this page are owned by their respective companies. Postings are owned by the poster, but may be deleted or moved at the ADMIN's sole discretion. The Rest © 2003 Forcefield.
You can Email the board ADMIN here. PLEASE include the username you signed up with!