Planning new home, need advice ideas

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MoCoNative

MoCoNative

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Craig, CO
Looking to the Mud wisdom here on a few things. I'm planning on building a house, starting as soon as the snow melts if possible. Looking at doing the work myself, planning on 12 to 16 months construction time. I am good at about 95% of the stuff I need to do. I built a beautiful garage on the site already, 30x44, from the ground up. Also did all the septic and water, everything is ready to place the home and move the trailer house out.

First thing, ICF basement. Anyone done one before, hard, easy different, are the insulation benefits worth it. I thought this system would be something I could easily do myself. However, I'm apprehensive, never poured an 8 foot basement wall. Not sure if I will save much by the time I build or purchase or rent the structural supports to hold the forms for pouring and the forms themselves. Considering just having a contractor come in and do the basement for me, but again cost is an issue. I still need to call around, but 20,000 plus is probably the start of the rates around here.

I have an elaborate plan in my head for a solar supplied radiant heat. The basement will be in slab. Parts of the main floor will be stable up from underneath, other parts will be a radiant panel that looks like baseboard trim from Hydronic Alternatives. I want to use primarily solar. I'm heating a little over 2000 ft2 and I'm estimating needing about 30 linear feet of evacutated tube collectors. Storage will be at least two tanks, bigger sized. Backup on the system will be an electric mini boiler. Probably only have three zones, basement, and split on the main floor, front half livving room, kitchen and dining, and then the bedrooms seperate so they can be kept at a slightly lower temp.

The other big question I have is windows. I'm leaning towards fairly simple aluminum clad wood windows from Marvin. I like the look and feel of the wood interior. But there are lots of other windows out there. Vinyl is okay, but I don't like the way the don't trim out the opening inside, nor do I like the way they flex and give. Seen some offerings in fiberglass and stuff too, are these any good? Any good recommendations for a specific kind and brand of window. Looking at sliders or double hung with a couple of picture windows.

Any adive would be great, as more questions come up I'll ask here. Maybe start a build thread.
 
The basement cost was the eliminator when we built our house. Is this a construction loan?
Also figure on material costs going up by at least 15% by the time they hit your driveway.
Regarding wndows, cant go wrong with Marvin.


Build thread would be cool, I've been wanting to put all the pics together on our log home someday.:cheers:
 
Where do I start --

I built my home in 2008, did most of work myself and was own contractor, finishing ICF basement this week. Warmboard radiant main floor and in-slab basement hydronic radiant. No solar yet, this fall's project.

I used PolySteel ICF - bulletproof and simple. Worth the money? Depends...complete DIY system and any decent concrete company should have a mix design and pumper truck operator that make it a cinch to pour a 8' wall. Drywall interior takes a little more effort to hit the screw webs but pretty easy. Just started taping mine today. Very comfortable and enjoyable living space with the radiant slab.

I used Uponor components and tubing and Triangle Tube boiler and indirect tank. Wilo pumps are the only way to go. Solar storage, domestic vs radiant supply temps, and distribution are tricky. Staple up is a PITA and doesn't live up to advertised delta T. Radiant baseboard will take advantage of high solar temps but you will need to mix for the slab and or staple up. Ferguson Enterprises is a good place for supplies, pexsupply.com is decent as well. I plan to add vac tubes but complete integration gets difficult. Viesman makes a badass indirect tank with two coils, could be an option.

Best site for hydronics is Heating Help - "the wall"

I used a Wirsbo (now Uponor) software program to design the hydronic system and do a heat loss calc. You can download the software but need to call and get a password - its free and top notch software that will really help. You can also search for the threads I started here - lots of learning the hard way for me but everything works perfect and no troubles so far. Can't help with electric boiler, have heard good things from one PE I spoke with early in design phase.

Marvin windows are tough to beat, I believe they are figerglass clad rather than vinyl. I have vinyl clad cedar windows in my home, pretty nice but $$$ for the wood/vinyl combo style. Anderson and Simpson doors have been nice to have.

Good luck! Its a ton of work and pretty much owns you for a few years but it's nice to sit back and enjoy the fruits of your labor. I'll try to dig up my thread - and I can tell you a couple of things not to do...:beer:
 
can only chime in about the windows. mine are all marvin, all wood. would love to replace with a different brand if it were cost effective (its not) due to the failure rate of the double panes. i have 3 on order right now. i would suggest maybe anderson or pella, but i do not have any first hand experience with those brands, only word of mouth combined with my poor experience with marvin.

maybe other materials hold up better than the all wood ones i have.
 
Windows:
i have integrity windows by marvin. their lower cost and i guess cheap line. extruded fiberglass outside, wood inside. double hung tilt windows. after 12ish years, they are still great. seal well, tilt well. open and close easily. i like them and id buy them again.
my father's beach house has andersen narrowline double hungs at his his house. nice windows, vinyl clad outside to better deal with salt air and blowing sand, wood inside.....again, nice windows that have performed well for the past 18 years. id have no problem buying them again.
my father's other house has pella windows. they are aluminum clad outside, wood inside...... great windows but were expensive compared to the other 2.

we used pella in his house because they best fit the rough openings of the windows that we were replacing.....smallish openings with 80 year old stucco walls and we wanted to maximize the glass area.
the andersens we used were excellent and cheap and it was new construction so we could adjust the rough openings to fit the standard window sizes.
i chose integrity for my house for replacements of old wood windows to, again, maximize glass area in a brick rough opening in an 80 year old home. comparable in cost to the andersens, and just as good as either the andersens or the pellas.

so, in short, pick what you like and what suits your wallet...they're all good and much nicer (in my opinion) than all vinyl windows.
 
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Most radiant suppliers will do a radiant workup for free, just drop off a set of plans at the distributor. It's important to tell them you want to run the radiant off solar because it will make a difference in the amount of tubing. I've used Roth, Zurn, and Wirsbo and they are all similar but I like the Zurn manifolds.

Worked on a house 2 years ago that was basement to roof ICF block. The home owner loved it but you couldn't get a cell signal in the house. :)
 
Thanks guys, keep it coming. Wish some of you were closer, could use the help on the ground you know.

There is a radiant outfitt in the next town, I'm going to pay them a visit soon, still working on my plans. I got Better Homes and Gardens Home Designer 8.0 some time ago, so been building the plans on that. Still tweaking and self teaching myself on the software. Will have a workup done when I better know exact square footage and heat load.

Haystax, good info. Quick question, why would I have to use a lower temp in the slab and staple up? I was under the impression that I would need higher temps to get efective heat transfer through those two applications. The baseboard product I'm looking at is a true radiant panel, not a convective heater, it should be responsive and effective at lower temps I think. Hoping it would all even out in the end with the solar. Radiant baseboard would be in the rooms most used and would benefit from mediocre solar days and reserve storage tank. Slab would carry some heat over a day or two, and the staple up areas may just have to be cool.

On the window reccomendations, any particular reason one is better than another. I know there are lots of manufactures, and sometime we are limited by region and suppliers, but what really sets a Pella apart from an Anderson or Marvin or Jeldwenn for that matter????? I can say from persoanl experience that most of the Marvin, all wood windows in my parents house have issues after 27 years. Semi harsh climate, some poor upkeep, (freaking brickmold will not hold paint for a month,) and other issues contributed, but we had two entire casement windows get cloudy. They were badly rotted on the outside, dry rotted I guess, this is a pretty dry climate, they were turning to powder. We have replaced them. Several of the double hung windows are exhibiting the same rot on the outside edge of the lower sill. Unfortunatley the brickmold around the sides can be replaced, but the sill is part of the actual frame.

From working with some of the new aluminum clad Marvins, I think they will hold up much better by avoiding the whole exterior exposed wood issue. Beyond that problem, my parents windows have always operated and sealed very well. So I'm mostly interested in some kind of wood interior window with a cladding on the outside of some sort. Hence my interest in the fiberglass exterior and if they are any good. My parents double hung windows also had the full storm window/screen on the outside. That has worked very well in screaming blizzards to keep the weather off the interior portion of the window and the wind out. Marvin still offers a similar system I see.
 
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MoCoNative said:
Haystax, good info. Quick question, why would I have to use a lower temp in the slab and staple up? I was under the impression that I would need higher temps to get efective heat transfer through those two applications. The baseboard product I'm looking at is a true radiant panel, not a convective heater, it should be responsive and effective at lower temps I think. Hoping it would all even out in the end with the solar. Radiant baseboard would be in the rooms most used and would benefit from mediocre solar days and reserve storage tank. Slab would carry some heat over a day or two, and the staple up areas may just have to be cool.
Click to expand...

I got a few quotes from radiant shops, then picked my jaw up off the floor and started working out my own plan. The Uponor ADS software is top notch, I would recommend it when you get a firm floorplan to work with. Generally, you want the lowest supply temp you can get away with due to the cost of heating the water. I realize a solar dependant system with enough collector area may provide lots of "free" high temp water but it all costs somewhere.

You don't want an actual flooring temp above 86* IIRC. Therefore, you can't use extremely hot water or you will have issues if using wood flooring or even with the subfloor itself going through a high delta heat cycle. The slab is the most forgiving - it can get by with lower temp and deal with the shock effects of higher temps. My design called for 125* in warmboard panels and 90* in slab. I have a KISS design and feed my slab the same temp water and no issues. The variable flow Wilo pump and Triangle Tube boiler have been an excellent combo - the Wilo supplys a constant head no matter how many zones are calling for heat and the boiler modulates accordingly based on the feedback from the water temp. No wiring hassles and no Tekmar brainbox. So far so good.

It all depends on heat loss in each room, delta T (difference between supply temp and return temp), and emmitter performance. Until you know all these variables you can't really design the system. Slant Fin also has a decent software package for their baseboard products.

I am far from qualified as an expert but I spent a ton of time on my project and think I have a decent system. Here is my thread and thanks to all that helped me. I don't want to hijack your thread and I hope you get some more replies on the hydronics besides mine because I haven't ventured into solar yet.

https://forum.ih8mud.com/workshop-h...ronic-gurus-knight-triangle-tube-mod-con.html
 
Sorry for the filibuster -

Your final flooring will also influence the design, carpet calls for a higher temp due to the insulation of the pad and mat itself. Natural stone and real hardwood like cool temps. I used Ditra membrane under marble tile and have been very pleased. Alloc laminate has held up well and is a higher quality laminate flooring than some. Still not a real wood flooring replacement but performs very well with the radiant.

I will PM you some more info on the design aspects and some contacts that really helped me out.
 
Anderson 100 series "Fibrex," are the latest and greatest.

ICFs are easy, and worth it, if you're pouring tall wall use a vibrator. See if you can get the local rep out to help you.

Cool, deal with the solar HW. What are you doing for ext walls? Look into some exterior foam (like 2" for your climate) and some serious air sealing.

I love your part of the country, I hunt just outside of Slater.
 
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On the ICF basement, make sure you vibrate the concrete, especially near any pre-formed openings in the form. I've seen ICF systems cure with large voids in it, especially below window openings.

Also, how are you going to tie your walls into your slab or floor (if the walls will sit on the flooor). You need to ensure the walls tie in securely, otherwise they can kick in at the bottom. A keyway in the floor or footer makes the most sense.
 
I used a pumper truck for the ICF walls which I think is almost mandatory practice. You fill the forms 1'-2' at a time with a mix spec designed for ICF. A standard vibrator is too aggressie for the ICF styrofoam and can cause high pressure blowouts if you fill the form too high and vibrate excessively. A sawzall sans blade from the outside of the form works. I poured the floor and then poured walls on top of floor with keyway as suggested. Your local inspector may not allow this method. Rebar is stubbed from floor/footer and then tied in as you build the form system. I used PVC rings and dropped 8' rebar from top after forms were stacked. Should be able to get info from ICF distributor.

If you are serious about making solar work, you should consider building the entire home with ICF or SIP above grade. Air infiltration and R values are gonna be very important. Also, do you plan on using solar for domestic hot water or only for heating?
 
Good info guys, thank you very much.

We have to have footers here, so the walls will sit on the footer, floor is poured inside walls afterwards.

I plan on regular stick construction on main floor. Looks like 2x6 walls will be best, with a good house wrap.

I'm undecided on the solar for domestic water. I want to run the glycol solution in the entire heating system. I'm on a well that thus far is good water, but it leaves alot of residues behind. I'm not sure what all they are, it has some Hydrogen Sulfide in it, also most likely some manganese. Inside of toilet tank is completely brown. Swamp cooler is clear full of white powder after a season. Not sure if this is sulfur evaporated out from the sulfide, or other salts. Either way I want to segregate the two systems.

Best system I guess would be diverting some solar heat to a coil in a seperate domestic storage tank, or use a heat exchanger to pre heat water going into a tankless heater. Need to figure best way to utilize the most heat for the floor heat storage tanks and make domestic secondary, maybe even have the ability to shut it on and off through the seasons to go full solar in the summer, and partial or none at all in the winter.
 
Check wit your locality about ICF's, they are required to be engineered by a pro to use them in my locale. I agree if you are going to use icf's to at least do the first floor also, makes the most sense. If you are going to use studs an inch of hi density foam board over the studs and well taped will go far to keep it temperate.
 
As cold as it is there you're probably going to want 2" of foam to move the dew point outside of your wall cavity. Don't tape the seams, it's essentially a vapor barrier at that point, use housewrap (high perm) over or under just as long as your windows are integrated into your drainage plain.
 
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