Carbon Bigfoot

The Patient

2007-04-30T09:16:00.000-07:00

The patient is a 1938 Spanish style stucco house. Whether its Spanish Bungalow, Mission, or Spanish Revival is open for discussion. I'm not a fan of stucco houses, but at least stucco is used here stylistically where it belongs. Reader meet... "before."

This house has great bones, great neighbors and great light, the three things that are hardest to find. There's a little water damage here and there, she needs a lot of updating, but mostly she suffers from neglect.

I'm not a contractor nor a tradesman. I'm just a mechanically minded guy with an "I think I Can" attitude (yes, I have a 2 year old) and a supportive wife (most of the time). It's a commonly held fact that home remodeling = divorce and as such, I was determined to finish a majority of the work in the 10 weeks before we moved in. The following ToDo list sounds crazy, but dear Reader I just about did it. The demo work was done by an enthusiastic team of friends and family. I did most of the rough carpentry and then sub'ed out the other trades. Wherever possible... I chose the Green alternative.

October 15,2006 - December 31st, 2006

Install all new plumbing (new copper pipe)
Install new water heater (hybrid tankless)
Install all new natural gas lines
Install all new electrical (California Title 24 compliant)
Remove original gravity-fed furnace and asbestos covered ducting (remediated)
Install new furnace and ducting (92 AFUE, 2 stage, variable speed)
Add insulation in the walls (Icynene foam)
Refinish hardwood floors (Low VOC urethane)
Replace 9 of 13 windows (double pane, low-E, argon filled)
Repair water damage and remodel two bathrooms (Low flow fixtures)
Demolish finished basement for later remodel (Removed rats nests...)
Refinish all interior plaster walls (Encapsulate lead paints)
Paint interior walls (low VOC)
New carpet in Master Bedroom (Wool loop)
Install garbage disposal and dishwasher in kitchen (High efficiency)The only thing we didn't change was... the kitchen sink!

The Green Capitalist

2007-04-29T12:32:00.000-07:00

Most people think you go Green to save the Earth. That's a nice thought, but unfortunately its a misconception attributable to bad marketing.

First of all, you are not saving the Earth from anything, the Earth will be just fine as soon as we are gone. And, by the way, if you believe Al Gore that is where we're headed at this rate.

Let's redefine Green here and now: you go Green to save yourself! You'll save money, you'll save your health, and as a nice byproduct, oh yea, you'll save the Earth in a state that we can live on it indefinitely. It's the same reason as why Capitalism works. Economics 101 says: A market economy depends on every person looking out for their OWN interests.

So why aren't we all Green? The missing link is education. An efficient market also depends on all buyers and sellers being educated about their transactions. Consumers are not educated about why Green is good for them and their wallet.

I intend to prove that a home can be healthy, energy efficient AND luxurious!

Icynene Foam Insulation

2007-04-28T20:03:00.000-07:00

I absolutely love the Icynene Foam Insulation in my walls. My house is the thermally coziest house I have ever spent any period of time in. If you want to be cozy in your "this old house" you need insulation in the walls. The chances are that someone has already insulated the attic at some point in the past. You'll probably need to supplement it to bring it up to R30 (that's about 15 inches of insulation); but if you've already got some up there put your next dollar into the walls.

The mere act of adding insulation to the walls is Green by its nature, because it reduces heating and cooling requirements. This is going to save a lot of money over time. You have 3 options, but in each case they drill a lot of holes in your walls and pump in the insulation.

Fiberglass - Fiberglass is naturally flame retardant, but has less insulating value than cellulose or foam. Since fiberglass is an irritant to the skin, lungs and eyes, there are some air quality concerns.

Cellulose - Blown cellulose is basically shredded recycled paper. It has great insulating value and sounds really Green, right? Well not exactly, because it requires the addition of some nasty chemicals for flame retardancy and pest control; oh and let's not forget if it gets wet... can you say toxic mold?

Icynene Foam - The hands down winner! I'm a walking advertisement for this stuff. It's a two part urethane-based foam that's pumped into the walls. It expands and plugs every last hole in your walls. It's thermal insulation, sound insulation and acts as a water barrier. It won't grow mold; pests won't eat it or nest in it; it's naturally fire retardant, it doesn't outgas (meaning it doesn't expel bad chemicals into your air); its not an allergen; and finally it has better insulating value then fiberglass or cellulose. What's the drawback? It's more expensive.

The house has 1510 square feet. We insulated all of the perimeter walls of the house and both bathrooms (for the privacy). In each exterior wall, they drilled 3 holes up and down and every 16 inches side to side, from the inside. We stripped one room down to the studs because the previous owner's years of smoking had left thick nasty nicotine stains on the walls. In that room they sprayed the foam right onto the studs. The total cost was $3980, which is about two and half times the cost of blown cellulose.

It was literally worth every penny. The Icynene Foam is part of my trifecta of energy conservation, along with the double pane windows and the high efficiency furnace. My house hovers around 68 degrees all winter long with very little output from the furnace. The sound insulation is great too. We no longer hear "the band" practicing down the street. Carbon Bigfoot says go Icynene Foam!

In the Bay Area I used SDI Insulation. I had no complaints with their work. They showed up on time and finished on time.

High Efficiency Furnace

2007-04-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

I love my new furnace! Its a Trane, two stage furnace, 93% efficient, with a variable speed blower and a White Rodgers thermostat.

First let's talk about the efficiency. The efficiency rating of a furnace indicates how much of the heat, created from burning the fuel, goes into your house versus out the flue. It has been said that unless you live with really cold winters, it is more economical to buy a less efficient (80% efficient) furnace. Essentially, you'll pay less for the furnace but your heating bills will be slightly higher.

Since we're talking about going Green and reducing our carbon footprint, it makes sense to put a little extra money into the furnace and go for the 90%+ efficiency. You are likely to make back the money somewhere else. For example, utility companies like PG&E give rebates for the 90% efficiency furnaces. Secondly, some states like California, require that you pressure test your ducts if you select a furnace with sub-90% efficiency. The pressure test, which costs money, looks for leaks and insures that you're not losing additional efficiency by pumping the heat outside.

Many installers will automatically select the 90% efficiency furnace for you. This is the reason why... If they install a sub-90% furnace and their newly installed ducts fail the pressure test, guess who's going to eat the cost of fixing your ducts... they are. But that being said, Carbon Bigfoot still says go with the 90%+ and step a little softer. As a bonus Consumer Reports says that the higher efficiency furnaces typically have a longer life and fewer problems.

Now lets talk about the luxury of it all. Have you ever been in a house that's either HOT or COLD, but never just right. And when its HOT, it's like your lungs are on fire and its drying you like a shrunk apple head. I really hate that.

The solution is the two stage furnace with the variable speed blower. The furnace has the capability to produce either warm air or hot air. So when your house reaches it's desired temperature using the hot air, the furnace kicks itself down to warm, and the variable speed blower reduces the air speed. The result is a trickle of warm air that's just right all the time. It's totally awesome!

I have my return air vent in the ceiling and my supply registers in the floor. This is the ideal setup as it works with the natural convection currents of the house. Unfortunately it's not always possible to do it this way, but if you can I highly recommend it. Someday I hope to add return air vents in the ceiling of each bedroom. This will even the temperature throughout the house even if the bedroom doors are closed.

I suggest getting the White Rodgers 90 series thermostat model 1F95-1277. It can be programmed to turn the fan on once per hour to keep air circulating through your air filter whether or not the furnace or AC is needed. Indoor air quality is very important and requires more attention as you make your house more energy efficient. Energy efficiency usually involves trapping air as well as allergens in the house. Get the highest quality air filter for your furnace that you can afford. I've got the standard electrostatic air filter that Trane sells. I should have gotten their really high end unit upfront (Trane CleanEffects) but intend to upgrade someday in the future.

My furnace is made by Trane (a.k.a. American Standard) but according to Consumer Reports, the manufacturer is not nearly as important as the installer, since the major brands are all equivalent in features and reliability. I got outrageous bids for my system until I found an installer that I liked. If your in Marin, I recommend this guy. He's an independant contractor and charged me thousands less than the big HVAC shops. He's done work for at least a few people I know and was very reliable. The only catch is that he asks for most of the money up front. Since I had always been told to be warry of things like that, I found someone who would vouch for him before I sent a check. He turned out to be extremely professional. His name is Craig Nelson and his contact number is: 707-556-9446.

The Hybrid Tankless Water Heater

2007-04-26T08:44:00.000-07:00

A conventional water heater uses natural gas or propane to heat a tank of water that's typically 40 to 50 gallons in size. The drawback of this design is that the water heater is constantly keeping that water hot (so its ready when you need it), but doing so can cost you a lot of money. And if the first person in the shower spends 15 minutes there, everybody else is getting a cold shower... Yikes!

A tankless water heater is one that doesn't store any water. It only creates hot water when you need it, so its much more energy efficient and costs a fraction to operate. Plus your hot water is endless. Carbon Bigfoot says... Oh Yea!!

Now let's not confuse "tankless" with "instant" hot water. The amount of time it takes for you to get hot water to your fixtures is still going to depend on how far the hot water heater is from the fixture, regardless of whether it is conventional or tankless. An "instant" hot water heater is usually a small device under the sink. You'd need one of these next to every fixture if you wanted instant hot water everywhere. Your typical "tankless" hot water heater is a small box that mounts to the wall and replaces your old conventional water heater.

So why doesn't every new home have a tankless water heater. Well, there are some issues with them that many plumbers are not aware of and current tankless owners wont tell you about until you've already got yours installed and you're complaining about it.

The first issue is that they require a minimum flow rate to kick on the hot water. In short, you can't trickle hot water out of your faucet while you're washing your face or your dishes. The typical tankless water heater wants to see between .5 and 1 gallon per minute flowing before it will light up the flame. And everytime you turn on the hot water, their will be a delay as it waits to be sure that you've turned the faucet high enough. So you'll be getting hot water and turn the faucet off. Turn it back on and you'll get a blast of cold water again. Its infuriating if your trying to do dishes in the kitchen sink.

The second issue is that there is a lag time as they respond to changes in demand. So if you're in the shower and someone turns on hot water in the kitchen sink, you'll get a blast of cold water while the tankless is thinking about turning up the flame to supply the two fixtures. Your pissed-off wife is going to do this to you often because you installed that stupid tankless water heater. "Yes ma'm may I have another!"

But wait all is not lost. There is a solution. I call it the Hybrid Tankless Water Heater. Just add a small electric water heater, say 4 to 8 gallons, on the output of your tankless. I have the Bosch Aquastar 250SX-NG Tankless water heater and I've added the Bosch Ariston GL8 Ti electric water heater to its output. The tankless water heater uses it's gas flame to heat the water which then goes into the 8 gallon tank. This small tank is well insulated and uses only a small amount of electricity to keep the 8 gallons hot over night. The 8 gallon tank buffers out all the temperature fluctuations from the tankless and it is still highly efficient to run. It's the bomb!! And it's endless! You can spend every last penny that you saved on energy on your new expensive water bill. Give yourself a hand!

The 250SX and Ariston tank is enough to supply two fixtures at once, which means a its great for a 3 Bedroom, 2 Bath house like mine. The 250SX has been recently replaced by the 2400E, but I can't tell you anything about the newer model. I'd expect at least as good perfomance from the 2400E.

The final caveat is that the tankless water heaters have strict gas supply requirements as well as flue venting requirements. You'll need a new stainless steel flue and probably a dedicated 1" gas line to the water heater. Make sure your installer knows what they're doing!

I purchased my Aquastar 250 SX online at http://www.tanklesswater.com and the Ariston GL8 Ti from a local plumbing supply shop, though tanklesswater.com has the Ariston GL6 Plus which would also work fine. I had to get some extra flue segments because I couldn't mount it directly to an exterior wall. My cost was as follows:

Bosch Aquastar 250SX-NG - $985.00
3" Stainless Steel Horizontal Vent Starter Kit - $229.00
Extra Stainless Steel Flue Vent Pieces - $150.00
Bosch Ariston GL8 Ti - $199.00
TOTAL = $1563.00

Double Pane Windows

2007-04-25T06:43:00.000-07:00

New windows can cost a whole lot of money!!! But please don't go replace your beautiful old single pane wood windows with the double pane, aluminum, Home Depot specials. You'll destroy the look of your beautiful old home and probably cause water and termite damage over time. I know this because the previous owner of my house did exactly that.

The typical aluminum window tends to sweat when its cold outside. That means the cold air from the outside causes moisture from inside to condense on the inside of the window, or vise versa. That condensation runs down the window and keeps the wood and drywall around the window constantly moist. The moist wood is a perfect entry point for termites, not to mention dry rot and repeat after me... toxic mold!

You're going to want to get yourself a modern wood window. And if you want the low maintenance solution you can get exterior aluminum cladding. Please refrain from getting Vinyl windows or wood windows with Vinyl cladding. Vinyl, which is also commonly called PVC, is one of the least people-friendly plastics. It usually contains toxic additives like lead or cadmium to keep it from melting in the sun. And it'll have a good shot of antimony and maybe some organochlorines as flame retardants. Can you say.... "poison."

The only problem with aluminum cladding (and vinyl cladding also for that matter) is that you can't paint it, so you're stuck with one exterior trim color for the life of your windows. Did I mention the great thing about aluminum cladding is that you'll never ever have to paint them for the life of the windows.

The other option, I know about, is fiberglass windows by Milgard. They are durable and can be painted, but at the end of the day a wood window is a wood window!

I chose all wood Marvin Windows with no cladding. We just couldn't select an exterior color that we'd be happy with for the rest of our lives. Marvin can be very expensive but they're really, really nice.

Here's the energy efficient part... go all out and get the double pane, low-E, argon filled windows. They're worth the extra cost. They reflect heat out during the summer and in during the winter. On a hot summer day you can be sweating in the scorching sun while your painting the exterior window trim. All the time your wife is laughing at you from the other side of the window where she barely feels the heat of the sun. They're totally awesome. I was skeptical until I installed them and felt the difference.

To give you a feel for cost, I replaced 6 double hung windows that were about 3 feet wide and 4 feet tall. I chose the Marvin Ulitimate Double Hung all wood windows with double pane, low-E, argon filled and tempered glass. They were about $750 each before installation. You'll have to get some installation bids, but I hear they can be one to two times the cost of the window. I lucked out because my friend and local carpenter Dean Stubbings (pictured right) put the windows in for me for a fraction of the cost of an installer. Dean owns Madera Furniture in Fairfax, CA and builds awesome furniture out of recycled wood with all low VOC finishes.

And finally a note on building codes. You may need to meet the egress requirement for bedroom windows. The code sizes the windows so that a fireman can get through and pull your children to safety. But that being said, some building offices let you replace existing windows with the same size or larger even if they don't meet the requirement.

My Utility Bill Savings

2007-04-24T21:29:00.000-07:00

On the score card we have Icynene foam insulation in the walls; a hybrid tankless water heater, a 93% AFUE furnace; and new low-e, argon filled, double pane windows. And here's the results... my gas and electric bill was cut in half! In the first 3 months of 2007 I saved $500 over last year. But Carbon Bigfoot, you say... you weren't living in the house last year at this time so how can you compare it. Ah... reader, this is how: the house I lived in last year (let's call it Bob's House) was a rental house 3 doors down from Carbon Bigfoot's new house.

Bob's House is a 1950's ranch style house, renovated 5 years ago:

1420 square feet
40 gallon conventional water heater
80% AFUE furnace.
No insulation in the walls
Milgard double-pane windows (not low-E, argon filled)

Carbon Bigfoot's House a 1938 spanish style, renovated 3 months ago:

1510 square feet
hybrid tankless water heater
93% AFUE furnace
Icynene Foam Insulation in the walls
Marvin double-pane, low-E, argon filled windows

I don't even want to talk about how expensive it was to water that damn grass in front of Bob's House. Kids and dogs love grass (though not for the same reason). Carbon Bigfoot, on the other hand, thinks grass is a waste of money and resources. I'll save that discussion for another post.