clove

Finishing Progress

July 31, 2020 by clove 4 Comments

We just passed the 5 year anniversary of starting on this project. And yeah, there’s still a list. I can count the project to-do’s on two hands now, whereas several months ago, I could not even conceive of the full list. Here’s a snapshot of what we’ve been up to over the last couple of months.

I had to get the strata registered, which meant a detailed property survey and documentation that meets Strata Act requirements, plus legal assistance to create the two parcel IDs and file with the Land Title office. $10k later, at least we won’t ever have to do that again.

Matt’s been making progress on his pièce de résistance, his workshop building:

And our interior millwork:

the kitchen drawers are now fully functional, just waiting for their fronts

Matt hauling plywood for more cabinet boxes

We had to fix our front stair when the nose broke off. And this was already a re-pour of the whole thing.

Kudos to Brian from Interactive for his fancy (and effective) formwork:

We had to build this wired glass overhang as part of the City’s “triplex” fire protection demands. On the plus side, it gave us the opportunity to repurpose and showcase more of the beautiful fir from the old house.

I’ve been tending to the landscaping as it grows in:

this was in late March , shortly after planting

Our daughter and her friends are breaking in the hard landscaping. The patterning between the woolly thyme, black concrete parking strips and gravel is visually appealing but also invites leaping between the different segments. What a bonus when kids find pleasure in what we thought were mostly practical choices.

They also love the backyard of the suite for sale. We may have to amend the purchase contract to give usage rights to the kids. Just kidding, but I never fully appreciated the appeal of a simple patch of grass until this summer. I’ve spent more time than I care to tabulate pushing the mower over said grass, mind you, but at least its growth has now slowed. It was out of control for a while there.

Airtightness Test Results

June 27, 2020 by clove Leave a Comment

I sometimes hear people say, as a criticism of very airtight homes, that a house has to “breathe”. Well, I agree completely – and our airtight home does breathe. I would just rather pass the air through a set of building lungs with filters that actually clean the air. In an old house that “breathes”, the air could very well be sucked in through walls full of asbestos and rat poop. It’s completely uncontrolled. And a leaky home also means heat pouring out (or in) when you’d prefer it didn’t.

Of course we can open the windows at will. But if we don’t, we have 100% filtered outdoor air being continuously supplied to our bedrooms and living spaces, and exhausted from the bathrooms and kitchen. We can turn it up or down if we want, but most of the time we set and forget – especially easy to do when the system is inaudible.

On top of the benefits of good ventilation, the heat recovery ventilator captures the heat from the exhaust air to preheat the incoming air, which is a key ingredient to getting the heating demand and cost so low.

Now that we agree that airtightness and ‘breathing’ are not mutually exclusive concepts, and that airtightness is a good thing, let’s talk numbers.

A certified Passive House must reach an airtightness of 0.6 Air Changes per Hour, tested at 60 pascals of induced pressure. A typical new home being built today is around 2.5 ACH (although this is starting to trend down in BC now that we have Energy Step Code requirements to test for airtightness). Older homes can be upwards of 10 ACH. Considered another way, this means that, under 60Pa test conditions, ten times the entire air volume of an old home leaks out of uncontrolled openings in the span of an hour. Well that’s a bit of a waste isn’t it.

So how did we do?

We did a mid-construction test way back in 2019, when the air barrier was still exposed and all the holes for the cladding attachments had been made:

The grey peel and stick membrane visible here serves as both the air barrier and the water resistive barrier.

This test is a useful exercise, although not required, to catch any big holes or systemic issues while the air barrier is still exposed and reparable.

Reed from Adapt Energy Advisors setting up the fan door for the mid-construction test.

In the mid-construction test, we hit 0.27 ACH. Woot! And actually not all that surprising. We have seen many new buildings that use a peel and stick membrane achieve a high degree of airtightness. This was an average of the pressurization (blowing air into the house) and depressurization (sucking air out) tests and the two individual tests were comparable.

Skip to the final test, which is the one that matters for Passive House certification. We did this one when the building was essentially done at the end of May 2020.

This time we tested to 0.27 ACH under pressurization and 0.39 under depressurization, for an average of 0.33. Still well below the threshold of 0.6 although I was puzzled that the final test was less airtight than the mid-construction test, and that the building was more leaky under depressurization than pressurization.

Given our enclosure approach, I would have expected an improvement if any change. We’d corrected at least one source of leakage since the mid-construction test. When we replaced the locking hardware on our entry doors (they had to be re-keyed to match the suites) we discovered that the lock hardware had not been fully caulked.

On the old locks, those two holes were only partially caulked. Matt ensured the new ones had a good seal

In a very airtight home these small things make a difference. During a few very cold days in January, our HRV went into unbalanced mode to prevent its core from freezing and we could feel the cold air being sucked through the locking hardware.

The fact that the depressurization test was higher suggests that air was more easily sucked through a hole than pushed out of it. We’re thinking it might be this open drain from the pressure relief valve of the hot water tank. From what we understand, it connects to the perimeter drainage system outside the house.

This doesn’t feel like a big deal to me. I don’t think there is any air leakage happening through this pipe during normal operating pressure. And regardless of my desire to achieve the best possible result , 0.33 ACH is still extremely airtight. At levels this low, further efforts to chase leaks will not have any real effect on energy performance and are not really worth the time and effort. I have other things to keep me up at night!

Things That Go Buzz in the Night

May 16, 2020 by clove Leave a Comment

People who live in Passive Houses say that when you virtually eliminate all outside noise through your well insulated and airtight enclosure, the noises inside become much more apparent. So what are the things that go bump or (more likely) buzz in the night in a Passive House?

When we’re not making noise ourselves, our fridge is by far the loudest thing in our home. Beyond purchasing an EnergyStar appliance that you know will run relatively efficiently, there’s not a lot to be done here, and the background hum of a fridge is not a concern in my books.

The ventilation system is extremely quiet. Very efficient heat recovery ventilators like the Zehnder Q series units we have are not only inherently more quiet than less efficient units, they are also tested to meet stringent sound performance requirements. In occupied spaces, it is inaudible except when we operate in boost mode and even then, we can only hear a slight whir if all else is silent and we train our ears to hear it.

The hydronic heating system is also very quiet. In the mechanical room we can hear the low hum of two small pumps moving water through the pipes when there is a call for heat.

So far so good. But what was that godforsaken buzzing sound? I only heard it on our side when in the mechanical room, but in the other unit, it was very apparent upon opening the front door- the kind of whiny buzz that could be used for sleep deprivation and other forms of subtle torture.

Further investigation identified the culprit, which was this innocent looking guy:

This is an ASCO RedHat general duty actuator for a solenoid valve that is part of the emergency drain down system (which protects the heat pump in the event of a power outage). It consumes about 10W and is continuously powered, which equals not only unwanted noise, but wasted energy.

Some back and forth with Len, our neighbourhood hydronic specialist, and a bit of googling turned up this RedHat electronically enhanced solenoid actuator, a next generation product that reportedly only consumes ~1 W and is specifically designed for applications where noise is an issue:

$400 in parts and a couple hours of Len’s time later, et viola, problem solved. I can now say with confidence that all is quiet on the Passive House front.

And We’re Live

April 16, 2020 by clove Leave a Comment

The day before we went live with our MLS half duplex listing, my mom announced, “Well, the real estate market has tanked!” And I mean really, what better time to sell a house than in the midst of a global pandemic?

Depending on where we come out at the other end, this could turn out to be either sarcasm or prophetic wisdom. A time of intersecting global health and environmental crises feels in many ways like an ideal time to invest in a passive house. But does any of that matter if no one is looking and no one can get a mortgage?

We won’t know unless we stick our necks out in the wind. So here we go – officially offering a rare, brand new Passive House home in one of Canada’s best neighbourhoods. Tell your friends!

The full listing can be viewed here.

Our realtors even made a video to help explain what’s different about living in a Passive House.

(This post was recreated after I learned what happens when you restore an older version of your website without backing up the current version.)

Siding and Sidewalks and Plants (oh my)

March 27, 2020 by clove 2 Comments

When I started this post, I wrote about how I’d go off to work for the day and then come home with great anticipation to discover what new progress had been made while I was away. It was a time when seemingly small finishing details made a big visual impact. That was 3 weeks ago, when I still went to work. With the changes we’ve all lived since then, it’s as if months have passed and I felt like I had to start again.

I’ve been working from home for over two weeks now. Last week I was consumed by the news and taking care of my staff at RDH – establishing safety protocols, deciding when to close the office, making sure everyone has what they need to work from home, playing through future business scenarios. This week, we’re all settling in. I’ve got my computer and desk setup more dialed in (my neck and I both thank my mom for the card table) and I’ve been a lot more productive.

I’ve also looked up more and observed the scenes outside my ‘office’ window at the front of the house. It hasn’t been that long since the construction fencing was removed, so I’m witnessing a big reveal for many passersby. It’s actually quite a dramatic structure and it’s been fun watching the myriad people who stop for a look. They’re pointing to different areas, debating how the units are arranged; many are smiling or at least appearing thoughtful.

A lot of smaller details are being ticked off the list now. The uniquely Passive House pieces are mostly done, and now it’s on to all the bits and pieces that tie everything together and make it look like a finished home.

Jill, Mila-Kate and I spent last weekend working on the soft landscaping. I wanted to be outside and this gave us the chance to interact with many of the people walking by. It was so refreshing to chat with everyone (while still easily maintaining our safe distances). We live in an incredibly engaged, respectful and positive community, even – or especially – in these wild times. I feel very fortunate and more convinced than ever that we are all stronger together. Be safe out there and stay connected.

sidewalk and driveway ready for concrete

this was a busy day on-site – stucco and flashing trades doing their thing, plus prepping the area for the paving strips

stucco finish coat is done; forms are almost ready for the parking strips

strips poured (and almost immediately covered in dirt)

fancy soil truck saving us some manual labour

Thanks to Master Gardener Jill, we had the landscaping whipped into shape over a few days. Thanks also to Auntie Marcia for the two Japanese Maples, and Mark and Ting for the boxwoods and Pittosporum that have all found new homes

making use of some reclaimed fir for the back deck

Passive Home for Sale!

February 21, 2020 by clove 2 Comments

It’s unofficial! We have a rare, brand new 3 bedroom/3 bath Passive home for sale in one of Victoria’s most desirable and walkable neighbourhoods. It’s not on MLS yet, so if you know anyone who might be interested, they can jump the queue and get in touch with our realtors through their exclusive listing. Once the exterior is fully done and the landscaping is a little tidier, we will post on MLS. Thanks for spreading the word to our potential new neighbours!

Ringing in the (cough) New Year

January 30, 2020 by clove 4 Comments

Hello and happy 2020!

Bit of a rough start to the new decade for me. Yes, we got moved into our suite on December 24, and yes we (just barely) got the suite ready for our tenant to move in Jan 1. But it came at a cost.

Matt was pulling long days building mill work, installing trim and vanities, and a myriad other site tasks that needed doing. I was doing my best to stay on top of our budget, source vanities for our suite, confirm appliance details and delivery, dig into the operation of our Sanden CO2 combi system (which was not producing hot enough water); all the while fulfilling my work responsibilities, doing way more dishes than I like and filling parenting gaps while Matt worked extended hours on the house. I’d be at work all day, then come home to our cramped temporary space, littered with construction tools and debris and a sink overflowing with dirty dishes.

The screech of a band saw assaults my ears from overhead, where our suite has been temporarily converted into a work space. It is dinner time and no one has given any thought to what we might eat. There is no peace and no escape. After momentarily losing it (cue utensil thrown with satisfying force into the sink), I reflect that this must be how some working moms feel all the time (minus the construction debris and band saw noise). Fortunately, this is atypical and I am grateful that Matt and I normally have a well balanced distribution of household responsibilities.

So we got moved in upstairs, thanks to our moving heroes Cam, Peter and Rob; had a nice Christmas Day brunch with family courtesy of Aura Restaurant, then got back to work on the rental suite. Our other hero Renny swooped down and spent two days on the 29th and 30th painting so Matt could finish the cabinet doors and drawers.

Mission accomplished by about 11PM on Dec 31. And then I woke up on the 2nd with a nasty chest cough. After twelve days of suffering with a low grade fever; blowing copious amounts of thick phlegm out of my nose, and being up all night coughing violently, I finally went to the clinic and got on antibiotics. Turns out I had a sinus infection. And hallelujah, after a few days I started to feel like myself again. I now have energy again, and my brain is once again able to juggle multiple competing priorities.

Here’s how things are shaping up. Lots of progress and still lots to do. Is the end in sight? I don’t want to say that just yet, but we are certainly getting closer.

Outside first:

hard landscape progress, including repurposing our old chimney bricks for a back patio

Moving inside, our suite was transformed during one long day from work space to living space:

moving angels Cam, Peter, and Rob helping us move the big stuff

rental suite kitchen island, faced with our reclaimed flooring

Construction Progress

December 21, 2019 by clove Leave a Comment

Our realtors say this is about the point when most people are done. Not actually done because there is still a lot to do; but mentally ready to be done with the thing already.

We’re certainly not lingering on any decisions right now. A critical criteria for any choice these days is “how long will that take?” If it’s not fast it’s simply not an option. We continue to hustle to be ready to move upstairs to our suite, to have the rental suite (where we are currently living) ready for our Jan 1 tenant, and to have Suite 3 ready for listing early in 2020.

Living on a construction site has been, let’s say, unique? My forest green fleece housecoat complete with snowflakes and reindeer was never really intended for public eyes, but so it goes. (It’s definitely too comfortable to not wear). I look forward to not having to sweep the dirt and sand from our suite several times a day. I look forward to not having piles of tools and nails mixed in with dishes that don’t have a home. I look forward to not having to go out one door, along a muddy path, and in another door to then extract my bike from some sawdust covered corner in order to go to work.

We’ve only unpacked the bare essentials and scattered the rest of our worldly possessions among the three suites as out of the way as possible. I did my best to place boxes of things we might need in accessible locations and memorize where I’d placed them. Box with bakewear – suite 1 near the entrance. Box with extra coats and hats – tall one in suite 3. Recipe books – I forget what I told myself about that one because I can’t find it.

I’ve given up on finding that pyrex casserole dish for the time being, and I bought a new issue of Cooks Illustrated with the recipe I needed.

Meanwhile, Matt has been working seven days a week on-site, carving out windows of space and time to work on kitchen cabinets in between jumping in to help Interactive with a long list of finishing tasks: doors, trim and baseboards to be installed and painted in our suite and Suite 2; kitchen backsplash tile installed; CO2 heat pump system installed and commissioned; ventilation system install completed and commissioned.

And that’s just inside. Outside, the concrete guys have been here on evenings and weekends working on three sets of exterior concrete entry stairs, and Abbey Road has made the most of a brief window of availability to make headway on our hard landscaping. On the house’s vertical surfaces, the cedar accents and flashings are now mostly installed, and all that remains is to install the siding and stucco.

If all goes according to plan, we will be in our suite the day before Christmas. Yes, of course, minus some finishes like cabinet doors and drawers, a couple of bathroom vanities and closets, but functional enough.

As a side project to our side project, I did a Pecha Kucha presentation a few weeks ago as a two-year update to the one I did just before our rezoning public hearing, the preparation for which consumed my evenings for a week. Despite the extra work, it was a great opportunity to reflect on what I’ve learned through our project and to share it with others. In a way, sharing is what makes it all worthwhile, and I never regret making time to look outwards and connect with our friends and community.

On that note, enjoy the latest photo installment and thank you for reading. Happy Holidays!

Starting outside:

Strapping and flashing are complete, ready for cedar detailing, then siding (stucco will go on the gabled side; Hardi Aspyre vertical siding on the other side)

Back of house flashing and soffit details

Moving inside:

Suite 3 CO2 heat pump tank and interior workings for domestic hot water and in-floor hydronic heating

Reclaimed flooring install starting in earnest in Suite 1

!!

October 31, 2019 by clove 2 Comments

Matt observed that I use a lot of exclamation points in my blog posts. My first thought was that I’m just really excitable. Except that I’m not. Then I thought that writing makes me happy, which is certainly true. But really, exclamation points are just so darned convenient.

Yes, maybe they’re a bit lazy. Like if I were to accurately describe my heightened emotional state using words alone then I might elevate my writing to something more than just a conversation among chums. True all this. Yet still. What is a few exclamation points among friends?

If I were to describe my mental state today, exclamation point free, a mere two days before we move into our new not-actually-finished home, I would describe a mix of anticipation about finally being back on our property, albeit not in our actual suite; scattered thoughts manifested as an unceasing compulsion toward list-making; a probably futile drive to figure out a solution that would magically finish the reclaimed flooring in our suite so that we only had to move our piano and impossibly heavy bed once, and compartmentalized denial about packing and being ready for move day (who wants to live among boxes for longer than absolutely necessary, but on the other hand, who enjoys frantically throwing things in boxes as the movers are loading the truck?). The list-making includes things like setting up play dates for Mila-Kate so I can go prep the suites for appliance delivery; making the daily phone calls and follow ups to confirm an HRV delivery; order two more vanities and then figure out what to do when the ones we want aren’t in stock; cancel services at one house and set them up at the other; organize movers; sort out incorrect invoices, find a lawyer to draft up a strata plan. Yeah, I think that was a run-on sentence. Welcome to my brain. And then there is all the regular stuff: staying on top of bills, feeding ourselves, planning Halloween costumes, working, getting in the occasional physical activity and the odd hour of down-time with Mila-Kate and Matt.

Um. So. Yeah!! Phew it was hard to hold those in so long.

Okeedoke, so where are we at? Let’s have a look see.

Outside first:

Front of house wing wall and entry to our suite

Polyiso roof insulation installed to meet up with the roxul wall insulation outside of the structural framing for a continuous ‘sweater’

Cross strapping and cedar window bucks coming along on the south side, nearly ready for the vertical siding

Russ and Jodie of Interactive, our intrepid builders, at one of our construction open houses

Moving inside:

Reclaimed fir flooring, acclimated and ready for laying

Zehnder Q600 Heat Recovery Ventilator placed in the mechanical room, ready for duct connections

Construction Progress

September 27, 2019 by clove 2 Comments

Progress continues to be quick and very tangible as we hurtle toward our end of October move-in date. That’s still like ~~six~~ five weeks away right?

One of the advantages of having our ‘enclosure’ all on the outside of the framing is that we can be working on the outside and inside at the same time. Services can be run anywhere and anytime in the main stud wall because the air barrier and most of the insulation are on the outside of the sheathing.

So while Matt has been focusing on the exterior insulation and strapping, the various trades have been flying through the inside. Interactive installed ventilation ductwork, City Plumbing roughed in piping, and EM Electrical ran wires all at the same time. DT Drywall has since covered it all up, followed soon after by INNOV8 Group applying the first coats of paint. All in the span of a handful of weeks.

Phewf, just need to stop for a minute here and catch my breath.

In other news, we had a construction open house a couple weekends ago, which was well attended by neighbours, friends, and colleagues who got to see all the component parts of a Passive House before they’re covered up. Several of them have decided they are moving in!

Here’s how things are shaping up.

Outside:

front view, insulation starting on the east side

lower cedar window bucks complete; insulation and vertical strapping in progress on the south side.

horizontal strapping going on the north side, the last piece before siding can be installed

concrete forms going in to support exterior entry stair

Moving inside:

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