Monday, May 07, 2007

Roof

It is finally starting to look like a home. Roofing materials are due to arrive tomorrow and hopefully the house will be dried in this week. It has rained over 5 inches in the few weeks. Not good for the lumber, but it is hard to control mother nature.



The decision we need to make now is about insulation. We are considering using spray foam insulation in order to reduce our utility consumption. Friday, we watched installation at a house in the Memorial area. The house is completely air tight and ventilation is not required. A fresh air system is required because the house is so tight. It is nearly three times the capital cost compared to fiberglass insulation, but the reduction in AC load makes it more attractive. Another way we plan to reduce our carbon footprint is to go with tankless hot water heaters. I am also going to discuss ways to recover grey water for the yard with the builder this week.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

How exciting!! It really looks like a house now.

And yay you for thinking environmentally friendly thoughts!

Anonymous said...

After watching "This Old House" for 30 years:Tankless and spray foam. Tankless is about twice the upfront cost but definately the way to go.

I drive by every Friday and look.

Sara said...

We installed a tankless hot water heater a couple of months ago. It works very well, but the only problem is that we have to wait for ALL the water to circulate through the house before the hot water will finally get to the shower (the house was plumbed so that we could have one of those continuous recirculation pumps on the hot water system).

Also, if you turn off the water, the heater turns off. Then, when you turn it back on, the hot water already in the line will come out, then the cold water slug will get to you (it takes 6 seconds of flow for the water to get hot again), and then it goes back to hot. It's a little annoying, but not so much that I regret the decision to change to a tankless heater.