The House of Arden - Part 2: The Analysis

This is the second is a series of articles documenting the pursuit of a dream – building a new home that we call The House of Arden. The first article described the goal, which is to build an energy efficient house that uses sustainable design, materials, and technologies, and makes efficient use of space, while meeting the needs of an active retired lifestyle. With the goal established, it is time for analysis. Here, are some of the highlights.

Site environment: The lot we have chosen is a fill-in lot in Cannon Falls, a rural town of about 4,000 people, located 50 miles south of the Minneapolis/St. Paul metropolitan area. One of the criteria of sustainable development is to build on fill-in lots when possible to reduce the pressures on sprawl. However, there are several other characteristics of the lot that interest us. We want a small city lot, to make development and maintenance of landscaping more manageable. This lot is 0.26 acres. The lot is also long and narrow with the long dimension east to west (70 feet by 164 feet), giving us good exposure to the sun. The lot has some slope (a five-foot difference from the high corner to the low corner), enough to make for an interesting landscape, but not enough to cause difficult water management problems when it rains. The Cannon River Trail (bicycle and cross country skiing) passes just a half block to the south of the lot. Following the trail about a mile into town, the trailhead is just across the street from the grocery store. Going the other direction, the trail ends in Red Wing, on the Mississippi River, about 25 miles distant. The trail follows an abandoned railroad bed that courses along the Cannon River, which is about one block to the north of our lot. Both the trail and river will provide ample opportunities for exercise, and recreation, and the trail into town will be used to conduct much of our weekly business.

In addition to neighborhood recreational amenities, there is a small lake and county park about two miles west of town, and a larger (sailing) lake about 25 miles southeast of town.

The vast majority of new housing development in Cannon Falls is happening on the outskirts of town in suburban-style developments. We will be building in the older part of town where housing is 50 to 100 years or so old, with a few scattered newer houses filling in here and there. One goal is to build a house that will blend in with the older housing stock.

We currently live in a 1927 house in Minneapolis and enjoy the charm and character of an older home. We would like to replicate as much of that warm feeling in our new house. However, we would also like to build in the comforts and amenities of a modern home.

Water: The availability of water is generally not a problem in Minnesota – the land of 10,000 lakes. We get an excess of 20 inches of precipitation annually and there is ample surface and underground sources of water - and, water is usually of very high quality. However, in Cannon Falls, which lies atop of a vast limestone formation, the well water provided by the city is very hard – that is high in dissolved minerals. Water that has a mineral content greater than 180 parts per million is considered to be very hard, requiring water treatment. The water in Cannon Falls is 226 parts per million.

The other water issue is the management of rainwater coming off the roof and off the property into the city's storm water system. In a river town, it is especially important that we manage runoff properly.

In our current home, we have some experience with the management of rain runoff, as we live in a hilly part of town. When we moved in, we soon discovered that some rainwater was finding its way into our basement. So, our main project for our first summer in the house involved directing water away from the house into a rain garden.

Energy: The use of energy is becoming an increasingly important part of home economics and home management. We anticipate that the cost of energy will continue to increase at a rate far greater than the general cost of living. Thus, energy will become an ever-increasing percentage of the household budget. Some economists, for example, are predicting that world oil reserves will peak in about 6 to 8 years. While oil supplies will then start to decline, oil demand will certainly continue to increase. This is especially disconcerting as we watch India, China, and others, ratchet up their demands for petroleum products. Even though there is much activity in developing alternative sources of energy, there does not yet seem to be sufficient social will to initiate a major effort (that is to spend significant tax money) to solve our national long-term energy challenges. This makes energy efficiency and conservation our top priority in the design and construction of this house. This, of course, is always an interesting challenge in Minnesota, where temperatures may vary from 30 degrees below zero to 95 degrees above zero from mid-winter to mid-summer.

In our Minneapolis home, the south side of the house is well shaded and the house is designed for natural ventilation, so we only need to air condition our bedroom with a window unit for about two to four weeks during the summer. During heating season (October through May), our heating bills probably run about as high as $300 during the coldest months. Even after we have replaced about a third of the original windows with modern efficient windows and have improved the attic insulation and ventilation. With modern construction, materials, and heating technologies, we should be able to reduce heating and cooling costs in the new home to half or even one third or more of this amount.

Interior environment: Whenever you build an energy efficient house you create the potential of indoor air quality problems. With a house highly sealed against air infiltration, pollutants can build up in indoor air. Thus, it is important to move air around the interior of the house and to have an air exchange system with outdoor air as well. Moisture is also a problem with new construction houses. Moisture always moves from warm places to cool places. With temperature differences between the interior and exterior of the house, moisture is bound to move into the walls. Once in the walls, the moisture can support the growth of molds on the construction wood and other organic materials found there. When building a new home, it is critical to find construction materials and building techniques that minimize the potential of moisture buildup in the walls. There are too many stories of newer homes that have become uninhabitable because of mold. Some builders admit that moisture migrating into exterior walls is almost inevitable in some parts of the country.

In older homes, like our current situation, there is enough air infiltration through and around doors and windows that there is no problem with either indoor air pollution or the accumulation of moisture in walls. Any moisture that might migrate into the walls during cold weather will evaporate during hot weather.

Materials: In addition to selecting materials that will provide energy efficiency and prevent mold problems, it is important to select materials that provide lasting value. I have had several conversations with homeowners who complain that with 15-year old homes, almost everything needs replacement. This includes doors, windows, siding, roofing shingles, flooring, kitchen cupboards, counter tops, and so on. In some cases bathroom floors had to be torn out down to the floor joists because of rotting sub-flooring.

I tell my wife that I plan to live in this house until they carry me out on gurney, which I hope to be quite a while from now. One of the things I do not want to face, in the mean time, are massive remodeling projects. So, we plan to install durable surfaces, inside and out that will maintain their value for a long time to come. This will increase the initial construction costs, but we will more than make up for this by avoiding expensive remodeling and component replacement later on.

The house we currently live in has many of the durable surfaces and features that we seek in our new home. The siding is real stucco about one-inch thick. I've had to drill holes in the stuff and it is almost impossible. The stucco has been re-dashed once. All the floors, except for the kitchen, are solid hard wood or ceramic tile. The hardwood floors on the first floor have been redone once. Most of the cupboards are still originals. The interior walls and ceilings are plaster. It is really unfortunate that we have moved away from quality construction in too many of our housing developments.

Another strategy for sustainable development is to reuse construction materials that have been removed from other houses. We do have a reuse center near our current home and have made many visits for possible reuse items. The only items we have found to be satisfactory are light fixtures. All of the light fixtures in the new home will be from the reuse center, auctions, and antique stores. The only exceptions are the bathroom sconces. I have been busy over the past few months, polishing brass fixtures, replacing parts, and rewiring light fixtures.

Waste: We will work closely with our general contractor and all of the sub-contractors to minimize job site waste and any waste generated will be reused, recycled, or properly disposed of. In fact, one of the ways we plan to put sweat equity into the house is through job-site cleanup. Our general contractor really likes that idea, as most home construction workers do not take the time to perform good job-site cleanup. It actually makes the work go more smoothly and efficiently. Additionally, a lot of construction waste can be avoided by careful planning long before construction begins.

Active lifestyle: In retirement, my wife and I plan to have more time to enjoy the activities that we love – gardening, hiking, biking, canoeing, and sailing. In addition, I enjoy – well as my dad would say – making sawdust and very expensive firewood. Actually, I enjoy building stuff, and plan to explore new areas of hands-on creativity. My wife is a quilt maker and will need a sewing studio. We also like to cook and entertain guests, so a good working kitchen and gathering spaces are important. And, finally, as we plan to live in the house as long as possible, accessibility is an issue of importance. There needs to be a bedroom and bathroom on the main floor that will accommodate living with limited mobility.

© 2006, Gary L. Engstrom

The next article will highlight the design of the project, including the selection of materials, construction techniques, and the layout of spaces.