I need some help designing my house.

Dec 2 15:17 UTC 1996

I have a floor plan, an isometric dwawing and all the elevations of a
house I want to have built.  In order to make the plans complete I need
to find someone who can do or help me do the structural drawings.  Civil
engineering stuff like footing size, steel floor trusses, cathederal hip
roof design, etc.
 
The structure will be just under 1,600 sq. ft. and made out of concrete
and steel with a wood framed roof.  I would also consider steel framing
for the roof.  It will have some pasive solar heating and will be air
tight and energy efficent.
 
I have talked to a hand full of architects in the last half year while
we were conjuring the design. So far they all want to go back to step
one and charge about 8 to 10 grand for their services.  !Way! too much
and we have NO interest in retracing steps we've already taken several
times.  All my work is to scale and on CAD so I'd prefer to work with
someone who is CAD competent.
 
Know of anyone who I should contact?  U of M school of architecture?

response 2 of 25:

Dec 2 20:15 UTC 1996

The sill plate on our current house isn't bolted to the basement either,
but than the house was built 40+ years ago.  That is more a question of
code and builder/inspector relationships.
 
Our Dr. is also looking for an architect and will most likely go with
the one we choose.  He's already decided to go with our foundation
contractor.  Tha's a whole nother story though...
 
I just went and visited Sunrise Architecture.  Our meeting went very well.
I was also surprise and saddened to learn that many of the codes relating to
energy efficency have been repealed!  As have some of the 96 codes for
things like stair design, etc.  Expect continued dependancy on foreign
energy  :(

response 4 of 25:

Dec 6 14:51 UTC 1996

Yep.  We've talked to him.  I *think* we may have found one, though I won't
know for sure till we sign yet to be delivered paperwork.  I have a frined
who's also looking though so suggestions are still welcome.

response 6 of 25:

Jan 17 18:57 UTC 1997

I don't know anything about this, but I am interested in what you learn and
deciede to do. Can you explain what O2 diffusion is?

response 8 of 25:

Jan 27 20:11 UTC 1997

There was an article in the A2 News on Sunday, Jan 26, about radiant heating.
G! - At Home section, front page. Local writer visited several local homes
with hydronic heat systems.  Buried in the article is a reference to a
European tubing which has a lifespan of 300 years and is subjected to
monitoring by lasers ultrasound and CAT scans before it leaves the factory.
(That's what she said.  Must be true.  I read it in the newspaper.) 
Anyway, this wonderstuff is named Pextron, apparenlty made by Stadler.
Might be worth checking out.  
She also reers to several  heating people and architects in the area who have
done a lot of work in this field.  (that's "refers" not "reers")

response 10 of 25:

Jan 28 16:57 UTC 1997

Unless there's a typo in the newspaper, you want to look for "Pextron", not
"Paxtron".

response 12 of 25:

Jun 21 21:05 UTC 1997

It has been a while since I have entered anything here.  The hydronic
heating issue is still up in the air but I have a couple of fall-back
positions if necessary.  At this point it looks as though I will be
laying the tubing, etc, and will have a heating contractor set the boiler
and connect it as required by code.  D&C Plumbing seems to have the
market on quality hydronic supplies.  I *think* I have found a contractor
who will work with me through a friend at work.  My time is running out:
We broke ground yesterday.

response 14 of 25:

Mar 2 13:09 UTC 2000

Time for an update!

We moved into this house last week.  I went with D&C Plumbing for the heating
system.  John Carpenter was a person who did the design.  He was very helpful
and came out several times to take pictures and answer questions.  I
understand that he will be breaking out on his own soon.  I went with Stadler
Paxtron tubing to carry the hot water.  This is a PEX product with a vapor
barrier to keep oxygen out.  Stadler is a trusted name in Europe so I figured
they had the experience in these types of systems that I was looking for. I
installed the entire system myself.  About a year after I made my selection,
the Wall Street Journal ran an article on radiant floor heating system that
were leaking and wrecking havoc for their owners.  The faulty tubing was
rubber hose offered by Heatway.  I had dismissed it because I could smell the
rubber outgassing on a sample I had asked Heatway to send me.  This fiasco
gave radiant heating a bad name in general, it seems to me.

My heat source turned out to be a fancy domestic hot water heater with a
built-in heat exchanger.  The hot water for the floor heating system comes
of the heat exchanger.  Three circulator pumps, each on its own thermostat,
circulate the water through three zones.  Each zone has from two to three
loops.

The heat is very nice.  The floors are barely warm to the touch.  Our solar
plans worked out quite well too.  On sunny days, the heating system does not
run, even if it's 0 F out.  Typical heat gain in the house raises the
temperature from 5 to 10 F.  The house is also quite comfortable with the
thermostat set at 65 F.

response 16 of 25:

Mar 3 13:13 UTC 2000

We had the thermostat set at 60 while we were building so the heating
system kicks in below 60. The house will get up to 70 on a sunny day due
to solar gain.  Does that answer your question?

response 18 of 25:

Mar 5 01:18 UTC 2000

Yes, we do have a lot more mass but I find that the heating system kicks
in at about midnight to keep the temperature from going below the set
point.  It was delayed a bit after we moved in and started using the
accordion blinds after sunset.  (They have a series of little horizontal
air spaces when you let them down, increasing the effective R value of
the windows a little.)

We worked on shelving for the root cellar.  There will be close to 100
sq. ft. of shelving when we are done.  The temperature in the root
cellar is 45 right now.  The refrigerator is 40.

Most of our lighting is still incandescent. I will be modifying reflectors
I got at Property Disposition so that we can use compact fluorescents
instead of flood lights in our recessed fixtures.  I really like the
recessed lighting.  There is no glare off the fixture, just light where
you want it.  The light tube in the bathroom also works *very* well!
(A light tube is nothing more than a reflective stove pipe the pipes
light from the outside to the inside.  The top of this tube is fitted
with a 12" dia. clear polycarbonate dome.  The bottom, inside the house,
is fitted with a trim ring and a plastic diffuser to spread out the light.)

response 20 of 25:

Mar 6 19:16 UTC 2000

The Philips "Earthlight Universal 75" is short enough for our recessed
fixtures without modification. 

response 22 of 25:

Mar 7 18:11 UTC 2000

Wow, a 12" bathroom. That is sure economy of space. 

Home Depot, last December. It has 3 U-shaped tubes in parallel. It
projects ca. 5" from the back plate of the receptacle. 

response 24 of 25:

Mar 8 18:33 UTC 2000

My can has no reflector either. But I am surprised at the high level
of illumination from the one over the sink. I was thinking of lining
the can with aluminum foil, but it really isn't needed. However you
might try that.