Moved in Yesterday

Slept in the house for the first time last night.  Will update with photos soon (will be mostly esthetic I guess).  

Still a lot to finish (the following list is mostly for us to remember and for those who are really bored);

(the green house (wall board, ducting and HRV, North window for ventilation, roof ducts, planter boxes), mud room / laundry room (cabinet beside washer and dryer and cabinets for sink), back deck, front patio, garage (clean and build benches), root cellar (door and shelving).

The house is mostly finished except: (air diffusers for HRV (ordered today and then just snap on), Master bath closet door (ordered incorrectly by supply company, supposed to arrive Wednesday), shelves in upstairs bathroom and some type of door / curtain?, prime the upstairs storage for vapor barrier, curtains / window coverings?, hardware for bathrooms (towel and toilet racks, hooks etc.) and of course more will continuously pop up (again a house becomes an ongoing liability, despite what a banker / mortgage broker will try to tell you)    

Additional items that need to be done this summer; build a shed, landscaping (hopefully mostly with edible plants and those that do not require continuous care / maintenance), cover the driveway with something to cut down the mud (re-crushed asphalt or re-crushed concrete most likely), put up a clothes line and platform  and start trying to figure out how to grow food (hopefully using advanced permaculture design to alleviate a lot of the unnecessary labour and maximize productivity whilst creating a sustainable and self regenerative environment.) Should be just about out of money by then so will have to find new ways to create more as there will certainly be a need for it in this society no matter how hard we try to be self sustaining (e.g., we probably won't grow sugar, coffee, rubber, mine copper... you get the picture, the list is exhaustive). 

Visit from Holland College Energy Systems Engineering Technology class

Thanks to Blair Arsenault for bringing the Holland College Energy Systems Engineering Technology class for a visit to tour the house and perform the blower door test and check out some of the walls with their infrared camera (was not ideal conditions as it was +1 deg. Celcius outside) .

The blower door test came in at 1.2 ACH50 (1.2 air changes per hour at 50 Pascals) which is very good but not as good as I was hoping (I was hoping to reach the Passive Haus (a European high energy efficient building standard) standard of 0.6 ACH).   There are a few known leaks such as the masonry heater (can be partially remedied by putting a damper on the air intake), the drain for the clothes washer (can be remedied  by stuffing with material) the root cellar vents (will be remedied when I seal off the root cellar from the rest of the house) and the composting toilet (no real practical remedy) so perhaps I can get closer to the .6 ACH standard.

For reference the highest Leed (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) and 2005 R2000 (both North American high energy efficient building standards)  standard is 1.5 ACH50,  so I have surpassed those.  With the other known leaks listed it is quite comforting to know that I will not be losing a lot of heat into the walls through air leakage.

Holland College students checking out some of the material I put out. 

Holland College class (Blair at right) checking out the wind turbine.

Blower door test.

Other news....  getting closer???  Am still plugging away at trim.  The little things do seem to take a long time with little visual progress.  Move in day probably still a couple of weeks although we are starting to take boxes up every trip so hopefully move in won't be too overwhelming.