Anyone have a 'Super Insulated' house in the Colorado Mtns? (Avon: for sale, condo)
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Anyone have a 'Super Insulated' house in the Colorado Mtns?
I know this sounds like a 'Green Living' type question, but I am trying to get input from those in the areas of Colorado specifically that I am considering building a house in.
I've got a narrowed list of areas I would be potentially building a new house in, and they are all in the 6500 - 8500 ft elevation range. I am looking to build in an energy conscious fashion and wanted to compare notes with those that have already done so at those elevations in the Colorado Mtns.
When I say 'super insulated' I'm referring to a heavily insulated house all around. A current definition indicates R10 under the slab, R20 in foundation walls, R40 in above ground walls, and R60 in the attic - all within an airtight shell. With that in mind, here are some questions.
1) What is the nearest town to you (for elevation / temp comparison to my list)
2) What is your insulation setup (like in the definition above)? How many sq ft house?
3) What kind of heating are you using (Geothermal, mini ductless, modified HRV, radiant, typical HVAC, fossil fuel, wood, etc)?
4) What kind of cooling are you using (any of the above, just window ventilation / fans, etc)
5) What are your worst monthly heating bill? Worst monthly cooling bill?
6) General experience with your heating / cooling setup? How it functions, ease of maintenance? Anything you would change given your experiences for a better heating / cooling approach in your opinion?
There's a straw bale builder in Salida (elev 6900 ft) that was selling a spec built a couple of years ago. The RE market here is a joke so it's probably still for sale. The house was near the Las Colinas subdivision, closer to Poncha Springs than Salida. If you google straw bale + salida co, you'll probably find him and you can pick his brain.
We lived right next to Las Colinas. Neighbor had a straw bale house.
Only used about 2 cords of wood to heat it for a year.
We had a huge modular home (2,500 Ft2) that was 2 x 6 frame. It was make for Alaska and was very well insulated / built. With a pellet stove we only bought one tank of propane / yr.
The only problem with building a custom or straw bale home is all the INSPECTIONS.
We had some friends in Game Trail (north of BV) that built a log home. What a nightmare.
She had a whole binder worth of inspections. Chaffee county is bad but Freemont is worst.
RP
Check it out, the Raski's were our neighbors.
The Straw Bale Cottage Past Projects, Salida, Colorado (http://www.thestrawbalecottage.com/pastprojects.html - broken link)
RP
Check it out, the Raski's were our neighbors.
The Straw Bale Cottage Past Projects, Salida, Colorado (http://www.thestrawbalecottage.com/pastprojects.html - broken link)
RP
Yes, that's the one I was referring to. Did it ever sell??
When building a house, insulation is cheap. Why this is so hard for architects, builders, and buyers to understand is beyond me.
Our 1350 sq. ft. house in SW Teller Co. is at 8600 ft. I purchased it as an existing house and have been working ever since to reduce energy costs. It has 6" of fiberglass in the walls, R50 in the attic, and a Greenblock (foam blocks filled with concrete) foundation. Our cook stove and furnace (an older 80% efficiency unit) are gas and we have an electric water heater. The house is not air tight, but I have got it pretty well sealed with caulk and good seals on the doors and windows. We burn about 160 gal. of propane between mid-December and mid-March and maybe 250 gal. total this year. It is still a work in progress and I think I can get it down to 200. The previous owner was sometimes using 200 gal. a month.
I have also built a super-insulated house, but not in Colorado. It has 6" of fiberglass in the walls (2X6 on 24" centers), half-inch chipboard sheeting, 1" of foam over the sheeting with all gaps taped, and Hardieboard siding. This is a construction I can highly recommend. It is quiet, tight, low maintenance and not much more expensive than conventional construction. If I was to build new up here I would likely use 2X8 walls.
Passive solar has much to recommend itself in much of Colorado given the high number of hours of sunshine in the winter. You really need an architect with a proven track record to pull it off though, otherwise all that captured heat in the daytime becomes too much and you loose it all and more over night. If I was to build from scratch I'd have a south facing solarium that could circulate heat during the daytime, but be closed off on those 20 below nights.
So many houses up here are energy disasters. They have entire glass walls for the view and 25' vaulted ceilings for that great mountain lodge spaciousness. And where does the heat go? Up in that vaulted ceiling, where it does no good at all, and out through the glass. What good is R30 insulation in the walls if 70% is R2 glass? In our house I added both cellular shades and insulated curtains. This brought the windows from R2 (or less) to R6 and possibly as high as R8. The difference is dramatic. I strongly suggest that you budget some of your construction for insulating window treatments - shades, blinds, or even exterior shutters.
You should also consider the shape of the footprint. A 20'X40' house and a 30X30' house both have the same number of sq. ft. of exposed wall surface but the second will have 100 sq. ft. more living space. Bump outs, wings, recesses, and so forth all add wall surface area which increases heat losses.
One area of saving is air conditioning. At 8600 ft. we do not need it. At 6500 ft. you may want ac. It is very, very dry up here and we stay quite comfortable with the heat at 65 deg., lowering to 55 at night.
We lived right next to Las Colinas. Neighbor had a straw bale house.
Only used about 2 cords of wood to heat it for a year.
We had a huge modular home (2,500 Ft2) that was 2 x 6 frame. It was make for Alaska and was very well insulated / built. With a pellet stove we only bought one tank of propane / yr.
The only problem with building a custom or straw bale home is all the INSPECTIONS.
We had some friends in Game Trail (north of BV) that built a log home. What a nightmare.
She had a whole binder worth of inspections. Chaffee county is bad but Freemont is worst.
RP
I had read about straw as an architecture, and initially liked it because of the natural base of it. But as you mentioned above I also found the complexities to be fairly significant and dissuaded me from going down that path. Thanks for the forward, I read through their site and it is an interesting design, but probably not the one I am looking at. I'll keep that in mind for a comparison though.
One area of saving is air conditioning. At 8600 ft. we do not need it. At 6500 ft. you may want ac.
Hi Arrby,
Excellent information and great tips! Many of the designs / considerations you mention are ones I'm trying to incorporate, but I don't want to derail the purpose of this post vetting those thoughts - would you mind if I DMessage you instead? You've obviously some experience in this area and I'd like to bounce approaches with you if you are willing.
In regards to the no-ac at higher altitudes, that is also very helpful and I thought I had heard similar elsewhere but have been trying to confirm. If I can confirm for the altitude I'll be in that AC is not needed then it could greatly simplify my heating setup (radiant, mini ductless, etc). I'm trying to stay away from the fossil fuels, too much instability in pricing IMO...
Agreed on the windows, I've been trying to find a balance in letting in the views and not letting the heat out - not an easy equation.
Looking forward to more folks inputs, would like as many examples as I possibly can for reference / comparison! Thanks!
I live above Avon at 8150 in a older log home that has been recently re-sealed and is fairly air tight. It's 2600 sq/ft and my average gas heat bill in the winter was $120, heat kept at about 67 degrees. We have massive south facing windows and most days the house would get between 72-78 degrees from solar gain. No need for a/c in the summer, we still have the down blanket on the bed.
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