We are working to qualify Emerald Hill for, potentially, four stars in the the Austin Green Build program. It requires a make-up air system — when the exhaust hood over the cooktop is pulling fumes out of the house from the cooktop, the make-up system replenishes by pulling outside air into the house.
Above, the duct and motor and control unit for the make-up air system installed in the attic over the garage, connected to a duct run that penetrates the drywall to reach the kitchen.
Steven arrived at Emerald Hill about 230 pm to learn that the City of Austin chopped down a tree in the neighbor’s yard to clear obstructions from the power lines. The company hired to do the job — Asplundah — left the branches behind in Steven’s back yard, photo above. Ron Dahlke says Asplundah will be back Thursday. Asplundah has been working all over Northwest Hills, clearing trees from power lines up and down nearly every block.
Ron is home sick. Day three. He and Steven suspect a virus. The plumber was sick a couple of weeks back. The garage door company pushed back into next week because the install team is down. Steven compared symptoms with Peter, one of the carpenters — sinus cavities so blocked you gasp for air. Combined with allergies to ceder pollen, because ceder is off the scale.
We campaign on without our leader …
Above, the team from Gilsa continues to lay weed block and cover it with gravel, extending the gravel deck off the kitchen side door around to the front of the house.
Steven signed off on change order 26 — we went $600 over on the lighting budget.
Steven also signed off on draw 7 — and Ranserve has begun to reconcile all the line items, change orders, monies not spent, as we approach what promises to be the final month of construction.
It’s one-third the massive truck that Ron drives, but Steven was able to transport two eight-foot-long and two six-foot-long lighting tracks inside his serviceable Honda Element from Lights Fantastic to Emerald Hill. Now the electricians can finish putting up the track in the office.
Since the garage doors are reportedly on schedule for next week, Steven cleaned up the random pile of lumber stored in the garage, moving it clear of where the doors will be assembled, sweeping the floor clean, and shifting out of the way Ron’s desk, a pile of pavers and a second pile of bricks. That leaves only a second pile of dried-out 60-year-old studs that the framers cut from the garage when joining the existing two-bay structure to the new garage shed; Ron plans to recycle these.
And … between conference calls and work, Steven began assembling the specs requested by the Austin Green Build program. This homework will take a while.
Steven met today with Miki Cook from Austin Green Build to walk Emerald Hill. Miki detailed specs she requires to qualify the house for the Green Build Program. Steven has homework.
Above, Gilsa today compacted the fill for the gravel patio outside the kitchen, rolled out weedblock fabric, stapled it down, then shoveled out the gravel.
Above — delivered earlier this week, the base cabinets have been moved into the pantry hallway for installation.
Ron Dahlke files this week’s summary:
This week:
Next week:
Kathleen Baker reports “the light order has already been placed [with Lights Fantastic]. Tracy just forgot to send us the confirmation. Most everything is in, they are waiting on the fans. I expect to get the confirmation email on Monday.”
Saturday update: Tracy reports the fans will arrive 10 or 11 November and "everything else is here and ready to go."
Steven met with Kathleen this morning to begin work on the forms that must be submitted to qualify for the Austin Energy Green Building Program. This will require extensive documentation. Stay tuned.
Steven also met at Emerald Hill with Jonathan Hiebert from Push Pull Open Close to finalize selections for the front door handles and the pocket-door hardware. Jonathan promises to finalize the quote and message that to Kathleen for formal submital to and approval by Steven and Jacquela.
The back door off the kitchen to the back yard was installed yesterday. Today, mid-day, after hanging the door at the back of the garage, Cris and Kevin from Ranserve install a third exterior door at the side of the kitchen.
The doors are fiberglass — smooth, no fake wood grain, conforming with the “modern” look-and-feel that Jacquela and Steven are instilling into Emerald Hill, predrilled for locks, with big center glass “lights” — double-pane glass for energy efficiency and compliance with the Austin Energy Green Building program — manufactured by Endura, warranteed for life — delivered by BMC West.
As the label says, the doors are “rot proof.” This was a spec ordered up by Ranserve after observing the original exterior doors. The original doors are now removed. They were wood and, in some cases, penetrated and damaged by water and bugs.
As one example, termites chewed through the lumber around the windows at the back of the family room — and the only thing preventing that wall from failing was the back door, bent out of position by all the weight it was not designed to carry.
Back from NYC and “day job” earning money to pay for this remodel, tackling the to-do list:
HVAC observation. Emerald Hill at approximately 3200 sq ft heated will have half the HVAC "tonnage" as the Leon's existing 4200 sq ft heated -- 4 tons dual speed at Emerald Hill vs. 8 tons multispeed at Sea Eagle View. Emerald Hill is getting new insulation -- foam in the attic, blown-in in the walls, new exterior sheathing, new siding, new dual-pane insulated windows, and more, but will that suffice when Sea Eagle has foam everywhere? This math is worrisome ...
Kyle messages: "Bigger system will give you the extra capacity to cool the house more quickly if you wanted it cooler than 75 degrees when it is more than 100 outside and also will give you extra capacity if you have a lot of guests.
"The smaller system will run more often and remove humidity better and generally speaking be more efficient."
Manual J is the name for a specific protocol (often called “Heat Load Calculation” or “Cooling Load Calculation“) used to determine how much heating/cooling a home needs to stay cool and dry in the summer and warm in the winter.
There are books, certifications, software to compute the design parameters of the home — insulation, window U-factor and SHGC, roof type, house wrap, and more.
To a layman, it’s right up there with smoke and mirrors, and Arthur C. Clarke reciting “Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.”
But Texas would not be habitable if not for the invention of air conditioning.
Kyle Bacon at Elite Heating & Air Conditioning calculated the Manual J for Emerald Hill at 5 tons. Ross Britton, the consultant, agreed.
Today, however, Austin Energy Green Building messaged, reporting they calculate Manual J at 4 tons — and they ask us to “please revise” the HVAC system accordingly.
Steven alerted Kyle and Ross. Steven asked Kyle to check his numbers and contact Austin Green Building to compare his math with AEGB, “to reach agreement via collaboration.”
Stay tuned.
