The garage has 5/8" fire code drywall installed and taped in preparation for the kitchen, laundry and bathroom cabinets by Crown Point Cabinetry in New Hampshire. The custom cabinets were delivered fully assembled and wrapped in blankets. They are, by far, some of the best quality cabinets available locally in the Northeast. They are well made and beautifully finished, and will last a lifetime or longer. 

BTW, the garage is air sealed and insulated to the same standards as the carriage house, with R53 in the walls.  The energy efficient Panasonic fan in the ceiling will put the building at a negative pressure, keeping vehicle-related VOC's out of the living space. With the car removed, the added supplemental wall heater will warm the space, which adds flexibility for future gatherings and projects.

The photo of the blower and pallets of cellulose depict 115 of 219 bags that were blown into attic.  219 bags = 20" of Greenfiber Santuary cellulose = R70.
** A note for folks considering use of this product:  The manufacturer's calculation chart is off by about 90%. No kidding. After the garage was insulated, we needed to recalculate utilizing real numbers to meet our target. 

Although stairways to heaven, I mean attics, are lovely and handy dandy, they are big no-no's when building an air tight home. Why? Because they leak. And air leaks in homes result in energy losses, among other undesirables. Our attic access is covered by a composite decorative faux (non-venting) gable end vent (Fypon), and includes a ladder inside the attic space for easy access.  

Our choice of wall insulation is Rockwool; it is sound proof, water proof, rodent proof, and  fire retardant. (Our energy rater reminded us recently of a seminar where a flame is pointed directly at the product for the entire day with no signs of burning.) It has less dust and irritants than fiberglass, and is cut with a break knife when installed. We used the product for the first time when building our zero energy home in 2015, and can verify its effectiveness.  The exterior walls of the carriage house consist of a sandwich of R15 + R23 + R15 = R53. The 2x4 interior walls will also be insulated with R15 for added privacy and comfort.  

The insulated envelope is one of the most important systems in a building. Proper air sealing and insulation are necessary. Regardless of the product used, insulation must be meticulously installed in order to protect the building from moisture intrusion, which can lead to mold, rot and indoor air quality issues.

The photos depict half the quantity of insulation used in the building. Many thanks to Quality Hardware in Hudson Falls for acquiring the product for us, at a reasonable cost.

Look closely - -  (hint: j-block above the temporary garage door) - - and you will see "melrose", CertainTeed Monogram's newest color. More "color" coming soon.

Details coming soon . . .

Interior framing is always exciting. It's when the building interior design begins to take shape. It is also when all of the carefully planned, measured and placed rough plumbing is reconciled. In the case of the carriage house - - all good! 

Not a fancy topic, but a necessity in properly vented homes. The 4" pipes have been painted black and almost disappear on the black roof. 

The custom proper vents on the east and west eaves consist of 1/2" foil-faced polyiso foam board, supported by 2x2 nailer, and located 1/2" down from the roof deck. These custom proper vents prevent "wind washing" of the attic insulation (coming soon), which will be blown in cellulose. This application allows 2" of free airflow between attic insulation and the roof deck creating a "cold roof", which eliminates condensation on the underside of the roof decking and icycles hanging off the eaves.

The carriage house and garage sheathed and taped ceiling serves as an air barrier between the conditioned (living) and unconditioned (attic) space.  It will also serve to support a heavy insulation load in the attic (approximately 24" of cellulose or R70+).

Happy New Year! Despite the pandemic, and shortage/high cost of materials and help, we're still making progress. Due to the fact we have taken over 500 photos to date (many of which are technical pics for the builder), included below are a series of slideshows, encompassing the past 6 months. Details and descriptions coming soon.  Enjoy!

The carriage house is located on the former barn complex site of the Hayes Farm, in the approximate location of the former dairy barn. The super insulated slab foundation begins approximately 2 feet below grade, with minimal site impact. Since the soil composition is clay, many loads of gravel were brought in to provide essential drainage and a compacted base for the foam board insulation. Thank you, Herb!

A passive radon mitigation system is included at the perimeter and will vent through the roof. Note: Since radon levels typically run high in portions of Washington County, this builder believes passive radon mitigation needs to be included in all new construction homes and buildings. Should radon levels test higher than normal after building completion, a radon fan will be placed in the 4" ventilation pipe.

The frost protected shallow foundation consists of two layers of 4" EPS type IX foam board (8" total or R38.4), with 15 mil radon/vapor barrier taped and sandwiched between the two layers of foam. 8"w x 18"h EPS foam blocks make up the non-load bearing wall and eliminates thermal bridging at the slab edge. 24" of tapered wing insulation extends beyond the foam block wall for proper drainage and frost management. The 4" perimeter drain to daylight is set in gravel and wrapped in landscape fabric and backfilled. 

12" of compacted soil fills the interior of the foundation after the waste and drainage pipes are installed, allowing for a thickened edge slab of concrete. Carefully placed rebar (measured and marked) on chairs is installed in the house and garage foundations, with 2x4 and Zip Wall bracing to support the foam block walls during the concrete pour. Note:  The 2x4's and sheathing were reused for saw horses, rain screen, and window frames.

Here come the concrete trucks! Concrete work by JD Masonry, Schaghitcoke - neighbor Don Buck and team. Pouring concrete is an art, and requires expertise in order to be done correctly. The house section was poured first, followed by the garage several days later. The 4000 psi concrete slab foundation was then covered in plastic for about a week to slow the cure. The support bracing was then removed, and a protective foundation coating was applied to the foam blocks.

The window and door boxes were built first and provide additional structural support for the windows and doors, and the connection between the walls. The double 2x4 framed walls were then constructed and Zip Wall sheathing applied and taped. The walls jacks were life altering and allowed both walls to go up together. The walls sit on an EDPM continuous sill sealed gasket to provide air, vapor, water and critter protection where the walls meet the slab foundation.

Insulated headers, anyone? The headers above the windows and doors are single ply 2x12, insulated with 2" EPS foam board and 9" of Rockwool for a total R-value of 48. The top of the walls were capped and sealed with Zip Wall and liquid flashing.

Proper window and door preparation is essential when creating a water resistive system. For this house, a 2-1/2" rip of 3/4" Advantech was applied to the window box where the window will rest on the sill. This "back dam" stops any water from entering beyond the sill, and allows any "Easton" rain (see ...BROUGHT TO YOU BY EASTON below) to drain away from the building. Primed beveled cedar siding is then applied, butting to the back dam to create a positive slope.  The window and door openings were then flashed utilizing a "hybrid" method; Liquid Flash at the head and sill and Zip tape on the jambs.  

Yep, the windows and front door came all the way from Ireland. Why?  Because Klearwall makes  high quality, affordable, Passive House certified windows and doors, with a European style that outperforms most of the big named American windows.  (I won't mention any names.)

The carriage house was designed to include a 12"h plenum truss, which will provide semi-conditioned space for all of the duct work. Due to the fact the truss manufacturer had never heard of a plenum truss, education and patience was provided.

. . . With absolutely no roofers available, even after weeks and weeks of phone calls and texts, these four family members and a neighbor proceeded to set all of the building trusses alone with a crane. Yes, it took them quite a few hours because they were slow. And yes, it rained. But despite the delays, obstacles, and weather, these four family members and a neighbor had a successful day. 

Piggy backs are the truss "peaks" that go on the roof after the trusses have been thoroughly secured and supported, and the remaining area of the roof has been sheathed. 

The septic system was installed by Snell Construction and Septic Services - Harold Snell and sons. Their work was precise and meticulous. 

Many thanks to Harold and sons for grading around the building and main house before the weather turned cold.

Due to its own weather pattern, regardless of what's going on in surrounding towns, we have identified this weather anomaly as "Easton".  For example, we were delighted to have the roof sheathed, knowing for certain, the inside of the building would remain dry until the roof was shingled. Nope. "Easton" rain doesn't fall down from the sky. Instead, it swirls and whips and dances - - right through the window openings. As such, we devised a plan to combat the "Easton effect". So one Sunday in November, we built and installed 2x4 frames with 6 mil poly temporary windows, and Zip Roof doors. Problem solved.

Custom Zip Roof overhead door enclosure (above), complete with hinged door opening and "lock" (hint: looks like a piece of 6x6). 

The custom made "Z bend" (aka counter flashing) for the pent roof, is applied at the wall to roof juncture over the top layer of singles. When properly installed and folded, a durable and weatherproof joint is achieved when taped. The fasteners are hidden as well.

Look closely at the ground. There are six  (6) helical piles that were installed by Techno Metal Posts of Albany. Many thanks to Matt Reagan for, once again, doing stellar work. 
Note:  Under the Sun has been using Techno Metal Posts for over 10 years. It is the much stronger, neater, less labor intensive option to manually digging 4 foot holes!

The front porch includes Douglas fir posts and triple 2x12 beams that were laminated with Liquid Flash at the wall juncture to provide air sealing. The beams were supported by galvanized hangers to reduce framing and thermal bridging in the carriage house. The trusses were lifted into place and secured with TimberLok heavy duty screws. The gable truss was set remotely (controlled from the ground).

On Wednesday, the roofing materials were delivered; 25 SQ of shingles - about 40 bundles on the roof and the remaining on pallets in front of the building. And then . . .

37" total snow in Greenwich in about 12 hours. Yes, that is our red truck (above) in that great big white pile. Several hours later, our F150 and Fisher plow cleared us out to the road. But wait - - we couldn't go anywhere, because the town didn't plow our road until 4:00PM. So on Saturday . . .

. . . We spent 5 hours moving snow . . . because on the following Monday . . .

Non-snow covered roof photos will be added as soon as the roof is clear!

European windows do not have nailing flanges. Instead, windows are installed using metal clips. Lots of them. But when installed correctly, they fit nicely into the window openings and are secured with shim screws. These tilt and turn windows open two ways; turn the handle 45 degrees and the window will tilt inward at the top. Turn the handle 90 degrees and the window pulls into the room.  

​Backstory:  We were introduced to Klearwall windows during the winter of 2017 while touring a Habitat for Humanity Passive House in East Montpelier, Vermont.  Thanks to builder Chris Miksic, we were able to see and use the windows in person. We were also super lucky to meet with Klearwall rep Nate, who answered all of our questions while sharing a meal and a Fogal Banger at Prohibition Pig in Waterbury. Since then, we knew our future zero energy homes would include Klearwall windows. 

Suction cups are absolutely essential for setting heavy European windows. Since they do not have window flanges to hold on to, carrying the windows by the handles are safer and easier to install, and allows for two or more individuals to carry each window. The 9-footers required four strong people to lift and set!
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