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6 Feb ’13
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Hey guys.
KVR: not yet man..i got so much stuff backed up. Still trying to work less but I have to be " stay at home pappa" half the week with 3 kids which puts a real dent into my time. Sometimes I wish I could have a house as quick as you lol. OH well...I keep going :D.MY hope is that very late this year (2015) to get the water wheel in...im not sure thats going to happen though. I have also been gifted from my pops the land I grew up on which is 27 acres and last year was doing earthworks and trials of annual grains there as well...making large swales on countour ...trying to find a balance between the two properties.
This past year has been mega earth moving which is wearing me out..my machine can do it ..im just sick of running the jarring machine constantly. We have very tough soils and sometimes I'm digging stuff that should be down like 8 feet or so so i just takes time . I'm putting in a new driveway that will cut our current drive in 1/2 so i have been clearing more land and digging out lots of rootballs...even with machine thats work..so trying to use this winter as a way to save up energy and make my final push this year to finish all earth work so I can sell mini excavator and then I'm back in the black financially which will reduce my income needs to very little. I got another huge pile of earth that I need to move (left over from initital digging when we have BIG machines here) then the garden goes in that spot (also goal for 2015). So , Garden beds to prep (kinda of ruth stout but using woodchips instead (thats what I got 15 acres of woods). I just bought a nice vintage german made woodchipper . That will supply the garden with organic matter/mulch/fertitliy/water storage long term. Food keeps climbing and the building process has taken our time so I got to start getting to that. Much like where you are kvr in that department.
simthefarmer: thanks man!! I'm excited in came through..it was a bit of work figuring out how to get it but I made it happen and it feels good just looking at it lol. TO be honest i'm not really exactly sure how it will be used. I have read/or heard of how people used to use it to power an electric heater (directly) for the house. I kind of think this would be good. I like using wood but If i could just heat from the wheel directly with no grid connect then life would be even easier. It also kind of goes with the season. Like the water gets lowish late summer and in the winter and spring it really kicks ass flow wise ...which is conviently when the most heat is needed. TOugh to know how it will play out....i really need to get our electric bill down a bit. we are like 14/c a kwh here and my bill for our ALL electric (besides solar and wood for building heat) comes to about 90 bucks ( 14 of which is the connection fee).
Performance of house is impressive so far...have not really burned much wood at all. This is the fisrt year we have had insulation on the whole house. I'd say maybe half cord of mostly (2/3's) lightweight popple ...a bit of hardwoods too maybe a (1/3)
shoot that was long .. kind got off topic. Just trying to wrap up the stuff i've allready started , the wheel is a new project so it might get pushed off for a bit.
How are you doing so far this year @homesteading-boards on wood and power consumption?
jeff
15 Feb ’12
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doing well @jeff-lando , used about 2/3rds a cord so far this winter, even with the frigid temps this past month, trying to get a few other projects wrapped up around to move onto our next big build, never seems to end
lol, great minds think alike! We did the same thing last summer, can't wait for the snow to be gone to start working in it
6 Feb ’13
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thats great KVR!! I'm still gonig through the thread but so far lots of stuff could be applicable to my situtation as well. Im surprised i missed I check up on ya once in a while 
. WTG man!!!
15 Feb ’12
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thanks man, it's getting there, slowly but surely
6 Oct ’15
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Speed...forgot to tell you and KVR...that I have you signed up to come out and stack blocks in the spring...don't worry I will provide water and supervision...and at least one 15 minute break a day. 
15 Feb ’12
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Might be able to make that happen on my end
6 Feb ’13
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@Gravel Road Pretty giving dude...i mean 15 mins of break lol. my battery died the other day while talking but it was good talking with ya...if i can just get you to keep the woodstove over coal....(no backup generator needed, tough to compete with that)
@KVR your a stand up dude!! thats a drive 😀
Working on backfilling final 100sq foot of insulation umbrella...taking a break right now...back and forth back and forth .....oh and back and forth. Got grass growing around the house now! thats huge...it makes me feel so better to have green around the house after years of brown. Looks like getting gardens in might be pushing it this year... pretty happy overall the umbrellla getting complelty convered and seeded i knew would be a huge deal. i have also been sculpting the land to intergrate back into the exsisting logging trails that "Z" up my hill. This property needs functioning paths to get to things , its just to steep otherwise. which to be honest is why i like it. no one is building next to me! I has beeen a challenge the whole time though but i have gained experience using it to my advantage. New driveway I put it has been awesome this year.its hardened up and has a really nice lay of the land look.
Started on this years firewood. Dropped some big ash and white oak along with some popple that is dominating the canopy and needs to go, bucked and curing. Check marks showing so should be good to go there, i usually split as needed all winter long while i have the time and need exercise. Will have to cut some more in bit though. I like the idea of 2 chords..maybe a bit more. I also need it for maple syrup this coming spring so i dont want to be short.
I'm interested to see how house bottoms out this year . last year the coldest it got after days away (no heat) and mid late feb (our coldest generally) if i remember right on my inside thermometer was like 50. The umbrella has not been on all year so im not sure what to expect...coldest so far was 58 ( i have not used any wood heat yet and we've had a slight snow dusting some mornings) . From the PAHS book it takes 3 years to change the temp of so much mass under umbrella,....so i'm guessing like most of this house a long term investment.
Money wise we are almost done with the project. ITs been tough though and at times pretty stressfull (making around 10-12g a year for last few years). Almost sold the excavator a couple of times (where like 18g of our money is tied into). Lucikly a small ,few thousand dollar computer network project fell into my lap which will be great so I got seed money for simple garden tools and mulch and seed for next year.
Hope everyone's ready for the long winter ahead 😀
.time to move more rock/dirt to finish insulation/membrane umbrellla.
6 Oct ’15
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Glad that you are getting the dirt moved, I know that has been ongoing for you.
I am moving back on the fence a bit, regarding wood vs coal. I am thinking that if I did not need more than a full cord or two that wood might be the way to go.
Wood has the benefits of: 1 I have more than enough on the land, 2 a wood stove would take up considerably less floor space, 3 the stove would be less expensive by several hundred dollars, 4 no electric needed as opposed to the stoker coal stove, 5 can cook on it, 6 smells good
Down side of wood: 1 messy, 2 you need to be there to keep it going, 3 much harder to control comfortable temperature in the shoulder seasons, 4 there is creosote whereas coal has none
Coal stoker stove benefits, 1 set it and forget it easily get a 2 to 4 day burn depending on weather, 2, easy to store a 3 year supply, 3 coal doesn't deteriorate and burns even better when a bit wet, 4 it is less work, 5 easy to order and have delivered, 6 very cost effective, 7 much easier to control comfortable temp in shoulder seasons, 8 it is in my opinion a very deep and penetrating warmth do the higher btu level, 9 no creosote, 10 easier to load, 11 thermostat control, 11 less time tending and restarting a burn-actually none
Coal down side: 1 the stoker style needs electric or it's a bust, 2 takes up more floor space, 3 more labor intensive chimney since it needs to masonry (cost is a wash), 4 who knows what the state and fed will do regarding restricting coal even more for availability, 5 very hard to cook on, 6 the fuel is not in my back yard, 7 I think I would miss burning wood in my life
I think the final decision will come down to what we think the heating demand of the house will be. There is an unknown element of if we need a continuous fire to heat he place we build or if the thermal mass will provide reasonable comfort if we are gone for 12-14 hours and unable to reload it. We do have excellent hard wood here, mostly black cherry, some apple, some ash, some sugar maple and it is easily accessible along the gravel road. With an eye to the future, we aren't going to be young forever and there is a concern about being able to get the wood in when we get older and decompensate.
Lot to think about...and I can't have one of each.
So, trying to peg how well the house will perform is key.
We are doing 10 in block that are grouted and wrapped in 2 in of rigid...not bermed as much as you and KVR, we will mostly be 3 to 5 ft of berm...the other thing that I think is the most significant is that we are not really going to be passive solar, we are mainly East facing...don't faint over that...the reason for this is mainly the site and the ridiculous amount of excavation that would be needed...other reasons are that the view is to the east and that is a big part, and that the flow of the house with the land makes the most sense this way...we have thought that given the way we are building we will offset a good amount of the gain from passive solar...I am sure there will be people shaking their heads over that last statement...in my specific area we are #2 or 4, I forget, on the list of least amount of sun in the nation due to our unique geography and that is why we typically get over 130 inches of snow a year, and where we are the South West is where our strong and most prevalent winds come from - that side of the house will have minimal windows, berm and garage for protection - plus we have a well established wind break, just planted another and a good size hill as a shield as well.
So all that being said...and rambling...trying to figure out how well the building will hold stored heat.
At this time we are going to use infrared heaters as back up, we use one now in the basement and it does a wonderful job and is cost effective to buy and run...I can not justify the money for central boiler or furnace and more propane...again, cost vs benefit.
...Speed and KVR what do you think about heating the house...I will try to post a copy of the floor plan later on the construction board...It's basically a two room house.
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