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19 Jun ’15
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My name is Jim Gagnepain, and I'm from Colorado Springs. I am married, and a father of 2. My wife and I started building a zero-energy, bermed earth home in April of 2011. We got our Occupancy Permit in January of 2012. We love living on our home, comfortably situated on 11 acres, on the prarie. The passive solar designs affords beautiful views of the wildlife - rabbits, quail, other birds, hawks, owls, and an occassional fox. My wife also raises chickens, currently she has about 50 of them - all different varieties.
The views are incredible, with the Sangre de Cristo mountains and the Spanish Peaks, visible in the distance. Because our home faces South, one cannot see Pikes Peak from the home, but no big deal, because it looms to the West, anytime one goes outside.
15 Feb ’12
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Any issues with code or zoning when building?
19 Jun ’15
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Not too much. The main thing that Pikes Peak Regional Building (PPRBD) is concerned about are the fire egresses. Because there are no windows in the bedrooms, they required that the bedrooms be on the ends, where there are doors. We changed this, once we got the OP.
I had to do the thermal analysis, and size heaters accordingly. They will not allow passive solar or wood, as the primary heat source. So I installed the most economical heaters that I could purchase - electric wall heaters. The heaters required 4 - 220V circuits, and I only turn the breakers on once per year, just to verify that the heaters are all still operational.
Other than that, the typical inspections, throughout the building process. I had very good contractors, and there were very few issues.
4 Mar ’12
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welcome. place looks great
can we see some pics of the land?
also, do you sell the chickens or harvest them yourself?
15 Feb ’12
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yeah we ran into an issue since we don't have a thermostatically controlled heat source for home owners insurance, I had to have my agent come and look at the place and show him pictures of the build to prove that is impossible for pipes to freeze, we were able to get the insurance
19 Jun ’15
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farmboy2 said
welcome. place looks great
can we see some pics of the land?
also, do you sell the chickens or harvest them yourself?
The chickens are my wife's. She sells some roosters. No, I'm vegetarian, and she quit eating chicken when she started raising them. She just raises them for their personality, and a few eggs.
A few pics:
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