GBlist: CMHC Healthy House

marilynz@mail.westonia.com
Tue, 4 Mar 1997 18:33:41 +0000

Well, I toured this house on Sunday, and sure wish I had some of you
folks who know so much with me to ask more of the right questions. I
had written down some questions from things that have arisen on the
list, but unfortunately most of them are still unanswered, as the
tour guide didn't know much that wasn't already in the brochures.

Some things I just loved, and would move into this house in a jiffy,
given the chance. They said it cost about 20% more to build than a
'normal' house of same square feet, but that operating costs would be
only $200-300 p.a.

I'm not sure what things you might like to hear about it, but I'll
tell some of the little things that impressed me, and feel free to
ask anything, and I will try to find answers in the booklets.

Now, being a mere woman <G> I fell in love with the kitchen counters.
They are chipped recycled glass, plain and coloured, held together
with a cement kind of stuff, polished and finished with beeswax.
Beautiful, practical, won't stain, and will last forever (i think) -
and no off-gassing. The cupboards were made of a chipboard kind of
stuff, using plant based glues wihich they say gas off mainly in the
curing process, and very little afterwards.

A spiral staircase from top to bottom was all open into the rooms
around it at the top, and featured a skylight where the light came
from a "light tunnel" Thing placed in the roof on the sunny side of
the house.

The floors were made of concrete, with radiant heating, and where
there needed to be covering, it was covered with this absolutely
beautiful bamboo flooring - they say it is as hard as oak, but grows
so much faster that it was considered much more sustainable.

I'm not yet clear on the energy gathering process, as there seemed to
be two kinds of solar panels - one I remember they called
photo-voltaic (sp?), but what the others were, I'm not sure - I think
their hear went directly to the floor heating??

The ceilings were made of this metal stuff that looked like the
centre layer in corrugated cardboard, as they said the waves and
wiggles in it gave more area to give off heat.

Insulated with rockwool, they claim R-70 for the roof and R-40 for
the walls.

Roofing is moulded recycled plastic made to look like shingles.

There was a neat heat recovery system that costs apparently only
$180. and consists of copper tubing (I think) wrapped around all your
outflow drains where there will be hot water going down the drain,
and the heat from this is transferred to a pre-heater where your cold
water comes in, before it hits the water heater.

The retaining wall in the back garden was chicken wire with some
cement kind of stuff sprayed over it - it was cheap, and they say it
will last - and will be covered with growing things come growing
season. I'm not confident that it will last too long, because I know
what climber plants do to anything they climb on - wait and see, I
guess.

I have given Ian Jackson, who was part of the tour staff, and is in
building, the address of this list, so if any of you hav equestions,
maybe he can help me answer them if I am having trouble.

Marilyn
Reality is just a Collective Hunch
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