Rook's Castle Bob-O Schultze-KG6MM copyright 1992 Bob-O Schultze During winter in the Scott Valley of western Siskiyou County, California, the majestic mountains are the first things you notice. It hardly matters where you are, or in which direction you look, the valley is completely ringed with snow dusted hills and peaks. In summer, this valley produces some of the best alfalfa grown anywhere on the West Coast, and the sweet smell of newly mown hay fills the air. But now, the brown fields and idle mowing machinery seem to be resting, as is the land, waiting for the rebirthing process of Spring. The Scott Valley The Scott Valley is still very rooted in agriculture and natural ways. People still wave to each other as they drive by. Perhaps that's why folks looking to relocate from the city or the densely populated are drawn here like magnets. They are drawn to the clean air and the promise of days and weeks that go by just a little more slowly. Residents zealously guard their lifestyle Ð as well they should. Land use policies for the valley floor are designed to keep farming as the primary use. Areas above the valley floor in the surrounding foothills, however, aren't as well suited for farming. The roads are a little bumpier, and services like the local power grid are harder to come by. Mike and Waldi Rook decided to build their dream home here, at 4000 feet elevation on a southern facing hillside above the Scott River. Meet Mike and Waldi Mike and Waldi Rook left Merced, California seeking a home in a less populated and more natural environment. They drove from Calgary Canada to Wyoming and eventually settled in the Scott Valley. Their process of moving to the country took five years from the time they made their decision to move. They knew from the very beginning that their new home would not be powered by a utility because it is beyond the paved roads and power lines. The Rook's home is four miles and $24,000 from the nearest power grid. At least that is what Mike and Waldi were quoted three years ago when they bought the property. And Mike and Waldi would be required to have an all-electric home. This means electric baseboard heat, electric stove/oven, electric water heater, and other energy wasters that Mike and Waldi didn't want. Planning the Castle Building a log home is not for the faint-hearted. The basic shell is constructed like a stockade, then the windows and doors are cut in afterwards. The builder must deal with logs weighing in a around a ton. Both Mike and Waldi are experienced home builders and have many hours of sweat equity to their credit. There are a number of firms providing "kits" which make the job easier, but none of the available designs were quite what Mike and Waldi had in mind. The Rooks created a unique design of their own by borrowing parts from five different log home designs and incorporating features from their previous homes. Their log home has 1,900 square feet of floor area in the living space and an additional 1,200 square feet in the basement. They decided to build their own home right from the beginning. Armed with an architect's rendering of their plans, an engineer's specifications for the foundation, and county approval, Mike and Waldi started their log home. Building the Castle A local contractor, Jack Little of Gazelle, California, milled and preassembled the shell at his facility months in advance. The logs used were Douglas Fir with a mean diameter of around 12 inches. They were harvested at Dunsmuir, California. The logs shrink naturally as they dry. Having them preassembled allows the contractor or owner to make adjustments off-site. When the foundation was ready, the shell was marked, disassembled, and moved to the homesite with log trucks. Mike and Waldi had the foundation hole bulldozed and the slab poured by three large cement trucks. Slabs are always tricky and the Rooks enlisted the aid of three helpers to help with the parade of concrete trucks. After the slab was poured, Mike and Waldi built the basement walls from concrete block, reinforced with steel and grouted full. On the big day, a big crane was rented and the log exterior was reassembled on the foundation in a single day! That's even more amazing when you consider that the three logs holding up the roof weigh 2,200 pounds each. It took two log trucks and a flatbed to haul in all the logs. The log walls insulate the home. The R-Value of the log walls is 20, and the logs also act as thermal mass. They store the day's heat and then release this solar heat into the home at night. They work exactly the same as a Trombe wall. The roof is composed of 2 inch pine boards with an overlay of 5/8 inch plywood. Mike used two layers of heavy tar paper below the metal roof. The ceilings are also insulated with 2 inch thick foam for a total R-Value of 19. The floor between the basement and the home is insulated with fiberglass to R-19. All windows are double pane. Mike and Waldi are snug and warm in their primarily wood-heated home. Log Construction Challenges With a log home, you have to precisely plan all of your electrical circuits and plumbing runs well in advance of construction. Each course of logs has to be drilled or notched, to accept the wire and pipe, as it goes up. This is no small thing and adds hours to construction. Since Mike and Waldi's home is a custom design, the plans required approval by both an architect and an engineer. This takes time and costs money. Mike suggests seeking the aid of an architect who has done many log homes. Designing and building with logs is different enough that those without experience will make serious mistakes on their first try. Log homes settle. In fact, the Rook's Castle has settled five inches during the last eight months. Mike hopes that it will finally stay put after a year. According to Mike Rook, a log home should sit fully assembled for a year before the holes for the doors and windows are cut. This allows everything to get acquainted, shrink, and settle. Mike uses large jacks on his interior beams to keep the roof true. Sweat Equity "There's no way we could have afforded it if we had hired a contractor," Waldi Rook. Mike and Waldi are self-sufficient people. They are handy and experienced. With the aid of some subcontractors, they built their own solar-powered log home. They built their won basement, put the roof on, did all the plumbing and electrics. In short, they worked very long and very hard for their beautiful home. For example, when they ran out of decking lumber and could only obtain unfinished boards, Waldi hand sanded each and every board before it went onto the deck. The Electrical System They had pretty much resigned themselves to life with a diesel generator when a neighbor handed Mike an old copy of Home Power. So much for the diesel! They read as many HPs and everything else they could find on the subject. They saw the technology develop and decided on solar electricity as their primary power source. The electrical appliances use by Mike and Waldi are detailed in the illustrations below. INSERT CONSUMP TABLE AND GRAPH. The Rooks opted for a 24 Volt DC system because they planned to invert all of their power to 110 vac. Not only is wire resistance losses reduced four times compared to 12 VDC system, but 24 Volt inverters are more efficient and deliver more power. They also chose reconditioned nickel-cadmium (nicad) batteries from Utility Free in Basalt, Colorado, for power storage. The Rook's system uses sixty reconditioned Edison ED-160 nicad cells. Each ED-160 cell has a capacity of 160 Ampere-hours at a voltage of 1.2 VDC. The battery is configured as 480 Ampere-hours at 24 VDC (three series strings of twenty cells each). This battery contains enough energy to power Mike and Waldi's log home for four days. For maximum safety, Mike elected to construct a locked and insulated "power shed" on an external wall of the house. It gets cold at 4,000 feet during the winter. Unlike lead-acid batteries, the nicads will maintain more capacity when cold. Mike likes the nicad cell's ability to support repeated deep cycles without losing capacity or requiring equalization charges. The main power source is sunshine. The Rook's system uses fourteen Kyocera K-51 photovoltaic modules mounted on their roof. Each module produces about fifty Watts when exposed to the sun. The Rook's PV array is configured at 24 VDC and produces around 21 Amperes in full sun. Their array produces an average of 3,000 Watt- hours of energy daily. Mike mounted the modules on his steep 45¡ roof. The mounts are not adjustable because the roof is not an easy or safe place to get to. The modules are wired to the battery with #4 gauge copper wire. The Rook's also use their 120 vac generator to supply power during sunless periods. Mike says they run the generator about five hours weekly, during the winter, to pump their water, run the washer, and refill the batteries. Mike and Waldi also chose the Trace 2524 inverter due to its high wattage output and excellent track record for reliability. Since all of their power use is through their inverter, reliability is very important. A Heliotrope CC-60C PV charge controller rides herd on the PV array. An Ample Power Energy Monitor mounted in the kitchen allows the Rooks to keep track of the battery state of charge. The illustrations below give all the financial details of the Rook's system. Initial cost of the system was 13,170.06. INSERT COST TABLE AND PIE Living with Renewable Energy "We thought we were going to have to change our lifestyle to be honest with you. You know, moving up here without power, but we haven't had to," Mike Rook. "A lot of people still think that living with solar electricity means reading by car tail light bulbs and doing without." Mike told us. "Folks that come over are amazed at our totally 110 vac house, complete with the big microwave and the 27" color TV and satellite receiver. We've given up nothing by using the sun for our electricity, we've just learned to use it efficiently." Mike also described a phenomenon common to many photovoltaic power users. "Recently, we traveled south to spend the Thanksgiving holidays with family and friends. I found myself constantly turning off lights left burning in unoccupied rooms." Sound familiar? We asked if the Rooks had any regrets with their system. Mike volunteered that if he had it to do over, he'd have purchased the Trace inverter and the batteries first and used them to substantially reduce the time spent feeding and listening to their noisy generator during construction! "The times, they are a'changing..." Beside being accomplished log home builders, Mike and Waldi both hold California Realtor licenses and own the Scott Valley Real Estate Brokerage. Their Renewable Energy lifestyle brings a new and necessary aspect to the real estate biz. I can almost see one of their ads now... "FOR SALE Ð 20 acres with spectacular views. Several choice home sites with excellent solar insolation for your renewable energy powered home." That kind of information is invaluable if you're looking for land. Most realtors wouldn't have the foggiest idea about RE possibilities. To Mike and Waldi Rook, living with sunshine is more than just a good idea, it's their dream home come true. Access Author: Bob-O Schultze, 19101 Camp Creek RD, Hornbrook, CA 96044 ¥ 916-475-3401 Owners: Mike & Waldi Rook, Scott Valley Real Estate Brokerage, 11806 Main St., Ft. Jones, CA 96032 ¥ 916-468-2252 System Design and Specification: Electron Connection, POB 203, Hornbrook, CA 96044 ¥ 1-800-945-7587