ZEN AND THE ART OF BUILDING A CABIN

I haven't had a chance to post lately, heres where the cabin is at.

2011-10-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

I am in the middle of writting mid terms and so I haven't been doing much on the cabin. Here's where it's at though. The roof is on, I got the roofing at RONA for half price, and had my father in law help me get the roof on. The cabin is fully insulated and all the windows are in. I may have to move my earth tube inlets since it is probably where my woodstove is going. My inlaws found me a beautiful old wood stove, and fixed the seals. I'm hoping to get it installed next week. Once that is done, I want to figure out what to do for the interior. I'm going to put in slate tiles for a good portion for the passive heat their mass will collect. I'll probably put in laminate floor through the rest of the cabin. My layout will be a little different than I had designed since I have to put the wood stove in a different spot than I had imagined (due to the trees on the East side). Here are some photos.

Passed my Green Associate exam yesterday!

2011-10-02T09:15:00.000-07:00

I wrote my green associate exam yesterday in Vancouver and passed. So now I have a proffesional accreditation as a LEED tm Green Associate.

I spent Saturday up at the cabin.

2011-09-26T07:46:00.000-07:00

I had a nice afternoon up at the cabin. My In-laws found a beatiful old wood heater for my cabin, I didn't get a picture of it yet but will post it as soon as I do. It is a vintage beautiful piece that will look very nice in the corner. They also gave me a table and some chairs. Now the cabin is beginning to look and feel like a cozy place to hang out. I will be spending some time up there this week to do some studying. Here is a picture of the inside and outside.

I changed the positioning of the fan.

2011-09-10T22:21:00.000-07:00

I almost forgot to mention, I put the fan outside of the cabin. The air flow from the fan, which is 80 CFM is too high when it is inside the cabin. Therefore I put the fan housing outside and below the main entry into the cabin. This will allow the air to enter the building more gradually and be far more comfortable for the building occupants.

THe cabin is just about closed.

2011-09-10T21:04:00.000-07:00

Here are some updated photos of the cabin. I am just about to lock up. I put in the door and the ceiling joists. The walls are pretty well insulated except for one gable. Once that is done, I will be putting up my vapour barriers and will decide what to do for my interior finishing. I am pondering using boards from used pallets since it would be free. It would be nice looking, but very labour intensive. It has been unbelievably hot at the cabin the last week or so. I had high reading of 38 degrees celcius at the tube intake. The data logger is in the shade. The cabin gave me slighly lower readings, but that logger is in a shady spot. The tubes continue to work well, but I can only get 24-32 hours of run time before the battery runs down. I think some sort of timer would be good so It would only run during the peak cool or warm periods. Anyways here are the new photos.

Full moon last night!

2011-09-10T20:55:00.000-07:00

I spent the night at the cabin last night so I could get some work done. The night was crystal clear with nary a cloud in the sky. The moon was bright and full. Here are a couple shots.

Heading up to the cabin tonight!

2011-09-09T16:13:00.000-07:00

I'll be heading up to the cabin tonightto get my building envellope finished. Hopefully, the battery lasted for the last few days so I can get good data for my report. I will be posting part 4 and 5 of the photo recap in the near future. I hope everyone has a great weekend after the first week of school. Two more semesters to go.

Photo recap part 3!

2011-09-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

Photo recap part 2.

2011-09-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

Great article I read on Common Dreams!

2011-09-06T22:08:00.000-07:00

Here is a link to a great article I read on Common Dreams.ORG. http://www.commondreams.org/view/2011/09/06-3

It is called;

Less Work, More Living

Working fewer hours could save our economy, save our sanity, and help save our planet.

by Juliet Schor

This type of writing always gives me lots to think about. Good stuff pertaining to green building as well.

I was going through some photos and thought I would post a little pictoral recap.

2011-09-06T21:59:00.000-07:00

Heat for the winter months!

2011-09-06T08:33:00.000-07:00

Now that the cabin is just about closed up, I am looking at passive systems to heat the cabin in the winter. I will be using the cabin as a getaway, and writers space. I will be able to find a small wood stove, but want to look at passive heating systems as well. The windows are south facing and will provide good solar gain during the day. The earth tubes will also provide conditioned air. I found this on you tube to supplement my heating needs. Here is the link. Simple, and cheap. When I have some time, I'd like to try it out to see if it works. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=is5yd4PPdpI&feature=related.

Journal pages coming soon!

2011-08-30T09:29:00.000-07:00

I have been meaning to post some of my writing. I haven't had a chance to create a journal page yet. Not sure if anyone would be interested in the writing, but I have been wanting to get it out there. I have been writing all summer, not only fiction but views on a variety of topics such as life, politics, world events, green building, sociology, family, etc.. I don't have dates for my journal entries since I write on one big file, but I did leave spaces on the different days. I will be getting that figured out in the next week or so so look for the page.

Be daring, be different, be impractical, be anything that will assert integrity of purpose and imaginative vision against the play-it-safers, the creatures of the commonplace, the slaves of the ordinary.” ~ Cecil Beaton

I did a quick graph to show the temperature differences!

2011-08-29T15:39:00.000-07:00

So her is a quick graph showing the temp. differences. The blue line is the air temperature. My data logger is situated inside the cabin in a shady area. The green line is the air temperature as it enters the cabin. The data logger is behind the fan. The pink line is the air temperature in the tubes just below the fresh air inlet. It is about 1-2 feet below the ground.

Getting caught up with pictures.

2011-08-29T15:16:00.000-07:00

I'm busy getting caught up with the posting of pictures and the data from my tubes. I managed to have the fan blowing air for thirty six straight hours so I could get a better indication of how much coolness the air is absorbing as it travels through the earth tubes. I am pleased with the results, but have not yet finished the graph. There is a seven degree difference diring the peak hot hours according to my data loggers. Good results. The pleasant surprise is the difference in temperature at night. While the air temperature is as low as five degrees, the air entering the building is 12 degrees. Here are some more photos.

Some photos I haven't posted yet.

2011-08-28T06:52:00.000-07:00

I wanted to post some of the photos

I haven't posted yet. I didn't always have my camera and so the sequence of photos may seem out of sync. Here are some of the surrounding area. The hammock is in a nice shady spot. The steps are for climbing the tree.

Here is a photo of one of the many abandoned homesteads in the area.

And this is my little road into the cabin. It sure isn't fancy.

New battery fixed the power problem!

2011-08-27T18:02:00.000-07:00

The fan is working, and I'm not having to stop it to recharge the battery. I got five hours worth of data today with the fan running. I will plot a graph with the results, promising so far. I had as much as five degrees difference with the air temperature. I need to see what the air flow is, a little fast, but it was the only fan I could find. I'm still looking for a small computer fan Which I think would be the perfect speed. But I'm more interested in the results. On a side note, I registered to write my LEED green associate exam in early september. The photo is the view of the cabin from across the pond.

Bought a new battery!

2011-08-26T21:24:00.000-07:00

I bought a new battery to run my fan system. The one that I have been using was quite old, probably 5 years at least if not more. I was trying to save a bit of cash by using the one from my tent trailer, but it wasn't holding it's charge. So $100 dollars later, I will get a better idea of how well the tubes perform with a fan drawing the air constantly.

Cabin shell is close to lock up!

2011-08-26T18:20:00.000-07:00

So the shell of the cabin is close to complete. I will be building a loft, deck, pergola and small kitchen area. At this point though I'm simply worried about the building envellope. I want it to be good, but it is tough having used windows and lots of culled lumber from thesale piles. I will take my time with the finishing, interior and exterior once I get to lock up. I'll probably work on it this winter. For now, I need to start worrying about school, and I will be taking my LEED green associate exam soon. I am looking at a new battery, not sure if my battery is the problem, or wether or not I need more panels. I will relook at my calculations to see where I went wrong. The cabin has a nice feel to it though. I'm looking forward to having it done. It won't win any awards, but will be a good getaway.

Fan system is great for cooling air!

2011-08-25T15:48:00.000-07:00

So the battery I have to power my system is not holding a charge long enough. However, for the hottest couple of hours that it ran today, it brought the air temperature down to 20 degrees celcius. Pretty good I think. I was pondering how useful it would be in a system with a furnace. On a thirty degree plus day, consistent air coming into the home at twenty degrees would certainly make a building far more comfortable for very little energy use.

Photovoltaic system and fan!

2011-08-22T21:36:00.000-07:00

Well the little photovoltaic system I set up is working great. The fan is a little stronger than I'd like, but would do well in a larger building. I don't have data on it yet, my battery wasn't holding a charge for long enough. I have it charging and I am hoping to get some data with the fan running continuously. I want to see what effect a faster airflow has on the temperature.

Here is a graph of the potential of an earth tube system for your home or building.

2011-08-20T13:25:00.000-07:00

The orange line represents the air temperature, the blue line is the air temperature entering the building, that has been conditioned by the underground temperature . The yellow line is the temperature deep inside the tubes. I have found that it fluctuates between 16-18 degrees. I will be trying to get a better measurement, but for now it serves as a good guide for when the outdoor temps have been high during the day. As you can see from the graph, the cooling potential for this type of passive system is significant. One of the positive offshoots of the system, is the potential for heating applications as well. The temperature differentials are not as large, but as you can see, the potential is there.

Solar system for running fan.

2011-08-20T13:11:00.000-07:00

Here is the set-up I built to run my fan. The whole package cost about $150 for all the parts. I took the battery off my tent trailer, since it is meant to be drained and recharged. The panel is from Blue Planet, it is rated for 5.5W with a current of 400mA @ 15V. It is ideally suited to recharge a 12V battery. The Inverter is a small one from Canadian Tire and was one of the cheapest I could get. Here is what the set up looks like. Missing is the fan which has been wired with a regular plug-in, which is plugged into the inverter. The battery is used to keep it running at night, and the panel runs the fan during the day and recharges the battery.

Here is the fan for the tubes!

2011-08-18T15:58:00.000-07:00

I don't think I have posted the fan system for my blog yet. It is a small 4" fan that I purchased at Princess Auto. A computer fan would probably be best, since it probably uses less power. I will post photos and drawings of the power system I rigged up to power the fan soon.

Trying to catch up!

2011-08-17T17:05:00.000-07:00

As things stand now, I'm trying to get caught up on my posting. Stay tuned for more photos, graphs and charts that I haven't scanned or downloaded yet. I also need to update my reference materials, since I have been reading library books pretty much all summer.