Christmas - New Years

Well, so much for the plans of moving in before the new year, but we are almost ready for drywall. The in floor hydronic heating will be installed on Jan 6th, drywall to start shortly after that. About 1/2 of the siding is complete and the City has installed a water meter and turned on the water. The interior stairs are under construction off site. They will be aluminum with a rubber tread.

moving along

The siding is being installed and we are getting ready for drywall, late Dec. Here is a pic with some of the siding

colder than normal but we are ready

The building is fully enclosed and we are starting the exterior rigid insulation with vapour barrier. The siding has arrived from Vancouver and will be delivered on site on Thursday. The large carport is fantastic for keeping materials out of the weather. Some drywall and mechanical has started and we have a 4.5 kw heater in the building to take the chill off.

Just to recap how the envelope works. We have to main zones in the building. The entry and stairwell will be kept at 5 degrees C in the winter. The stairwell has a very large southeast facing glazed area 1.8m x 9m. When the temperature gets over 5 degrees C we will start to cool it and store the heat in a domestic hot water preheat tank. Currently we are planning to use that heat only for domestic hot water as we expect the heating requirement for the building to be less than the hot water demand. The entry and stairwell are insulated in a conventional manner ( 6" batt for the most part). The wall between the stairwell and entry is also being treated as a conventional exterior wall. The other exterior walls are insulated with 2 1/2" batt inside the sheathing. The vapour barrier is on the outside of the sheathing, then 3" of rigid insulation, then tyvek, then strapping and siding. This way the building gets a full blanket of insulation and vapour barrier with no thermal breaks.

Here are some pictures with the leaves down.

Into November

The siding installer has been hired, the rigid insulation for the exterior should be here in 2 weeks, the rough in plumbing drainage is almost complete and the foam insulation is being done today and tomorrow. Rear stairs are in with railings. Just waiting to nail down the drywall installer and finalizing kitchen plans. Sylvia and I have picked the tile and the mechanical systems install will start next Monday.

One week later

The roof is complete, the underground hydro trenches, meter base and 4 electrical panels are in and approved. We started installing the rear exit stair and installed the landings. The plumbing and electrical rough in will start this week.

Almost have a roof

The roofers were able to finish the 3 small roofs before the monsoon set in for this week. The natural gas has been connected to the building, thank you Aecom, it was a bit struggle to get you there but you came through. The trenches for the hydro have been dug by me in the rain yesterday with the help of a machine (see below). The tree has been trimmed. The weather looks good to finish the main roof next week. We ordered the siding and have contracted the main insulation installer. A couple of exterior windows and doors need to be installed and the interior framing will be done by next Tuesday. The rough ins while start soon. We are now about 2 to 3 weeks behind the schedule I had hoped for, but we are still on budget.

almost there

topping off the building

Here is how she looks today

 Framer placing the last steel beam

 A house one block away, inspired by Frank Loyd Wright early 1900's

another milestone

Finally have the plumber, electrician and HVAC contractors all tied down to a start date. early Oct. Roofer is also on board. We are ordering lights and plumbing fixtures. Just a recap on the current schedule. We started in the ground on the last week of July. Framing started 2 1/2 weeks ago and will take another 2 weeks. This includes the installation of the windows. We have been working with only 1 framer and helper as this is the first time I am building this way.  The building is quite complex from a framing perspective. We have been lucky and so far no weather delays. There have been 2 material supply delays. Once the steel beams did not show up. Now I get the steel from another supplier. Another time the floor trusses delayed us 1/2 a day. That error was traced to the general contractor and will not happen again. So far, still targeting an end of November occupancy.

a little about the HVAC system

I am delighted that we have a system both efficient and affordable. The bits are as follows:
1) HTP Versa Hydro RPHE199 tank type combo boiler
2) Radiant heating to have two stage heating with out door reset for cold
temperatures
3) ecobee SI WiFi thermostats for energy tracking
4) radiant floor piping: 1/2” Oxy Barrier pex
5) Mitsubishi MXZ-4B36 Multizone Split Air conditioner
6) SEZKD12 A Ducted Indoor units with supply and return air ducting to all rooms
7) SLZKD12 split AC with ceiling 4 way indoor unit for the stair well.
          o Low ambient cooling ready for winter solar gains.
8) Turbotech desuperheater and storage tank for domestic hot water pre heat
9) VanEE Vigor Low profile HRV

The system will recover heat from air conditioning of the four storey stair tower which will be kept at 4 to 5 degrees during the winter. It has substantial SSE facing glass. Currently, the idea is to use this exclusively to produce hot water. We may also use it for space heating depending on the amount of heat we are collecting. The cost of the complete system installed is less than $80K. The HVAC contractor is Encore Heating and Cooling. They are well known for their innovative approach to sustainable HVAC design. http://encore-geothermal.ca/

been busy

As per my last post, we are moving along with construction at 331 Osgoode. Here are a bunch of photos that illustrate the progress so far.

 we are completely on very solid rock, had to adjust my interior basement height to 6' 11" so we could stay within our height limit

We did a rock core sample to ensure we were on non frost susceptible rock. I hope to make coasters out of the core and inscribe them with. This house sits on this rock.

Footing on rock

 ICF walls

 Water proofed

 Backfill with sand

 first floor on

 Crushed stone base came from the rock blasted out of West Block, ironic because that was one of the projects I worked on at PWGSC

 Framing walls

 Services going in

Been A While

So, even though it doesn't look like things have been moving, they have but at a bit of a glacial pace. As of Friday, we got our building permit. The holdup was a change to the plans required by the Ontario Building Code. As a result, it was necessary to have the Committee of Adjustment review the change. This was not a public hearing, just a review by the Committee in camera. In addition, when we decided to use a fire sprinkler system we had to upgrade the domestic water line. So, all is ready for the shovel to go in the ground on Monday. Here are some computer renderings of the final exterior finish choices.

new property owners

Just, a short update. We closed on the land on Friday, June 13th. In addition our house on Forest Street is sold with the closing date Aug 12th. Construction start is slated for the first week of July.

Building Permit Drawings Completed

Not quite the schedule I was aiming for, however, we will apply for building permit this week. Modelling that Morrison Hershfield (http://www.morrisonhershfield.com/Pages/default.aspx) completed shows that the building should consume 53% less energy compared to the applicable compliance package. This modelling does not include the proposed heat recovery from solar gains on the building during the day (summer and winter) that will stored in a hot water tank for heating and hot water use. We will now start modelling this process to see how much hot water storage we need and whether we need to increase insulation levels to get to net zero energy use.

On another note, we have now put our house up for sale. I was a bit surprised when I analyzed the last 12 months of energy consumption. It was better (less) than I expected. We used 1900 cubic metres of natural gas for heating, cooking and hot water. We also used on average 225 kwhs of electricity per month. Here is the link to realtor website 854 Forest Street, Ottawa, Ontario

Appeal period ended

The appeal period for the City of Ottawa Committee of Adjustment decision to permit the construction of the Triplex has ended and there are no appeals. Currently, structural, mechanical, electrical  and site grading and servicing plans are being completed. I am hoping that we will be able to apply for building permit sometime during the week of April 26th.

preliminary building permit drawings 331 Osgoode

The drawings are not 100% correct, but almost. You can see the floor plans below. We are still working on the exterior finishes. We will have a stucco board in a red brick type color, metal siding that could be teal or similar and wood, likely birch.

Site Plan

Basement

First Floor

Second Floor

Third Floor

Roof Top

HVAC

The initial take on the equipment for the heating cooling and ventilation system are as follows (these are examples of the types of equipment we are considering):

1) HRV combi heating and cooling - DUPLEX 500 multi (http://www.atrea.cz/en/duplex-500-8000-multi)
2) Boiler - Vitodens_200 (http://www.viessmann.ca/en/Residential/Products/gas/Vitodens_200.html)
3) Cooling unit in stairwell - Thermoplus Console Water-Cooled Air Conditioners (http://www.thermoplus.com/product.php?id=117)
4) Hot Water storage tank(s) - RHEEM Marathon® thermal storage tanks (http://www.rheem.com/product/solar-water-heaters-marathon-thermal-storage-tank)
5) Gas Fireplace, one in each major space - Regency Horizon™ HZ30E (http://www.regency-fire.com/Products/Gas/Contemporary-Gas-Fireplaces/HZ30E.aspx).

We will also be using in floor radiant heating with some cooling

a basic concept

The design of this building includes several areas on the south side that are used to access the units, the access stairs and elevator. They will not be kept at room temperature, but at 5 degrees C in winter. We will also be harvesting heat from those spaces as soon as the temperature rises above 5. In addition, we will start cooling the units as soon as they become warmer than 22 degrees C. The heat will be placed in a hot water tank in the basement to provide hot water and heating at night or cloudy days.

moving along

The building permit drawings are underway. There have been several improvements in reducing the structural costs. I have completed some preliminary siding / cladding options. If you see this, you could tell me which ones you like.

I am engaging Morrison Hershfield (http://www.morrisonhershfield.com/Pages/default.aspx) to do the energy modelling. The target is 90% of less than typical construction, maybe even full net zero. The primary innovation is the design of ancillary spaces in the building; elevator, lobby (entrance) and stairwell so that they will only be kept at a maximum of 5 degrees C on cool days. We will be cooling those spaces on cold sunny days to heat the remainder of the building and store heat for use at night. The principal facade of the building faces SSE.

option 1

option 2

option 3

option 4

waiting

Committee of Adjustment for the City of Ottawa has approved our severance and minor variance requests that will let us build a triplex on a newly created lot at 331 Osgoode Street. We are now waiting for the appeal period for the decision to expire (approximately 4 weeks). In the coming days I will outline the construction process and basic design parameters that I hope will result in a building that is almost net zero energy and water, and adds ecological goods and services.

 The Lot

The Proposed Triplex