From Generator to POWER! November/December 2014

Each step of the homebuilding process presents itself with a challenge, and getting power to our building lot was no exception.  We knew it wasn't going to be easy, and we knew there would most likely be additional costs, but the challenges with this project just kept on coming…

As I may have mentioned, we have a double back lot, which means we are set back from the road past two other lots.  We also share our driveway with another lot.  The transformer is located less than half-way up our driveway, and our driveway is 1/4 mile long, so we had a long distance to cover to run the power lines.

Challenge #1 - Where do we run the utility trench?  We decided that the best route for the trench would be through the woods, and not along the driveway.  This would give us a more direct path to the house, and therefore shorter distance, meaning less pipe, less digging, and not having to tear apart the driveway.  We also have ledge directly under our driveway, so running the trench directly under the driveway was not really an option.  So, we decided to run the trench up the hill and through the woods.  The photo below shows the transformer box and the small portion of trench that runs along the driveway.

Challenge #2 - Digging the trench.  The majority of the trench runs through the woods, which doesn't really seem like a big deal, except it goes up a significant hill and the hill is basically ledge.  With some creativity, we were able to get the trench dug on the hill, and through the woods using the Kubota, which is smaller and more nimble than the Caterpillar.  The problem was that we couldn't get the trench deep enough for the required two feet depth to bury the power wire.  The solution… a jackhammer?  We rented a jackhammer and hammered away at the ledge, which proved to be the most physically demanding job yet.  The jackhammer was run ALL DAY.  It certainly helped quite a bit, and a lot of rock was able to be removed from the trench.   

The next step was to add a layer of sand to the bottom of the trench, and then to place the pipes.  Three pipes had to be run in the trench - one for the electric, the second for phone, and the third for cable.  So, for our 400' trench, we had to purchase 1200' of pipe and two loads of sand!

Some of the pipe for the utility trench.

Sand to encase the pipes.

Laying the pipe was pretty straight forward.  The trench had to be prepared by removing all of the large rocks, raking it out so that the pipes could lay flat, and then adding a layer of sand.  Although the material was moved by the tractor, most of the prep work was done by hand.

Adding sand to the trench.

Trench prepared for the pipes.

The pipes are 10' in length and were glued together as they were placed in the trench.

Here are some photos of the pipes in the trench:

You can see in the photos below where the pipes are laying on ledge and we could not dig any deeper.

Since we have such a long run of pipe, and a 90 degree turn, we were required to install a precast concrete pull box for the electric line.  I certainly didn't picture this in my mind when they said pull box.  It's huge, and practically a man hole!    

The Caterpillar was used to lift and lower the pull box into the trench.

The side of the form has cut out areas that were knocked out where the pipes would enter.  Only the electric pipe runs into this; the phone and cable pipes go around it, as can be seen in the photo below.  This box will be used by the power company when they run the electric cable through the pipes.

The pull box completed and backfilled.

Challenge #3 - Backfilling.  The local power company had come out to the site multiple times to help us to come up with a final plan for our utility trench.  We needed to upgrade our transformer (more $$$), install the pull box, and we were told that we were able cover the portions of the trench that were less than two feet deep with extra fill above ground level to make up the required two feet.  However, the town building inspector required us to fill over these spots with concrete.  We were NOT expecting this, so we had to come up with a plan on how to accomplish this task.  It's not possible to get a concrete truck into the woods!  It was decided that the best way to move the concrete was to use the bucket of the tractor.  Finally, after moving all the concrete to the trenches and spreading the concrete, the job was FINISHED, thanks to help from family.

Portion of the trench over the ledge and filled with concrete.

Looking down the hill towards the driveway.

We passed the final inspection, backfilled the rest of the trench, and were ready for the power company to install the new transformer and power line!  We finished this on November 15, 2014.

Backfilled Trench.

Almost exactly one month later, on December 16th, the power company came out to complete the power connection.  This required upgrading the transformer, pulling the power line through the pipes, and finally connecting the power.  A crew and two trucks came out from the power company for the job.  First, they needed to feed the electric cable through the underground pipes.  We had already ran a pull rope through the pipes, and they used this to pull through stronger webbing that would then be attached to the electric cable.

The webbing is attached to a reel on one of the trucks and it pulls the cable through the pipe.  Due to the weight and size of the cable, this would be impossible to do by hand.

They pulled the cable through the main section of pipe and into the pull box, where the pipe makes a 90 degree turn.

And there is the electric cable! From here, the cable needed to be pulled through the last stretch of pipe along the driveway and to the transformer.

Ever wonder what is inside all those big green boxes that you see sitting on concrete pads near houses?  I certainly was curious.  So, this is what it looks like… it's basically where the high voltage lines from the street come in and connect with the transformer, and then the transformer steps down the voltage to the lines that go to your house.  

Unfortunately, the transformer that was in our box was not big enough due to the distance of our electric run, so we had to pay to upgrade the transformer.  We also learned that we share this transformer with the neighbor.  A bucket truck with a crane was used to move the transformer boxes. 

The new transformer box is being moved into place.

And finally… the connection!

 AND…. then we have power!

So, we went from the workhorse generator to real POWER!  This was an exciting day, and a big milestone!

From Generator...

To POWER (no meter yet!)

Geothermal System - November 2014

We did a lot of research on heating/cooling systems and decided to go with a geothermal  heat pump system.  Geothermal heat pumps are recognized as the highest efficiency heating, cooling and domestic hot water system available.  Since our house will be extremely energy efficient, we wanted our heating system to be equally as efficient.  Geothermal systems can be up to 70% more efficient as compared to traditional systems.  Plus, we can say that we HEAT AND COOL WITH DIRT, NOT OIL!  The other deciding factor was that there are government incentives and rebates for installing this type of system, making it cost-effective and a smart decision.  

Basically, a geothermal system uses the ground to heat and cool the house.  It works by using the difference in temperature between the outside air and the ground.  The ground absorbs the heat of the sun keeping the ground temperature at a constant 55 degree temperature during both the summer and winter months.

The system has two components:  a heat pump, which is the inside unit, and the ground loop, which are underground pipes which connect to the heat pump.  There are two main ways to accomplish the ground loops: geothermal wells, where several wells are drilled hundreds of feet down into the ground, or horizontal ground loops, where the pipes are laid in trenches about 5-6 feet deep.  Either system works well.  We decided to use horizontal ground loops because we have the space, and we were able to do the digging ourselves, versus paying to have several wells drilled, which would have cost around 10K, just for the wells.

How does this work?  The heat pump circulates a water mixture throughout the entire underground loop.  In the winter, the water absorbs the heat from the earth and returns it to the indoor heat pump.  The heat pump extracts the heat from the water and then distributes it throughout the home as warm air.  In the summer, the indoor heat pump takes the heat and humidity from the house and places it back into the earth.

So here is how we accomplished this…. We dug, dug more, and kept digging until we dug 1000 feet of trench.  It sounds like a lot, but it feels like even more when you are digging through rocks and hardpan.  We actually excavated MORE dirt than the actual house.  This was a TON of work and took a TON of time.  We started this project towards the end of October.

Steve digging a geothermal trench.

Our system required 1000 feet of underground pipes, and this was done by digging four 250' trenches.  Since our lot is wooded, the bulk of the trenches were in the woods.  We laid out the trenches in the woods with as minimal disruption of the trees as possible, except when we had no choice.  This made the project take longer, so hopefully it will be worth it when the woods fill back in to their natural state.

Three of the trenches partially completed.

 The photo below is standing at the end of one of the trenches looking towards the house.

Once the trenches reached the tree line, they were merged and opened into one HUGE hole!  Each geothermal water pipe needs 18" of soil around it before another pipe can be laid, so there would be 8 pipes coming through this section.

The photo below is the view from the roof of the house.  You can see the four trenches and where they join into one large trench.  The trenches were 5-6 feet deep.

Once the trenches were all dug, we needed to prepare the trenches for the pipe.  This included moving all the large rocks out of the trenches…. and there were SO MANY rocks!

Once this was completed, King Energy came in to lay the pipes and start installing the actual geothermal system.

Does this look like 1000' of pipe?  

I unfortunately don't have a photo of the pipes being installed in our trenches, but basically, it looked similar to the photos below.

All of the pipes go directly through the house concrete walls and into the utility room in the basement.  From here, they will be connected to the geothermal heat pump.

And then the clean up begins.  Backfilling the trenches was quite a process, but we got it done… and only a week or so before the first forecast of SNOW!  Phew!!!

Backfilling the geothermal trenches.

After we backfilled the trenches, the weather turned really rainy, and the ground was VERY soft, which meant, we were not able to do a good job of grading until the ground firmed up again… which may be next year!  We finished the backfilling of the trenches around November 15, 2014.

Rough backfilling of the geothermal trenches.

Very rough grade over the large geothermal trench.  

The next step for the geothermal system will be the duct work and installation of the geothermal heat pump inside the house.

We are THANKFUL - November 27, 2014

Thanksgiving is a time to give thanks.  This year we would like to express our heartfelt gratitude and appreciation to all of our friends and family for their support and help during our homebuilding process!

Steve and Katie - February 22, 2014

Since the purchase of our building lot in February of 2012, we have been diligently working towards our goal of building our own home.  The official house design process started in September of 2013 and we broke ground on April 3, 2014.

We have been in full building mode for 8 straight months and have been totally immersed in this project, with little time to do much of anything else.  It's a sacrifice, it's hard work and it's intense.  It's also our dream, it's what we want to do, and we are making it happen one step at a time.

Although we try to express our thanks each day to those who help us, we wanted to take the time to express how THANKFUL and GRATEFUL we are for the support of our family and friends.  This post is dedicated to all of YOU who have helped us to get this far, and have supported us in this endeavor.

This dream started for both of us growing up and hearing stories about our Dad's building the homes that we were so fortunate enough to enjoy growing up in.  It was inspiring then, and it still is now.  Our Dad's have both been helping us with this project 3-4 days a week, and often more.  We are thankful that they both have the time to share with us, the ability to help us, and the desire to work alongside us in this project.  And most of all, thank you for believing in us, and helping us to turn our dream into a reality.

Our Dad's have helped us every step of the way -  from excavation, to building forms, stacking ICF blocks, pouring concrete, building walls, placing beams and trusses, shoveling dirt and stone, digging trenches, helping solve problems, working in the heat, rain and cold, and so much more - THANK YOU FROM THE BOTTOM OF OUR HEARTS.

Steve's Dad - Mike

Katie's Dad - Barry

Steve and Barry

Steve and Mike

Although our Mom's can't be out helping all day, without all the food that is sent out to the building site each day, the hardworking guys would not be able to survive!  Thank you for sending your support in the form of  thoughtfulness, caring and FOOD!  :)  And thank you for helping when you can…from picking up materials, cleaning, sweeping, showing up with a surprise afternoon Starbucks coffee or a three course meal….we couldn't ask for better Mom's…. You are the BEST and you are APPRECIATED!!!

Steve and his Mom - Marie

Katie and her Mom - Marilyn

From the first day of our house building project, we have had the help of friends and family.  It started with Katie's cousin Kim and our house design.  With our ideas, and her expertise, we were able to come up with an incredible home design that both met our needs, and stayed within our size restrictions. Thank you Kim for your extreme hard work, time, patience and for guiding us through this process.  It is awesome to see the design go from paper to real life!

When it came time to apply for a construction loan, we were thankful for Steve's Aunt Denise!  This was a big process, and even more difficult for us, since we are not only the homeowners, but also the  the General Contractor and builder.  This is uncommon, and makes it difficult to get a construction loan.  Without Denise's help to navigate this path, getting a construction loan would have been almost impossible!  Thank you!

When we were ready to break ground and start excavation, Uncle Mike offered the use of his mini-excavator, and Katie's Dad brought out the Kubota tractor.  What a huge help!  This gave us three machines, and we needed them all to get the job done!

Breaking ground with Uncle Mike's Mini Excavator - April 3, 2014.

Barry and the Kubota

We have had the help of lots of friends and family members…. from Joel's help with excavation and concrete, Mike's help with ICF (and concrete), Uncle Raymond and Uncle Alain's help with carpentry, Kevin's help with the concrete pours, Cousin Nathan's help with electrical supplies, just to name some of the projects.  We are lucky to have such AWESOME and TALENTED friends and family!  THANK YOU ALL!

Steve, Joel, Mike, Barry during the excavation phase - April 5, 2014.

Mike, Uncle Raymond and Steve working on the subfloor - June 7, 2014.

Steve, pump truck operator, Joel, Mike and Kevin getting ready for the big concrete pour - July 21, 2014.

Mike, Steve, Joel an Ed working on the garage floor - July 11, 2014.

Uncle Alain helping install the ceiling joists in the garage- August 1, 2014. 

And of course, we have had lots of visitors thus far… and I am sure more to come!  We enjoy showing friends and family our progress, and we appreciate your visits!  Here are some photos of our visitors from near and far!  (Note: we are missing some folks in the photos, so come back again, and we'll take more pictures!)

Kristin's visit from CO in November 2012 with Memere, Mom, Dad, Steve and Katie.

Celebrating Dad's Birthday in April 2014.

Sissi and Kristin in May 2014.

Memere, Sissi and Tante Cecile in June 2014.

Paul visits from D.C. with Memere and Laura in June 2014.

Karen and Alainna visit during Alainna's summer vacation in CT from Iowa (August 2014).  

Aunt Sue and Melanie Visit in August 2014 (with Kristin, Marie, Steve and Mike)

Aunt Joyce's visit from Florida in September 2014.

Debbie and Carson's visit from Virginia in September 2014.

Also, a special thank you to all of our good friends who have remained close to us, despite the fact that we haven't been able to spend much time together.  Thank your for visiting us at the building site, listening to our crazy stories, laughing with us, offering help, caring about what we are doing, and just being there for us!  We are blessed to have you in our lives!    

On this Thanksgiving Day, we are thankful for so much, but most of all, the LOVE and FRIENDSHIP we share with our family and friends.  THANK YOU ALL and Happy Thanksgiving!