Heat Recovery Ventilation

Here's the latest photos from the Nutter Green Home. After finishing up the ductwork in the basement for the HRV Heat Recovery Ventilation (HRV) system, we had to drill 2 six-inch diameter holes through the 14" thick foundation. (To find out what an HRV does, see the bottom of this post).

Our plan was to use a 3/4" bit and drill a series of several holes around a 6" circle and chip out the middle. BUT, we found this nifty little tool to rent at one of the local rental places. It's a 6" core bit that's 15" long!!!! It has a compressor-like attachment that suctions the drill contraption to the wall, and a vacuum and water attachment that sends water to the bit (see the hose running to it?) We were finished drilling both holes and packed up and ready to return it in less than 2 hours. SWEET!

In the picture below you can see one hole already drilled on the right, and Kenny is working on drilling the second hole on the left.

Here's a close up of the system.
Here's a close up of the piece after we pulled it out of the hole. You can see the 2 5/8" thick ICF foam on either side and the 8+ inches of concrete in the middle. Not to mention that we also had 1" thick of stucco from the exterior that's not shown, and 5/8" of drywall from the interior that came off the foam when we pulled the piece out.

What's an HRV? Well, basically it's a way to get fresh "make up" air into the house. Most of the time, houses get fresh air from incidential air infiltration - leaks in the home's envelope. Since our house is so tight, there's no way for us to get fresh air except for opening the windows - which is not very energy efficient. So, an HRV brings in fresh outside and and exhausts stale interior air. When the two airs pass each other, there is a heat exchanger that takes the heat from the stale air exhausts and gives it to the incoming fresh air. This is a way to preheat the incoming fresh air so that it doesn't affect the temperature of the house and it makes your heating systme work less. This is an energy efficient way to get fresh air into the house during the winter and hot parts of the summer when the house is closed up.

We Won!!!!

Yes, this is a terrible photo - I'll get a better one - but this is our award for the Cincinnati Sustainability Awards that we won this evening. It is sponsored by the Cincinnati American Institute of Architects (AIA) Committee on the Environment (COTE), as well as ASID and IIDA, two interior design professional organizations. We were entered in the architecture catagory and were chosen as one of the winners! We were shocked because all of the entries were so good. Three projects were awarded in the architecture catagory, one for interior design, and one for landscape architecture.

More Stucco

First Coat . . .

Applying the final coat . . .

Photos from the Solar Tour

Here are some photos of one of the smaller groups visiting our house for the Solar Tour yesterday. After this group, we got so swamped with visitors, that we were no longer able to take any photos. So for some of you who had cameras at the tour, if you have any good group shots, please email them to me (I posted our email address below) so that I can post them here on the website. Thanks!

Thanks to all who attended the OHIO SOLAR TOUR!

We wanted to thank all of you who attended the Green Energy Ohio sponsored portion of the National Solar Tour. Those of you who were here know that we were kept very busy. We had between 150 and 200 people visit our site between 10 and 4:30 today and most of the time my husband and I each had large groups of 20 or more people. We guided the tours and talked non-stop for over 6 hours and although neither of us have a voice left - we enjoyed every minute of it. Our visitors asked educated questions and were genuinely interested in green building. This fact reaffirms our decision and passion for sustainable building - so thank you to all who attended. We hope that everyone in attendance learned a lot about green building and walked away with a little of our enthusiasm and passion for sustainable design.

I'll be updating this website again tomorrow and adding a few pictures from the tour. BY THE WAY - if you happened to be one of the people who took still photos or group shots of the tour participants and my husband or I giving tours, please email us some good photos that we can post here on the website (our email address is below). We were so busy giving the tour that we didn't have time to get any good photos! :(

If you missed some of the information or have additional questions, you can email me at nuttergreenhome@yahoo.com and I will try to get to answering specific questions as soon as possible. Thanks again!

Let the Stucco Begin!

Actually it's EIFS, a similar system, but either way, we're getting rid of the dirty blue foam foundation, so I'm elated. Hopefully by the end of next week, we'll have a totally finished exterior! I'll post more pics of this process over the next few days. I'll also post pictures from the Solar Tour which is tomorrow. They told us to expect between 50 and 200 people. Yikes!

Oh, I forgot to tell you that someone from a local radio station - WGUC - called yesterday to interview me over the phone about the house. I'm not sure when it will air, but I'll let you know if I hear it. There's also supposed to be something in the Cincinnati Enquirer about the Solar Tour - not sure if it will mention our house specifically.

We're famous . . .

Today we were visited by a TV crew for an international satellite news station. They do positive news pieces that have a global perspective and so they wanted to do a piece on our house, the Ohio Solar Tour, and the organization, Green Energy Ohio. They will broadcast the piece all over the world - although in the US it's only available on the Internet. I'll let everyone know when it's finished with the editing process and when you can view it online.