Even with all of the good intentions of the air source heat pumps (and joy of having air conditioning in the attic!), the Polar Vortex in January 2019 exposed a major flaw in our structure that we needed to remedy immediately. After limping through the remainder of the heating season, we spent the warmer months researching contractors, building material options, and taking a hard look at our finances. Katie worked with her colleagues at the Center for Energy and the Environment to complete an energy model and determine how many British Thermal Units (BTU) of energy we would need to maintain our triplex's temperature. Of course, this model assumed that we could actually tighten up the 1893 structure enough to not leak all of the heat out through the spottily insulated walls.
After comparing a handful of contractors, we settled on Timberland Exteriors to complete a full exterior retrofit of our triplex. This entailed removing the asbestos shake exterior, the original wood lap siding underneath, repairing the sheathing and structure as needed, adding a new weather barrier, new insulation, new windows for the second floor, and new Hardie Board siding. As one of the "nice to have but not 100% necessary" components, we also elected to lift and repair our front porch. Though our budget, time, and structural constraints didn't allow for the same level of care with our materials selection as we did with the Strohhaus build, we did our best to at least push the project in a more environmentally friendly direction. Our new windows are double paned and made in Minnesota. After a lengthy back and forth on insulation options, we settled on rock wool to be able to utilize a dense waste product. We had wanted to utilize a product called aerogel, but we could not find a vendor that carried it for a residential project. One of the more interesting parts of this project was the chance to catch a glimpse of what the triplex used to be. Built in 1893 as a single family home with an attic apartment for the servants, the original home was eventually converted to a rooming house and then to a triplex. Removing the exterior asbestos shakes revealed what a beauty this house used to be! The 2.5" wood lap still held some of its faded white color, making the house look a bit like a ghost. Sadly, some of the original, decorative wooden corbels had clearly been hacked at to accommodate the asbestos being attached over the top. Being able to see what was once there has allowed us to at least try to find suitable replacements from Bauer Brothers. Though they won't match the originals perfectly, we will have some of a similar style to reattach once the new Hardie Board is in place. Hardie Board doesn't quite come in 2.5" lap, but will be around 3.5". We decided to maintain the original white, though there will continue to be some brown and green soffit and fascia. The timing of this project was similarly challenging. We had hoped to have the work done before the 2019/2020 heating season, but delays in some of our material decisions, an early winter, and needing to piece together financing forced us to delay the project until April 2020. Our site preparation for our Strohhaus build is happening simultaneously, making our ⅛ acre site very tight. It should wrap up by mid-May, giving us enough time to dig the trenching for our utility lines and pour our new foundation for the Strohhaus!
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AuthorKatie writes it like it is. Peter makes it flowery and interesting. You can tell which one studied engineering and which one was a lib arts major. Archives
August 2020
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