Going to build a southern oriented house

[deezler]

Eddie! Lots of us live up north where it gets super cold, for nearly half the year. Please stop saying that R-value of a wall doesn't matter. Yes, you MUST seal against wind and air loss. But that is a given in any good build. Then next comes R-value and full thermal breaks which is still critical. My house is fully taped zip-sheathing, covered with fully taped 1" polyiso insulation. All windows fully taped too. I can assure you, when it is zero degrees outside (or colder), a metric **** ton of energy is flowing right through fully sealed walls still.

Drew, glad to hear you are thinking about these issues now before you build. I simply can't stand to see all the mass-built subdivisions where zero thought is given to the house's energy performance and windows arrangement with respect to sunshine, solar gain, and energy loss. It should be stricter code, frankly. So you are thinking about insulation windows and shades, but what about site-placement, orientation, and earth-sheltering? (sorry, didn't have 22 mins for your vid). Well designed roof overhangs are your friend, they can shade in summer but allow full sun in winter. Make sure to allow solar gain on all south facing windows (but not east or west). Minimal windows on north side if you can help it.

I am not that far away from you up just north of Ypsi if you want to check out what went right/wrong on my own super efficient home. 6 years in and we love it. Fully heated by ~3 cords of firewood per year, ~$30 avg per month for electricity is our only utility bill, no gas (5.5 kW solar array on roof).

Ypsi, Simply: Building our green home in the woods

Our journey from a scrubby forest to self-sustaining homestead.

ypsisimply.blogspot.com

 

[deezler]

What about double walling the exterior walls for better noise reduction and insulation. Build wall with two 2x4 stud walls with the studs offset from each other. The top plate can be a 2x10 which would give you a two inch space between the walls. I have not seen this done but seems like a good way to do it bet will cost more.

This is great for energy performance, but it means that all your windows are like a boxed hole in the wall, you know? You don't actually need a 2x10 wall though, I've seen staggered 2x4 studs on just a 2x6 top/bottom plate. Breaks all thermal conducts and you can still get close to R30.

 

[Drewintoledo]

masscity - "In the winter if the sun was shining and it was around 25/30 degrees I could shut the heat off and the
house would stay warm. Forgot to mention this was in the Detroit suburbs. I was on a acre and I loved this house."
YES!! This is what I'm after. I'm 45 minutes from Detroit, so similar weather patterns.

old and tired - "For us, we had power, water well and an unknown septic system in place when we bought the property. If it didn't have those comforts, things might have turned out different!"
Boy, I wish I had water. I'm living under a loft in a barn right now. I have a septic in place with a toilet and we've been using filtered rain water treated with ozone to flush. Here' the idea:

EddieWalker - "In my opinion, there are 2 significant things happening in a house when considering energy efficiency. First is the up down direction of heat and cold. This is easily controlled by maxing out your attic insulation."
I am ordering 20" raised heel trusses and hope to find an R-80 value using blowin in cellulose insulation. As for Zip, I am using the competitor's product "Forcefield" which is sold at Menards. If you're interested in this technology, here's a good video:

Excellent advice with 5/8" sheetrock. I will keep this in mind when that day comes.

deezler - "This is great for energy performance, but it means that all your windows are like a boxed hole in the wall, you know? You don't actually need a 2x10 wall though, I've seen staggered 2x4 studs on just a 2x6 top/bottom plate. Breaks all thermal conducts and you can still get close to R30."
I was thinking about doing the staggered 2x4 on 6" plates but decided to save some money on studs. I'll use at least 2" exterior foam or roxul for a continuous thermal break. I personally like the deep window bucks. It makes for a nice area to place plants, etc.

 

[old and tired]

....I have a septic in place with a toilet...

Water is very nice but in the winter, we had to build an outhouse. It was better than digging a hole in the pasture which we did for a short time. We were pretty much exposed to the elements living out of a 33ft bumper pull trailer that the previous owns left for us!! Many mornings, there was no water for coffee until the pipes would unfreeze!!! Still look back and think it was fun times!!!!