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Alright fellow Albertans - I need your help.

As many of you know I am constructing an off grid house built primarily from recycled materials.

The house is Victorian in style, is 6000 sq ft, has an indoor pool (part of heating system) an elevator (CMHC recommendation for accessible housing) and the construction budget is a miniscule $75,000.

An original 1931 2 story Dutch colonial of 1800 sq ft was purchased for $107.00 from the Alberta Hospital and moved to the new foundation. The house is framed and sheathed while the windows have been purchased at both architectural clearinghouse and Durabuilts clearance centre I still need some other big tickets.

I need 4500 square feet of salvageable hardwood flooring from either a gym floor or an old grain elevator. Envirobuild has 10,000 sq ft of gym floor in Calgary to come out this July but wants $1.50/sq ft. With a removal rate of 80 sq ft per hour and breakage of 40% it would be cheaper to buy new so I need it to be near give away, maybe .25/ sq ft. I can send crew anywhere on prairie. As an example, I sent a fellow to Winnipeg recently to P/U radiators.

Brings me to radiators. Can use more. House was originally forced air but is being retro fitted to cast iron radiators to compliment the wood gasification boiler/solar tubes. I will pay top dollar!

Cupola’s and chimney caps. Clay or metal. Any interesting Victorian architectural antiquities considered. Also looking for good quality wood cook stove to compliment kitchen range.

Lots of insulation.

These are the things I am having most trouble with. Please help.

Suggestions?

   

Your project sounds very cool, sorry I can't help with locating any supplies. Just wanted to say good luck.

   

half of a garage full of insulation but it would be pointless because I'm next door in saskabush . Sounds like a great project .

   

6000 sq. ft.??? How many kilowatts per day do you plan on using in this house and how will you generate this? How exactly will the heating system work?

I was reading in a recent issue of Popular Mechanics where a guy spent $34,000 US on solar and wind power. He uses about 3-4 kilowatts a day. He reckons that even if he used the average 30 kilowatts a day that most homeowners use it would take 25 years to get a return on this investment.

   

It might be Grainfed heating anyway will this pass under the rules of a historical house . I think it makes it all cheaper to keep ...look into it

   

Between 8-10 KW consumption derived from a solar/wind combination. This is a low number and was achieved by creating a gravity feed septic system, solar well/water pumps and 2 cubic metre cistern, AC/DC power receptacles in all rooms in order to lessen strain on inverter, RV Washer, Gas Dryer & Stove (a balcony was placed next to upstairs washer to facilitate cloths drying by natural convection). The real genius of the system and what I am most proud of is the geothermal refrigerator of my own design that consumes about a sixth of the energy of a standard fridge and is another story all together.



It is comprised of two parts. Housed in my shop (I tore down the old Safeway on Wye rd in Sherwood Park and erected it on my acreage) there is a wood gasification unit (in layman’s terms, melts the wood and burns the gas with emissions similar to letting the wood decompose) that heats a 4 cubic metre tempering tank. This boiler is fired twice a day on average and will consume approximately 10-12 cord of wood. The second part is a series of Thermomax solar tubes that provide all the hot water and return additional heat to the tempering tank in winter and heat the indoor pool in summer. The hot water is circulated through cast iron radiators and infloor heating with a large central thermal mass heat tank being a major factor. The reason I am using cast iron radiators is that I became quite attached to the heat/air quality while living in Ontario/Quebec and never readjusted forced air. When I began house design in 1985 Environment Canada claimed that a three acre poplar wood lot properly managed would rotate every 15 years and provide all my wood. I have chosen 6 acres for a wood lot.

As a side note, I deliberately choose a piece of land that was unproductive in the sand hills north of Gibbons as to not affect agricultural activity and have begun reclaiming the land by transporting landfill destined commercial lawn waste for onsite composting. We hope to reclaim an additional two acres by 2009.

The commute vehicle is a 1980 VW Vanagon converted to electric and charged by a wind tower. When not charged transport is provided by a fleet of diesel trucks I own and of which the personal one is run on home brewed biodiesel.



Not sure how he managed to spend that much with such little output. My camper is rigged for 2KW/day in the summer and that only cost me about $2500.00. I usually advise people that if they want to not change their lifestyle then expect to layout 30-40K. If you are willing to make a few lifestyle changes you can put in a system that will cost between 15-25K. For me, an additional $6500.00 would have been required if I brought in power as I built the house 800 ft back from the road.

The secret is in reduction of consumption so you can downsize your system. Toss the electric stove, dryer, space heater and air conditioner and opt for LP and evaporative coolers.

   

I don't want it designated as a historical site as there are too many rules to follow and I want to be free to do with my property as I wish. This is my sacrafice and contribution the environment.

Most people think it is too much work but for me it is a labour of love.

   

It sounds like a hell of alot of work.

I found that PM article on the web:http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/energy_digital/4204459.html

   

just came across your thread gfpb. I am doing a similar project out by Viking. House was purchased from Eaton's as a package and shipped by rail in 1922. Originally built byWesley Stambaugh, Senator- 1949-1965.
I have found some magazines stuffed in nooks & cranny's from 1924. Very good condition too!
Anyway. I am trying to 'keep the character' while still bringing it up to code. Am debating a few structural changes as well. I got all my windows and cabinets from Don at Architectural, plumbing fixtures from Plumbing World-(5 ft corner jacuzzi for $499.00 see Rudy) in St. Albert- (on Riel Drive) and got my hardwood from Habitat's Restore on the Yellowhead. I got 2000 ft of mixed 3/4" NEW, still in boxes for about $1.75 sq ft.(Make sure you talk to Barb. Tell her Neil sent you) You gotta watch their prices though, Some are higher than retail while yet others are very reasonable.But if you still want 'reclaimed' my son does flooring as well and when we do a large project like a gym we GIVE it away to anyone who wants it. The last one we did we cut up, including the sleepers into as large a sections as people wanted and they took them away. Took all of 5 hours to remove the whole floor!.
For the 'wet' areas-entry-laundry-washroom I am debating either river rock or slate from an area I scouted around Hinton.

   

I know Don as I've got a few things from ACH. I am very interested in the wood floors. If you are familiar with Envirobuild I know they have a 10,000 sq ft gym floor job coming up in the summer but are asking too much. Have you heard of any others ? Give it away pricing is what I am all about!
I am interested in other details such as whether you are going grid, off or intertie? Are you sure it was Eaton's? Sears was selling most of the package houses in Alberta at that time catering especially to the coal towns.

   

I'll check with my son and a few others and see what is out there. We GIVE away 1000's of yards of reclaimed flooring of all types every year.If you need carpet tile...we get a lot of that and donate to Habitat.
All the locals here tell me it is an Eaton's home but I have been looking in on Sears as well but have yet to find this floorplan.
I am 'playing with a 'windmill & generator system and if I can get it working sufficiently then I will definitely be going off-grid.

For heat I put in a hi efficiency nat gas & turbo water heater.Also, the gov is talking about a $5000.00 grant for 'upgrading' We should qualify for that. If you hear anything, let me know.

   

I would really appreciate any flooring information as I want to put it in sometime this early summer and need about 4000 sq ft.

If you have any questions regarding solar, wood gasification, wind generation, batteries etc I am your man. BTW, I would not use a generator as a primary source of power but rather an infrequent backup.

Send me a picture of the house and a rough floor diagram and I may be able to tell you which prepackaged manufacturer originally constructed it. Also this link may help:

Various Sears House Plans

   

Yes. Avoid the generator. At our place - entirely off grid for 12 years- having to start the gen is an indication that I need to improve the system in some way. Just now coming out of the gen season-Dec and Jan. I have to use the gen about 100-150 hrs /yr. Rarely from now until Oct/Nov and practically never in the 4 or so months of summer. An indication that the system is appropriately sized for our needs. 130m2 house, wood heat with propane b/u, propane fridge, 1800W Prosine psw inverter, ac and dc (buss system -a good idea), 1350Ahr NiCd and NiFe storage, 700W polycrystalline panels. Could have eliminated a lot of gen time with a little wind gen this year but don't have it yet. Total cost of system about 12000. I agree that 35000 for 3-4Kwhr is extravagant. I get 3-4/day from my system in the winter. Sometimes.
Forget grid-intertie unless you really can't avoid frequent use of large loads. It's uneconomic, the equipment is expensive and what ATCO will maybe eventually pay you is too little. It also complicates things and means you have to deal with them when 1 of the main advantages of being off-grid is not having to go through that stuff anymore.
I'd like to hear about a website that has pictures of various kinds of hot water heat radiators. And if you agree with the main guy at one website that it is impossible to efficiently convert your existing wood heater to supply enough energy for a in-floor heating system, you might want to check out Thermo 2000, a Quebec company which builds a high-quality wood boiler for inside use. If anybody has experience with such boilers, I'd like to hear. Thanks.

   

I guess i should have clarified that the gen isn't gas. I working on a wind/12 volt gen system. Small by anyones standards but if I can get it to work on a small scale then I WILL be able to expand it. Some of my ideas are theoretical but not improbable. I have been able to get a weak charge into a totally dead battery.

   

What volt are you running? What appliances are DC direct? Did you wire any of your plugs for DC to spare inverter? Any problems running both NiCd/NiFe?



Shafter Brothers out of Montreal have been installing, building and servicing radiators for over a centruy and are probably the greatest authority on the subject in North America today. Any questions you can contact them as they are always happy to talk about radiators with anyone who still cares about these gems.



I'd stay away from that boiler or any other that is not a "gasification" model. The reasons are pretty simple, non gasification units will use more wood, smoke and actually contribute to air pollution. An efficient wood gasification boiler with a large 3-8 m3 water reservoir will allow you to thermal bank the heat for later recovery, will produce less greenhouse type gases then natural decomposition and you won't smoke out the neighbours. Tarm USA has imported a European model approved for Canada running at 14,000. Eko makes a more modest priced one at 3500 but I don't know if it is CSA or UL approved which is probably only an insurance issue if you are sticking it in the basement. Mine is going out in a purpose built garage that also houses the reservoir and is intermixed with evacuated solar tubes.

If you have to go with non-gasification stay away from boilers like the Thermo 2000 that jacket the boiler with water. This keeps the box prematurely cool and is the principle reason for smoke (wasted energy).

On the subject of boilers for heating, a general rule of thumb is 35 BTU for every sq ft to be heated. Depending on the output temperature of the hydronic fluid, this will determine whether it is practical to use radiators or in floor heating but practically speaking, assuming 130m2 ranch with average insulation and a basement you will need to heat 2800 sq ft so require any type of boiler rated to about 100,000 BTU.

   

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