Video about Affordable Low Energy Houses

From the New York Times.
These are near net zero energy ... it doesn't say if there are other green features. I wonder how bright they are inside with those foot-thick walls?
The price is right, though!

The times Green Inc. blog also had an article about some legal issues with green building. For example, if the building does not get the tax credits that were hoped for because the builder misses a deadline.
And here's one about the costs of green certification, in particular the LEED program can be expensive.

2009 Fisher Park Playground Build - Giving Back to the Community

Last year, we volunteered our time to the Paint Your Heart Out organization in Anaheim, helping to paint a house for low-income qualified individuals (see last year's post). This year, we volunteered for the Fisher Park Playground Build event, serving as one of the Team Leads to build a larger playground for older kids.

Parents in the Floral Park/West Floral Park neighborhoods and surrounding communities came out to help prep, build, and clean up over several days, with a ribbon cutting ceremony on the official launch of the new playground on Saturday, May 9th.

It was hard work but it was well worth it to see the community getting together to give all the kids a bigger playground to enjoy!

The new playground from a distance

Old asphalt on the sidewalks were broken out

Close up of the new playground set

Chuck talking to the Project Organizer


Team Leads and Community Volunteers

Ribbon Cutting Ceremony

Once more into the breach!

It seems the engineers have worked things out and so the foundations will proceed. They will be linking the pilings with steel I beams under the house.
(If you want: the full speech from Henry V).

2009 Restoration Trade Fair in Long Beach, CA

Mark your calendars!! Coming up on June 28th is the 2nd Restoration Trade Fair sponsored by the Rose Parks Neighborhood Association. This year's theme is "Do It Yourself/Do It With Help."

This is a one-day, one-stop event to help homeowners of historic homes restore their homes. There will be specialty home improvement vendors (we will be having a booth there), guest speakers, classes and workshops, exhibits and prize drawings for this event.

The details:

Date: Sunday, June 28th
Time: 9 AM - 4 PM
Location: Lutheran Burbank Elementary School, 4th and Junipero, Long Beach
Website: www.rpna-tradefair.org

For more information, go to: http://www.rpna-tradefair.org/2009/restoration-tradefair-committee-organizes-for-09/

No battle plan survives contact with the enemy

The enemy in this case seems to be the soil. We had it analyzed last year, and knew it was soft. Thus the plan for deep pilings. But when they started to pour the first one, it used up way more concrete ("grout") than it should have. The grout was going sideways somewhere. So metal tubes to hold the grout have been proposed, but the engineers are trying to determine if that will actually work, and keep the building from swaying in the wind. So we wait to hear from the engineers again.

Contemporary Custom Kitchen

We finally finished this contemporary custom kitchen! It is definitely a modernist, with a slight Zen feel to it, and probably one of the most unique kitchens we've ever built. We took it from the old mustard-yellow and brown Seventies charm to a beautifully functional kitchen made for the 2000's. All the upper cabinets, trim, stove vent hood and even the paint are custom-made. See before and after pictures below.

BEFORE Pictures of the Kitchen

AFTER Pictures of the Kitchen(with Views from Different Angles)

To see more Kitchens we've done, click HERE to see Kitchens under the Project Photos section.

Foundation pilings

Auger.

Crane. (not our usual sandhills)


The pilings that will hold up the house are going in now! The King Company, which is experienced in environmentally sensitive areas, is drilling down to a more stable layer and putting auger cast pilings in. Cement is poured in as the rotating auger is withdrawn from the hole. It's not like a driven pile that makes a lot of noise and vibration while going in.
The house will sit a foot and a half above grade on 19 pilings.

Moving along again ...

Well, things slowed down for a couple of weeks there, while we waited for some feedback from the engineer on a change that would make the plumbing workable. But things seem to be moving again. The site was supposed to be staked today, and they will put the augercasts in starting Monday (if all is going according to plan).
This morning I put a down-payment on the SIPs, so they will begin constructing those at the factory.
The SIPs will make putting the house up rapid, once the augercast pilings have set for a bit. If you visit Porter's website, you can see how the SIPs come as pre-cut, insulated panels that are put together with a crane or by hand for the smaller ones. Window and door holes are already made, as are chases for the electrical wires. Here's a video showing a SIP home being put up.
Also looked at the Velux site to check out the skylight shade possibilities ... venetian blinds, honeycomb, or solid shade?

Upcoming Edith Heath Exhibition at the Pasadena Museum of California Art

The Pasadena Museum of California Art is presenting an exhibition on Edith Heath, founder of Heath Ceramics, starting May 31, 2009. This exhibition focuses on her life and the influences she's had on California design through her pottery and ceramics (we are huge fans of her modernist tile designs - especially the dimensional tile!!).


For more information on the Edith Heath: Tabletop Modernist exhibition, go to: http://pmcaonline.org/upcoming-exhibitions.html.

Heath Ceramics recently opened up a studio and store in Los Angeles. Click here to check out their website.