Adapted from a Newspaper Article
by Dan Pedersen
by Dan Pedersen
Nicole Luce
has been walking the talk of sustainability for some time, both in everyday decisions as well as some bigger ones. Luce and Janet Hall, coordinator of WSU Waste Wise Volunteers, recently built a new home in a wooded setting on South Whidbey. Together, they set out to live in harmony with the natural environment rather than in conflict with it. So they approached the project with some clear goals:- Respect wildlife
- Save the trees
- Harness the sun
- Collect rain water
- Landscape with native plants
- Use what's on site, and
- Don't let the project wreck their lives
"Two years later we are still speaking to each other," Luce said, "so I think we did ok." They are encouraging others to build sustainably as well. Last February they taught a class about it together at Sound Waters University. An eager crowd packed the room.
"More and more people are looking for sustainable ways to live," Luce said. "Many who took our class are thinking about remodeling or building and want to do it smarter from an environmental standpoint. We were excited to see the interest."
The challenge of building a house true to her values was close to her heart.
Luce and Hall had been planning this step for years. They knew that when it comes to the the environment, many decisions involve compromises and at times they might have to choose the lesser of two imperfect alternatives. They knew in their own case they must balance some practical realities - limited time and money, the demands of future maintenance, and concerns about toxic materials and dust that might irritate Hall's respiratory allergies.
They knew that building any house and finding the right technologies and subcontractors was an all-consuming task that would test their patience. So Luce took the role of general contractor and devoted full time to it for 1-1/2 years. Decisions, site work and cleanup kept them busy every day. "Sequencing was everything," Luce emphasized. Steps needed to happen at the right time in the right order.
They shared highlights of their experience in the hope of inspiring others to think creatively about their setting when they build or remodel as well.
Respect wildlife
"We had been walking this property for years," Hall said. "We really wanted to keep it wildlife-friendly. So we set out to leave long wildlife corridors connecting to other adjoining forest parcels, and minimize disturbances."
They hired a forest ecologist, Elliott Menashe of Clinton, to consult and help site the house on one edge of their 4-1/2 acre property, closer to a neighbor's house rather than in the center where it would have disrupted more wildlife habitat and required more clearing.
Save the trees
Even with a 500 foot driveway, Hall said they ended up needing to fell only four trees for it - "probably nothing over a 16-inch diameter. We took about seven more for the house, anywhere from a six-inch diameter to a grand fir that was 24 inches." For the house and drainfield they cleared about an acre of brush by hand so they could get to know the land on which they were building.
"We paid the extra cost to put all our utilities underground," Hall said. "That was an esthetic decision but also practical because we have many big leaf maples. They lose limbs very easily and could take out our power lines."
Hall said grand firs are notorious for breaking their tops in windstorms. Several firs near their house posed a particular threat so Hall and Luce hired arborist Jim Fox of Langley to top them in a style that resembled natural forest snags with some special cuts designed to attract bats' roosting.
Harness the sun
"We positioned our house facing south southwest to receive the most sunlight because we were interested in solar energy - both passive solar to heat water as well as solar energy for electricity," Hall said.
Kelly Keilwitz of Whidbey Sun and Wind in Coupeville installed their solar energy system - six photo voltaic panels to generate electricity. An inverter converts the resulting direct current to alternating current for household systems. During times when they may generate more power than they can use, they will sell the excess back to Puget Sound Energy (PSE).
Another contractor who has since retired installed 40 vacuum tubes on their roof to heat water for their in-floor radiant heat and other domestic uses. "Our cats love the in-floor heat," Hall said. "It's always on."
After only a few months in the house they were still building a picture of how much power they generate at different times of the year. "During the wetter, grayer, winter days we generate 20 to 30 watts at any one time, not kilowatts," Luce said. "On some of the sunnier days last fall we were seeing over one kilowatt."
The monthly statements they receive from PSE reflect how much net power they have purchased after subtracting what they supplied themselves, but the two are not separately itemized. Luce said she has heard the statement will soon be improved to better reflect usage and generation. "Right now it's confusing. We'll be looking at the yearly average to see if this net metering is worth it in our situation."
Similarly, they are still building a picture of how much benefit they are getting from their solar water heating system. "Again," Luce said, "it's a little too soon to know exactly how well this is working but solar water heating does not need direct sun. Even diffuse light generates heat." Water from this system is stored in an 80-gallon tank divided into two halves, with 40 gallons allocated to the in-floor heating and the other 40 for domestic hot water.
For supplemental heat and power outages they have a free-standing propane stove, "used infrequently," Luce said. They also have a small electric heater in the bathroom.
Collect rain water
Hall and Luce installed a 1,300-gallon cistern to store rain water, which they efficiently collect from their metal roof. They requested and received permission from the county to plumb their house to use this water in their toilets. "I really believe in this day and age it's a sin to flush toilets with potable water when 60 percent of the world doesn't have it," Hall said. She pointed out they considered composting toilets, but the demands of maintenance on composting toilets led them away from that solution.
Landscape with native plants
"At our old house we had an acre of grass," Hall said. "Never again. We really want to go native." Drought-resistant, native vegetation will require little or no maintenance and watering.
Rather than create air pollution by burning the woody debris from their site work, they piled it off to the side where it provides privacy and eventually will become nourishment for the native plantings they will do in that area.
Use what's on site
Clearing a spot for their house required felling one particularly nice maple, plus several smaller trees. So Hall and Luce hired Bob Zuver of Freeland to mill it and other logs on site with his portable sawmill. "This is one of the best solutions of all when it comes to sustainability," Luce said. "To be able to harvest wood from our own land, mill it and use it right here - that's as sustainable as you can get. We got a lot of dimensional lumber." They hired Marcia Wiley of Langley to turn the maple into trim used throughout the house. "We used it everywhere," Hall said - "drawer fronts, cabinet doors, all our window and door and base trim, some wainscoting."
As Hall and Luce cleared brush from their site by hand, they kept tripping over old logs. "When our excavator came in, he said, 'You know, those logs are probably old growth cedar,'" Hall said. "So we milled that and it was beautiful. Those logs had probably been there 60-70 years." Luce carefully stacked the milled lumber and "stickered" it with spacing pieces so it would dry properly.
"We ended up with a huge sawdust pile from milling our lumber on site," Hall said. "That's great mulch. We will incorporate some of our leftover logs into the landscape. We needed a retaining wall and we'll use our logs for that instead of concrete.
Hall pointed out that construction materials delivered to a building site come with a tremendous amount of cardboard. She and Luce diligently sorted it for recycling. They set aside the large cardboard and spread it on the ground to prevent weed seeds from growing on the bare earth.
And Hall added this advice for anyone clearing land for a house or road. "Save all your topsoil off to the side in piles. This is precious. Cover it with a tarp to keep weeds from growing in it. You'll be really glad when you can use it later on your septic mound or for landscaping."
A few other tips ..
- Green Building & Remodeling for Dummies, by Eric Freed. "Get this book!" Hall urged. "It hadn't been published yet when we needed it."
- Attend workshops. Learn about alternative materials and methods. Help others build their houses.
- Scrounge for great surplus materials at recycling centers, on line and in person
- Get along without a dumpster. "Sort, recycle and use your leftover construction materials. Don't haul them to the dump."
- Use on-demand water heating. "Nobody needs a water heater anymore," Hall said. "This is the biggest energy waster in many homes."
- Celebrate your victories. Building a house is stressful for any relationship, they said. Take time to sit back once in a while and celebrate the steps as you complete them.
