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Building a modern home in the woods

johnnyrodgers.is

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Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#241

Post by wrycoder »

ryukafalz wrote: post #227
wrycoder wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think that an air/water heat pump on the tub, with say a COP of 8, would be less expensive to operate than propane or straight electric. But, I couldn't justify the capital expense. (Small hot tubs are electric.) I like my wood/propane mix for heating, because it's immune to power outages. At some point I'll get too old to cut/split/haul wood, though, and will have to figure something else out. I'm not sure why the…

> I'm not sure why there's a push to eliminate gas cooking in favor of electricity. Perhaps some people are concerned with methane leaks in the natural gas distribution system. It's that, as well as the fact that having a gas stove means you have a gas hookup in the first place, so you're more likely to also use it for heating. That in turn leads to more emissions than other heating methods produce.

Well, even with a catalyst, my wood stove puts out a lot of emissions. But, I don't live in an area with an inversion layer.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#242

Post by yongjik »

mholm wrote: post #202
yongjik wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I doubt most North Americans need a 400A connection. (How much wattage is that? 48kW?) I live in an ordinary single house in a boring suburb in the bay area, and on hottest days, if I have to use the A/C, the oven, and the dryer at the same time, maybe it would push it over ~10kW. Maybe once in a year.

> Bay Area Most places in the US experience much harsher seasons than the Bay Area.

True, most places would need to run A/C or heater much more often than California, but I doubt they need three times as powerful an A/C at any given moment.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#243

Post by Tempest1981 »

MezzoDelCammin wrote: post #50

"The bigger issue was that the energy demands for the house, which included hot water heating for the pool and hot tub, outstripped the electrical supply we could get on a rural residential build: 400A" Am I the only one who almost spit out his coffee when reading this paragraph? I mean, building a remote home in the middle of a forest is a cool idea, sure. But then end up feeding the whole thing with 400A worth of e…

Maybe they want to supercharge 2 or 3 EVs at once.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#244

Post by JaimeThompson »

googlryas wrote: post #223
JaimeThompson wrote: post #193

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Their lack of mature shows when they talk about being concerned about the environment then using so much power to run their house.

The source of the power is important. Are they kids if they care about the environment and pay for 400A service of renewable energy? Is there anyone in America or Canada who cares about the environment, who is not a kid by your standard? I know a bunch of people who claim to care about the environment, but they still eat meat, drive ICE cars, have children, use ridiculous amounts of power compared to the global avera…

They have a large propane generator to provide supplemental power when the 400A service isn't enough, such generators typically do not have advanced pollution control / carbon capture devices attached. This, combined with the design of the building, is evidence their care doesn't extend to action in this instance.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#245

Post by gameman144 »

ttul wrote: post #3

TL;DR wealthy, privileged white couple in Canada build dream home in the woods thanks to extensive societal advantages which they enjoy. Film at nine.

> Person's actions influenced by their circumstances

This is a pretty reductive viewpoint, since literally any article or project could be seen in the same light.

* Of course you released a popular jazz album, you had parents who loved jazz and had an instrument at home.

* Of course you work in journalism, you lived in a city that took great pride in its news institutions.

* Of course you like programming, you had access to a computer and free time in your childhood.

* Of course you run a book review site, you had access to functional library systems growing up.

* Of course you are interested in politics, you were able to volunteer at local election campaigns.

Like, if someone is building an expensive home, you would obviously expect that their life experience has been such that they are able to build an expensive home. Likewise, if someone does anything, then obviously their life experience has been such that they are able to do that thing.

This is a cool writeup of a cool project, and reducing it to the fact that these people have been fortunate can come off as pretty smug.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#246

Post by mod »

fartcannon wrote: post #22
rglover wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Assuming they hired an architect and had hired labor build it (and put Feist lyrics at the bottom of the post), easily in the multi-million dollar range considering the location. That said, it doesn't have to be that way. I'm building a house up in the mountains at the moment. Found ~3 acres for 12k and I'm doing the land clearing and build mostly by myself on the weekends to keep costs down. My current guess is fina…

3 acres for 12k? Where? That's incredible. Well done!

In case anyone else thinks that's crazy, I bought 40 acres in the Ozarks with a (manufactured) home, a shop, a 52x14 storage building, and a few other outbuildings. The land was mostly wooded, with a few acres in use for a garden.

$60,000 in 2015

Details: 1 hour from walmart, 35 minutes from the grocery, 5 miles from pavement, zero stoplights in my county, no zoning at all (build anything you want). But a nicely-kept dirt road, plenty of people living in the area, etc.

Re: Building a modern home in the woods

#248

Post by bick_nyers »

MezzoDelCammin wrote: post #50

"The bigger issue was that the energy demands for the house, which included hot water heating for the pool and hot tub, outstripped the electrical supply we could get on a rural residential build: 400A" Am I the only one who almost spit out his coffee when reading this paragraph? I mean, building a remote home in the middle of a forest is a cool idea, sure. But then end up feeding the whole thing with 400A worth of e…

It's 400A peak usage, not average. Different decisions could have been made to lower that peak load considerably. As another commenter mentioned, swapping out the tankless water heater which can trip a standard house's electrical connection all on its own.
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