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Got my official NAHB Gold certificate in the mail today.

Congratulations and Merry Christmas, I have been following your build and checked out your pictures. Now its my turn, I hope to start my build in April. So what would you have done differently and do you have any suggestions before I start.
Cath

Cath the only thing I would have done differently (if I could have) was adding 1.5 inches of foam on the outside of the sheathing, under the siding. I think that would have given me a worthwhile boost in performance. Not that the house is performing badly - it isn't, but the increase in insulation value by cutting down on the thermal bridging, would have given me more confidence in its ability to perform under severe conditions.

I am tracking ground temps, hot water tank cycles, propane use etc by the week, and monthly electric usage. Come spring I should have a decent amount of data.

I am still planning on adding some external wood burning system (my fantasy - thermal mass, barbecue grill, bread/pizza oven, water storage under a greenhouse) for an alternative to heat the water in my radiant floor.

As far as advice, get lots of books out of the library so you are completely informed on every system you are using, even if you don't plan on it being DIY. Knowledge is power. There is also an immense amount of info online - google is your friend - research everything. And ask questions here - lots of knowledgeable folks with great info to share, and the willingness to do so - very helpful!

Good luck with your build - I look forward to reading all about it.

-Rosalinda

the only thing I would have done differently (if I could have) was adding 1.5 inches of foam on the outside of the sheathing, under the siding

Wasn't a portion of your house built off-site? Was foam insulation outside of the sheathing a factory option for that portion or was that something you would have added yourself?

Yes the top floor is a modular, and the factory did not offer the ability to add the foam. Since the modular came partially sided with the windows installed and with finished returns (MDF not sheetrock) , it was just too much to rip it all apart to add the exterior insulation. Depending on how the house performs over the next couple of winters, I will be able to decide if it would be economically feasible to add the exterior insulation.

-Rosalinda

Just got notified that my NY Green Residential Building Program incentive application has been approved. The final hurdle in the green cert and incentive programs.

-Rosalinda

Though I am almost afraid to declare the "heating season" over, given the insane fluctuations in temps we have had this spring, here are my energy figures....

Propane usage 17 Oct 11 - 29 Apr12 - 321 gals costing $596. for heat, cooking and DHW (including laundry)

Probe temps on north side and north west corner 3 to 4 ft in ground just inside the R10 vertical ground insulation
17 Oct 11 - both 67 degrees F
Low for season 11 Mar 2012 - 53.6 degrees F and 49.7 degrees F
29 Apr 12 - 55 degrees F and 52.5 degrees F

Electric usage is around 500kWh per month (including house, farm water system, electric dryer, office, barn with stock tank heater)

-Rosalinda

very nice

how much was the net cost of the  furnace and a/c and what hot water heater equipment?

I designed and installed the radiant heating system. It is, in slab radiant in the ground floor (at level basement) run off a Vertex 100 LP fired hot water heater through a flat plate heat exchanger. The Vertex is designed to provide both DHW and Radiant heat. In addition I designed and sited the house for passive solar tempering, with proper window to thermal mass ratios. I am also chewing on a way to add outside wood fired hot water to run the radiant system without installing one of those outside wood fired boilers. The 2nd story is the main living area, and the temp between the ground floor and 2nd floor only varies 2 or 3 degrees. I use a small electric log set to raise the temp upstairs if it feels too cool to me. This winter it was only used on very cold days when the sun didn't shine. When the sun is out the house needs little or no additional heat and I can open a window on the south side and run the ventilation fan. I can also manually shut off the pump on the Vertex side of the system and just circulate the water in the floor on sunny days. This will usually raise the temp 2 or 3 degrees just picking up the heat from the sun on the slab. We did have a fairly mild winter. I am hoping to have finished building a solar preheat box for the makeup air before next winter, but don't know if I will manage the wood fired hot water by then.

Prices (in US dollars) include everything used to install each system. I brought in a pro to install the propane fired hot water heater, the propane lines, and the Panasonic vent fan, but did the rest myself.

Radiant in slab 1,405.80
Manifold System 1804.50
Heat and Hot Water System 2583.79

I have no need for AC where I live in the Finger Lakes of NY - summer night time temps are usually in the 60s or lower except for just a few warmer nights. The mechanical ventilation in the house is based on a Panasonic FV-13VKS2, with makeup air for it and for the bathroom and kitchen range fans provided by opening windows. I also have an Air King 9166 20" window fan for whole house cooling in the summer. This pulls cool air through the house at night, and we shut everything down during the day.

Mechanical ventilation system 903.01

-Rosalinda

As a continuing indication of house performance -
Energy figures
Propane usage 7 Oct 12 - 28 Apr 13 - 403 gals costing $689. for heat, cooking and DHW (including laundry)

Probe temps on north side and north west corner 3 to 4 ft in ground just inside the R10 vertical ground insulation
2 Sep 2012 - 67.1 and 68 degrees F
Low for season 24 Mar 2013 - 52.5 degrees F and 48.5 degrees F
28 Apr 13 - 54.6 degrees F and 51.6 degrees F

Electric usage 2012 Jan-Dec For house, 3 barns/storage buildings, stock tank heater, farm water system, electric dryer etc: 5778 kWh at a cost of $739.

-Rosalinda

Wow! That's incredible. So, what heats both levels; is it the pex tubing in the slab? No additional heat in the main living area? We're thinking about a build and your story is an inspiration. I have wrestled with the HVAC question and have considered geo, wood, in-floor and everything else. Looks like your system works well and didn't cost an arm and a leg.

Yes, very nicely planned and executed! We always enjoy hearing about another DIY passive solar and hydronic radiant floor heating success story...which is why we provide free DIY design software on our website.

Thanks agagent3 and sailawayrb.

Yes the pex is only in the slab on the ground floor and that, along with the solar tempering, heats the main living area on the second floor, and the ground floor. I have one of those little electric log sets to bring the temp of the main living area up a couple of degrees on those very cloudy winter days.

I would like to install a small inexpensive mini split to give me a delta of 5 degrees summer and winter and remove humidity both summer and winter. Since no such animal is on the market yet I will have to wait until someone sells one.

-Rosalinda