It is like an information overload in here. Is that one engineer, and think her name as Dana, still on here. I used to just wonder at the information that she was able to produce and dispense with.
Anyway, about the project home that I want to build (looking at property tomorrow and getting a bit excited.
I am looking at some lakefront property in the Mid Atlantic region and I would like to build and ICF home that is incredibly tight and easy to heat and cool. It will be an occasional home for me in the meantime and perhaps more permanent in the future.
The plan is to have it be something that can be locked up for weeks at a time (minimum circulation for humidity and climate control) and re-fired remotely so that it is good and toasty when I get there. What I was thinking about was:
- ICF construction
- Possible basement depending on grade of the land and soil conditions
- Rancher style home
- Heated floors for primary heat
- Checking on seeing if I can lay a geothermal source loop in the lake (have about 500' of lake front)
- High efficiency windows and air tight (probably something in the Euro operator family like tilt and turns)
- Steel roof (type not yet decided)
- SIP roof construction
- Ceiling fans for circulation
- Not sure on cooling or how to distribute air if we are SIP roof and ICF but leaning heavily on Geothermal heating/cooling
Questions
- If the main floors are over a basement, I would still like to integrate in floor heating, but I would prefer to so in the form of water vs. electricity to ideally take advantage of the Geothermal
- Would integration of some roof water heating be in order as well depending on exposure?
- Same question for some solar?
Thank you in advance for taking the time to read this.