Hello everybody,

First of all I want to thank you all for beeing here, for posting on this forum, for sharing your knowledge. I also want to appologise in advance for my not so perfect english - I'm still working on it.

After few years of research we finally found a property on which we plan to build our first house. It is a small lot in the city with a very old house on it. We plan to take it down and build a new, modern, efficient replacement. The lenght of the lot is oriented N-S

I plan to be the general contractor (I hope this is the correct term) and I plan to participate in all the stages of this project. I've seen too many Holmes an Homes shows to just leave it to someone else (I'm also a bit of a control freak) and I do not have enough money to hire the top construction people so I'll have to manage it somehow.

So ...here is the plan:


20 ft x 40 ft simple rectangle shape, basement, main floor, upper floor, rooftop terrace

FOOTINGS  - Form-a-drain + fast foot - I plan to use this combo because of double drainage (interior and exterior), the speed of instalation, waste reduction and protection of the footings from ground moisture

BASEMENT  -  ICF - most probably Quad Lock - Plus Panel on the exterior and regular panel on the interior waterproffed with either  peel and stick membrane or spray-on membrane and a dimpled membrane. On top of the basement I plan to use Quad Deck or a similar system so the main floor will be insulated form the garage underneath and I'll be able to take advantage of the large thermal mass on the main floor.

MAIN FLOOR - Open joint rain screen + Vaproshield + PUR SIP - 6 inch (I really like Eco-panels and I hope it will not be prohibitive to bring them to Canada) + Concrete floors (a hydronic loop - TBD after calculations) + a lot of glass on the south side + some glass on the rest of the walls. Open plan

SECOND FLOOR - Open joint rain screen + Vaproshield + PUR SIP - 6 inch + trade ready floor system (dietrich) + carpet + a lot of glass on the south side + some glass on the rest of the walls

ROOF TOP -  PUR SIP - 6 inch or more + trade ready floor system (dietrich) + waterproofing

WINDOWS - probably triple panes - I don't know which brand yet with exterior window shades (something like insolroll).

HVAC - I know I have to do the calculation first and belive me I'll have all the numbers before ordering anything but right now I really like Nilan. They have an HRV coupled with a heat pump and I think it just may be enough for what we need (Nilan - VPL 25) for heating, cooling and ventilation all in one.

HOT WATER - again a lot of calculation but I hope we'll be able to use solar panels combined with electric (stiebel-eltron or similar).  Drain Water Heat Recovery is also an important part.

I'll have to find a solution for the rooftop deck. I watch several products but no favorite yet.

This is what I have so far. I hope I'll be able soon to post the actual plans.

What do you think?

Thank you,
Adrian

Almost forgot - I also plan to put 4 inch of XPS under the basement slab toghether with an appropriate anti moisture membrane (something like polyguard)

Sounds really interesting, I am also looking at doing the same in the Kingston area. What made you pick PUR SIP? Are there any issues with using SIP's and the provincial building code? I probably have more questions!!! Also like to see your plans.

It is a matter of personal preference. I think for my project PUR SIP is a better match than EPS SIP but one can't go wrong with either of them.

Adi

It's a nice project.

You sure did your research for products and technologies but I would like to tell you that house design (especially when ecological) is not just a collection of smart products and green technologies. It's a different way of doing things, it's the fruit of intelligence and most of all: experience!

Most of my customers (I am a green building/home consultant in the Montreal area) have regretted taking the GC (general contractor) hat! The ones who succeeded were definitely not planning for their first home.

Being the GC CAN make you save money BUT you'll get what you paid for. (mind you a lot of GC's take too much for what they're worth!)

sorry for being brief and straight to the point on this reply! I just had to tell you!

thanks a lot for the reply and for the warning. it is good to hear that al least in the technologies and systems deparment I'm doing ok. I should have mentioned that I'm not a stanger of project management and I come from a technical background too. I know it may not be enough but I'm willing to give it a try.

lately I've done some research regarding ontario building code and SIP envelopes and I'm not happy about what I've found. from my understanding if you want to build with SIP in ontario you need to have wood posts every 1.2 m (4 ft), double plates on top of walls and windows and doors need to be framed traditionally. that will result in a large area of thermal bridging and will force me to think of some sort of exterior insulating sheating. can anyone corfirm this?

thank you,
Adi