Solar Panels

Our solar photovoltaic (PV) electric generating system has been installed! We contracted with NamasteSolar to install a SunPower system which we are leasing for 20 years. 

Our lease payment will be a fixed $62 that will stay the same for the next 20 years (with no 5% to 10% inflation rate that most electric utility customers will experience). Our equivalent rate is approximately 7 cents per kilowatt-hour produced compared to our previous utility cost of about 12 cents per kilowatt-hour. Since we are still tied to the electric grid for backup purposes (and so our surplus power can be fed onto the grid to help supply our neighborhood's electric needs), we will still have to pay the power company's monthly service and meter reading fees, but we are expecting to use less electricity each month than our system will produce.

Here are some technical details for the solar geeks reading this: there are a total of 24 SunPower 327 watt modules for a total of 7.85 kilowatts. The system also includes a SunPower Inverter (manufactured by Fronius) that converts the DC (direct current) power produced by the panels into AC (alternating current) power so it can be used in our home or fed into our neighborhood power grid. The power from the inverter is fed through a production meter and then to a circuit breaker in our electric panel. Xcel Energy (our electric utility) will read the production meter and our net consumption meter each month to determine how much to bill us. If we produce more than we consume over the course of a year, they will pay us at the current wholesale rate for the overage.

The panels outside the house show the meter readings and inside the house control the system.

We are expecting to produce enough power to cover our electric consumption as well as offset our natural gas consumption, and still have enough to power two future electric plug-in vehicles. This will make our house a net-zero energy usage home if everything works as expected. We will keep you updated with the actual results.

Almost There

The contractors have been working hard to get SunTerra finished.  We really need to move in next weekend.  Here are some pictures of almost completed rooms.  Once all the last minute punch list items are complete, my plan is to take detailed pictures of each room.  In those posts, I will also record paint colors, tile selection, light fixture names, and other details that you may be interested in knowing. The last major item is for the painter to fix the floor, as mentioned in the last post.

Here is a picture of the almost complete kitchen.  The refrigerator will be installed after the floor is finished.

Here is a closeup of the back splash.

This is my office/workroom.  Can't wait to get organized with all these great custom shelves!

And can't wait to use the soaking tub.

Steve is putting the doors and hardware on the laundry room cabinets.

 There is a guest bedroom, so if one of the kiddos isn't visiting, you are welcome to come spend time with us!

Granite and Concrete

Lots going on since my last post.  This would have been several posts, but I got behind as we have been trying to get our current house ready to go on the market.  SunTerra won't be ready to move into for a few more weeks, but we didn't want to wait until too late in the fall to get this one on the market.

The granite was installed last week.  We chose St. Cecilia.  Here is a picture of the buffet in the dining room before the granite was installed...

And here it is with the granite installed

This is a closeup of the stone

Here are most of the slab pieces still on the truck

This piece of the kitchen counter was heavy enough for three guys to lift into place

Here is the cut out where the induction cook top will be installed (more on induction cook tops in a future post)

There will also be granite in the master bath, it will be tile instead of slab to match the border in the tub and shower.  Here is the vanity with the Baltic brown granite tiles.

 And now on to concrete, in the last post I noted about how the tape left lines in the concrete.  Dave tried hard to disguise them with the acid stain, but they can still be seen in some places.

And at one point when he was applying the sealer, his machine "exploded" and caused a trail of spots through the house

So Dick, our G.C., has been busy trying to figure out how to solve these issues.  It sounds like the painter may be able to help.  Will update on this matter in a future post.
Another issue with the concrete floors was the crack in the basement floor.  We never figured out for sure what caused it, but the section was cut out and replaced.

Here is some concrete that came out beautiful, the driveway!  It really helps to make it look like a home.

Dave (the concrete sub) is also working on some retaining walls.  They are huge blocks of concrete with a stone looking front.

Here is a wall that has been started

I mentioned the painter, that process should be starting this weekend.  So we are also busy trying to decide on paint colors.  Thought we had one figured out, but after looking at it on the wall, not so sure anymore.

So it's back to looking at paint chips.

And the weather is changing in Colorado, making for a beautiful fall, so thought I'd share another picture of our view.

Cabinets and Concrete

Cabinet installation has begun.  Here is a picture of the kitchen.

And the dining room.

A template has been made so the granite can be fabricated.

You may have noticed the "lines" on the floor.  That is masking tape over brown paper to protect the concrete.  We will have stained concrete floors.  Unfortunately a couple of days ago when the paper was lifted to begin the staining, we found that some sort of chemical reaction occurred and the line remains.  Dave is trying to use an acid to blend it before applying the stain.

In the basement, the concrete was poured gray and then we had a test patch with the acid stain.  We were not thrilled with the color, so we decided to have the main floor poured with a colored concrete first.  The color is canvas, by ColorFlo.

In the basement we are using Walnut as the color of the stain, and on the main floor the stain color is Mahogany.  It will then be sealed with poly-seal.

Here you can see the process in its three stages.  At the top of the picture is the great room, before any stain has been applied, in the middle of the picture is the hallway, where stain but no sealer has been applied.  At the bottom of the picture is the master bedroom where it has been stained and sealed.

Here is another picture of the finished floor in the bedroom.

Starting the Finishing Touches

Here is a summary of what's been happening the past few weeks:

A workshop has been set up in the garage.

Shelves are being installed in closets and other spaces.  This the the future custom pantry.

The cabinets have been delivered and installation should begin next week.

The doors have been delivered and installation has begun.  These are doors to master bedroom and master bath (taken from inside the master suite).

The concrete floor has been poured, and we are trying to decide on a stain color.

 Tile installation has begun.  This is the wall in Steve's office, with tile being installed to cover the concrete foundation wall.

This is the hall bath.

This is the master bath, first the shower and linen closet, then the tub.

Phase Change and Texture

Originally Steve wanted the back of the house to be completely earth sheltered.  There were several reasons why he had to compromise and the back of the house is now four feet out of the ground, as shown in the last picture of this post.  To have the same benefits of earth sheltering, which are mostly energy efficiency, at the back of the house, we are putting two layers of drywall with a phase change material in between.

The material is called bioPCmat and it better stabilizes building temperatures by absorbing and releasing more heat in less space than alternative building materials.

Here is what it looks like on the wall at partial installation (it is already covered with the second layer of drywall except at the top)

Here is a closeup of the sheets of bioPCmat, the squares are filled with a gel-like material

 The drywall has also been textured.  We chose to do knockdown texture.  Here is a closeup of the texture

Here is the great room with drywall and texture complete.