Sustainable Retirement #11: Hotter than a Firecracker
First, about that word, green. Having abandoned the term in favor of the more ponderous word, sustainable, some explanation, of this writing eccentricity, seems in order. It goes thusly: The word, green, as a pro-environment, fight carbon, Save the Whales label,
has been corrupted by commercial overuse, misuse and misleading appropriation of an idea once so much more clearly expressed in certain usages of the word. A rebellious feeling against that commercial assault on the word triggered a completely useless, possibly counterproductive, but nevertheless implacable impulse, to make an utterly pointless gesture. Hence, the adoption of the much more cumbersome and, for some, tongue-tying word, sustainable. Nuff said.
Now comes the latest update on our project to historically, sustainably, restore, update and convert this two-family flat in St. Louis, MO to a single-family home where we plan to age-in-place during retirement, hopefully until it is time to wheel us out, feet first, under a sheet. The project is going into a very big week and things are hot, hot, hot.
The closing is next Thursday, on an especially auspicious day, February 19, when pitchers and catchers report for Major League Baseball Spring Training in Florida, etc. That morning includes a final walk-through. That day and Friday include meetings with several of the builders looking at building the project for us. There is a telephone conference with another on Tuesday, too. Things are very hot in the "finding the right contractor" department. It's been an education, dealing with folks in this business I'll write the whole story of that in one post when our selection is nailed down.
The plan is very well along. It does an excellent job, I think, balancing the three areas of desire that are driving this project for us: sustainability, historic preservation and aging-in-place. Of course, with us being human and all, all of these wishes often conflict with one another. Here is a small example: aging-in-place means designing for access and mobility, requiring larger spaces and doorways, etc. Ten or fifteen years from now, we might spend most of our time in motorized wheelchairs. Sustainability says make the living space smaller; accessibility says make it bigger.
The example serves to remind that this is the one sustainability area in which our project utterly fails. We will be occupying, when we don't have house-guests, an obscenely large amount of space, with two people in a building once built to house at least six, comfortably. But the project will have lots of successes, too, in all three areas, based on how it looks right now, deep into the preliminary design process.
For a more complete report on the current status of the project and the plan, step out into the tall grass.
The architect and his team are the one group of folks involved in this project where I still have full trust and confidence, so far. The architects are professionals and as a retired attorney, married to a still working attorney, I get along just fine with other professionals. I believe we understand one another very well.
My current feeling is that builders are of a different sort, though just how different and what sort I really can't say yet. We must also wend our way through two totally separate regulatory mazes, one for municipal historic restoration approval and permits, one for state approval of historic preservation tax credits. We have to settle on a contractor, final design and budget before those can even be submitted. Adventures yet to come abound.
Ah, but the plan. It is well along. Major areas addressed are as follows:
Historic Preservation: HP wins over Sustainability on the issue of windows. Modern, high-tech, multi-pane windows, though offering higher R values, lose-out to preservation of existing, old growth wood, double-hung sash windows. Dozens of these will be completely removed from the building and the house left boarded up while 107 yo glazing and finishes are removed and replaced with new seals, finishes, weatherstripping, etc. We will then add historically accurate storm windows. Hardwood floors will be refinished throughout most of the dwelling. The rooms in the front of the house and all openings visible from those rooms will be completely preserved, and restored, with only minimal modifications. Structural pigmented glass, not manufactured since the 1970's and in its heyday fifty years earlier, will be repurposed from the two existing bathrooms to one of the three new bathrooms. The originally designed access to and ironwork railing around the front balcony will be restored. The unusually elaborate masonry exterior will be conserved. Original Front room hearths will be conserved. Final finish design will reflect Arts & Crafts and Prairie Style influences, possibly with one Art Deco bathroom showcasing the conservation of the structural pigmented glass.
Aging in Place: The house is basically in three zones. Zone one is the first floor. it contains a large kitchen near the middle of the house, spanning the full width, the only room in the house with windows on opposite sides. To the rear of that is a family/den area, a fully accessible bath with roll-n shower, an entry nook from the rear (garage/alley) side of the house and a small bedroom/office. To the front of the kitchen is a formal dining room and in the front, the entry, stairs to the 2nd floor and a sitting room. On the 2nd floor, Zone 2 is the Master Suite, consisting of the front room with hearth, front French doors to balcony, reading nook, anteroom with tea bar, entered through French doors, and master bath with shower/tub wet room, double vanity and walk-in closet, all fully accessible. In the upstairs hall, just outside the master suite's French doors are a small laundry room and linen closet. Zone 3 is a two bedroom guest suite with bath on the hall. One of those rooms has a walk in closet. The stairs to the 2nd floor abut the outside wall of the house, of solid brick construction, providing adequate ability to anchor a chair lift to that wall upon need. Both landings are large enough to accommodate that.
Sustainability: The plan forgoes insulating the interior faces of exterior walls, except for the basement, which will be fully furred, dry-walled, insulated and encapsulated extending several feet above grade. Interior insulation of solid brick walls is fraught with peril to the brick itself. The walls are designed to breath from both sides and changing that changes how the wall responds to its environment. Sustainability loses to historic preservation in one way, but the brick wall needs to be conserved, too, for another 100 years, not risked in a chancy insulation scheme. Restoration of the windows will tighten them. Several doors will be sealed. We are looking at R38 blown foam in the 2nd floor ceiling joist spaces as well as possibly adding another R20 in the roofing material. Rooftop multistage, high efficiency rooftop HVAC packaged-unit and dedicated tankless hot water will service the second floor, basement units will service the first floor. The refinished roof will also support a photovoltaic array. I hope to make provision for future gray water recycling. The house has potential for solar loading on the West exposure which will be addressed with interior shades, possibly automated. Remnants of a post-construction awning on the front will be removed or, possibly, repurposed. Most lighting is provided by cans and drop fixtures, conducive to use of high efficiency LED and CFL light options. Exhaust fans will be Energy Star rated and on timers. Light switches will mostly have dimmers. We will probably opt for an induction cook-top.
We will take lots of photos and videos next week and report back after our meetings with designers and builders during that visit. Cross your fingers for us.