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An Almost Completely Bernie Free Diary
Ten months have passed since I posted this, in a diary titled, We Must Be Nuts:
Mrs. Left and I are contemplating acquiring a rundown 19th Century house in an urban historic preservation district and totally conserving the original exterior, fully gutting while redesigning a fully modern interior and building the whole thing as green as present technology will permit.
A series of diaries after that followed the hunt for and acquisition of the right building for the project in the right neighborhood.
This week we are filing our preliminary historic tax credit application with the Missouri Department of Economic Development (DED). Once DED acknowledges acceptance of the preliminary package, we can move the design through the State Historic Preservation Office and the building permit through city preservation office, and then we can actually begin the work. This is a big milestone for our project. Hopefully, our little fixer-upper, in time, could become a clubhouse for St. Louis Kossacks.
For the story of how close we came to our original intent, where we expect to end up, and why this isn't a totally Bernie free diary, step out into the tall grass.
There are lots of modern green technology that will not be included in this project, at least not in the initial phase. When we move in, we won't yet have a PV roof. We won't yet have the historically correct storm windows. We will have nether rainwater nor gray water recovery. But the building systems will be ready for all of those upgrades.
However, other aspects still make this a sustainable, carbon friendly endeavor. First, we are beginning with a fundamentally sound massive masonry structure designed and built with inherent environmental and energy conserving capabilities that still endure. More on that below. In addition, we are adding R-38 ceiling insulation in the 2nd floor rafters, multizone high-efficiency, smart and adaptive HVAC, high efficiency lighting, high efficiency plumbing fixtures and hot water, reflective roofing and high efficiency home appliances including induction cooking.
Since the time that we originally admitted the insanity of our dream, we have learned a lot and more about historic preservation. Which brings us back to a big reason we are in this to start with -- the massive masonry structure. I knew I wanted one. But I didn't truly understand at first how central the structure itself was to my dreams of sustainability. I've just lately found a joint-agency government publication, Energy Conserving Features Inherent In Older Homes, that illuminates the unique environmental value of structures, and neighborhoods like ours, in sustainable living.
Before the advent of scientific building research and testing, house design and construction were based on empirical knowledge and traditions going back enturies. Accumulated knowledge tended to evolve into distinct house forms in different parts of the world in relation to the local cimate.
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Some features are adaptable to different climates and materials. Masonry walls are particularly versatile. Their high thermal inertia means that they absorb heat slowly and give it off slowly. In cold climates, heat from the sun and that produced inside the house is absorbed during the day and radiated at night, when it is needed. The same phenomenon is useful in hot climates because the absorbed heat lowers the maximum daytime air temperature in the building. After the sun goes down, the absorbed heat is released as the air temperature drops, when it is less noticeable.
The study is aimed at homes built before 1920 which squarely fits my 1908 beauty. It goes on to discuss and compare some two dozen "examples of energy conscious features" found in historical homes of the era. Our structure benefits from ten of these. Some of the examples particularly benefit homes in the most extreme Northern or Southern US climates. Only a very odd home would sport all two dozen features.
Anyone from St. Louis will bemoan the city's extreme weather on all sides and spectra. But our fair city is the Middle Earth of U.S. Climate. Hot, but not baking, arid, parched desert haot; Cold but not Lake Superior hammer cracking UPer snowmobiling cold. St. Louis catches parts of but usually not the worst of all the weather extremes elsewhere.
So, the empirical designers of times gone by would have built in a middle ground style just for St.Louis, a design named by an architectural historian we consulted as a "vernacular town home". We hope to honor those builders. We are fully restoring the original the exterior including all original wood and windows (except for replacement of a dilapidated rear porch). We are restoring original wood floors along with baseboards, French doors and other reused doors. Some interior design features will be replicated by new interior construction. 1920's Era decorative structural glass will be repurposed to a newly constructed art deco style bathroom. Original but badly damaged basket weave style bathroom tile will be replicated in new bathroom construction.
I felt awkward when Navajo asked me to consider leading St. Louis Kossacks. I don't live in St. Louis yet, notwithstanding my substantial and growing investment in the community. But soon that growth will be complete and St. Louis will be my full time home and base of operations.
I"ll be working my ass off, I hope, for Bernie Sanders, by then, but that isn't why this post isn't totally not about Bernie. Anyone who takes time to post a diary about sustainability, conservation, reuse and re-purposing rather than growth for growths sake, should tip their hat to Bernie, who is unquestionably the best candidate in the field on the environment and climate. Just ask Mother Jones, she'll tell ya. That's why this diary isn't entirely not about Bernie.