The Cottle Home, a 3200 sf luxury home in the heart of Silicon Valley, will produce all the energy required by its occupants to live and stay comfortable from solar energy systems mounted on its roof. This is possible because the building has been designed in cooperation with the US Dept. of Energy's Building America program dedicated to high performance building science and technology, and the home design meets the international Passive House standard which is so energy efficient that the building can be heated with a hair dryer.
The story of the design, construction and performance of a Zero Energy Home in Silicon Valley has begun. Stay tuned. See the Follow Us page for ways to receive updates.
Advanced Framing, sometimes called Optimum Value Engineering (OVE), refers to framing techniques designed to reduce the amount of lumber used and the waste generated in the construction of a wood-framed house while maximizing the energy efficiency of the wall assemblies by making more room for high R-value insulation of R3 to R6 per inch instead of wood at only about R1 per inch.
Our project is ready for the ground floor girder and joist installation over the fully-insulated, conditioned crawlspace. Engineered Parallam girders and TJI joists are specified for their superior span length, uniformity and use of Oriented Strand lumber milling by-products, a sustainable materials characteristic.
The framing meets the foundation at the mudsill and the space between them can be the cause of serious air leaks which transport moisture and waste heating/cooling energy. In order to insure an airtight crawl space we made a tight seal between the mudsill and the top of the foundation by placing polyethylene sheeting between the mud sill and the top of the foundation.
The finished soil grade will be sloped away from the building so that surface water will naturally drain away from the structure. As an additional best practice for managing site and foundation drainage, we have installed a sub-surface "French drain" system at the base of the foundation walls to insure that sub-surface water can never accumulate and seep into the crawlspace. Storm of the century or flood?? ...bring it on. This house will stay high and dry.
The crew is applying a special blend of adhesive, high strength, elastomeric liquid rubber to the exterior ICF walls which will create a water-proof membrane around the foundation. This coating is waterbased and contains no petroleum. It is non-toxic and VOC-free.
After the four inch gravel layer, sealed poly sheeting and rigid EPS foam insulation we finish off our crawlspace with a three inch thick layer of concrete. Concrete not only protects the foam but also protects the the house from termites and other pests.
