A lot of progress....

With Collegiate Challenge came many hectic days, but a lot of progress. Moral of the story- lots of work was done on the Net Zero Energy House over the course of the last month, but I failed to update.


So let’s think back to the middle of February…
On February 17^th, the geothermal loop was dug by Anderson Wells. The well consisted of two vertical loops of polyethylene pipe that were installed using a drill rig. The depth of the pipe can average from 150 to 300 feet deep. Each of our loops was 250 feet deep. A third loop was used to pump a special grout solution that will ensure good contact with the earth and improve heat transfer. The vertical loop design is used when installation space is constrained.

Geothermal heat pumps (GHPs) use the constant temperature of the earth as the exchange medium instead of the outside air temperature. This allows the system to reach fairly high efficiencies (300%-600%) on the coldest of winter nights, compared to 175%-250% for air-source heat pumps on cool days.  An antifreeze/water solution is circulated through the pipes to act as the transport medium for the heat or cooling. Ground water is pumped through the heat pump heat exchanger where heat is extracted in the winter or rejected in the summer.

Geothermal heat pumps have been around since the 1940s but are becoming more and more popular due to their environmental friendliness, the lower cost of energy bills, and the comfort they provide.

A big thank you goes out to Anderson Welling for spending their entire day drilling. Also, thanks to Don Easson for everything he did organizing the day and for being on site to answer questions. This system will significantly reduce the heating and cooling costs for our homeowner.

Polyethylene Pipe

 Don Easson explains how the well will work

The end result

This time we decided not to lay the blocks for the foundation ourselves. Our good friend, Jesus, took care of the blocks. He said that this was one of the most level foundations that he has seen. It’s good to see that our new laser level was put to good use!

College of Charleston's chapter of Alpha Phi Omega joined us to spread dirt around the foundation.

A group from Jamestown Presbyterian Church joined us for the week of February 22. They generally come every year and do a fantastic job. They were able to install the floor joists! Here are some pictures from their week:

The Rotary and Interact Clubs picked up where Jamestown Presbyterian left off and installed the subfloor:

The walls and roof will consist of Structurally Insulated Panels (SIPs). Essentially SIPs are two pieces of oriented strand board (OSB) with a piece of rigid foam sandwiched in between. The panels are manufactured under factory controlled conditions and can be custom made for any home. The result is an extremely strong, cost effective, energy efficient building system that will save both time and money. In our case, the installation of these panels took longer than expected, but once they were up, the place started to really look like a house.

SIPs waiting to be installed

The next tasks were to build the interior walls, including a roof system to support the SIPs serving as the roof. We had college students from 9 different colleges join us over the course of 5 weeks. These students played a huge role in the framing of this house. They were able to totally prepare the house for the roof.

The roof presented more challenges. Each roof panel was 19 feet long and weighed approximately 300 pounds. So, a fork lift was used as a crane to lift the panels up to the roof. It was a slow, but effective process. It took about a week to get all of the panels up on the roof.  

One side of the house is finished.

The LAST section is being installed!

The subfascia was installed by members of the Rotary Club

As you can see, the house has come a long way over the past month. Tomorrow we will begin wrapping the house and installing windows. Check back for updates!