Hunter Hill House - Checklist

I am starting in earnest to prepare for building our Sullivan Countly, NY country home in the Catskills. It is my intention to document the process for my own reference and to benefit others with similiar ambitions.

There are a number of areas I am focused on:

Design Criteria

Many of these are going to come from Passive House sustainability requirements (see below), but below is some information from the Town of Neversink:

• FEMA Flood Community: # 360828

• NYS Department of Environmental Conservation Region 3 (I doubt this applies)

• Agricultural District 4 (It does not look like this applies to our lot)

• Climate Zone 6

• Wind Speed: 90 MPH

• Snow Load: 50 pds

• Frost Depth: 48 inches

• Insulation (IRC -N1102.1.2) R-49 Ceilings R-30 Base Ceiling R-20 + 5 walls (new wood frame)

For Prefab Metal Buildings movement of structural members is a big concern. The International Residential Code covers these requirements:

• IRC Allowable Deflection of Structural Members

Sustainability

Currently, I am targeting a Passive House certified building through PHIUS, one of two US-based Passive House organizations. To be Passive House certified, a house must meet the criteria in the PHIUS+ 2018 Passive Building Standard Certification Guidebook. and also the criteria for New York Sullivan County EPA Energy Star Certified Homes, EPA Indoor AirPLUS Qualified Home, and DOE Zero Energy Ready Homes.

The below are basic principles from the PHIUS website:

Passive building comprises a set of design principles used to attain a quantifiable and rigorous level of energy efficiency within a specific quantifiable comfort level. "Optimize your gains and losses" based on climate summarizes the approach. To that end, a passive building is designed and built in accordance with these five building-science principles:

• Employs continuous insulation throughout its entire envelope without any thermal bridging.

• The building envelope is extremely airtight, preventing infiltration of outside air and loss of conditioned air.

• Employs high-performance windows (double or triple-paned windows depending on climate and building type) and doors - solar gain is managed to exploit the sun's energy for heating purposes in the heating season and to minimize overheating during the cooling season.

• Uses some form of balanced heat- and moisture-recovery ventilation.

• Uses a minimal space conditioning system.

Building Department Approvals

For the Permit application we need:

• 2 sets of stamped Construction Plans

• Truss Package - Fire Department Placarding (?)

• Approved Septic Design NYS Stamped

• Foundation Plan NYS Stamped

• Electrician - Sullivan County License only - Copy of License

• Third-Party Inspections for LP Gas and Electrical

• NYS Workman's Compensation Blanket Insurance Policy from all contractors

For Energy Code we need:

• RESCHECK Compliance Report

• Air Exchange System Design, Model Installation Manual

• Heat Load Calculations, Heating Unit Model, Installation Manual

• Cooling Load Calculations, Cooling Unit Model, Installation Manual

• Basement Insulation Code Compliant

• House Blower Door Test, 3rd Party Contractor Copy of Certifications

• Duct Blasting Test, 3rd Party Contractor Copy of Certifications

Cost Estimates

Cost Estimates will be based on the following building components:

• Septic System (+/- $15,000) Shallow Absorption Trench System for a three-bedroom house
  

• Well (+/- $15,000)
  

• Foundation There is bedrock 2 to 3 feet below the surface of the property, so the current plan is to build foundation walls anchored directly to the bedrock, with fill and thick insulation to create a slab on grade. The slab will actually be above grade so there will be minimal excavation - primarily for the foundation walls.

  • For the Foundation walls I am considering ICF or Nexcem

  • For the underslab insulation I am considering Perlite as part of the system.
    

• Core and Shell The Core and Shell is planned to be a prefabricated metal building with insulated metal panels. The "Basis of Design" is a Metallic Building Systems Gable Symmetrical Structure. I was originally interested in Centria Versapanels but may go with MetlSpan. A 4" Insulated Metal Panel (IMP) gives an R-Value of 31. Exhaustive MetlSpan details are here.
  

• Windows & Doors Phius has a list of windows & Doors that meet their requirements for Zone 6.

• Alpen Tyrol TR-9 PH+ C Tilt Turn windows Balanced 9 PH+ or High Gain 9 PH+ (Unplasticized Polyvinyl Chloride (uPVC))

• Zola Thermoclad Tilt/Turn Quad Hi-G Kr C (Aluminum Clad Wood)

• Zola Thermoplus Clad Tilt/Turn Quad Hi-G Kr B (Aluminum Clad Wood)

• Zola No Compromise T&T Quad Hi-G Kr B (Aluminum Clad Wood)

• Westeck Revolution XL Lift Slide Doors OPT450 VL B or OPT480 VL B
  

• European Rolling Shutters

  • Shade and Shutter Systems

  • Somfy Rolling Shutters

  • Rollac Rolling Shutters
    

• Energy Recovery Ventilators or Heat Recovery Ventilators and Ductwork I am not sure whether to go with an ERV or an HRV. The below diagram makes the choice look simple (ERV for Hot Humid Summer & Cold Dry Winter), but there may be more involved:

• This article makes it seem like a simple choice to go with an ERV

• This one seems to indicate that in a Passive House that an HRV is a better choice.

• This article talks about recommended ERVs and HRVs for Passive House.

• Passive House Buildings Magazine has many more options listed

• Zender Q350 ERV seems to be a top-of-the-line choice and is a certified Passive House component for medium size houses in colder climates. It is pricey, at $3,400 for the component alone.

• Zender ComfoAir350 HRV seems to be also OK for colder climates and is featured in this article. It costs $2,650.00, and, apparently, a full install on a 1,500 SF house runs about $9K.

Getting Started: Summer of 2021

Given the COVID-inspired building boom and the supply chain issues for materials, we are going to delay construction until Spring of 2022. Hopefully, contractors will be more responsive and available then. In the meantime we have a few short-term objectives for this summer:

• Temporary Power

• A level 2 charging station for our electric car

• A 20-foot shipping container for on-site storage

  • Dwell Magazine recommends http://www.greencubenetwork.org page titled "Eco Green Shipping Container Dealers" for finding legitimate dealers for shipping containers

• A topographical survey so we can locate the house and septic system and file with the town

Mitigating Radon

Sullivan County is high on Radon in the soil, and our property has bedrock two feet below the surface of the soil (not a good sign). So I am researching Radon Mitigation.

Appendix F of the IBC has information on Radon Mitigation.

European Shutters and Bifold Doors

European Shutters

As a teenager I did a study abroad program and lived with a French family in a contemporary house that had exterior roll-down shutters for extra insulation at night. This always seemed immensely practical to me and not only insulates the building but adds security, an issue that concerns us for our isolated house in the Catskills when we are not there.

One manufacturer is Somfy Systems. Clearly they are an established company in France, likely the ones who made the shutters for the home I was staying in. A local dealer is Specialized Shading Systems in Ardsley, NY. The shutter roll-up mechanism would be inset into the exterior soffit over the window:

Bifold Doors

One concept I was playing around with for our Catskills homes is to use horizontal bifold doors (like hangar doors) to insulate our sliding glass doors at night and to create a 4' brille-soleil in summer to keep the space cool. The sun is low enough in the winter that the 4' overhang may not block much sun. Below is an example:

Schweiss Bifold Doors have made a variety of bifold doors. The ones they did for Yankee Stadium seem to be the right scale for what I am looking for.

Below is an example of their doors using metal siding:

I will most likely go with a "Bottom Drive" door which has the motor mounted onto the door itself. Here are the details for it and an image below of the look:

Crown offers Hydraulic doors which may be more attractive. They show only glass but the frame may support metal.