Hi, my name is Casey Grey and this is The Conscious Builder, an award-winning sustainable building company. Our area of expertise is in building to higher standards such as Passive House, R-2000, Net Zero Energy and Energy Star. I am committed to educating you on how to build and live more consciously. Subscribe to the channel and be sure to post your questions so that I can answer them for you.
Correct me if I’m wrong, but is this only needed when you’re trying to take down a loadbearing wall upstairs that is located in the same spot as the Beam downstairs
I’m in Nova Scotia where summers are extremely humid (80-90% is not uncommon) and the winters are very dry. I have lots of musical instruments that need to have perfect humidity and I can’t keep up with the manual maintenance so I’d rather make the air right. Should I get the ERV and run it all year round? Does it average out the humidity in the summer AND winter to a moderate level?
What about radiant heating or mini split heat pump conditioned homes? Are there ERV's that are designed to be installed for a room or two? This will be an off grid home that will be built in phases.
@Theconsciousbuilder my city told me that I can't build on the land that I own because it's in a flood way. I tore down my house and they will not allow me to build. Can they do that legally?
They can not stop you in most cases. You will have to meet the building standards. Read the FEMA information and have the authority having jurisdiction provide the specific information they are referencing. Make sure you read all related documents ENTIRELY. Often ppl will make blanket statements. You will probably need an engineering survey & plan.
@paulbrunner72GenX thank you so much for your help. I have a meeting with the Fema flood plain administrator of my county Monday. Praying for good news. I am willing to build to standards provided.
I like to keep the house cool all year 63-68f. Don’t much like those independent aircon units they never seem to cool things equally. My main concerns are 1- I usually turn off my heat early April but of course there can be cold snaps, don’t usually turn it on until mid November. Can these ambient systems be safely turned on and off like forced air whenever you like? Do you have to drain the system when not using it? Is that easy? Cheap? Or can the water be left in the system and it won’t freeze. 2- Are these systems cheap and easy to service when they break? I am looking at a house with electric water floor heating and no central aircon! It’s the one thing turning me off. I live in Quebec.
Radiant systems should be closed loops and should not need to be drained. The tubes themselves should not break. Only issues we have ever had with hydronic radiant heat is air locks or somebody puncturing the tubes by mistake. The heating unit itself could always fail too but that's no different than a forced air system. If it's water, there's always a possibility of them freezing but only if you allow it to get below freezing for long periods inside the house.
What I'm looking for is something that can insulate under the perimeter and load-bearing walls of the basement as well as under the slab. And if I can avoid the synthetic products, that's vastly preferable.
We have only ever used high load XPS below load bearing walls. Engineers need to spec it. You can use Rockwool Comfortboard under a slab that is not load bearing though.
Concrete guys will pour, finish and cut the joints. That's their job. What they will not do is come back and water the slab every day. That's YOUR job. Any slab that has been poured and then left alone will surely crack (water reducer helps with this btw). The severity of the cracking depends on how quickly the moisture left the slab AKA how hot and sunny it was. If you want to minimize cracks, then you better give it some shade and water it daily for as long as possible (7 to 14 days is the "recommended" time to keep it wet). There's a massive difference even with 3 - 4 days of watering (or ponding) compared to just pouring it and letting the sun ruin your slab. Poly under the slab also helps with cracking since it keeps the moisture in longer. A control joint is just 1 piece of the puzzle. If concrete dries out too fast your guaranteed to get some cracks in places you don't want them!
Hey man would you recommend simply not spraying curing compound and instead immediately beginning to pond/water the concrete constantly up to the 14 day mark? Also, when does watering commence? Would I start watering as soon as the concrete would have been ready to be spray cured? Trying to dial in what my movements are going to be with a slab I'm getting poured soon. While spray curing/sealing sounds easy and lazy, I'd rather put in the time to water it if it's going to help it to be stronger and maybe have less cracks. Thank you
I am looking forward to this career I found out early on at 18 that I am great at communicating, spread sheets, and assigning and or avg cost with materials all about numbers and %’s any one have any tips on where to start like who to look up to for a mentor other then studying online
I have an idea based off using heat from a Peltier unit used to cool a room, or a fridge etc, and water cooling the hot side, and using that heated water to heat floors. Thoughts?
@@Theconsciousbuilder thanks! If I ever find some time, I will! Maybe skip the Peltier and go straight to water cooling a crypto mining rig, with the floor as the heat exchanger. Not sure how well that would go in summer..
Nice that you offer us an insight in your way of life. I am from the Netherlands and we are orienting on building our own passive house. Although we have a different climate zone, much of what you aimed for is applicable here. I have a few questions that you might want to answer. It looks very dark inside, is that the case or to blaim on the filming? It looks like you have a lot of windows that can be opened. In a passive house that is not really necesarry. Is there a reason why you chose for it? It looks like the footprint of the house is abput 100m2 (1000 sgf). Is that a good estimate? If so, it is amazing how well you organised all the functions in that space.
Thanks for watching! Jane's home is 1,900 sq. ft. and very bright, which did cause some contrast issues while filming. You can learn more about the home on Jane's website here: www.ejwarchitect.com/basecamp.html
It is typically used on the roof but works for this; was a small order so it was more cost effective to use the same material for the whole coach house.
Yup. A 3 day form rental can easily make up to the difference, or way more, in his totals. That's also assuming you can actually get the foundation poured in 3 days. Sudden changes in weather might throw a wrench in the works. Once you include form rentals, ICF wins the cost to effective R value battle.
I WAS ASKED HOW I WANTED IT CUT. GAVE ME 2 OPTIONS I SAID ALL THE WAY THROUGH. NAIVE..I HAD WEED AND GRASS. GOING UP THE CUTS AND MANY CUTS HAD CHIP MARKS THROUGHOUT. BAD EXPERIENCE LESSON LEARNED SOLD THE HOUSE. DUDE GOT PAID 3150 BUKS FOR PISS POOR JOB
The tape is warrantied for thirty years, the tape and the way it’s installed is not warranted. When it comes lose it will be the installers fault no matter how much time they spent getting it right.
Why did the ventilation fan in my house suddenly stop? I set the timer for an hour, but it only worked for a few minutes and then suddenly stopped. I tried it many times and it was the same every time. What is the reason?😢
It depends on where the dew point is in your wall assembly. You may need to run it through a WUFI model. Ultimately, the code calls for a vapour barrier on the "warm" side of the wall assembly. Although that changes throughout the year, the inspector will want to see that on the interior unless you can show that it's not needed.
I’m 22 yrs old and want to get into the trade and one day be a contractor and own my own business, What type of jobs would you recommend best for overall knowledge to be a contractor in the future. Would it be carpentry?
If you're looking to be a residential contractor, I suggest working for a good renovation company. You can learn a lot ripping apart old houses and putting them back together. Good luck on your journey, and check out www.consciousbuilderacademy.com!
