dimanche 25 juillet 2010

The containers: the movie ! (updated version)

The Container Studio GmbH is proud to present to you, as a world first, the movie of the installation of the containers !


Shot with the "time lapse" technic, a picture every 5 second, made into a film which shows in 1'30" what happened during the actual hour of installation of the containers (you are reading right: one hour only !)


Note: you can download a far better version of this movie (in HD, 1280x72015 Mo file) by following this link:

C-Day: delivery the shipping containers

Until now, the pictures on this blog could let the impression of a "normal" construction : a hole, concrete, nothing more than usual ...
But on July 21, something happened that definitely differentiate this home from the other houses in the neighborhood, and (we may say) the vast majority of homes in general: the containers!

We had a little apprehension (... no, a HUGE one, in fact!), to realize that after all these dreams and all that work, the containers may not be able to enter into the field.
The road is quite narrow, with closed turning angle. Will the trucks be able to jack in and to enter our land?
The driver came a few days earlier to check with his own professional eye, but we knew we would sleep again only once the containers installed ...

As you can see with these pictures, that was close!

Y




A big "thank you" to:
- Our two friendly neighbors, who graciously sacrificed some privet hedge and a few meters of fencing to facilitate the passage of trucks,
- The professionalism of these two drivers, and the fact that they chose (fortunately) to use trailers with  two hinged axles,
- Support and numerous questions of the people from the neighborhoods, very interested and curious to see the arrival of these incongruous boxes on their city land.
Thanks to all of them, the containers are now installed.



Finally, we see pieces of wood!


The slab is dry! 
A team was here in the morning to rid the site of all formwork and other equipment necessary for the "big work", as it is now complete. 
But very pleasant surprise, they also very carefully collected and removed all plastics, concrete rubble, bits of wood and other yard waste! 
The site is clean as a whistle, it changes from what we see too often in France ... ;-)

The "Men of Renken", the carpenters, are setting the bases which will bear the wooden structure. 
Douglas fir, red and fragrant ... 

Let us make promotion for our builder (wooden house and containers work): 

Renken GmbH 
Alte Landstrasse 28 
29640 Schneverdingen OT Lünzen 
www.renken-holzbau.de

Concrete, more concrete!


The cement mixer came and poured its load of concrete into the foundation formwork.
Let it dry !

Insulation under the slab


Installing the insulation layer on which will be poured the foundation slab of the house. 
He had to convince the architect that the concrete slab should be ABOVE the insulation (and not the opposite, as with any "respectable house!"), so that the concrete slab acts as a heat accumulator when the sun shines (solar gain and thermal inertia are 2 of the principles of a passive house) and so can radiate back this stored heat into the house on cooler days. 
The formwork is in place, two more layers of insulation and the concrete rebar still to be installed. 

The Great Fire, July 2010


Before construction begins, we asked permission to the city (it's the law!) to burn the branches and stumps left after the Great Tree Slaughter. 
We hit it: one of the hottest days of this hot month of July! ... 
You will notice the size of the heap of coals: a mega-giant barbecue,from which one should not stay more than a few seconds at less than 5 meters, at the risk of becoming himself the piece of meat roasting on the pit! 


My face "piece of meat roasted on the pit" shows that office work is much cleaner! 

vendredi 23 juillet 2010

First foundations!



Here it is! The excavators removed the topsoil, leveling sand was poured in the hole, and the 4 foundation blocks for the containers are cast.

A moment of intense emotion (woohoo!), we can now "touch" our house, and visualize its size, after so many months where it was only a few lines on paper ...

The owner at work ...



A wonderful neighbor came with his chainsaw and cut down the 5 very ugly pine-trees (see photo of the ground "before") as they were going to cast shadows on the house. 
But I had to cut myself the few remaining trees which were growing at the location of the future "earth-wall" along the path of AKN.
The chainsaw gone, I just had a hand-saw, and the encouragement of the passenger on the regional train!
Sweat and body aches for your poor "office rat"! ...

Rainwater system: the tanks





The rainwater tanks are here!
The big tank (5m3) will store roof water from the gutters, and a seepage tank (the smaller blocks with holes) will absorb the overflows, as it is forbidden here to discharge storm-water into sewers for all new construction.
It is a very good law, rainwater returns to the water-bed where it belongs, rather than finishing in a river and sea after an unnecessary passage through a sewage treatment plant ...

View from the ground ... when it was still a garden



Here is the ground before the excavators' waltz caused ... some drastic changes!

jeudi 22 juillet 2010

Bird's-eye view



We did our best to described our home and the disposition of the rooms, but we realize that we do not yet have given you a clear view of its orientation relative to the South, so important for a passive house.

A small picture is worth a thousand words. With this image (again, done very quickly with Google SketchUp and a view of the neighborhood from Google Earth), you can locate the openings and the general orientation relative to the South.

Like a (digital) bird flying over this little corner of Norderstedt ...

mardi 20 juillet 2010

Upper Floor


The staircase leads you upstairs.
The stairs ... Here is something that had caused a lot of head-scratching! Because we were looking for compactness, we really had much trouble finding a sensible location for the stairs that does not "eat" too much space. Various solutions (thanks to SketchUp, one more time !), such as placing it outside in its own envelope or between home and containers, have been thought of, but due to other constrains (related to energy conservation, principally, and practicality), we had to admit that this was the only suitable location. A few precious square meters will not be used for other purposes, but hey, we must go upstairs! ...


You will notice that the floor plan is almost identical to the ground floor: simplicity, economy.


This upper floor will include a large room (UP2) ... which usage is unknown for the moment, although Sylvie seems to have put a serious option on its use! She is considering painting here, imagining already her easel in the southeast corner, enjoying the light and warmth. What woman wants ... Ok, this is Sylvie’s paint shop, then.


Through a sliding door, we will access to our bedroom (UP3). This is not a large room, we will only sleep there (!), and we preferred to keep space elsewhere for the day's activities.
A dressing-room (UP4) is attached, where to store our belongings.


Through this dressing-room, we will access to the laundry (UP5): washing machine (which I intend to connect to the network of rainwater when its quality will be good enough), dryer, etc..
A dryer? A priori, nothing less “green” than a dryer! However, this accessory is producing a significant amount of heat. That's why one does NOT recommend its use ... in a poorly insulated house, but in a passive house, every calorie emitted inside has a chance of being "used" (not scientific, my blah-blah?). The dryer will then heat the house efficiently during cold days. Obviously, the highly efficient drying line and the gentle wind of the garden will take care of cloth-drying on fine days!


The second bathroom (UP6) will be completed later (lack of financial resources ?... Yes, that's the point)


The upper container (UP1) is insulated. Lighted by two windows on the south-east and south-west, it will be used as “hobby room”. I am already planning to set our home-theater in the "dark" end of the container: Well separated from the living rooms, the sound effects of a movie like "Lord of the Ring" should not bother LeChat, our sleeping cat!
This “dark corner” will be highly modular, I will also set my photo studio there, and we plan to construct a folding bed for our family and friends.
Get ready to to play in "A night in a container"! ...


Now that you know how our house looks like, we will propose you in the next few posts to follow the steps in the actual construction. We will also come back on design details and techniques.

lundi 19 juillet 2010

Please, come and enter ! The ground floor.


After the external views, we now kindly invite you to visit the house (but only virtually, however) .

The entrance will be in the container, through an airlock (FL1). This lock will prevent precious warm air from escaping from the house during the cold or windy days. Raincoats and boots, so necessary in this Far-North climate (we exaggerate, it's the same weather as in Paris! ), will dry in this mudroom, preventing the increase of the humidity level in the living rooms.

On the right, still in the container, the storage room, FL2, our "attic and cellar". Shelvings, transparent plastic boxes, we hope to store and find there all our little treasures!
On the left, my little shop, FL3. I am a handyman, I will make stuff there!

We remind you that this container will remain non-isolated, crude, and will be visible as such, the symbol of a different way of recycling or reusing this vector of the world trade.

Entering the house, you will find the stairs to the upper floor.
To help capture and store the heat, a "block" of masonry is built in the center of the house. Inside is located a first bath, FL8, with shower and toilet and the technical room, FL9, where will be located the ventilation system, the hot water tank, etc.

The main room FL4 will be shared between the lounge, facing the windows, and the dining room, with access to the open kitchen (FL5). A "cellar" FL6 allows a practical storage with direct access to the kitchen.
A pellet oven located under the stairs will irradiate its warmth during the long winter days without sun.

Please note the relative thickness of the walls. The wooden frame will be insulated with "cellulose wool", made from ... recycled paper !

mardi 13 juillet 2010

View from the North

View from the South

The finalized project

Enough blah blah, we now owe you a picture, so that you finally see this house!
Please see the "View from the South" and "View from the North" posts.


First, be aware that we have drawn almost a hundred "drafts" before the final design becomes evident.
One hundred sketches, location studies of rooms, orientation, movement, and still other changes once the land was purchased and the location of the house set.
Fortunately, an incredible tool has allowed us to chain-draw these drafts, permiting us to change very quickly the layout of rooms and / or the surface, this tool is the free program Google SketchUp.
Eternal Gratitude!


A quick tour of the house?


As explained in the previous post, it marries the concepts we wanted implemented:
- Wood frame
- Use of two containers for “extra rooms”
- The closest to the required specifications to get the title of "passive house" (why not a "true" passive house? We will return on this later)
- And therefore, a very energy efficient and practical home, giving us as much independence as possible.


The house itself is rather compact (100 square meters on two levels total), the children are grown and are “flying” on their own now, no need for 6 additional rooms to build, to heat and to maintain!
It is protected on the north by the stacked containers, which still provide an additional 2x 28 sqm.
The lower container is left as-is, for aesthetic choice, and includes the airlock located in the middle, flanked by a storage area (no basement or attic, it is our choice) and a shop, also accessible through the two large doors of the container.
The one above is isolated (20 cm, it is not the "passive house standard", but how isolated is your own home ?) and it is intended to serve as leisure/hobby room. The doors are removed and replaced by a large window, with another tall, narrow window on the side to bring more light.


The roof is flat, more than 40 cm of insulation, and a film of air between the insulation and the outer membrane to prevent summer overheating.
Solar thermal panels (hot water) will face the sunny star of the day: we will enjoy "energy-independent" showers (as they will not be “free” before the amortization of these panels !)
And the rain water will be stored in a tank of 5 cu.m, to be used for toilets and garden.


After the outside visit, we'll take you soon into the house, and describe the rooms layout.

lundi 12 juillet 2010

Our House: the genesis

If you ask, we will reply that we have been thinking about this house since nearly 20 years ...


Of course, from our first thoughts (the log houses, discovered during our stay in Seattle), the drifts to modules based on shipping containers (desire of compactness, recycling of a trivial and universal material), the "environmentalists" sensitivities (fantasy: to save the planet all alone?!...), and finally learning what is a passive house (a German concept), the final "soup" includes a little of each of these "vegetables", which have long simmered over the years!


First: wood.
Uh, what to say more? Ancestral material fully adaptable and responsive to the constrains of modern (and future!) construction, it combines great flexibility of use with an unbeatable environmental friendliness.
But, also, we must admit: we have taken into horror (that's the word!) the "parpaing" (cinder block), this disgusting concrete cube, typically French!
What could be more paradoxical to it than wood?
Why wood, then? Probably a simple mental allergy to cinderblock ...


Then: the container.
Yes, yes, THE shipping container, the "tin box" found in all ports around the world!
Living in a container?... At first glance, the idea is not stupid: for a few dollars, one gets a floor, 4 walls and a roof, transportable on a truck, a little toying with a crane, and presto: a house! ...
Except ...
Let's be reasonable: it's just a raw box of sheet metal, nothing else, and a "metallic tunnel", moreover, 6 or 12 meters long and 2.50 m wide only.
It's not livable, 2.50 m wide! ...
But ...
Being able to reuse one way or an other this "container" that carries 90% (!) of world trade, a vital tool in this economy that goes too fast, but which also feed us, seems a little challenge, a way of diverting from its original usage and highlighting a object vital to our "civilization" but completely ignored by the majority ...


Ecology:
Ok, we had our "greeen!" period... Ho, just a bit, enough to realize that there are many other ways to make, move, build, buy, eat, ...
The result of this period: we will not save the world, but let give us the means to save ourselves, choosing the "common sense" alternatives.
Selfishness? Well, by showing to others, through this blog, if we can convince only ONE family to put into question the "established order" and change a little (it does not take much! ) its lifestyle, we would be proud of having shown these people that other solutions exist.


A precision. We are saying loud and clear that we are not "ecologists" or acting purely "for the good of the planet"!
We would like to be as pragmatic as possible and take into account the solutions and tools that allow us to:
- not depend entirely on a “system” (energy, pensions, etc. ...)
- live a healthier lifestyle, to pay more attention to what surrounds us, and to avoid "being dirty" just because we do not want to make any effort.
If the result is close to an "environmentalist" attitude, the better, but it is not out of “green” conviction that we act.
Only common sense.




Passive House:
We are now at the heart of the matter!


The discovery of this concept (no fear, it is only common sense, once again!) was a great move towards the answer to our questions.


What then is a passive house?


3 principles:
- A house and rooms layout favoring the recovery and storage of the heat from the sun (Principle No. 1: as long as it shines, why not take advantage of this free heat?)
- An excellent thermal insulation and air-tightness (Principle No. 2: keep the heat in)
- A ventilation system to recover most of this heat (Principle No. 3: one MUST renew the air of a home, but we try to avoid "heating the clouds" with our air at 20 ° C)


Solutions to implement these principles:
- Orientation and openings taking into account the path of the sun (note: a calculation or estimation is necessary, especially to avoid overheating in summer!), with massive and heat-absorbent material inside the house to store the heat collected,
- An insulation as thick as possible (30 or 40 cm of insulation is the norm!), while taking the greatest care possible to prevent "air leakages", the points of entry of cold air and the passages through which the hot air escape (by taping each joint, and with greater attention to construction quality)
- "Double flux" ventilation to recover, through a heat exchanger, the heat of the “used” hot air, and to warm the “fresh” air (in both senses) brought in the house. A yield of 90% is generally cited for these devices.


“Fully loaded” with all these information, stored in our minds, we were finally able to bring these concepts into our project when we decided to "throw anchor" in northern Germany.


We promise to unveil the result very soon!

mercredi 7 juillet 2010

A little back in time ...

Things are going fast ... and we are just creating this blog now.



But before going further, we would like to come back on our project to explain our approach and its development.



“Home, sweet home” is an old dream, especially for us, expatriates, who lived the last years in several housings. Rented houses or flats, each of them with a “little thing” related to the country, the culture, local way of living, the climate (sometime !…)



Two mains goals for our future home :
-          to be as much independent of “energy” as possible,
-          to live in a house comfortable, healthy, easy to live and original.

Energy independance :
Without being « catastrophist », and without being pessimistically or enthusiastically ecologist, we are realistically thinking that energy costs can only become higher and higher.
Then, we do not want to bet on what our retirement pensions will be in 15 years from now.
As we do not know how much money we will have once retired, we would like to avoid “freezing our asses” in a cold house because we will not be able to pay the energy bills.



Comfortable home :
Today, solutions exist which are well understood and valid, to make a house « comfortable ». If a living space is designed to « breath » and to avoid « cold spots », for exemple, which create condensation, molds and health problem, a large part of the inconvenients of today’s building will be prevented.
And these solutions are, incidentally, going in the direction of energy saving, which is in line with our first goal !



We will come back soon on the « solutions » (only good old “common sense”, you will see !) we selected for our house.