Need advice: building in rural Washington state.
frakis
2 years ago
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frakis
2 years agofrakis
2 years agoRelated Discussions
Washington state scrambles to fight massive tree die-offs
Comments (11)I was up in eastern British Columbia this Spring and saw many square miles of bark beetle infestations. I was in Colorado from Steamboat Springs to Pagosa Springs this summer and saw the same thing there. I crossed the Continental divide 28 times in one trip from Montana to New Mexico. Yellowstone twice, going and coming. The destruction is devastating! I was also in Yosemite National Park where they do a lot of controlled burns as well as in the Calaveras Grove just north of there. We stayed in Oakhurst near Yosemite and Angels Camp near The Calaveras Grove of Sequoiandendron gigantea. Heat and bare ground are necessary for seed germination for these trees. That's why they burn, in addition to reduce fuel build up caused by fire suppression. The forest Service has numerous pamphlets outlining the benefits of controlled burning. They even admit it took a while to soak in. Their new goal is, diversification in both number of species, and varying ages in the same stand. Bark beetles have always been around. Good forest management might be able to minimize the effect on our forests. I can't see spraying as a viable option in the long run. We also visited the Redwood forests near Eureka, California and the forests around Mt Hood in Oregon for a week. We did some real traveling this year! Now I get to play catch up in the garden! Mike...See MoreGeothermal HVAC in Rural Western New York State
Comments (8)Geothermal will work anywhere - without a back up heat assist. The reason, underground the temperature is constant. With a regular heat pump, the heat pump pulls heat out of the air and brings it into your home. So when the temperature goes below a certain point, it needs a backup system - the dreaded "blue light". We dread it because it means high expensive electricity is being used to heat your home. That doesn't happen with a Geothermal System. It doesnt' get that cold underground. It's usually about 57 degrees F down there and the heat pump works great, never really needing your back up system. I know all this because I'm having a home built right now and I had the builder put in a Geothermal Ground Loop System. Of course he subcontracted it out, but I didn't mind because he did get someone familiar with installing them. The system I'm getting is an Advanced Geothermal System. It's what they call a DX system - a Direct Exchange. The copper pipes carry the refrigerant down into the ground loops where the temperature changes it from gas to liquid, or from liquid to gas - depending on what mode the system is operating in - heating or cooling. Regular ground loops systems carry water down into the ground loops and then exchanges it with the refrigerant onces it gets back into the main part of the system. So it does two exchangese - while the DX system only does one (its much more efficient). One other good point to make is that the air heated by a DX Ground loop system is about 100 degrees F. So what comes out of your vents feels warm. A regulare heat pump's air is only a few degrees warmer than the air so that air feels cool all the time. For more information - check out the link associated with this post. And don't forget to check out their links. Good luck with your Geothermal System. I wish the Gov't would push these systems more - they are so darn effecient they'll reduce our dependency on foreign oil very quickly. Ken Here is a link that might be useful: Advanced Geothermal Technology...See MoreBuilding contemporary beach home in WA state--need window help
Comments (14)Mark, again, thank you for your input. Our neighbors have used Milgard fiberglass windows. I know that they will perform well in the salt air environment. The only objection I have is for combination windows due to the width of the area where the two different types of windows meet. One thing we could do in order to eliminate the sight lines being blocked, is to use a combination of a fixed window and then put a transom window above it. Because the windows are so tall it will be well above even the tallest person's sight lines. Our other option might be to use a different type of window in the great room area which encompasses a living, dining, kitchen area and open stairwell....See MoreBuilding contemporary beach home in WA state--need window help
Comments (8)Thank you for the suggestions...we have considered changing the 3 window openings into one opening, but the plans would have to go back to engineering. That said, we certainly will do that if we can't come up with something that works for us. We don't need a lot of ventilation...in fact, the dining area can be seen on the picture I uploaded--it is located where the sliding doors is and there is a matching one across from it ( 15' away) and with both opened we would have a nice breeze--except on calm days, of course. The view is Puget Sound and our beach. I designed the floor plan with this goal: Upon opening the front door one would look directly out the windows to see the view. Do you have an aluminum window company that you recommend?...See Morefrakis
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