The Backyard

When we decided on this location and purchased the land, we still had no idea what our backyard would look like.  The trees and bushes were so dense and filled with vines that we could barely see the ground below.  Once winter began we finally got our first glance of what our future yard would look like.  Since then we've had the vines and underbrush removed for an even better view.

First View of the backyard

It's hard to see, but there is a fence that runs along the back of the property

Yes, that is a dart train.  We actually chose this lot because of it's wooded view with the Dart train behind.  "Urban" is the key word here.  The train really makes you feel like in you're in the middle of metropolitan area.

The backyard after the vines and undergrowth were cleared.  Our yard runs from the orange flagged stake on the left to the orange flagged stake on the right.  Our pets cannot wait to run up and down the hill chasing squirrels.

Slabtek Structural Slab - Part One

The Dallas Fort-Worth area is known to have very difficult soil conditions for building.  The majority of the soil is composed of clay and is highly expansive. Expansive soil, expands and contracts due to changes in the moisture content of the soil, causing structural problems through differential movement of the structure.  In many cases the soil type may vary underneath the structure, causing non-uniform movement.  When sections of the structure move separately, damage can occur to the foundation and framing.  This is most often seen as cracking in the slab or foundation, cracking in interior or exterior walls and misaligned doors and windows.  As with much of Dallas, the soil under our property is listed as expansive and a structural slab is required.

Structural slabs have long been referred to as the “Cadillac” of residential slabs.  There are two reasons for this:  1. The slab is structurally suspended above the ground to isolate the slab from soil movement.  2. They are the most expensive type of slab to construct.  They are often difficult to design and build, require additional excavation of the site and are very labor intensive.  Given these issues Diane Cheatham of Urban Edge Development pointed us towards the new Slabtek slab system.

Slabtek is a unique system that is more economical to build, requires less construction time, and allows for future adjustment of the slab.  The Slabtek system also uses 40% less piers and approximately 40% less concrete than a typical structured slab, therefore contributing to our green home.
A slabtek slab is a post-tensioned concrete slab that is poured on the ground and then raised to the desired height using lifting mechanisms that remain in place.  These lifting mechanisms also allow for future adjustment of the slab to counter shifts in the soil, preventing any future structural issues.

For additional information on this revolutionary product see: http://www.slabtek.com/SLABTEK.HTM

Leveling the site and putting the form boards in place

The measurements must be extremely precise on this project so we visit as often as possible.

Ross standing on the form boards for our bedroom cantilever.

Getting the slab ready for pouring

Adding the rebar and lifting mechanisms

Geothermal Heating and Cooling

A geothermal heat pump doesn’t use fossil fuel or refrigerant to heat and cool your home.  In the simplest terms, in the summer it extracts the heat and humidity from your home and in the winter it pumps the heat from the underground geothermal loop into your home.

According to US EPA, “geoexchange is the most energy-efficient, environmentally clean, and cost-effective space conditioning system available”. With operating efficiencies of 350% to 550%, geothermal will out perform any fossil fuel heating system.  With geothermal heating and cooling, you not only save money, but also protect our environment.  Each geothermal system installed is equal to planting one acre of trees or taking ten cars off the road.  The typical cost of installation 2000 sf home with dual control zones is approximately $20,000.  If you spend $2000 less on heating/cooling per year, this equals a 10 year 100% payback.  That doesn’t even take into account the 30% tax credit on the total cost of installation,
which makes the payback closer to 7 years.

For more on how geothermal works, the link below gives a detailed description.

http://www.consumerenergycenter.org/home/heating_cooling/geothermal.html

The largest part of the cost for a geothermal system is the drilling of the wells.  The geothermal contractor will do a model to calculate how many wells your home will require.  Our house, which is less than 2000 sf, required (3) 300 foot deep wells or a one 3 ton unit with dual zones.  Our second floor will be controlled separately from the first floor using a programmable wifi enabled thermostat.  The benefit of using this type of thermostat is being able to log-on from anywhere and adjust the temperature of your home.

Geothermal Air Conditioning Service, LLC is the contractor we used for our system.  The photos below show the beginning of the geothermal process.

The drilling rig starting on the first well.  The orange flagged stake is marking the North side of our property.

The orange flagged stake in this picture is marking the South side our property, which is 40 feet wide and 125 feet deep.

We had some rain in the midst of the drilling which added to the mess.

Geothermal was the first part of construction, so the tubes were left out of the holes until they have something to connect too.  This process would be slightly different on an existing home.

The 300 foot deep wells were placed 20 feet apart along the length of our property.