ERV or HRV?

We debated this question for months. Efficiency Vermont advised us to go with an ERV (energy recovery ventilator) but many homes in this region use an HRV (heat recovery ventilator). We did a lot of reading to make up our mind and spoke with a variety of folks including our electrician, Larry Wyckoff, who installed the system for us. Eventually we, in consultation with Larry, decided to go with an HRV.

What is an HRV? A heat recovery ventilator (or any sort of air exchanger) is critical for a house like ours that is super insulated. Because of the tightness of our walls, windows, and doors, our house will not "breathe" on its own. An HRV provides mechanical lungs for the house by constantly exchanging indoor air with air from outside. This helps maintain a high quality indoor air environment. A "heat" recovery ventilator also ensures that the fresh air coming in from outside is warmed up before entry. Here is a summary of how an HRV works from Popular Mechanics:

A heat-recovery ventilator (HRV) is similar to a balanced ventilation system, except it uses the heat in the outgoing stale air to warm up the fresh air. A typical unit features two fans-one to take out household air and the other to bring in fresh air. What makes an HRV unique is the heat-exchange core. The core transfers heat from the outgoing stream to the incoming stream in the same way that the radiator in your car transfers heat from the engine's coolant to the outside air. It's composed of a series of narrow alternating passages through which incoming and outgoing airstreams flow. As the streams move through, heat is transferred from the warm side of each passage to the cold, while the airstreams never mix.

What is the difference between an HRV and an ERV? According to the experts, HRVs make sense in climates that do more heating than cooling (e.g. northern Vermont). Again, Popular Mechanics:

Although an HRV can be effective in the summer months, when it will take heat from incoming fresh air and transfer it to stale air-conditioned exhaust air, it's most popular in colder climates during the winter. HRVs are ideal for tight, moisture-prone homes because they replace the humid air with dry, fresh air. In climates with excessive outdoor humidity, an energy-recovery ventilator is more suitable. This device is similar to an HRV, but dehumidifies the incoming fresh airstream.

You can read the article from Popular Mechanics here. Another good resource is this article from Eco Home Magazine.

For those of you building super-insulated homes, are you going with an ERV or HRV?

Show me the money!

[UPDATED]:

The bill passed! Woohoo! The deadline for the first-time home buyer tax credit has been extended to April 30th, 2010 and eligibility has been expanded (both in terms of income limits and to non-first-time home buyers). We are *so* thrilled. And congratulations to all of you out there trying to finish up your houses. We can breathe a little easier now!


A colleague told me yesterday that it looks promising that the $8000 federal new home buyer tax credit will be extended until April 30th. Read the story here. That would be a *dream come true* for us. If it is not extended, we'll need to move in by Nov. 30th to qualify. If the credit is extended, however, we pick up a few extra weeks in December since we don't need to move out of our apartment until the end of the month. Here's hoping...

More siding progress

The guys have been working like crazy to get the siding finished and it's looking great. Ryan and I are spending our weekends at the house painting walls and staining the tongue and groove porch ceiling (pictures to follow in a later post) and the stair treads. We are running very low on money even though we promised ourselves we wouldn't be like every other construction project we've heard of and go over budget. I don't know how it always happens but we are one of the sad statistics. To help cut costs, we're trying to pick up as much work ourselves as possible and our personal hero, my dad, drove all the way up from Alabama to help the guys finish the siding. Amazing. I think, as someone who has always loved working with wood, he is enjoying himself although the cold is a bit much for a southerner. Every time I talk to him during the day, his teeth are chattering. I don't have the heart to tell him that it's only going to get worse...much worse.

So here are some progress pics. Enjoy!




Some close-ups of the brackets.




Here is the product of Ryan's hard work...our newly stained maple stair treads. The wood leaning up against the stack of stair treads is a piece of our maple floor. I think they match pretty well!



And here's my dad!

Steve's apple orchard!

So another big accomplishment to note was the planting of our very own apple orchard! Ryan has always had a thing for apple trees and we love the idea of edible landscaping. We got a great deal on three different varieties of apple trees, Macintosh, Liberty, and Sweet Sixteen, from Gardeners' Supply in Burlington (a fantastic gardening supply store, by the way) and put them in the ground last weekend. The feat would not have been possible without the help of my sister, Sara, and father-in-law, Steve. He is a gardener extraordinaire and in honor of the hard work he put into the project, we have officially dubbed it Steve's Apple Orchard. The folks at Gardeners' said to expect fruit in about three years. I love thinking about picking apples from our own backyard and making lots of apple pies in our new kitchen...with our little guy :)

Metal roof, siding, and drywall

There has been a lot of work done on the house since I last posted--very exciting! The silver standing seam metal roof is now on and Scott, Tony, and Nick are beginning to install the Hardiplank siding.





Check out the lap siding. I think it achieves the old school farmhouse feel we were shooting for. Our fabulous builder, Bill, also crafted those great brackets (visible in the third picture) for us. They give the roof line such an authentic look. I'll get more pictures of them once the back wall siding is done. Scott is the master of the scaffolding (although it's a little freaky to see him three stories up...)




In other news, the radiant heat system is totally done and the house is a toasty 67 degrees. Good thing, too, because it was spitting snow yesterday. Who knew that it would get this cold this quickly? Ike (pictured below) from Howard Irish Drywall in St. Albans is doing a masterful job. The walls are so incredibly smooth. After they've sanded them down, we'll be ready for paint!


A couple of interior shots. In order of appearance...the dining room/kitchen area, master bedroom, master bedroom closets, nursery, home office, upstairs guest room, den/tv area in basement, drum studio.

Porch progress

So here are some photos from this weekend of our porch. I am in love. I never thought I could adore a physical structure so much but I do. It really gives us another whole room to the house. Granted, we will only be able to use it for a portion of the year (!) but it will still be lovely for those months. I envision having my morning coffee on it, looking out over the hills...or having a glass of wine after a stressful day. Okay, so now I'm just thinking about drinking coffee and wine. Soon enough, I suppose.

Porch work

These great photos were taken by our builder, Bill Litchfield. The porch is going on! Scott is hard at work on the roof of it. Soon enough, I'm going to get a shot of the whole crew...Bill, Tony, Scott, and Nick. Also, some of our Marvin Integrity windows are in! Woohoo!




Another major accomplishment this week is that our fantastic plumber, Mike Lavoie, installed all the PEX tubing for our radiant heat floors. Ryan and I are proud of the fact that we placed and drilled all the black clasps that hold the tubing...


And finally, to clear up any confusion, the mastermind behind our project is Bill Litchfield of Speciality Design. I know I featured a picture of the Fine Homes trailer awhile back. That was Craig, the dynamite that came in and installed our SIPs. But Bill is top dog. So here is the requisite shot of his ride.


Next up: more photos of the porch once it gets its roof. Also siding and metal roofing.

Interior framing

So two exciting new accomplishments as of last weekend. One, some of the interior framing has begun. It's incredibly exciting to walk around what will be distinct rooms! Two, Moe and his crew have almost finished the exterior grading work. The stone retaining wall looks so nice and has a really natural feel to it. We're really happy with how it turned out. Next up: putting on the porch, the metal roof, the siding, and installing windows and doors. More progress photos to come soon!

Our living/dining room with side door that will lead out onto porch and backyard


Kitchen


Awesome walk-in pantry!


Master bedroom; bed will be placed between these two windows


Looking into master bathroom from bedroom


Our bathtub!


Top of the stairs, site of our home office


The nursery!


Second floor bathroom (with guest bedroom visible through the wall behind it)


Looking down the stairs


Stone retaining wall around the walk-out basement

Green baby furniture

The first place I started when planning our green nursery? Furniture. I was initially stunned by the prices of eco-cribs although I love the way some of them look. For example, I adore the Sparrow crib from Oeuf.

It's modern, sleek, and totally eco-friendly. It's also $690. The adorable matching dresser will set you back $740. Too rich for our blood.


So I was really excited to find this moderately priced, green, modern option from Baby Miro ($379).



According to Dax, the crib is "made from pine harvested from sustainably managed forests in New Zealand" and "finished only with certified non-toxic finishes and paints." Love it. I also like the matching dresser ($439).



Both items can be purchased on the website Baby Earth. While the site has some of the standard baby fare like strollers and pack'n'plays, it also has a great selection of eco-friendly furniture, bedding, clothing, and toys. There are not a lot of brick and mortar baby stores in northern Vermont so we've decided we will set up our registry online.

Roofed in!

It's amazing how much work the crew has accomplished in a short period of time. Ryan and I visited family in D.C. and Philly over the long weekend...and as we flew out of the Burlington airport, our flight path took us directly over the site! We could see the guys working on the roof! Imagine our surprise when we got back and saw that it had been completely sheathed and the second floor deck installed. It's an incredible feeling to walk up our stairs and around the second floor. It was particularly special to explore what will become the nursery.

In other news, our wonderful excavator, Moe DuBois, made us an offer we couldn't refuse-in trade for our excess topsoil, we received those gorgeous rocks you see in the last picture. They're going to make for a very natural looking stone retaining wall around the basement walkout.