This is the first entry on our new blog. The intent of this blog is to document our upcoming construction of a Zero Net Energy (ZNE) residential home just north of San Francisco. The home is going to be our primary residence. Both my wife and I grew up in Denmark and our thought process, design and energy-consumption philosophy is influenced by that. The blog is primarily meant for us, but we also hope that we can help educate and inspire others to pursue a new thought process in residential building and energy consumption.
The project started years ago and it really began with us drawing the conclusion that we could continue to update our existing regular traditionally built home without ever getting it to the point where it would be our dream home. We also have some issues with the standard of construction in the US in general, but that's another story. So we started looking at a piece of land 2-3 years ago in Marin County just north of San Francisco. Our requirements were:
- We want a dramatic view
- There needs to be a relatively flat building envelope
- The surrounding area and dwellings need to be able to sustain a high price level
- At least 1 acre of land
- We don't want to live "in the boonies" - i.e. we are looking for proximity to a town or city
In September 2013 we found a 10-acre lot in Santa Rosa in a very nice area. It fulfilled all of our criteria and we started negotiating price and ended up closing on the lot in December 2013. The lot is within a gated community with 10-15 existing homes and 5 new lots are being sold for new construction. Below is a picture we took of the view facing South-West and West.
In the picture the building envelope is situated right where the picture is taken from and sits on a relatively flat pad on top of the ridge. The views are stunning and we already now know that our home design is going to incorporate use of lots of glass facing South-West and West.
The lot is "improved" meaning that we have electricity, cable and phone already run to the lot. There is no city water so we are going to have to drill a well and install a septic system.
We are super excited about the land and can't wait to get on with the process.
As I mentioned in my first post, the lot is just outside of the city limits so we are going to be on a well for our water supply and a septic system for waste-water. The first step of getting the lot ready for construction was to have a well drilled. We contacted a couple of well-drilling companies and decided on a local company that had drilled wells in the area before and had experience drilling on the ridge where the lot is located.
