Our goal is to bring together a team of talented people to design and build a dynamic, sustainable and cost effective home for our family.
Early in the process, we learned that many of the green systems and processes we had read about would not be affordable for this project – we would need to compromise and make choices.
Through a process of Collaboration with our design-build firm, landscape designer, geothermal provider and various trades, we have found creative and cost effective solutions for a home that achieves a dynamic design with comprehensive sustainability.
We’ll share our collective experience through this blog as we pursue the following:
- Visually appealing and with an appropriate scale for the neighborhood
- Indoor and outdoor spaces connected to take advantage of our Denver climate
- All indoor spaces small, yet highly functional
- Intimate spaces with the ability to accommodate larger groups
- Lots of natural light
- Ability to grow vegetables indoors
- Workshop area to recycle and rehabilitate furniture, fixtures and equipment
- Highly efficient building envelope
- Active and passive solar design
- Geothermal heating and cooling
- Daylighting
- Sustainable materials
- Onsite food production
- Onsite composting
- Onsite rainwater diversion infiltration
- Shopping and amenities within a short distance
- Energy efficient systems which provide a 7-year (or less) payback for the cost over a conventional system
- Initial cost of investment comparable to a conventional custom home
Colorado law allows a limited amount of rainwater catchment for purposes of irrigating on-site gardens and crops. The remainder must be allowed to fall to the surface of the earth and flow unimpeded into surrounding creeks and rivers, where it can be accessed by farmers, ranchers and others who have purchased water rights. We have no plans at this point for rooftop catchment, but we will construct a swale across the front yard that wraps around to the rear yard. By the time the water makes its way around the side of the house and down towards the alley, the low-point of our property, much of it will be absorbed into the soil. I may be mistaken on this, but I think rainwater catchment refers only to the capture of water before it hits the ground, so the use of a swale is legal and does not require a permit.
As for the sub-surface boundary of our property, I have to admit our property deed does not address it, so I don’t know the answer. The existence of minerals deep below the surface of our property is certainly possible, but our title search failed to turn up ownership of it. At the risk of sounding naive, I’m reasonably confident we don’t have an issue with mineral rights. Our lot is located in an established residential area, which doesn’t appear to be a hot-bed for mineral extraction. It’s hard to imagine that any commercial drilling or mining operations would set up here in the City and County of Denver. Would zoning regulations even allow it? My understanding is that minerals can include coal, oil, gas, gemstones and ores of metals, among other things. The geothermal wells on our property are about five inches in diameter. Each of the three 360′ deep wells produced a surprisingly small pile of “stuff.” If any minerals were extracted, it was not evident to us.
These are excellent questions, Scott.
Here are a few questions for your team from my period 5 & 7 World Geography students at Monarch High School in Louisvile, CO, part of the Boulder Valley Public Schools system.
“What are the rules around rainwater catchment from residential rooftops?Aren’t water rights for users downstream priority preventing rainwater catchment by upstream residents?”
“When drilling deep for geothermal, how far do property rights go under your home site(literally)? We have read that minerals found under a property might not belong to the owner of the surface property…What legal obstcales might prevent drilling under a residential property?”
Yes, of course. Just let us know what stage of building you’d like to see and we’d be happy to give you a tour.
I heard about this project after talking with Merten at the Sustainable Living Fair in Fort Collins. This project sounds very interesting! I would love to take a tour of the site further on in the schedule.