Nostalgia for me, too.
I used to have a cabin near Florissant.
[sigh]
I used to have a cabin near Florissant.
[sigh]
Yes, I have been there and your description is right on. You should try an off-road tour. The vistas only get better! This is north of Highway 50 at Texas Creek looking South at the Sangre de Cristos. (You have to click on the picture to get good resolution. The picture still doesn't do the view justice.)
Love Colorado. May have to move there [-]for the weed[/-] when my glaucoma gets worse...
Stayed at a friend's cabin outside Westcliffe a few years back. Sort of a flat valley where the cabin was, but mountains in all directions. Did some hiking near there.
seraphim, I'm curious why our drug laws would make you decide to not live here. I assume you're talking about recreational mj. The effects I've seen so far have been pretty insignificant, a drop in the bucket compared to medical mj at any rate. On a day-to-day basis, except for the news coverage, I don't see much effect.Love the Colorado landscape; we considered Salida a contender for retirement. No more, thanks to the drug laws - or particular lack of them. We'll still go to visit, but not to live.
Thanks for the info pb4uski. I have investigated many approaches to insulation. If I had it to do over again, I would very seriously consider structural insulated panels (SIPs). We have extreme winds up here so my plan is to spray one inch of high density low expansion foam inside the outer walls. This will create a very tight outer shell and the foam is the same stuff as Gorilla Glue, so it will add a lot of structural strength. I am going to heat primarily with a wood stove and one guy who I helped build his house said it isn't worth worrying about if you heat with free wood and I have a forest of wood. That seemed pretty pragmatic to me and it will probably be OK to not worry about the thermal bridging. I will have a gas furnace, but that is mostly for a backup and to move the air around because the wood stove will be on the upper floor. Other items to minimize heat loss will be an outside air draw for the wood stove and furnace and if the house is as tight as I think it will be, I will also put in a heat recovery ventilator (HRV). The outside foundation walls are also made using insulated concrete forms. I'm hoping for a very cozy house.I saw your pics in the "What did you do today?" thread but didn't want to respond there.
I wanted to share a 'trick" that we used in our new build when insulating that worked out well for us. Similar to you, we had a walkout and wood studded walls (in our case 2x4). We decided to do spray foam insulation.
What we did was to put 1x3 strapping horizontally on the outside of the studs at the top and bottom of the wall and every 24" in between and we then attached the sheathing on the outside of the strapping so there was a 3/4" gap between the studs and the sheathing other than where the studs and strapping intersect. So after the foam was applied we ended up with a 3/4" solid foam wall and 3 3/4" in the stud bays. As a result, thermal bridging is significantly reduced other than where the studs and strapping intersect which is a very small percentage of the wall. This approach was easier and less expensive than using 3/4" foam board between the studs and sheathing or sheathing and siding which were the other alternative we considered..
Thanks for the info. I spent a lot of time on Green Building Advisor when planning the home. I will revisit the insulation plans before I start the wall insulation.We have an air exchange system. We started with a HRV and found we were getting too much condensation so we swapped out the HRV core for an ERV core which also acts as a dehumidifier and added a condensation drain. If I were doing it again I would at least add a condensation drain during construction to an area near where the unit is (ours is in the attic). I ended up tapping into the vent... not totally kosher but it was the best alternative available and with a S-trap seems to work fine.
Also, the air exchange vendor told us that we did not need bathroom exhaust fans since the air intakes are in the bathrooms (and the kitchen). He was totally wrong on that, the air exchanger can't keep up with the humidity when taking a shower. If I had a do over I would put bathroom exhaust fans in each bathroom where there is a tub or shower.
I suggest you do some additional research on the amount of foam needed. My understanding is that if the foam is too thin that when the warm inside air gets through the cellulose or Roxul and contacts the cold foam that the risk is getting condensation inside the wall cavity that gets trapped. See Hybrid Insulation Techniques | GreenBuildingAdvisor.com
Those are fantastic views, we are jealous.
How long do they think construction will take?
Be sure to send pictures of the progress.
Looking good, I see 2x6 walls? Good for added insulation. Single story upper (main) level or additional second story? Fantastic views!
Yes, time flies. This thread started almost a year ago. I scroll through and see that I participated too.Wow! How time flies...
Fun reading the thread; I think I saw it back when you started.
Our cabin is about 12 miles above the Royal Gorge on Copper Gulch Rd. God's Country out there.
Look forward to seeing your place when you finish it.