The siding on our new house consists of two types. The majority is composed of random-width boards made from fly ash with a 3/16-inch gap between them. These will be painted a dark grey with a hint of blue. Between vertically aligned windows we will have 4″-wide horizontal boards made from rice hulls in a rust color. Both products are made of recycled materials, require very little maintenance, and are highly resistant to bugs and critters of all sorts. The green panels are Zip-R insulated sheathing with taped joints. It is watertight. The black material is another layer of waterproofing providing an additional line of defense and a black background for anyone who wants to peek between the cracks of the vertical siding. The black horizontal strips provide a perforated rain screen allowing water to drain down the inside face of the siding. The entire approach promotes air circulation in and around the siding which allows it to dry completely.

Panels for our standing seam metal roof were fabricated on-site today. A truck carrying a large coil of aluminum sheet stock was extruded through a machine that formed the panel profile and cut each piece to the needed length. In a matter of a few hours, we had the pictured stacks of custom-sized roof panels with no waste. The installation will start tomorrow. The siding is progressing nicely and the exterior of the house is starting to take shape.

Insulation of the River House began today. We are using closed-cell foam throughout. Inch for inch it has the highest R-value of any insulation on the market today. In addition, it forms a continuous air and vapor barrier, does not settle over time, and increases the shear strength of the framing by 300%. The walls will get 5 inches (R-32.5 in addition to the R6 ZIP sheathing), and the roof will get 10 inches (R-65). The only down side to closed cell foam is that once it cures there is no modifying anything encapsulated by it.

We have opted to install a battery energy storage system in the new house. It will serve as a backup “generator” during power outages, allow us to store solar energy during the day and use it at night, and consume grid power at off-peak times/rates so that we can run the house from the batteries during peak rate periods. My plan was to locate these batteries in the basement mechanical room. A pre-inspection visit from the fire safety inspector has thrown a monkey wrench in the works. New rules went into effect last month that give the fire department jurisdiction over battery placement within the home. Indications are that they will not allow placement in the basement and will require us to locate them in the garage. Our battery system uses a lithium iron phosphate (LFP) chemistry which is extremely safe by comparison to the lithium ion cells used in Tesla cars and power walls which have developed a justifiably spotty safety record. During our meeting with the fire officials, I shared FAA sponsored research of different battery technologies and explained why I believe the data demonstrates that we would actually be safer installing the batteries in a conditioned space rather than a garage which is subject to large temperature swings and increased risk of mechanical damage. Only after the meeting did I realize that I would never get an exception from this new policy because our interests are not aligned. I am interested in reducing the likelihood of a battery fire. The fire department is primarily interested in reducing the risk to fire fighters who are more vulnerable if they have to enter a basement to suppress a fire there. To make a long story short, we will now be installing the batteries in the garage.

Insulation is scheduled to begin this week and I wanted to photographically document every wall and ceiling of the River House for future reference. I anticipate huge future benefits from this investment of one hour. Once insulated and covered in drywall these images (close to 100) will offer an x-ray view of the hidden infrastructure.

Before running off to my soccer game this morning, I asked Jeanine and Kris to pose for this picture. These two have been friends for more than half a century and having Kris here to help celebrate Jeanine’s 60th has been the best gift imaginable.

My third soccer match of the spring season ended in a 2-2 draw. This was a highly unsatisfying result having had the lead for most of the game. I won a head ball to setup our second goal and at least there was that to feel good about.

I spent most of my time at Jeanine’s surprise party taking pictures of the guests in action. The collection can be viewed here, Kyle’s idea to do a cooking event proved to be brilliant. Some have opined that I nominated myself event photographer so as to get out of a cooking assignment. I will neither confirm nor deny this asertation but hope the portfolio of images will be viewed as a better contribution to the event than anything I could have offered at the stove.

Surprise 1: Jeanine spent the morning and most of the afternoon with her sisters visiting the JFK Memorial Library. Believing that we would be celebrating her 60th birthday at a restaurant later that evening she was upset with me when I called her at 2pm and let her know that we had to meet our flooring contractor at 4pm. When she arrived at the River House she entered the living room to find me speaking with Rob, the “flooring contractor” who had his back to her. When I proceeded to introduce him, he turned around and she was shocked to discover that it was Rob Earle, the husband of Kris, her closest friend since childhood. Kris then emerged from hiding to complete the surprise. The couple flew up from Florida to join us for Jeanine’s 60th.

Surprise 2: Under the impression that we would be meeting the kids for dinner in Boston, Jeanine was again surprised when she walked into Seaport’s Action Kitchen only to be greeted by a gathering of her close friends. Everyone participated in cooking the feast that we later enjoyed and the evening, planned entirely by the kids, was a great success. We also had a chance to meet Maya’s new boyfriend for the first time. He seems to be a very nice young man who passed the very challenging brother’s gauntlet with flying colors.

Today is Jeanine’s birthday. Earlier this week she shared some of her wishes for her 30th birthday celebration with me. When I reminded her that she was actually turning 60 we had a good laugh. Since then, I have begun referring to this milestone as the 2nd anniversary of her 30th birthday. Her sisters arrive tomorrow and we will join the kids for a fancy dinner celebration on Friday. This morning, she informed me that she wanted an authentic almond croissant. After concluding a pair of work-related meetings in Boston, and several failed attempts to find a French bakery, I located the Praliné French Patisserie where I was able to obtain a freshly baked almond croissant (plus one chocolate almond croissant for good measure).

Pictured above are the two electrical panels that will be located in my shop and a power transfer gateway located on the left. The gateway serves several functions. It will (1) automatically connect battery power to the house in the event of a power failure, (2) allow us to charge the batteries during off-peak hours and run the house from the batteries during peak hours, (3) charge the batteries from future solar panels, and (4) return excess solar capacity to the grid.

Perhaps the most complex element of my new shop is the dust collection system. This includes the dust collector with removable waste bin, the in-ceiling ducting which connects it from the mechanical room to my shop, the individual machine drops which include a pneumatically controlled blast gate (my design for this illustrated above), and the electrical components to automatically sense when to turn on the dust collector and which blast gate to open. Today I installed the contactor that will be used to energize the dust collector anytime a wood chip-producing machine is turned on. A current sensor in the electrical panel will determine when any machine on the dedicated circuit is operating and will activate the contactor. A current sensor on each machine’s power supply will cause the associated blast gate to open. I hope to have my shop operational within the next 2 months and look forward to starting cabinet construction for the kitchen.

We missed Maya at our Easter gathering this afternoon but were happy to be joined by Fallon, Nico’s girlfriend, Marisa, Kyle’s roommate, and her dog Bailey. Jeanine prepared a fabulous lamb shawarma with saffron rice and a broccoli salad. Maya is flying back from the UK where she has been on vacation for the last 9 days. My soccer team suffered a major drubbing this morning losing 0-3 to the top team in our league. All that can be said about my play was that I did not get injured.

Given all the trees which surround our River House, I have been struggling with whether or not to put solar panels on the roof. An invaluable tool to help with the analysis is a sun path calculator which I finally figured out how to load with a model of our house. My conclusion is that we will break even on the cost of panels over a period of twenty years but that it is still probably the right thing to do.

Rough wiring for the River House is approaching completion. Pictured above is where the automatic transfer switch and main breaker panel will reside within my shop. In total the house will have one main and 4 sub-panels; one in the primary mechanical room, one in the secondary mechanical room, one in the laundry, and one in the garage. The cost for multiple panels is far outweighed by the savings for shorter copper runs within the house. The automatic transfer switch will allow our battery backup system to kick in during a loss of power to the house and to time shift our use of electricity. During off-peak hours the batteries will charge and during peak hours will be used to power the house. Concord is switching to time-of-use metering so this capability should allow us to significantly reduce our electrical energy costs.