Water features

One of the rooms in the house that hasn’t been mentioned often—yet gets daily use—is the bathroom. With the bathroom being the top water user in the house, the water features installed here are helping conserve water in several ways.

The New Norris House was built with a rainwater cistern and purification system which delivers harvested and treated rainwater to the toilet tank (and to the clothes washer and outside hose bibs as well). Systems like this aren’t common in the U.S., and the system here is being used under a special permit. According to the EPA, one toilet can use 27% of a household’s daily water, and older toilets use between 3.5 to 7 gallons of water per flush. It makes sense to use rainwater instead of fresh water for flushing given those numbers, since fresh water is a finite resource and harvested rainwater, a naturally replenished resource, works just as well.

rainwater cistern (gray container) and purification system (blue cylinders)

The toilet also has the water saving feature of a low flow/dual flush system (Kohler Persuade model). Either .8 or 1.6 gallons are used per flush depending on which button is pressed. This means the rainwater isn’t used up quite as quickly, but if we lived in a house with standard plumbing, this toilet would be using less pure drinking water for flushing as well. Because I’m living in a house where the rainwater is harvested, treated, and reused, I’ve become more aware of water usage and potential ways to adjust no matter where we live next.

Another bathroom water feature that’s probably more common is low flow fixtures. The shower head and sink faucet are both low flow. “Low flow? I don’t like the sound of that.” Admittedly, neither of us are huge fans of the lack of water pressure with the low flow shower head, but because it can cut water consumption by half, it also makes sense to have it installed in the bathroom. And, to save energy on heating costs, the water is heated with a solar water heating and tankless system.

Besides the water features, the design of the bathroom is worth noting. The same design principles used in the house were applied to the bathroom as well; it’s small but makes efficient use of the space. The room is almost 10’ long, with the stall shower at one end, the sink in the middle, and the toilet at the other end. At its widest on the shower end, the room is 3.5’ wide and at its narrowest on the toilet end is 2.5’ wide. Like the bedroom, it has a pocket door to maximize space. For storage, there is a medicine cabinet, a cabinet under the sink, small shelves on the side of the sink, and a shelving unit above the toilet.

Although it’s a small room, I’ve learned quite a bit about conserving water and energy from living in the house. You can also learn more about our project at www.thenewnorrishouse.com.

Happy New Year!

The year 2011 is drawing to a close, and a short reflection back on our first few months in the New Norris House reveals what we learned and what happened during that time. Similar to any new residence, there was a period of familiarizing ourselves to the house and the systems inside it. Some things in the house were brand new to us (the heating and cooling units, the rainwater cisterns, the solar hot water, and the small refrigerator and freezer), while others were familiar but required an adjustment (low flow faucets and shower, cabinet and storage configurations, and the furniture).

rainwater cistern in backyard (on flickr)

The house was ready for occupancy on July 1, and the finishing touches were completed throughout July and August. We set up our post office box and internet service, and enjoyed meeting people who came by for house tours over the 4th of July weekend. Students wrapped up their work on the yard and rainwater garden, and seeded the lawn. Kinks with fluctuating water temperature in the shower were worked out, and the solar hot water heater was installed. Railings on the deck and entry were leveled and secured. Temperature and humidity sensors were installed throughout the house. We became familiar with the air conditioning unit manual as we figured out the ideal way to run the systems in the summer heat.

the house in december (on flickr)

The official ribbon cutting ceremony for the house was in August, and hundreds of people attended and toured the house. Also that month, there were multiple media events to promote the finished project within the Norris and Knoxville areas, and at the University of Tennessee as well. Professors Tricia Stuth and Bob French, along with the student researchers and other student participants, have been a pleasure to work with during this experience. We've appreciated their patience with us while we went through learning about the house.

In the next six months, we’re looking forward to some new activities, including starting a garden in the raised beds in the backyard and exploring more of the Norris area. Until then, we wish you a Happy New Year!

Solar Lines and Design Intent

Over the course of the past few months I have been tasked with organizing and overseeing the successful installation of the home's MEP systems. Today I met on-site with Ed Zubko of Green Earth Solar as he installed the lines which carry the heat exchange fluid (glycol) between the energy pack and the solar panel on the roof.

Due to the nature of the project, this has not been a very straight-forward process. A typical installation of these lines would occur before any drywall or insulation was in place. In our case, as the shell of the home was completed by Clayton Homes several months ago, we had to plan ahead for this by running PVC sleeves in the walls during factory production.

Even this was not enough however, as the path of the lines as they traveled from the heat exchanger to reach the roof involved several 90 degrees bends. This required the use of flexible stainless steel lines, rather than the typical installation of flexible copper (sort of flexible, but not certainly not as durable). Thankfully for all the parties involved, we were generously donated an excellent product from Flexsure which withstood a great deal of stress in the fishing of these insulated lines through PVC sleeves.

While many of these hassles could have been designed around by altering the location of the energy-pack (heat exchanger) and hot water tank, this would have inevitable consequences on the spatial layout of the home. This brings to question a frequent discussion in architectural practice of the efficiency of the building systems in relation to the project's design intent. Ideally these two concepts are one in the same. However, in a case such as this where our team did not completely understand the limitations of the glycol lines during the initial design process... a lapse occurs.

It is easy as the architect to draw a line on the computer showing the glycol line turning into the crawlspace, laterally down the rim-joist, vertically up to the eve of the dormer, 90 degrees into the joist bays of the dormer, and finally punching through the roof deck. It is quite another thing to shove these lines up PVC sleeves (with right angle bends) in a wall-system that has already been closed.

Would we have still put the mechanical closet in the same place knowing this information? It's possible. Regardless, we are now armed with the knowledge and experience of what this worst-case scenario entails. Lesson learned.