a message of sustainability from whirlpool

I attended the Central Texas Water Conservation Symposium this past week and heard a fantastic presentation by Whirlpool's Global Sustainability Director, Ron Voglewede. Ron was full of useful and interesting information as well as exciting info on new and upcoming products.

The big news (at least for me) is that Whirlpool now has a ventless, heat pump dryer (#nerdalert). I cannot tell you how happy I am to hear this (think back to Steve Jobs rolling out the first iPad and how the fanboys peed themselves with excitement. That's me + this dryer.)

Your standard dryer blows. Literally. It pulls massive amounts of air from inside your home and pushes that air to the outside via the dryer vent. This forced venting causes a negative pressure in your house which results in unconditioned air seeping into your home, and Gawd-knows-where that air is coming from (imagine rat nests, spider sacs, and turds the builder hid in your walls). Having a dryer counteracts a major reason for having a properly-sealed house. If you recall (and why would you?), I wrote a ranting post way back in 2011 about dryers called "The appliance from hell: The lowly dryer". This new dryer is a game changer.

Voglewede announced that Whirlpool launched a ventless dryer in the US six months ago that not only doesn't blow but uses 70 percent less energy than a conventional dryer (dryers tend to use twice as much energy as refrigerators). As is often the case with new tech, the machine has gotten mixed reviews at the Whirlpool site (props to Wp for leaving the one-star reviews up). According to the reviews, there appears to be a design flaw in the filters that reveals itself after half a year or so. And new tech tends to cost more (this machine runs about $1,000 retail). Given that we had to shitcan a horribly expensive cutting-edge energy-efficient Whirlpool refrigerator weeks after the one-year warranty wheezed out, we'll prolly wait until they work out the bugs on this unit (or, given the fridge experience, buy someone else's). Nonetheless, this is exciting news!

water storage tank on the back of dishwasher (source)

Modern dishwashers are amazingly efficient. Studies show that the latest dishwashers use 17 times less water than hand washing, about 3 gallons per cycle. On the latest dishwasher tech front, the Europeans get all the cool stuff: Voglewede described units that recycle water, storing it in the walls of the unit (which then act as noise and heat insulation), futher reducing water use. At some point, we'll see these units here in the US (some units here already recycle some of the water, saving the last rinse for the first rinse of the next load).

A surprising set of statistics he shared is that dishwashers are installed in only 25 percent of multifamily units (apartments) and less than 70 percent of single-family homes. Having a dishwasher could save 5,000 gallons per housing unit per year.

Voglewede said that Whirlpool is thinking outside the box by trying to achieve net-zero for their appliances (if not neg-zero). Since the 70s, washing machines use about 80 percent less energy and 73 percent less water. Modern refrigerators use less energy than a single incandescent lightbulb (with newer, more efficient models using the power of a single LED bulb [hopefully they last for more than a year...]). Along those lines, Whirlpool has a test house in Indiana called the ReNEWW House, a bungalow retrofitted to achieve net zero energy, water, and waste. The family living in the house reduced per capita water use from 91 to 34 gallons per day, is net zero on power and water (there's a rainwater system), and is 93 percent waste free. To further decrease waste, Whirlpool has designed an in-home food recycler called ZERA that can even compost bones (serial killers take note).


Being a water guy, my ears perked when Voglewede said that, with population growth, our water bills will exceed our electricity bills by 2025 (I imagine that this is averaged over the entirety of the US). That's a pretty good incentive to save water. In our house, with per capita use less than 30 gallons per day, our water last year cost $202 while our electricity cost $1,070 (up from $713 the year before due in large part, methinks, to having an electric car [oooo: I smell a future post?]).

There were other cool talks at the event (which I will probably write about in a different blog), but this one (literally) brought it home.

[2/10/18: Someone turned me on to this site on ventless dryers]

powder pooper redux

Catching up on some stuff I haven't loop back on...

One punch item list item to be dealt with was the wall-mounted cubist pooper in the powder room. The initially installed toilet gave quite a bit when sat on (a toilet should receive, not give...). The solution? Tear out the drywall backing and replace it with hardie-backer covered with tile. That toilet is now solid as a rock. We haven't had any of our former linesmen friends over to try it out yet (Bob? Where have you been?), but I think she'll hold.

That pooper is coo as poo and works great too. Cantilevered off the wall, dual flush, quiet closing lid, and comfy. Hip hip hurray!

cursing architects, flored, cats, fans, scarfs, hooks, viewscapes, carpentry, solar

cursing the architects...

The architects sent a note asking (tongue in cheek [I hope...]) if we were cursing them yet. Not at all! The house has been easy living, literally instantly comfortable (I'm sure because of their good design). The clerestory windows are great, art unto themselves framing the trees and skies beyond in addition to letting in light. Everything seems right-sized. We had a dinner party last night, and all (usage of the space) went according to plan, the wide dining room allowing us plenty of room to bus the table and take care of our guests. And the peninsula did what the bride hoped it would do: Keep the hordes at bay with folks only congregating at the lee side.

biggest surprise (so far)?

How quiet the house is. I'm talking crazy, way-out-in-the-country-married-to-your-first-cousin quiet. Yes, we are experiencing a bit of the bookends of residential noise having just moved from downtown and, before that, living in an 1800s house with single pane windows (and no insulation), but it's so quiet here I can hear my blood flow at night. All that insulation (and sealing) and double-pane windowing seems to have really sealed the house off, and this is a good thing. Been sleeping like a baby (without the whole pooping-in-your-pants bit). It's truly amazing.

flored

The folks at flor really really liked our Eileen Gray rug, so they asked for a nice photo that they can use in their lookbook. After waiting for the proper intersection of light, cat placement, and cat positioning (i.e., not grooming his crotch), we hit sun-cat-flor gold last Friday morning:

Gorgeous!

does the cat approve?

Speaking of the cat, you might be wondering: How is he enjoying the place? Since it was before we had read the book that warned architects about clients that include cats in their program, we included the furry beast in the program, asking for windows he could look longingly out of, places to sun, and a place to poop.

An except from our "prospectus" from way back when we were courting architects the second time around. The cat's favorite architect, Shigeru Ban, is famous for using cardboard (aka glorified scratching posts).

When we were designing the house (and then seeing it built), I wondered about the thermal loading from the morning sun spilling inside the ample living room windows, but seeing how happy that old cat is makes it all worth it.

(yes, his peepee is white...)

Sun-drunk and catatonic.

Oh for Gawd's sake, have you no shame!!!

As Schindler himself said: "Modern architecture lies down flat on the ground like a kitten who suns itself."

We often find the cat looking (longingly) out the windows, watching the world go by. And sometimes he's where he really shouldn't be...

Looks like you have more room for Schindler books up here...

our biggest fans

Speaking of bookshelves, we have them in better decorating shape. I went up to storage last weekend with the mission of finding (1) my antique fan collection and (2) the mixer. I found the fans after looking through half the boxes and found the mixer in literally the last box I looked in, the box in the far bottom corner. Free tip: If you are putting stuff in storage, keep the things you are likely to want sooner rather than later in your new house toward the front (and mark those boxes!).

There are so many fans that I had to go into panorama mode on the phone to capture them all:

I know, I know: Not exactly minimal. I'm calling it "controlled maximalism" where stuff is "centralized" in restricted areas and presented as either multiples of the same thing with variation (for example: fans, books) or a number of items from the same color family. We're doing this in the kitchen as well:

Multiples with variation.

Stuff from the same(ish) color family.

The experiments are continuing. Progress reports forthcoming...

found the scarves

There they are!

on the hook

We waited until we moved in before we decided where various hooks and fixtures (toilet paper holders, towel hooks, etc.) would go. This procrastination gave us the ability to see how we use the space and explore options before installing hardware (the bride, being an engineer, wants stuff installed where it makes the most utilitarian sense whereas I'm also concerned about aesthetics. It's a delicate negotiation).

We decided we needed hooks in several places. Then the question became: What kind of hooks? We went with sticks by Umbra. Umbra makes a lot of cool modernish/inspired stuff this side of affordable.

Below is a hook for a hand towel in the master bath that matches the toilet paper holder. Neoplastic, baybee! You can also see what we are going to upgrade the switches and plugs to...

drainage

Have had several good dowsings the past week or so, so we've had a front row seat to drainage off the roof and site. So far, it all looks good with the gravel over yonder doing exactly what I hoped it would do: Capture runoff and direct it toward the front of the lot. Worked like a charm.

Added bonus: The rains have caused cute little mushrooms (that tastefully match the house...) to momentarily sprout out of the mulch.

Along those lines, the Aggie Zoysia (drought tolerant) is doing quite well in the back yard. I'm sure the rainfall has helped immensely. My plan is to not mow it and see how high it gets. If it doesn't get too high, the plan is to never mow it. 

The feather grasses are doing well as well. We've only lost one so far. Still thanking the brilliance of the builder for using PVC instead of the cardboard I suggested (I feared getting the PVC level with the concrete, but the builder and sub did it perfectly). The PVC keeps the moisture from wicking into the bordering concrete and thus keeps it with the plant.

The grass in the driveway is starting to come in. At the moment, it looks like me trying to grow a beard (i.e., a post nuclear war radioactive patch party). We'll have to be patient here, but at least there's some green.

hot tub

Got the hot tub out of storage and placed behind the master. The grey wood panels just about match the grey on the house. Love how the tub is not visible from inside the house.

I generally find hot tubs ugly, but I think this actually doesn't look too bad here. Simple geomteric design (that is, the darn thing's round) in a complimentary color. I think it works.

viewscapes

While decorating, I'm taking into consideration how stuff looks from afar. You can use stuff from afar to guide people around the house. You peak their interest, and they will go investigate. I also like having some unexpected things in the house, things you wouldn't expect to see in a modern house. Surprise (and hopefully delight) is good.

An old German telephone.

Peeking in the powder.

Looking toward the master suite. With (nearly) everything being white, the art really pops.

Test placement in the first landing of the stairwell. I love to walk alleys and found this painted piece of plywood a number of years ago in an alley set out for bulk trash pickup. Whoever painted it is talented, but not talented enough to draw/paint hands (something that's really hard to do). Nevertheless, I love it for its simultaneous success and failure. A parable of life...

future carpentry

Had our carpenter, Dan (who's also a friend; he built the Eileen Gray table for us), stop by to discuss doing a bit of work, namely the shelves in the bathrooms (ate through that entire budget with the cabinets...) and the built-in desk in the guest room. We're going to do what the architects suggest as far as placement but will go with hickory rather than MDF painted white [muffled gasps from the architectural galley...]. We needed to monkey with shelf heights in the guest bathroom since a shelf as designed would go right through a switch plate. Simple planks with no visible support.

We're also going with a simple hickory plank for the desk pulled about two inches off the back wall to allow wires to drop to the plugs below. In other words, there will be a two-inch gap along the entire back of the desktop. I suppose there are a number of reasons why this is unwise, but screw it: It's our house. "Neoplasticism over logic!" I often yell from our back door (fortunately the neighbors' haven't called the police yet...). Dan and I talked about the strength of the desktop and its ability to withstand some yahoo standing on it, a kid jumping off it, and (perhaps...) rambunctious lovemaking. We'll leave the desktop thin to serve as a visual pause button; Dan says it will bend, not break, if perpetrators are clueless(ly drunk).

Dan is also going to make some modifications to the bookcases downstairs to hide the LEDs and accent horizontality.

solar

Had a solar dude come out and scope the garage roof for panels. He had a cool little reflective device that told him the solarability (my word) for the full year. We can get 2.5 kilowatts on the roof with no tree trimming, and (pleasant surprise, surprise) 5 kilowatts if a branch gets trimmed back on a nearby tree. The issue with that branch is that although it is over our property (and therefore we can legally chop it down), it is attached to the neighbor's tree. The solar dude, to his credit, suggested we talk to the neighbor before hacking on the tree and weigh neighbor relations heavily in any decision to extend solar service. I think the neighbor will be fine (he already gave us the unsolicited green light to trim a lower branch), but we'll give him veto power over trimming that more prominent branch.

Waiting on the cost before talking to the neighbor. No sense in bringing it up if we don't need to.

coda

That's it for this week. There's a lot of other things going on, but that's all we have photos and energy to write about this week. Until next time!

where to put that toilet paper?

Where o where does my roll-of-toilet-paper go?

We told the builder that we would put our toilet paper holders up, not wanting some random dude deciding the wheres and whats of our poop paper. The only downside is that now we have to decide (and live with the consequences).

According to e-How, the standard position is on a side wall 26 inches off the floor, 8 inches in front of the front of the toilet. They also offer advice on placing the holder on the rear wall (we ain't doing that...) or on the wall in front of the toilet (yoga, anyone?).

According to random commentators on the Bathroom Forum on Garden Web, distances of 6, 21, 24, 26, 24 to 30, 29, 30  inches off the floor have been used.

According to a dude at doityourself.com, the code says 26 inches from the floor, 8 to 12 inches forward of the front of the toilet.

Someone made the point of being careful not to locate it too close to the toilet lest an elderly person (or young drunk...) decides to use it as a prop to stand. Seems like good advice. We'll have to (ahem) practice this week to see where we think it should go.

And let's not get started on the orientation of the roll in the holder (although over is clearly correct!).

week 34: paint, grout, seals, and sills

Ahhhhh: Week 34. Paint, seals, and sills; paint, seals, and sills...

more cabinet details

But first, here are some more cabinet details! Here are a couple closeups of the pulls:

Dig how the pulls, little mini-cantilevers, fit the gestalt of the project. Yum.

Here's a liquor pull in the buds and suds room:

As well as deep drawers for whiskey bottles:

And, bonus, you get a peak at the drawer construction.

Into the kitchen, this pull out is to the left of the stove, intended for stove stuff:

Here's the trash can pull, to the right of the kitchen sink:

And the puller outer for the recyclables to the right of the fridge:

The covered uppers in the kitchen have big ole hinges. Fortunately, the bride can reach them.

cypress be sealed!

The paint crew not only paints but seals, and they sealed the indoor and outdoor cypress. And it looks sharp! The sealant only darkened the wood a wee bit, and it added a shine. 

They also painted and sealed the living room built-ins:

And all of that wood works together well:

paint!

We stopped by last week to show the bride the cabinets, but she couldn't see the cabinets because everything was covered for painting. However, all was good by Sunday afternoon, and we could behold both the cabinets and the painting. 

Scandinavians would feel at home in the house about now.

sills!

And the sills are in! Unfortunately, the memo was lost on not wanting "side ears" on the sills, but it's not the end of the world. The upstairs sills are hickory; the downstairs are white oak. Seeing how awesome the hickory is, we're thinking we should have gone hickory everywheres. Again: not the end of the world.

Hickory in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Oak in the master bedroom.

Hickory in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Hickory in one of the upstairs bedrooms.

Oak in the powder pooper.

no doubt; grout.

The limestone on the front of the house now has grout, and it looks good. Love seeing the lines...

overall...

...the house looks great! The builder asked about putting it on a tour. Says he's never built a house that's had so many people stop by to ask about it. Now he prolly says that to all the girls, but we certainly get a lot of inquiries when we're at the house. Could just be the location...

coming up

There're are various glitches and booboos in the drywall and paint that need to be addressed. The builder says that he saves the final touchup work until the end when most everything is done. Various trades that still need to come in will invariably knick things up (I believe that).