When we originally designed our finished basement, we did so with adding two bedrooms in mind. Since it was 2020, we were adding our little twins to our growing family, and our big twins were moving to a shared bedroom in the basement. We also needed a dedicated office for my partner: I used the structure of the One Room Challenge to incentivize finishing both projects before the little kids were born... and I almost made it.
In any case, we had two really functional rooms that fit our needs very well before the babies came home, and we were able to add a bathroom and slow-roll other adjustments in the basement over time.
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Recently, through a program with our energy company, we had a visit from the Home Energy Squad. Every three years, they can come and help assess the energy systems in the house to guide homeowners in making energy-conscious choices.
With all the changes we've made in the last several years, I figured it was time for a second opinion and a review of our systems. It turned out to be a little bit of confirmation of what I already knew! Thankfully, our decisions seem to be on the right track. We've started the first phase of insulating our attic, and are on our way to having more energy efficiency, better climate control across our house, and storage we can use year-round. While a lot of our attic may be used for a kids' space at some point, the real need it will fill is storage. With all our basement work, we've run out of a lot of what we used to use for storing off-season items! It'll be great to have that back.
There were a lot of considerations we made to plan the insulation upstairs, and I've been thinking about this for a really long time. It really started with preventing ice and eliminating thermal transfer through the roof: this is the main source of heat gain in summer and heat loss in winter, and we really hadn't made major improvements in that area. I wrote about that issue this winter, and about our initial plans too. Last time I wrote about our solar system, I wrote mostly about the process of getting solar on our roof, but not much about the system itself. So, this is more on the system and the science! I've wanted solar since I was my kids' age, so this process has been really cool to see unfold on our rooftop.
Solar science is really interesting, and it's gave me even more incentive to understand more about electricity and how it is delivered. Particularly direct current (DC). I understand alternating current (AC) pretty well, but I'm a little fuzzy on how DC works! Well, I've finally done it! I swear, I have wanted to add rooftop solar since I found out the technology existed when I was a kid. Probably from watching Bill Nye or The Magic School Bus. Either way, it's been on the list of things I wanted to do for right around thirty years, and we finally got there. Even just going back to our old books about how electricity is made reinforced the idea that what we were doing back in the 80s and 90s couldn't last forever.
Going solar isn't without its troubles though; I want to start by writing that even being able to do so comes with a huge dose of economic and financial privilege. It's almost impossible to get solar on a home that isn't owner-occupied in our state. Each company that we talked to asked multiple times if we owned or were renting and if we planned to stay here long-term. Since both are true, getting set up was a much easier process. I'm not sure an installer would have approved our project with financing if we didn't meet those conditions. And financing a project this big -even with the IRA tax credit- is definitely necessary. Full financial break down is in this post! |
Katie SwansonI am a parent, creative spirit, and old house lover. My big passions are sustainable design and preservation. Bringing these together is key to moving existing homes into the future. * By subscribing to the monthly newsletter, you consent to receive links this month's blog posts and other relevant blog updates, a round up of things I love, and as a throwback to my DIY days, I may toss in an exclusive knit or crochet pattern of mine. Archives
May 2024
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