The Solar Carriage House

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MERKEL CARRIAGE HOUSE

Richard and Deborah Merkel chose 30-foot-square version of the Solar Carriage House plan, with an earth-bermed ground floor for an office and two stories above Richard erected the masonry-shell first floor and roofed it with a timber deck . . . then George Allman's crew assembled the two-story timber frame on top. Richard worked with Chip Bond, a contractor in the Rapidan, Virginia, area, to complete the shingled roof and apply Homesmith Kit R-25 panels and siding to the outside of the post-and-beam frame. The superinsulated panels—which consist of one-by wood frames with expanded polystyrene insulation applied insidewere nailed through their structural rims to the heavy timbers with pole nails.

A major advantage of the timber-kit-andinsulating-panel approach is that the shell of a home can be assembled very quickly. Richard completed the masonry in a week, the timber frame went up in four days, the roof took another week, and the insulated panels took three men only two days to apply. All this was done without scafolding. For an owner-builder who's as pressed for time as for money, this approach allows a home to be "dried in" in an amazing hurry.

The Merkels' main floor is one open living space, with the exception of a bath and laundry on the north side. They'll reach the uppermost floor—which includes the master bedroom, a study, a walk-in closet, and a large bathroom—by a prefabricated Piedmont Products pine spiral stair. All told, the finished area of the house will be 1,400 square feet, with an additional 900 square feet on the ground floor.

Richard and Deborah's house is tucked into a grove of pine trees on a south-facing slope overlooking a rural valley. Deciduous trees offer summer shading for the large glass area on the south side but won't significantly impede winter solar gain. To protect the interior from major nighttime heat loss through the windows, the owners plan to use Window Quilts by Appropriate Technology Corpora tion. Backup heat will be from a woodstove on the ground floor.

THE FUTURE

I'm particularly excited about the potential of timber kits and superinsulated panels for owner-builders—because of the speed and ease of assembly. This approach is rapidly growing in popularity, and superinsulated panels are widely distributed by Homesmith Kits, Homasote Corporation (which has a polyurethane panel, with a higher R-value per inch, called TUPS), and Radva Corporation of Radford, Virginia. The time has already arrived when you can order panels sized to fit your frame from a nationwide manufacturerdistributor. But perhaps the most exciting development for owner-builders on a budget is the emergence of local producers. Before long, you may be able to buy panels from a company only a few miles away; better yet, methods may evolve that will allow you to make them yourself at your building site!

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