The size is 3000 Sq ft. and the cost was $280.00 per or $840,000. Pretty cheap by LA standards.
In British Columbia it’s a wet climate, which is great for mold and rot. So when it came time to build Damon Gray’s dream home , he chose concrete and designed a super energy efficient structure which produces its own energy, the good news? No energy bill.
The L-shaped design emerged as the most advantageous after measuring the sun’s paths. The property got the most sun on that L-shaped pocket at 3 p.m. He also discovered If he changed the angle of the house by 15 degrees, it lessened the energy performance by 25 percent.
He didn’t want a two-story design, so Gray made up for the less efficient structure by adding more solar panels, which was a less expensive maneuver than buying better energy-efficient windows. Gray spent four years working out these kinds of trade-offs on paper before starting construction.
The cost of heating was a driving factor. Gray didn’t want high energy bills, so he spent time crunching numbers before making a choice. “If I doubled my wall insulation by spending an extra $4,000, then it saved me well over $200 per month on average for my heating bill. It was a no-brainer,” he says. Once he put solar panels on the roof, his heating bill dropped to nothing, he says.
Seven-foot overhangs provide shade in the summertime. The concrete table was created from a leftover exterior panel. It’s attached to casters so the family can roll it around the patio. Other leftover concrete panels became retaining walls on the property. Loose river rocks create a moat around the house so water can drain. There is also a ramp to the main door for wheel chair access and the inside, the doorways and halls are plenty wide to move a wheel chair through. He must be planning to stay here a long time! His kids are just youngsters.
In the wet climate, concrete walls seemed like a practical choice. “Bugs can’t eat it; there’s no mold issues,” Gray says. Plus, it’s durable and easy to insulate. The walls are a sandwich construction that consists of 2 inches of concrete, then 7 inches of Styrofoam, followed by a 5-inch structural layer of concrete with rebar.
The concrete panels were cast onsite and lifted into place by a crane. The exterior shows the beautiful wood-grain impressions left by the formwork from casting the concrete.
The home is set up for rainwater collection too, but that will have to be in Phase 2 of the project as it cost $7,000 for tanks. For another $7,000 he could also purchase a battery system that would store energy from the solar panels to take the house completely off the grid.