Chapter 9 - A waiting game

Since my last post, we have made some significant progress towards occupancy but we aren't there yet. Establishing a land phone line in a rural area was more challenging than we thought.  Getting net metering through First Energy is proving to be a Sisyphean task.  And we still waiting on a sink from Germany and hoping that it will arrive before our temporary permit expires on February 15, 2014.

We had some grading done by Akers Excavation

 

So it is starting to look like home:

 

 

 

Steve has spent a lot of time waiting for workers from Century Link to get our land line in.  This involved our new utility pole and 400 hundred feet of cable drawn through a conduit to a junction box in the carport.  Huf Haus had already provided a connection from the house to the carport.

 

 

 

This is the site from Google maps in October 2013:

 

 

Once we got the land line in, we were able to establish a DSL internet connection which permitted us to activate our home automation system using Domovea as a server (https://domovea.com) .

 

 

This allows us to monitor our weather station, carbon monoxide level, humidity, exterior and room lighting, shutters, interior and exterior door locks, individual room temperatures, and two security cameras  The carbon monoxide monitor is critical for a home as tightly insulated as this one.  The humidity monitoring will be very important when we spend our first summer in the house and rely on the passive cooling.  This is a snapshot from our webpage:

 

 

For example, right now, the outside temperature is -0.7 degrees Celsius; the wind is at 20.5 km/h; there is no precipitation; and it's cloudy (4908 lux).  Humidity is low (20.8%). The living room temperature is a chilly 15.3 degrees Celsius.  The CO2 is at a safe level.  The entrance door is locked.  One of the web cams is directed out of the narrow windows in the living room (pointed west).



 

One of the most striking high tech feature of this home is the link between our roof mounted weather station shown here

 

 

and our motorized exterior venetian blinds manufactured by Warema (http://www.warema.com)

 

 

The blinds are an important component of our energy conservation plan.  During the daytime in the summer months, they will help keep the house cool  In the evenings and winter months they will prevent heat loss.  The Sunautomatic component of the weather station tracks the sun and directs the sun shade control units.  The blinds have specific wind limits. The weather station tracks wind and triggers retraction of the blinds to protect them from wind damage.  The European version of this system can actually track blind retraction but our US version can't relay this information on our web portal.  Our system had to be modified because the European motor wasn't UL listed and couldn't be installed in our home. This is what the house looks like when the solar side is shuttered:

 

 

We have also been trolling the Ikea and Crate & Barrel websites and stores for furnishings.  Hopefully my next post will created from our new home and office in Clearville, PA and our adventure will really begin.