On August 3, 2011 my husband, Chuck - who may be referred to by various aliases in the posts to come including "The Patient One" as he is the only one here who possesses that quality, Super Chuck (especially when he wholeheartedly agrees with my design or decorating decisions while smiling), and "Sigh" which he does frequently, but may be used by both of us when we disagree on tile or paint color - and I became the proud owners of a 1.28 acre lot in Argyle, Texas. This adventure began two years ago when I discovered a zero-energy house being built a few miles away. They were doing tours of the home, so one weekend in November 2009 I dragged Chuck on the tour. We were both really impressed with the technology and the advances that have been made. There and then, Super Chuck and I decided we were going to build an Eco-friendly home. We had been talking about downsizing our home since Alex (AKA Wonder Boy or just The Boy depending on his attitude at the time), our now 21 year old son, moved into his own place when he went to college. Thus began the quest to begin saving our nickels and dimes and looking for an appropriate lot on which to build. About a year ago we got serious about looking for a lot. We wanted certain things including staying in the Denton County area, an acre or more so we would no longer be basically sitting on top of our neighbors (why they do this in Texas is beyond me since there is soooo much land here, but I guess watering the lawn on a big lot is expensive; guess we'll find out, won't we?), a lot that preferably faced North so orienting the house for solar panels would be easier and topography that was conducive to putting in a pool. We looked at many, many lots and finally found the one in Argyle that had all the requirements. As you can see from the pictures it is flat as a board and it also faces north (also there is are horse farms behind the property providing a great view).
Our plan is to make the home as efficient as we can afford. We plan to put in underground water tanks, possibly do gray water collection, put up solar panels, use landscaping that requires little maintenance or water, include energy efficient appliances and also use eco-friendly materials while building (recycled glass tile, stained concrete, low VOC paint, dual flush toilets, etc). I have always been a big believer in reusing and recycling, so this is basically an extension of that. When we told Wonder Boy what we were planning to do in the house he said, "man, you guys are such hippies". Hence the name of the blog. I don't think of myself as a hippie or tree hugger. I just felt I wanted to build a home that had little to no impact on the environment. Super Chuck (as you can see, he is behaving himself at this time) and I thought it might be nice not to get those big ass electric bills in the summer and are hoping to have enough solar panels to even sell back to the grid. So, when the electricity goes out during a crazy Texas thunderstorm, we will be sitting pretty and quite possibly having margaritas and overnight guests!! Feel free to join the party!
We have hired an architect and are anxiously awaiting the first sketch of the house! Can't wait to share it with you, hopefully in the next week or so.
The purpose of this blog is to have a record of this adventure in building, provide a place for me to vent if needed (I'm sure I won't, but if I do, I apologize ahead of time for the use of possible profanity!), and to share with friends and family how easy (yep, I said easy, although that actually remains to be seen) it is to incorporate green aspects to your home! So, open the door, climb on in and join us on this roller coaster of a ride. Please share your thoughts, ideas, opinions (please be nice, this is my first time!) and even pictures of your children!
Love and please recycle,
Lori
