Monday, September 15, 2008

Engineered Lumber

We decided that we should use engineered lumber for all of the framing in the house.  The main reason is because it is more environmentally friendly, but also the engineered lumber is straighter than standard lumber so it just makes a better house.  Made from small-diameter or lower-quality trees or from waste from wood-processing operations, engineered lumber is a combination of wood that is peeled, chipped, or flaked and then glued to produce a durable panel, stud, beam, or joist.  That’s the good news.  However, most structural engineered wood is glued together with binders that contain phenol formaldehyde, a product with minimal off-gassing, but it does off gas.  That’s the bad news.  Also, it is somewhat more expensive than standard lumber, but we decided that given all the positives of the product that we would use it.

Tuesday, September 02, 2008

Geothermal Wells Drilled

The contractor was out today to start drilling the geothermal wells and install all the piping.  It turns out there will be 5 wells total, each drilled to a depth of approximately 210 feet.  The piping runs out from the furnace room to two manifolds near the wells, one for the inflow, one for the outflow.  Each well has a pipe loop in it and one end is connected to the inflow and one to the outflow.  As you can see, the framing has just barely started, so it seems a little early to be installing the wells.  The heating contractors are the first ones in the house once the framing is completed, so I guess it makes sense that they want the wells in.

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