Mocking Up the ideal home

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 24, 2009 at 11:48pm

WATER

I have a lot of attention on water. Even without going through an enormous pile of accumulated scientific data and projections about water I perceive, outside of any data, an approaching situation with water that is potentially far worse even, than the current situation that we now face with energy or the economy. Therefore, when I envision my ideal home I think a lot about how this ideal house would use and manage water.

As a point of orientation, I will tell you that this particular vision of my ideal home is in an urban location and the home is connected to the municipal water supply and sewage system.

Note:any figures and/or dimensions that I use are for example only. In more than a few cases specific dimensions and materials used are regulated by local, state and national building codes.

The water from the city main connects to a water meter and exits the water meter in a 1" copper supply line. But only a foot or so away from the water meter I have installed an in-line water conditioner. This particular water conditioner has no moving parts and is approximately 18" in length. Within the conditioner is a configuration of five precious metals. It is a electromechanical catalytic water conditioner. As the water coming from the meter enters the conditioner there is a turbulence created by the configuration of precious metals and the water is "scrubbed" as if by rocks in a mountain stream. Now attached to the conditioner is a copper wire that in turn is attached to an 8' copper grounding rod that has been driven into the ground. The earth is a generator that is revolving somewhere close to 1,000 mph and the earth generator emits a negative charge. The water entering the conditioner is positive charged and is not independent H20 molecules. Instead, the city water is in the form of molecule clusters. In other words, H20 plus molecules of various other materials. As the water moves through the conditioner its charge is changed from a positive to a negative thus permitting the clusters to break apart into their independent molecules e.g., H20 becomes H20 (only). There are many obvious benefits to this.

In the home...

1. My water will be better tasting and odor free.
2. The conditioned water dissolves and removes mineral scale build-up from plumbing systems, water heaters and appliances. Thus, obviously extending their service life.
3. Soap film rinses away from bath tubs and showers (reduces work and use of cleaners), and because the surface tension of the water is far less than prior to being conditioned, it is actually wetter water. Therefore it will take less water and less detergent for cleaning.
4. Because the conditioned water has a higher oxygen content or rather...unencumbered oxygen content...it retards algae and mildew growth.

Garden and Lawn....

1. Mineral salts will be neutralized and washed away from root systems therefore enabling plants to extract more nutrients from the soil and produce higher yields. Note: If I happen to get aggressive with urban agriculture, I can realistically expect that by using this conditioned water I will see a 70% increase in crop yield per acre of land planted!
2. The conditioned irrigation water breaks down heavy clay soils (common where I live) for better drainage and percolation in root zone.
3. The piping in my drip irrigation system will run trouble free as there will not be any accumulation of lime scale.
4. And, again, because of an increase in oxygen there will be no algae growth and any black layer effect in the soil will be retarded.

Of course, if this conditioned water does all of the above in my home and out in my garden and lawn...you can imagine the beneficial industrial applications.

(ran out of room - see the back-story in next reply)

Monte

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 24, 2009 at 11:56pm

Back-story

While I was living in the Tampa Bay area of Florida from 93' to 01' I met a fellow by the name of
Winston Kao and we became friends. Winston is a researcher and second generation inventor (his father invented the Chinese telex machine) and is prime area of interest is agriculture and health. Before I met Winston I had never heard of Brown's Gas or the electromechanical catalytic water conditioner or EMs (effective microorganisms) and other stuff. Anyway, if a person wants to know about water, EMs, composting, growing organic and nutritious...Winston is the guy to talk to. Note: if you do check in with Winston be sure to mention that you know me. But know this...my name will unfortunately not get you any discounts :(

I have only just begun. I will be back with more about water in my ideal home.

Monte

Permalink Reply by Linda C on January 26, 2009 at 2:22pm

OK..the old lady is here. I haven't got all the posts and replies read, decided much was over my head. Please let me know if in this discussion one can tell about their own personal idea house. Or it the discussion thread only for green houses generally. My idea house would not be what any of you would live in.

Permalink Reply by Mark J Warren on January 26, 2009 at 5:44pm

Can you provide a sketch ? And maybe a couple of paragraphs on your thoughts.

Take your time the more details you provide the better the various responses will be.

Please tell us about your climate and the property you would like to build on.

Pictures of property would be of great help.

Are there any special needs ? Such as a ramp to make it easier to enter. Max height of cabinets. Are any of the home members allergic to anything ?

Mark

Permalink Reply by Monte Smith on January 26, 2009 at 6:30pm

Linda C, (long time no SEE :)

By all means, please feel free to describe YOUR ideal house! I look forward to reading it.

Monte

Permalink Reply by Mark J Warren on January 26, 2009 at 8:28pm

I was waiting WATER - as usual I wasn't disappointed.

Well done Monte.

Mark

Permalink Reply by Linda C on January 26, 2009 at 9:42pm

I will have to work on making my dream house plans public.. One thing I know we are on a fixed income, so cost must be considered. I am not alone there, of course. Speaking of building, having an affordable building lot is a problem. When we move it must be into a universal design.. I think that is what they call handicap housing. I know there are some new things for green built houses to aid the handicap.

What are the zoning laws for building green?

Permalink Reply by Fred Mars on January 26, 2009 at 11:40pm

Hi Linda,
There are many different zoning laws depending on where you live. For instance, in the town of Stayton, OR you cannot place a wind turbine above twenty feet above ground. In other places, the ordinances forbid any type of electric power generation that is not approved and installed by the power utility, so you cannot get an electrical contractor to install solar panels or a wind turbine. If you want to install an emergency backup generator, the power company must first approve the model you purchase and then they will install it for you. Of course these services have hefty price tags to discourage homeowners from installing such systems. I think the local ordinances may be changing as the price for fuel and energy are rising so high and quickly, to prevent people from doing what that can to alleviate the expenses is truly a crime in itself.

Laws regarding building green? I don't know that we have any at all. There are building codes that require certain types of structures to be build within particular guidelines or codes, but I don't know of any ordinances that require or prevent builders or homeowners from using energy efficient designs and products to save energy.

Fred

Permalink Reply by Mark J Warren on January 27, 2009 at 7:45am

Fred

Maybe Linda C is the one.

It was mentioned earlier that we would need an example.

Mark

Permalink Reply by Mark J Warren on January 27, 2009 at 11:31am

Allen

You could really help us with this issue. Would you Start a Discussion on the Perspective of Realtors. The first comment being what you see as issues that have to be addressed.

I for one have zero knowledge in this area, and I would like to learn more.

On the side - several of us have been having a conversation of starting groups to address the regional aspects of SEE.

As it it proposed at this moment, there are 7 Regions.

Can you help here ?

Mark

Permalink Reply by Linda C on January 27, 2009 at 12:55pm

I agree that builders and Realtors will play a big part in actually getting this done. While you are designing all of this, remember the old people. Also many rent but would prefer energy efficient housing.

Permalink Reply by Anachronism on September 9, 2009 at 11:49pm

Hi Monte: This is Anachronism; I'm starting a response as to the process mentioned above. My first "home" cost $100 dollars in June of 1963. It was a granary built in 1889 and scheduled to be “torched” to allow Interstate 5 to be built through that property. I had five days to arrange the moving of this monster a mile. I was able to borrow $3,500 to move, create a foundation and set it down on a ¼ acre piece received as a wedding present. Short and sweet, I start five businesses on the ground floor of our barn and we lived on the upper two floors. My total investment in this project totaled $5000 with countless hours of family enjoyment building our home. We sold our old granary in 1973 for $75,000 and moved on to our next adventure in Centralia Washington. The story will continue as we traveled 20 years forward in life. From 1973 to reach a final house design in 1996 incorporating 33 years of design changes for our final home design.

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