The Mouse Works Studio-House

A "Green" Studio-House

During the summers of  2005-6 I built a new home for my self and the Mouse Works.   While I was on a tight budget and doing most of the work myself I tried to incorporate many affordable green building practices into the construction. Here are a few:

1. The house is built on a large concrete slab and is partly earth-bermed on the north and east sides.  This provides a slightly cooler space in the summer and warmer in the winter.  
2. The building is oriented to take advantage of passive solar heat gain in the winter.
3. I super insulated the building using recycled newspaper.  The earth-bermed cinderblock wall cavities were insulated with used packing beads and fleece scraps!  It took only 1/2 cord of wood to heat the house last winter!
4. Most of the windows are recycled from houses and construction sites.
   Light colored energy star metal roof
5. My entire workshop is lit by window light during the day and by night with energy efficient florescent bulbs. 
6. The trash from the entire construction fit into one station wagon car!
7. In the spring of 2008 I recycled a 1984 vintage hot water solar system.  After numerous headaches and replacing broken components it is working fabulously.  We regularly have eighty gallons of 150-180 degree water!

 

Summer 2005 House Site Clearing
House site before construction	Tearing down an old retaining wall.  It was built for a Hydroponic Greenhouse that was removed in the 1980s.
I built the house in a Loblolly pine plantation.	Having fun at the end of a day of work
I cut 13 tractor trailer loads of pine out of the woods	Another load on the road
The House site.  I logged all of the trees with the farm tractor and then hired to have the sumps removed	The final site at the end of the summer.
Summer 2006 Studio-House Construction
Laying the last blocks for the foundation	Just installed recycled window.
The inside of the house before interior walls and insulation.	The finished house the next summer
Making cut before pealing the bark off of the log for future shed siding Photo by McNair Evens	The finished house in the winter
Pealing off the Bark to use as siding on a shed. The poplar logs were used in the house as beams and for fire wood. Photo by McNair Evens	Moving the hat shed over to the land to use as my office while building
January 2008 Storage Shed Siding Project
Here is the bark that I finally installed as siding on my storage shed. It took three days to put up what you see here.  Talk about slow work.	A detail of the bark siding
A closer look at the corner.	Fleece scraps insulate the shed ceiling!
Spring 2008 Solar Hot Water and Door Construction
I spent a good month removing and installing solar system originally manufactured in 1984.  After many replaced parts and lots of trial and error it has worked beautifully.	Finishing tulip poplar doors in the living room. I made them out of left over boards from siding the house. They never would have materialized without the expert advice from my father and the use of his shop.
The final installed bedroom and bathroom doors.  The paintings are by my grandmother Ruth Ensign and the wooden bowl is a reject from my father's workshop.	The bathroom door
The inside of the bedroom door	The pantry door open to view the new hot water solar system.  The 80 gallon tank regularly stays between 150-180 degrees!  The blue circle is the heat exchanger that converts the antifreeze heat from the panels to the domestic hot water.

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