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diy solar

Complete rebuild of a house - how would you power and heat/cool ?

Two 5 ton units? I cool the same size 2 story house in the Phoenix area with 3 tons. 10 tons would be excessive and fail at taking any humidity out.
Some homeowners just want 5 ton units, and explaining the science of the situation falls on deaf ears. I pass up those bids…
 
That price just knocked me out of my chair! You can buy the kits at Lowe's but for a whole house, hiring it is more economical. A contractor buddy has not had to remove everything to studs to do this install - just slits near the bottom of the wall and the company just used poles to get it everywhere. Still cheaper than gutting and replacing all that plaster!
So it does not sound like you will be stripping the outer interior walls down to bare studs, unless needed. Is that correct?
That is a great idea wherever possible. Leaving the existing walls in place is a big time and $$$ saver.
Start looking for a good plasterer early on. Plastering is a laborious art form which does not attract too many young folk these days.
Drywall mud is the common alternative and seems to work pretty well in most instances.

Lath & plaster walls are great. Someone can correct me if need be but I think lath and plaster has more thermal mass than in a sheet of drywall.
I know a flying projectile (my hammer) can get through drywall even when thrown left-handed. ?
 
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I'm late to this thread but you might find http://coolcalc.com a useful place to start to figure out HVAC loads. It's a full on Manual J approach and free for homeowners (they charge to download the official forms for code officials, like $15 or so, it's a cool business model).

GreenBuildingAdvisor.com is also a good place to ask lots of the questions in the thread.

i see quite a few messages where people are making a trade off between more insulation and more energy use in the HVAC. My experience is that, from a thermal comfort perspective, the surface temp of walls and other objects is fundamental to comfort, you can have warm air but cold surfaces and you'll still feel cold. And larger systems can't make up for that, they just overshoot, then undershoot. Even variable refrigerant systems only heat the air and only accidentally the surfaces.

On a systems level if I was doing a full new house I'd look hard at these boxes, which combine ventilation, ERV, dehumidification (inc humidity management during winter), and some heating and cooling. They can be combined with small ducted HVAC units for more capacity. https://buildequinox.com/news/?id=6669 and the Minotair: https://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/article/energy-smart-hvac
 
I didn't read all the replies, but I'd start with passive house spec insulation - ~R40+ walls and R60+ roof, air seal to < 0.6 ACH50 . Then the smallest HVAC possible - I like mini splits + ERV/HRV + dehumidifier (if necessary).
 
I don’t know if this will be fun for you or not. I have a love/hate view of these challenges. Especially since I will be paying for this one!


I am moving to a new house that first must be renovated. Completely renovated. House is well over 100 years old (original part is over 140 years old). House is solid so renovating and updating insulation, etc should hopefully be smooth. Here is my request for the gurus here: How would you power, heat, and cool a house so you can be off-grid and very comfortable? While money is an issue, figuring out a plan has to start somewhere.

Here is some more information: Location is Indiana, so get nice and cold plus nice and hot, with high humidity. 1500 sq feet primary floor. Attic will be finished and used as a second floor. House has a basement. Wells for water (I don’t know current pump requirements) exist.

Power system needs to be able to expand as demands increase. This will be a working farm, and power requirements will increase as a walk-in cooler and freezer are installed in the future. (Currently we have 2 chest freezers) Goal is to use electric golf carts for chores to charge off solar.

Plenty of land for solar. Easy to put panels on a barn that unfortunately has the roof facing East/West but is open to full sun. Ground mounts are an option.

Please don’t tell me to do an energy assessment as figure this is a completely empty building. So hard to do an assessment when nothing exists.

My initial thoughts are to go to radiant solar floor heat. Mini-split units for A/C and backup heat. Or do I figure out geothermal? Ductwork requirements would make this more difficult. Specific units and designs are not yet there.

Grid exists there now. Start with grid and then build solar?

Final glitch - everything must be able to pass inspection for the refinance.

Hope this is ok. Thanks
Seriously I would go to This Old House website and watch some videos, they have best experience.
 
Updating this thread: That house fell through. 50K of foundation repair was a deal breaker. Loved the house and ground. But not willing to destroy my marriage over it. We found a new place that IS going through.
 
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