A few years ago before we started our house project, we asked ourselves, “do we need a pickup truck when we begin to build our house?” Seems like everyone we knew had one, but we just couldn’t afford it, and we needed a high mileage car for other reasons. Sure we could fit a lot more things in a pickup truck and get them to the job site easier, faster, and minimize the cost of having deliveries sent to the site, but where’s the fun in that?

Over the last few years I have come across a series of pictures of the strange things we have done to our poor 1998 Toyota Rav and 2005 Matrix. They have been filled with both the heaviest and lightest of items, carried bales of hay, stacks of cement blocks, bags of garbage and recyclables, been used as a short distance logging device and carrier for a few SIPS panels. There is even a platform set up on top of the Rav for Bob to photograph wildlife. The same rack was used to recreate a scene from an IKEA commercial by strapping large boxes to the top while listening to the straps whistle and thump for miles in the middle of a snowstorm in Utah. On one Whidbey trip, over twenty 3-inch pieces of electrical conduit were affixed on top and performed incredibly like a sinister organ as we traveled 45 mph down the road. More recently, I cinched a series of Styrofoam forms equaling a mass of 2’ x 4’ x 8’ ft. block and drove it from Seattle to Whidbey Island. I was convinced the car would lift off the ground and become a bad Disney Flying Nun/Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang moment. People tend to move out of your way, it’s amazing how that works.

So if you’re thinking about buying a big ass pickup truck before starting a big project, obviously it would be more helpful. But I say, cowboy-up, save some gas, look ridiculously like Jed Clampett from the Beverly Hillbillies and stuff that little vehicle to the max. Be safe, cover your load, cinch tight, and embrace the embarrassment.

Now that we had that sorted out, it was time to move some dirt around. The back of our house site has a slight grade to it. With the help of Jim Lux, our amazing Bobcat acrobat/landshaper, part of the slope was cut and brought down into the lower areas to flatten out the grade. (See Jim’s Bobcat Ballet video below). Big boulders were delivered, and Jim artfully placed them behind the house for the beginning of a retaining wall. We then got some fill to even it all out and a couple of weekends of renting a JBC front-end loader and dirt compactor from Double R and we did the rest. Most people think we are crazy to do this, and far be it for us to let them think otherwise. This is not for everyone. And most people hire it out which is way smarter. But then again digging is in my husband’s blood and part of his DNA makeup. His father was a mining engineer in West Virginia, Wyoming and Utah. He once made Bob help dig a swimming pool. But that’s another story.

As for me, I got good at the front-end loader. Must have been from watching Jim all those times. Never thought I’d say that or have a reason to. Then Bob and I would switch off and I’d walk around with the dirt compactor. Two-hundred-fifty pounds of a vibrating, shaking plate that compacts dirt in six to eight inch layers. While tedious, it is not that hard. My husband in his own charming way found the only bright spot about me using it had more to do with the jiggling movement of certain upper body parts. “Yeah, keep laughing clown boy, you won’t find many wives that will do this.” But hey, if it keeps him motivated, so be it.

After that was finished, we spent two days measuring out the foundation and setting pins in the ground. Then the batter boards were set in. We even used lime as opposed to spray paint to make our markings. When we were done it looked like some new field game played on a square court. We were now ready for the arrival of Uncle Ted, our builder and setting up the forms for the stemwall.

Above: Images from the foundation pad in progress.

For many of us, a yearly health checkup with our general practitioner is standard. We count on our GP to have a grip on the grand scheme of what’s going on with our bodies, providing an integrated medical approach, and sometimes a referral to a specialist if a problem comes up.

Your house deserves the same attention, every ten years or so.

A home performance contractor is the GP for your home. “Home Performance” is the term used to describe how well a house functions in terms of thermal comfort, indoor air quality, energy efficiency, and durability. Because all of these elements interact, the science-based, whole-house approach taken by home performance contractors is the best way to solve problems with a house.

For example, if insulation is installed without considering moisture and ventilation, or if a new furnace is installed without addressing air and duct leaks, the house could end up in worse shape, and even possibly a safety hazard with air quality or combustion issues. A thorough home performance analysis (commonly called a home energy audit) can ensure that your home is healthy with all its elements working well together.

Home Performance illustrating potential air leaks. Source: U.S. EPA

If there are home health problems, a home performance contractor can prescribe the appropriate construction improvements or system retrofits. The whole-house approach means this can be done in a way that best meets the wants of the homeowner as well as the needs of the house.

While you perceive benefits such as being warmer in the winter and cooler in the summer, breathing fresher air, and having lower energy bills, the increase in the house’s efficiency also means a lower carbon footprint. Improving the nation’s residential carbon use by 25% is equivalent to doubling the gas mileage of all the nation’s cars.

Thanks to an increasing number of articles in the mass media, along with state and federal tax credits and incentives, the public is beginning to understand that home performance is an important part of the energy solution, but there is a long way to go. The non-profit organization Efficiency First is working in Washington, D.C. to effect legislation that will incentivize based on performance, rather than products. Certain jurisdictions are already requiring an audit before a home can be put up for sale, and as metrics become more centralized, an energy score (much like a car’s MPG) may end up on the real estate listings.

In Washington State, a new trade association—Home Performance Washington—has formed to address the growing demand for home performance contractors and related companies. Their mission is to increase public awareness, set the standard for the work that is performed, support conservation programs, and work with local, regional, and national organizations to support the industry.

The great news is that hiring a home performance contractor to retrofit your home usually does not cost a fortune; the most common improvements are quick, easy, and affordable—with immediately detectable results for the health of your home and your enjoyment of it.

So just as an apple a day may keep the doctor away, doing a home performance retrofit can keep the energy losses at bay.

Alison Kartiganer is the Operations Manager for Vesta Home Performance Retrofitting

The sustainable marriage test.

Okay so my husband and I know enough about construction projects to make ourselves very dangerous. Though we’ve never actually built a house before, Bob is extremely mechanically inclined and I’ve done my fair share of art installations, and light construction on other people’s homes. We’ve both read a bunch of owner/builder books, articles, and said to ourselves, “pishaw…we can do this.”

The first new shed built

But just like any good personal relationship, you need to have a relationship with your projects. Courting smaller projects with the kind of puppy love we all have at the beginning of a project is important. It’s only after that, that we can work up towards more meaningful projects where becoming jaded and exhausted is par for the course.

Bob and I bought five acres on Whidbey Island just after we were married in 2003. We decided it would be best to test the strength of the marriage right off the bat by doing a few small projects together. The first project was a small cedar shed enough to keep our tools dry. We camped in our 82 Volvo station wagon on the weekends during this time. With Bob at 6’5” and me at 5’10” there ain’t a lot of room to get comfortable. But we were newlyweds and it was fun. The shed turned out really cute and as it was the first building it was our crowning accomplishment together. The marriage was still intact, so we were game for another project.

Lots of digging and leveling

Next project, a small 110 sq. ft kit sleeping cabin. It actually wasn’t building the cabin that almost killed us. It was the leveling, squaring the foundation piers, building the floor, fighting mosquitos and shoveling. Lots of shoveling. (Shovels have since become our icon, with our mantra being, “keep shoveling honey.”) It took us 4 weekends to do by hand. We would come home exhausted on Sunday nights, get out of the car, and feel like we had been through some forestry version of Boot Camp. Everything hurt, and there was no way either one of us would cook. It was this routine that earned us voice recognition with Pagliacci Pizza operators and many unnecessary pounds.

Finally after hauling in five kit loads with the Volvo, we laid out all the pieces, a convoluted puzzle with the craziest of instructions which I read out loud to Bob. Luckily the cabin itself went up in one weekend. After we had finished putting on the last metal roof piece, we walked inside and the rain just came down in buckets sounding like a 14-yr kid shooting BBs straight down on us. It took us a while to stop ducking. Nothing leaked! The feeling of accomplishment was overwhelming. It is a beautiful place and we built it together. After that we were hooked. Our marriage had again triumphed even through me barking instructions and Bob actually having to listen them.

Later that fall we knocked out a 3rd storage shed in two weekends and realized we were actually getting good at this. We wondered how hard could a house be…

Large scale puzzle kit

A popsicle stick cabin

Completed cabin