David Braden and his wife had one key goal in mind when building their new house.  They wanted to show the world that a house didn’t need to be a shack or a cabin to be off-the-grid.  It doesn’t have to be a million dollar eco mansion like so many of the homes that we hear about celebrities building these days either.  What they ended up with is a gorgeous, comfortable home with all of the modern conveniences that every family is used to having – without the need to ever pay a utility bill again. 

Super Green Me takes an in-depth look at the Braden home and the process that they went through in order to lead the off-the-grid lifestyle, in style.

History

Dave Braden is a former city councilor for the city of Hamilton, Ontario.  His other occupation for the past 25 years has been part owner of Braden Homes, a fine custom homebuilder.  As a homebuilder, Dave has a very good idea of how homes should be built.  However, one of the main things that Dave aims to show with his house is that all houses do not have to be built the same way that they have always been built; a few minor changes to the design and construction of a house can improve its energy efficiency by 60% over a conventionally built home. 

The first house that Braden homes built cost less than $38.00 to heat with electricity for an entire year.  While this sounds unbelievable, Braden backs it up with how they did it. 

They built a house using conventional materials, but with different quantities and more attention to detail than those found in a conventional home. 

Instead of using a standard, energy sucking furnace, Braden installed an inline duct heater that, with properly constructed ducting which circulated heated air throughout the house for peanuts. 

Clients wanted them to reproduce these results, but didn’t believe them when they said that they would have a warm house without a standard heater.  Braden then proceeded to put in conventional furnaces and disconnect most of their capacity so that clients would feel more secure. 

Braden’s political background serves him well here.  He has a very astute finger on the pulse of what people want and will react to.  “If you give them something that is really far out, they won’t believe you.  If you show them something that gives them a reasonable savings with a provable cause, they are more likely to believe in what you are doing.”  Many environmentalists and conservationists can certainly sympathize with this statement. 

Braden’s own home is the culmination of years of experience and lessons learned in the field.  According to Braden, the main reason that his home is so energy efficient is the construction method.

Walls, Insulation & Vapour Barrier – Doing It Differently

In a standard house, you have single walls with single studs filled with insulation.  Up until ten years ago homes were built with 2 x 4’s that were 3 ½” thick.  This was then finished with drywall on the inside, and the outside was finished with brick, siding, or stone. 

This has now been replaced in conventional home building by 2x6’s that are 5 ½” deep, or thick. 

Dave’s home – and all homes that his business builds – does it differently.  He has replaced the conventional walls with two 2x4 walls, separated by 5 ½” of space filled with insulation.  While the insulation and the extra wall do contribute some material cost to the project, this alone makes the house 60% more energy efficient. 

The main reason that this works so well is that conventional home building often overlooks the significance of vapour barriers.  These are often pierced by ducts, electrical outlets, chimneys, bathroom fans, or anything else that requires a hole in the single wall.  The effect of this is to have air and heat loss equivalent to a 24” by 24” gaping hole in the side of the house.  Dave’s method minimizes this gaping hole to a mere 4” by 4”. 

 The polyethylene vapour barrier is the most important aspect of the construction, according to Braden.  The vapour barrier must stay warm, which is accomplished through the use of two-thirds of the insulation outside the first wall, and its continuity with minimal perforations makes the house is nearly airtight.

Direction of House & Windows – Why Air Conditioning is Not Necessary

On a most sweltering day in the summer of 2007, the temperature in Braden’s house was a comfortable 24 degrees Celsius.  This was achieved with zero air conditioning, and ingenious homebuilding. 

Braden wanted the house to be cool in the summer and warm in the winter.  This seems initially like a conundrum, until we take into account that the angle of the sun changes from summer to winter. 

The greatest enemies of staying cool in the summer are the south and west facing windows.  A nine-foot overhang that encompasses a large front verandah effectively shades the windows on the west.  If the south and west facing windows are not essentially shaded by a large overhang, Braden says, the rest of your efforts are toast and you need to install an air conditioner.  Even if you have an air conditioner installed, installing an awning on the south and west facing sides of the house will effectively increase the air conditioning efficiency by having it turn on less. 

The overhang stops at the precise angle at which the sun comes into the room in the winter in order to assist the heating process. 

The R value (insulation value) of all of the windows, excepting the south facing ones, is 8.6.  A high insulation value is necessary to achieve optimal heating and cooling efficiency; the south-facing windows don’t require as high of an R value as they must promote solar energy penetration and therefore heat gain.

Damp and Cool Basement No More

The basement is often responsible for heat loss and unnecessary moisture, which can lead to mold invasion.

This is true because your traditional concrete pad is made of fresh stone, with sharp edges that slice through any plastic barrier that is put down, especially when the homebuilder walks on the barrier as they frequently need to when pouring concrete. 

Braden’s very simple solution to this problem was to make a large sandwich at the concrete pad level.  You dig out the basement 2-3” lower than you usually would.  Gravel forms the first layer, then on top of it you put down a layer of 1” white Styrofoam, then the polyethylene vapour barrier, sealed to itself at the seams, then another layer of 1” of white Styrofoam.  This way when workmen are pouring the concrete, their shoes scuff up the Styrofoam and not the vapour barrier. The concrete pad is then poured over top, and is kept warm and dry by the protective vapour barrier and its insulating Styrofoam.  The difference is immediately apparent; the standard house has a temperature of 35 degrees Fahrenheit in the basement at floor level; Braden’s home sports a temperature close to 60 degrees Fahrenheit at ground level in the basement.  The author walked on it in sock feet and can happily report truth in advertising. 

This represented an extra cost in Braden’s house of only $250.00.  This extra $250.00 keeps the basement warm and dry, which saves on both energy efficiency and potential allergies through exposure to molds that live in the damp environments of most basements.

Development of Methods

Braden is very careful to give credit to where it is due when asked if he invented the methods used in building his house; he simply refined them over the years.  It began when the University of Saskatchewan, the National Research Council (Canadian federal government body which funds scientific research) and the local Regina homebuilders go together in the 1970’s and built the Saskatchewan Conservation House.

References

• Interview & Tour with Dave Braden
• Article on Braden’s Home in the Star
• http://www.thestar.com/sciencetech/article/290351
• Article on the Saskatchewan Conservation House
• http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/energy-efficient_houses.html