Schmid / Allen Home

Owners: Kris Schmid & Colleen Allen
Location: 864 Clam Falls Trail, Frederic, WI 54837
Phone: 715-653-4308
Email: kris.schmid [at] centurytel.net
Contractor: Owner
Year Built: 2003

When I asked Kris when his house was built, he said "Well, we started in 2003!" Like many owner-builders, Kris and Colleen still have some "finishing touches" to add to their super-insulated home near Clam Falls. One major project left to be done is an active solar heating system that will warm an insulated bed of sand under the basement floor, in turn providing radiant heat to the living space throughout the winter. The sand bed and tubing are already in place.


This 32-foot square home comprises a total of about 1500 square feet of living space on the first floor and second floor loft. Kris & Colleen utilized what's called "strap wall" construction for tighter and better insulated exterior walls. Fewer windows on the north and west sides reduces heat loss and cold air infiltration.


This massive concrete block, brick-faced wood heating system is the central feature of the home's interior. Beneath the brick is a contorted system of channels through which hot gases must pass -- and give up much of their heat -- before exiting the chimney. (There's a bypass lever for direct venting when starting a fire.) The hardware is from the Canadian Heat Kit company.


With some passive solar assistance, Kris & Colleen get through most winter days with one firing of the stove. The fire is allowed to burn with maximum oxygen to minimize creosote and transfer as much heat as possible to the masonry. Once the fire has died down, dampers are closed and the heat is retained. They use about three cords of firewood in a typical winter -- a number that should be reduced significantly when the active solar system is in place.


The back side of the fireplace contains a brick oven which functions best as a slow cooker, though it can get hot enough for bread and even pizza.


Kris & Colleen own a solar business, Legacy Solar, so of course they have a photovoltaic array in the backyard. This eight-panel system provides about 100 square feet of collector area, producing a monthly average of about 125 kilowatt hours -- just about all they need. They are members of Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative, which has a net metering policy in place; any production beyond Kris & Colleen's immediate needs is sold back to Polk-Burnett, effectively running the meter backwards.


Here Kris is explaining the tracking function of his PV system; a set of gears and motors periodically adjusts the pitch and orientation of the array to keep it facing directly at the sun throughout the day. With rebates and incentives factored in, such a system would cost roughly $13,000 installed according to Kris.


Kris & Colleen's home was a stop on the Polk County Solar Home Tour last October. Here Kris explains the inverter box and metering system to an interested participant. All grid-tied systems must be equipped with safety features that prevent home-generated power being sent to the grid when it's down.

Tuynman Wind System

Owner: Tony & Karen Tuynman

Location: 2386 - 120th St., Luck, WI 54853

Phone: 715-472-2083

Contractor: Owner

Installed: 2003

This wind installation, at 199' total height (200' being the level at which the FAA requires lighting), is well above the tree line and very visible to anyone driving south of U.S. Hwy. 48 on Co. Rd. GG. When I first visited the Tuynmans, they had two systems in operation; they have since sold the smaller one, a 10 kW Jacobs on a 120' tower. (If I can track down the new owner I'll include a blog entry on that one, too.)

Tony picked up the red-and-white former communications tower from a salvage yard in South Dakota. The 20 kW Jacobs wind charger that sits on top also came used and in need of refurbishing. Doing all the work himself saved them a bundle; the Tuynmans estimate that if they'd purchase everything new and paid someone to install it, they'd have spent $60,000. Their actual investment was closer to $11,000. They realize additional savings because Tony has done all the maintenance himself -- greasing fittings every spring and fall and changing gearbox oil every other year. He says the height doesn't bother him!


















Polk-Burnett Electric Cooperative is the Tuynman's other electricity provider, paying retail prices ("net metering") for any wind-generated electricity beyond the homeowners' needs. Tony related to a recent tour group that he did have to pay for the expense of a larger transformer when he first installed his wind system. The Jacobs is cranking out between 600 and 1800 kilowatt hours per month, with the average being around 1000.


















The Tuynmans have been very gracious and welcoming with groups wanting to get an up-close look at their wind system.

Leef / Norlander Home

Owners: Linda Leef & Wayne Norlander
Location: 2357 - 210th St., Luck, WI 54853
Phone: 715-825-6610

Email: linda_leef [at] msn.com

General Contractor: Mark Morgan, Bearpaw Construction, Strum, WI
Solar Contractor: Kris Schmid, Legacy Solar, Frederic, WI
Year Built: 2006

Linda and Wayne opened their home to participants in last fall's Solar Home Tour. What follows is the text of a handout they provided to their visitors.

Thank you for visiting our home. We have tried to incorporate as many alternative and green concepts into our home as we could while maintaining its integrity as our functional home and while staying within our budget. These items include:

Solar hot water heat: The solar panels on the east side of our home provide most of our space heat and also most of our domestic hot water. Our home is raised on a sand bed with the tubes from the solar hot water heater at the base. The hot water provided by the solar panels heats the entire sand bed providing a heat storage system and heating our floors. This is backed up by an on-demand gas water heater with pipes just below the floor. When there is demand for hot water, the water from the hot water storage tank (which has been heated by the solar panels) flows through the on-demand gas hot water heater. If it is not up to temperature, the on-demand heater heats it up to temperature.















Photo: A small photovoltaic array provides DC power to the circulating pump.

Passive solar design: While a passive solar design calls for all of the rooms to open to south sunlight, we modified the design so that most of our living space (all the most used rooms) receives south sunlight. The house has three foot overhangs. This shades the interior during the hot months when the sun is high in the sky. In the cooler and cold months when the sun is further south in the sky, the sun shines in through the windows, warming the interior floors and air. We have tried to keep obstructions out of the way so that the sun can shine in onto the dark colored floors.














Photo: Note where sunlight hits floor in October; by December it will reach much further into the room.

Thick walls: Our exterior walls are 12" thick with eight inches of cellulose insulation, ship lap siding and concrete board exterior siding. The interior walls are insulated from the exterior sheeting to prevent heat transference. The cellulose insulation was blown in damp so that it would stick to the walls, preventing the slumping that can occur over time with cellulose.















Photo: A "sun tube" brings natural light into a back hallway.

Environmentally friendly materials: As many materials as possible were purchased from sources that were regional and/or environmentally friendly in their manufacturing processes. We tried to use recycled materials whenever possible. We tried to be careful that all materials within the home contained no urea-formaldehyde or other chemicals which would off-gas into our indoor air. This included paints, floor and cabinet finishes and door and cabinet construction materials.

High efficiency appliances: We purchased a high efficiency gas on-demand water heater (domestic hot water and space heat backup to solar hot water) and all appliances are as high efficiency as possible. We use compact fluorescent bulbs wherever possible.














Photo: Gas powered on-demand water heater (grey box on right) provides domestic hot water and back-up in-floor heat when needed.

High efficiency windows and doors and entry rooms: All doors and windows are high efficiency. The windows are all from Andersen as are the patio doors. We have designed the house so that the most frequently used doors enter into a space which can be closed off from the rest of the house to prevent cold drafts from entering the house when someone enters.

Multi-purposing: We tried to make most of the space in the house not just usable but USED, with most spaces serving multiple purposes. This allowed us to keep our square feet down without losing function.














Photo: Red tubes go to sand bed; black tubes to just beneath the floor.