Brooks/Mulligan House
2015 New house at Katywil Farm Community, Colrain Massachusetts
Project Photo Gallery
Project Team
Ratings, Awards and Recognition
This is a new house in the Katywil Farm Community, an intentional cohousing community in Colrain Massachusetts. It was designed as a Net-Zero house by the owner/architect Peter Brooks after taking Marc Rosenbaum's first NetZero design course. It is derived from the Capstone project from that course. The house was built by Karsten Construction of Leverett. We have a heated walk-out basement that is unfinished but has a radiant slab floor and an unheated root cellar room. The house is a 26 x 34' rectangle with a secound floor that has shed dormers on the North and South sides. The house is sited facing slightly East of South on a South facing slope. It is designed with about 8% south facing triple glazed windows and small windows on the north. The walls are double studded 12" thick packed with dense cellulose. The roof was designed to have 18" of cellulose, about R60. The house was built quite tightly and tested at .8 ACH50. The house is ventilated by a Fantech Flex 100 ERV. The house is heated by a Daikin air to water heat pump that pumps hot water to the DWH indirect tank and the radiant slab and radiators. There is a 7.6 kW solar PV array of 30 panels, with half on the 45 degree sloped roof and half of the panels are on the top of the dormer roof at about 30 degrees.
We have just received 12 full months of energy data and we seem to have generated enough power to be within 12% of NetZero. We need to generate an extra 671 kWh to offset the 24 gallons of propane that we used for cooking. We will add a monitoring to the system and refine our use until we meet our goal of Net-Zero.
Quick Facts
General
Location
Colrain, Massachusetts
Building Type
Single family residence
Project Type
Zero Energy Ready / Near Zero Energy
Basis of Performance Claim
Modeled, Verified
Bedrooms
2
Bathrooms
2.0
Conditioned Floor Area
2,200 sq ft
Total Cost of Project
$480,000
Energy Summary
Energy Data Type
Modeled, Verified
Renewable Energy System Type(s)
Photovoltaics
Ratings
Mass CEC tier 3 rebate
HERS Five Star Plus+ Certificate
HERS Index
5
Net electricity usage (purchased)
1,262 kWh/year
Natural gas amount (purchased)
671 kWh/year
Annual renewable energy generated
9,987 kWh/year
Envelope and Mechanicals
Subslab assembly
We have two layers of 2" extruded polyurethane under the slab, R20,with a vaor barrier and 6" of crushed stone.
Foundation wall assembly
The below grade foundation is an 8" concrete wall with waterproofing. It is insulated on the inside with 2" of polyurethane insulation and a stud wall with blown in dense packed cellulose and 1/2" gypsum board for a total nominal R value of 22.
Above grade wall assembly
The above grade walls are 12" double studded walls with dense packed cellulose between zip sheathing and 1/2" gypsum board. The band joist is sprayed with 8" of closed cell foam. The air and water barriers are taped zip sheathing.
Door Assembly
Fiberglass with wood edges, Therma-tru, smoothstar.
Project Photo Gallery
Project Team
Ratings, Awards and Recognition
This is a new house in the Katywil Farm Community, an intentional cohousing community in Colrain Massachusetts. It was designed as a Net-Zero house by the owner/architect Peter Brooks after taking Marc Rosenbaum's first NetZero design course. It is derived from the Capstone project from that course. The house was built by Karsten Construction of Leverett. We have a heated walk-out basement that is unfinished but has a radiant slab floor and an unheated root cellar room. The house is a 26 x 34' rectangle with a secound floor that has shed dormers on the North and South sides. The house is sited facing slightly East of South on a South facing slope. It is designed with about 8% south facing triple glazed windows and small windows on the north. The walls are double studded 12" thick packed with dense cellulose. The roof was designed to have 18" of cellulose, about R60. The house was built quite tightly and tested at .8 ACH50. The house is ventilated by a Fantech Flex 100 ERV. The house is heated by a Daikin air to water heat pump that pumps hot water to the DWH indirect tank and the radiant slab and radiators. There is a 7.6 kW solar PV array of 30 panels, with half on the 45 degree sloped roof and half of the panels are on the top of the dormer roof at about 30 degrees.
We have just received 12 full months of energy data and we seem to have generated enough power to be within 12% of NetZero. We need to generate an extra 671 kWh to offset the 24 gallons of propane that we used for cooking. We will add a monitoring to the system and refine our use until we meet our goal of Net-Zero.
Quick Facts
General
Location | Colrain, Massachusetts |
---|---|
Building Type | Single family residence |
Project Type | Zero Energy Ready / Near Zero Energy |
Basis of Performance Claim | Modeled, Verified |
Bedrooms | 2 |
Bathrooms | 2.0 |
Conditioned Floor Area | 2,200 sq ft |
Total Cost of Project | $480,000 |
Energy Summary
Energy Data Type | Modeled, Verified |
---|---|
Renewable Energy System Type(s) | Photovoltaics |
Ratings |
Mass CEC tier 3 rebate |
HERS Index | 5 |
Net electricity usage (purchased) | 1,262 kWh/year |
Natural gas amount (purchased) | 671 kWh/year |
Annual renewable energy generated | 9,987 kWh/year |
Envelope and Mechanicals
Subslab assembly |
We have two layers of 2" extruded polyurethane under the slab, R20,with a vaor barrier and 6" of crushed stone. |
---|---|
Foundation wall assembly |
The below grade foundation is an 8" concrete wall with waterproofing. It is insulated on the inside with 2" of polyurethane insulation and a stud wall with blown in dense packed cellulose and 1/2" gypsum board for a total nominal R value of 22. |
Above grade wall assembly |
The above grade walls are 12" double studded walls with dense packed cellulose between zip sheathing and 1/2" gypsum board. The band joist is sprayed with 8" of closed cell foam. The air and water barriers are taped zip sheathing. |
Door Assembly |
Fiberglass with wood edges, Therma-tru, smoothstar. |