Old world know-how

By Edward Hill - Goldstream News Gazette

Published: October 14, 2008 1:00 PM

Updated: October 14, 2008 2:11 PM “Eco-sense” house in Highlands on track for five-century-plus lifespanWith trowel in hand, Ben Scott makes lime plastering look easy as he layers ochre coloured mud along a cob wall. In Canada, working with earth plasters is something of a lost art, but done right and the “Eco-sense” house in Highlands could survive well beyond its fifth century.“In the U.K., homes with this exact material have been standing 500 to 700 years,” says Scott, a.k.a. “Scotty.” “Lime plaster and cob go hand-in-hand.”The layer of lime plaster is the last major element for what is now Canada’s most prolific “green” house, built by Ann and Gord Baird. At its core, the two-storey cob building is glorified mud on mud.

The Baird’s project has set precedent for B.C.’s building code, attracted busloads of government officials and sustainability experts, and earned airtime and column inches from media across the country. Royal BC Museum’s B.C. 150th anniversary display has a life-sized poster of the couple and is touring a model of the house with its mobile display. The Bairds “borrowed” Scott from The Land Conservancy, who funded the U.K.-based tradesman to work on a series of heritage buildings in B.C., under a program looking to revive lost or dying trades.The Bairds plan to give two weeks worth of work to the TLC, “ditch digging or whatever they need,” Gord says, for Scott’s plastering time. “I’m not bringing anything new to B.C., but I’m trying to bring awareness back to this material,” Scott says. “ (Lime plaster) is a carbon neutral, completely natural product that protects from moisture rot and gives better air quality.”Layering lime plaster and monitoring as it cures has that feeling of watching paint dry, but it’s a surprisingly detailed process. Properly mixed lime plaster insulates but lets walls breathe, absorbing moisture and carbon dioxide. Minerals in the plaster will flow into small cracks, giving the walls the ability to “self heal.”Modern cement-based stucco is the “fast food” of housing construction, Gord says — it’s cheaper and quick to apply, but doesn’t breathe, doesn’t last as long and isn’t environmentally friendly. “We’re lucky to have met Scotty,” Ann says. “Lime plaster has too many subtleties. It takes an expert to do it properly, but do it properly you’ll protect the building for 500 years.”The project is on year three, a year longer than their estimated construction time, but the pair have done most of the heavy lifting, day after day. Ann says they’ve accomplished what they set out to do: create a house built to code that is “off the grid,” has a vanishing carbon-footprint, while remaining affordable and allowing a high standard of living. The final cost is estimated at $270,000.Solar tubes heat water which in turn is piped through the house for heat. It has solar panels feeding juice to battery packs, uses its grey water for irrigation, among an endless list of “green” designs. With iron-oxide in the plaster, the house tries to fit in with nature, following the colour pallet of surrounding arbutus trees.Dozens of design innovations and building to code has attracted policy-makers and engineers from across North America, and hundreds of people curious about living sustainably.“Key for us was informing the building code and building within the bureaucracy that exists. It’s why the bureaucracy comes and visits,” Ann says. “People see this is a legitimate, comfortable, functional but affordable house. People are going ‘wow this is possible.’”The Bairds are now working on getting the house designated the first “living building,” under the Cascadia Region Green Building Council’s “Living Building Challenge.” A living building needs design appeal, have zero net waste and generate renewable power. The Bairds reckon they are already there. Cascadia first needs to create a category for a single family home. “Getting living building status will help move us into the norm,” Ann says. “Right now we are still outside what is normal.”

For more on the Baird’s house, see www.eco-sense.ca.

Highlands house a part of history
By Edward Hill - Goldstream News Gazette - April 04, 2008

Ancient apples unearthed

At Highland’s Caleb Pike Heritage Park, the once thriving apple orchard is dying off. But Howie Chadderton, Ann Baird’s father, is going to use some old-fashioned grafting keep the genetic lineage alive.

According to an hand-drawn 1883 map, the Pike property had 27 trees, but about a dozen survive to this day. Chadderton plans to graft eight or nine shoots in the Baird’s orchard. Chadderton says the shoots need to be cut with a extremely sharp, sterile knife. The shoot’s cambium layer is then matched to an a branch on an existing tree and bandaged watertight. “The new piece has all the DNA of the original piece,” he says.

If the grafting is successful, he expects to have original Caleb Pike apple trees within three or four years.

Amid the historical curiosities lining the Royal BC Museum’s 150th provincial anniversary display is a wall-sized photo of Ann and Gord Baird, two modern-day pioneers of sorts.

The Highlands environmentalists are creating what may be the most sustainable building in North America. With the museum’s nod, the Bairds and their cob home are now a celebrated piece of B.C.’s history.

“They are a good example of two people willing to go to the limit,” says Kelly Sendall, RBCM manager of natural history.

The Bairds share part of the Free Spirit exhibition with two other eco-home builders, both on Salt Spring Island. The Bairds have loaned the museum a model of their house. Sendall says the RBCM wanted to demonstrate how British Columbians are stewarding the natural environment.

“Because everyone makes a home, it’s not hard to think twice about natural resources, ecological footprints how to deal with power,” Sendall says. “(The Bairds) are an example of going the extra mile to make and build a sustainable house.”

For their part, the Bairds are working furiously to finish building, when they are not guiding house tours or giving interviews to magazines, newspapers and documentary filmmakers.

“Our goal was to make a little difference in sustainable homes,” Ann says. “To be included in the museum is a real privilege.” “We just want to set an example locally and globally,” Gord adds. They’re young, but they finish each other’s sentences like an old married couple.

The Bairds expected to finish construction before last Christmas, but spent the winter in their cramped trailer with a dog and Gord’s two kids. There is light at the end of the tunnel. The interior needs finishing but the hard parts are done — and there were many.

Their pride and joy is the solar tube system that heats water for domestic use and pipes it through the house for warmth. The dual system isn’t exactly rocket science, but the Canadian Standards Association didn’t have a policy for it, leaving Highland’s building inspector and the Bairds in the dark.

“There was a lack of policy with evacuated tubes. It was new to Canada and essentially illegal to use,” Gord says. “So we wrote an alternative solution to the (building) code,” Ann says. “The heating system is new. It broke huge ground.”

Now dozens of small pipes snake under the floor radiating from a custom-designed hydronic control system. Not content with creating precedent for future sustainable homes, the Baird’s electrical engineer designed the controls to use 50 times less power than a conventional system.

“Power conservation is key,” Gord says. “We’ve designed the system for super-low energy consumption.”

The year-long experiment has become a lifestyle unto itself. The Bairds pioneered enough design innovations to become sought-after green-building consultants. They’re ramping up for school and public tours of the house to finally start bringing in income again. Their income taxes are simple for 2007 — zero dollars.

“What we do really well is the system integration side — working with water and so-called waste disposal. We call it resource capture,” Gord says.

Some design features seem disarmingly obvious but are rarely or never done in conventional homes. A dozen solar panels feed battery packs, in turn feeding appliances — fridges, computers, stereos, and lights. The house collects rainwater and organically filters its grey water to feed an orchard. Most of the wood is salvaged from Skirt Mountain, Mayfair Lanes and Glanford School. Even the nails were yanked from old lumber. Perhaps less obvious was adding pumice to North Americas first legal, load bearing cob walls - a mix of clay, sand and straw. Cob won’t burn, repels bugs, and the pumice helps it breath like “nature’s Gortex,” Gord says.

Despite seemingly endless “green” design details — a compostable toilet, organic interior insulation — the house including labour only cost about $270,000. It will house six people comfortably, including Ann’s parents.

“If it’s not affordable it’s not sustainable,” they say. “The idea is to have less income and more family time,” Ann says. “You have more time for growing food, for your community and for your kids,” Gord adds.

The Bairds hope to start pressuring policy makers to support homeowners for adopting sustainable, eco-friendly technology and lifestyles. Some large developments tack on so-called “green” planning with little substance and are hailed as environmental saviors, they say.

“This house isn’t a ‘green wash,’” Gord says. “Some developments say they are green, but it’s pure bull.”

To learn more or to book a school, public or private tour see www.eco-sense.ca or call 478-2680.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com

The ultimate green house
December 12, 2007 | | | |

Highlands couple’s building project has rewritten the rules on environmental innovation and the building code

By now, dozens if not hundreds of engineers and architects have toured the unusual house that Gord and Ann Baird are building atop a hill in Highlands.

Constructed with what is essentially mud and reclaimed timber, its roof is rigged with rows of solar panels and thermal vacuum tubes. On sunny days it will feed electricity into BC Hydro’s grid. It’s the first building in North America with load-bearing walls made from cob — a mix of sand, clay and straw. A zigzag network of tensioned cabling makes the split-level house seismically sound. All its grey water and waste is recycled or mulched into soil.

The list of clean, green innovations seems endless. And yet the one thing that impresses any given tour group is the compostable toilet — in an outhouse, across the yard from the actual house. Apparently there’s nothing like a loo that replaces the six-litre flush with a scoop of sawdust.

“The amount of PhDs though here is unbelievable,” says Gord, a former autobody shop owner and self-described “born-again environmentalist.”

“Some people come because of the cob house, some because of the grey water or solar energy systems. Always the inevitable happens — people learn something they hadn’t planned on, and they are hooked,” he says. “What hooks most people is the compost toilet. We get e-mails from people about putting compostable toilets in their homes.”

Popularity of the toilet is a bit tongue-in-cheek, but it illustrates a new way of thinking about home building and sustainable lifestyles. The design and materials selection will shrink the building’s carbon footprint for its life-cycle, which Gord expects to be hundreds of years.

“It’s a combination of low-tech and high-tech,” Ann says. “But ultimately we’re building a house of mud that people have been doing since the beginning of time.”

The eco-house idea crystalized out of the Bairds’ concern with climate change, the desire to live in harmony with the environment and the fact that Ann had lived in an off-the-grid house on an island near Salt Spring. With a “why not?” attitude, they pooled their savings, quit working and moved their kids and Ann’s parents into trailers on the property in 2006.

Construction itself began in May, with hopes to finish before the new year. The novelty of trailer camping has long worn off. “Damn right I’m ready to move into the house,” laughed Gord.

The house, as Gord says, is a “living laboratory,” with dozens of nuanced design features. Pumice was added to the cob, which allows the walls to breathe, and increases strength and insulation. Cob itself is fire resistant and repels bugs. It will have a green roof to regulate temperatures and water. The solar panels feed battery packs, which gives them four days of autonomy from BC Hyrdo in a power failure.

Further, the rooftop thermal vacuum tubes will heat captured rainwater for a sterilization system that avoids tapping the Highlands aquifer, although well water is available if necessary.

Ann designed a greywater filter using an underground tub of rocks, leaves and worms that naturally break down fats and food bits. The water will be used for the orchard.

“We use all rainwater storage for irrigation. We will never draw from groundwater for domestic use,” Ann says. “We’re trying not to have any waste. Water is so valuable, but you’ve got to (filter) it properly otherwise it could be pathogenic.”

Building a truly green house has its engineering hurdles, but the Bairds didn’t have to invent any new technology — it was more of adapting what exists in novel ways. Meeting building codes, though, was another matter.

The Baird’s house is so far from the norm, Canadian Standards Association policies and building codes don’t exist to deal with load-bearing cob or the solar-thermal heating system.

“These exact components were not legal to use,” Ann says. “It really opened up a can of worms.”

“A big challenge was the solar-thermal heating system,” Gord added. “The biggest challenge was learning how to approach the code properly.”

After consulting with the chief building inspector for Ottawa, and presenting the Baird’s plans to Greater Victoria inspectors, Highlands building inspector Chris Leek came up with safety guidelines under the code’s “alternative solutions.”

The Bairds must demonstrate the heating system won’t catch fire and the potable water system can’t be contaminated.

“We did it though the alternate solutions in the code, where it’s up to the owners to demonstrate compliance to meet safety factors,” Leek said.

Compliance hasn’t been a problem, and Leek plans to show the Baird’s house to building inspectors across Greater Victoria. The Bairds and Leek are even developing a workshop for building inspectors on the cob house.

Getting home insurance was also a headache. Since cob buildings don’t exist in Canada, their insurance agent had to use actuarial tables from the U.K., Gord says, based on medieval homes. “Our insurance is based on 500-year-old houses in England.”

When finished, the Bairds estimate their 2,150-square-foot home will cost about $236,000, including labour. People are surprised, they say, that the family won’t have to give up creature comforts — they’ll have fridges, freezers, baths and most basic appliances (except for television).

The house is wired with ethernet cabling for the Internet, and they are participating in a study on ambient electromagnetic frequencies using their house as the test subject.

“We tried so many new things, we involved the inspectors, were very public about the house,” Gord says. “We hope to inspire others to experiment.”

editor@goldstreamgazette.com

Ann and Gord Baird are building their home from cob and other materials drawn directly from the earth.

By Pattie Whitehouse
News correspondent
May 30 2007

Just over a year ago, the News Gazette began a series of articles about the Eco-Sense project, an east Highlands couple’s plans to build a sustainable home.

At the time, Ann and Gordon Baird intended to construct a one-and-a-half storey strawbale and cob house. A metal roof would be used for rainwater catchment to supply most of their domestic water.

They planned to be off the power grid, with electricity needs met by solar panels and wind generation.

Heat was to be supplied by solar-heated water circulating in pipes embedded in the earthen floor. Wood stoves with water jackets were to supplement the hot water heat on dull days.

Sustainable systems planned included re-use of grey water, treated in a living biofilter, to irrigate an orchard and installation of composting toilets that are odourless and pleasant to use, but require no water or electricity.

The Bairds have made considerable progress since embarking on their ambitious project early in 2006. Some of their plans remain the same, but there have been big changes, too.

One of the biggest is the decision to make the ground floor of the 1,800 square-foot house entirely of cob, instead of the straw bale — cob combination originally planned.

Research has convinced the Bairds that cob, a mixture of clay, sand and straw, is better than straw bale in Vancouver Island’s damp climate. Besides, they fell in love with cob construction when putting up their workshop last summer.

The ancient building material is versatile, lending itself to walls with graceful curves and the easy incorporation of decorative elements such as glass blocks and an arbutus branch.

Cob benches, shelving and a cubbyhole for Boo, the dog, have already been built into the living room.

Construction is done by hand, which not only is satisfying work but builds relationships among the builders, the Bairds said. Even Gord’s elementary school age children are helping to put up their new home.

The primary ingredients of cob are “dirt cheap.”
Clay, considered at construction sites a waste material that would otherwise end up in the landfill, is available at very little cost.
Sand and straw in the amounts required are also inexpensive.

The Bairds are incorporating pumice, mined in B.C., into their cob, which has increased the cost but added benefits.

Cob itself does not have high insulation value, although it is a very good thermal mass, storing heat and releasing it slowly.

With the addition of pumice, however, the Bairds estimate the insulation value of their walls will exceed R20.

The lightweight, porous volcanic rock will allow the walls to breathe, eliminating the need for a vapour barrier. It also increases the compression tolerance of the cob, making the structure stronger; and because the mixture does not slump as regular cob does, the walls rise faster.

Used steel cables will tether a bond beam around the top of the walls to the foundation, inside and out, to provide seismic stability. In an earthquake, the whole building will shift as a unit with the movement of the earth.

Another innovation is the use of a rototiller to mix the cob, which has sped up the process considerably. The machine can do in half an hour what traditionally takes two people eight hours to accomplish as they mix the materials with their feet.

The Bairds estimate they will use 20 to 24 litres of gas in the rototiller to mix cob for the entire house. The fossil fuel consumption is minimal compared with that used in the building of a conventional wood frame home, taking into account the fuel consumed in logging, transporting timber, milling, and transporting lumber.

Thanks to the new techniques, the Bairds expect construction to be completed this summer.

As they said in a recent newsletter, “There is no doubt in our minds that a small group could build a 1,500 square foot family home in three months or less at a fraction of the cost, financially and environmentally,” of a conventional wood frame house.

Moreover, the expected life span of a cob house is many times that of a conventional home. Some cob structures are still standing 500 years after they were built.

Hand-in-hand with the choice to go with all-cob construction was the decision to replace the planned metal roof with a living roof, again a change inspired and informed by the workshop experience.

When rainfall begins, a conventional rainwater catchment system diverts the first volume of water so that any debris washed off the roof do not enter the domestic water system.

That won’t be necessary with the living roof. Native vegetation growing in a mixture of compost and pumice on coconut husk matting will act as a watershed, filtering out debris before the water enters the downspouts.

From the roof, rainwater will go to a primary holding tank, then through a self-cleaning biofilter into a storage tank. During drought periods, the storage tank will be topped up with water pumped from the well by a solar-powered pump.

Both rain and well water will go through another filter and an ultraviolet sterilizer before entering the house.

A living roof has many advantages over a metal roof in addition to cleaning rainwater up front, the Bairds said. It replaces habitat destroyed by development, is prettier and lasts longer, is more cost effective, has higher insulation value and is quieter when the rain is pouring down.

The Bairds were determined from the beginning that their new home will meet the requirements of the building code.

With the assistance of engineer Kris Dick, a specialist in alternative construction, and Highlands building inspector Chris Leek, who they said is very interested in their project, the Bairds are achieving their goal and, they feel, blazing new trails in the process.

In their newsletter, the Bairds said their innovations in materials and construction techniques invalidate conventional arguments against building with cob.

“Perhaps the only reason for not choosing to build with cob now is our cultural programming about living in a dirt home,” they said.

More information about the Eco-Sense project is available at www.eco-sense.ca. Learn to build with natural materials

Ann and Gord Baird are not only passionate about sustainable living, but about demonstrating how it’s possible to live sustainably without sacrificing comfort and convenience.

To this end, the Bairds are offering a series of tours and natural building workshops at their east Highlands home.

Tours featuring the innovative systems they are incorporating in their new house are being offered June 30, July 20 and Aug. 25.

Angela Evans, a community planner with expertise in environmentally appropriate design, will lead the tours.

Evans will discuss benefits of composting toilets, solar hot water and radiant hydronic floor heating, and solar and wind-generated electricity, as well as associated building code issues.

On July 28, Evans will lead a session on the domestic water cycle. Discussion will include water conservation, grey water re-use, rainwater management and accessible technology-based sewage treatment systems.

Week-long natural building workshops are scheduled for June 17-23 and Aug. 15-19.
Led by cob construction expert Elke Cole, the workshops will provide theoretical and practical instruction in natural construction options, particularly cob.

In addition to hands-on experience, participants will be introduced to topics ranging from design considerations in alternative construction to off-grid living.

“They’re the most important (workshops) people will ever take in their life,” Gord Baird said.

Information about tours and workshops is available at www.eco-sense.ca.

editor@goldstreamgazette.com

By Pattie Whitehouse
News Gazette correspondent

Cob house provides warmth and refuge traditional homes lack in an emergency, says Highlands couple
If another snowstorm wreaks havoc next winter, Ann and Gord Baird will be able to offer their Highlands home as a neighbourhood emergency resource.
The cob house they are in the early stages of building will be fully functional even during an extended power outage.
Photovoltaic solar panels will continue to generate electricity when the temperature drops and the skies are clear, while a wind generator will recharge storage batteries when the weather is stormy.
Highly-efficient solar thermal collectors that work even on cloudy days will provide hot water for heating the house as well as for showers, dishes and laundry.
Rainwater collected in 2,000-gallon tanks will be available for cooking, drinking and washing.
Compost toilets work without water, requiring no flushing.
For neighbours without electricity struggling to keep warm, cook food and maintain hygiene, the Bairds’ home could offer a safe haven.
“The opportunity to go to the bathroom, have a warm beverage, sit in a warm, cozy home for awhile could make a big difference when power is off for days on end,” said Ann.
“What a wonderful way to bring the community together,” added Gord.
But while a world of warmth sheltered from the elements sounds appealing, the Bairds are not quite there yet.
As the house is built, the couple and Ann’s parents are living in a pair of travel trailers, meaning the Bairds found themselves facing many of the same challenges as their fellow Highlanders during the freak November storm.
The trailers are equipped with propane cooking stoves and furnaces, but the furnaces won’t ignite when there is no electricity.
The trailers became cold very quickly after backup batteries were depleted, necessitating an emergency trip to Wise Island, where Ann picked up a gas-powered generator from an off-grid house she built there several years ago.
“We felt pretty guilty about that,” she said, since the generator required the use of “copious amounts” of fossil fuels associated with global warming.
But concerns over the health of Ann’s father and the older couple’s ability to cope during the storm forced the choice of using the generator or abandoning their home until hydro power was restored.
They chose to stay, and the generator proved adequate for the lights, furnace fans and refrigerators in the trailers — although it “died then and there” when Ann’s mother plugged in the electric coffee maker, Gord said.
Then things went from bad to worse.
A sudden drop in temperature caused water lines to freeze, and the family decided to move to the cob workshop built over the past summer and fall.
The couple was pleased to find the cob house held up well.
The roof, covered with dirt and planted with native vegetation, was such a good insulator that the snow on it melted slower than the snow on the ground.
While cob — a mixture of clay, sand and straw — does not itself have great insulation value, it does provide thermal mass.
The small woodstove embedded in the wall not only provided plenty of direct heat, it warmed the surrounding wall, which continued to radiate warmth for hours after the fire went out.
Ann said that when her father wasn’t packing snow to melt on the wood stove to provide water, he read happily by candlelight, sitting on the built-in bench with his feet up against the cozy wall.
Ann’s mom cooked a big pot of soup on the wood stove, and wet clothes hung from nails in the rafters dried quickly.
“The workshop had a much nicer feel inside of it than the trailers,” Ann said.
Thanks to their compost toilets, the Bairds were spared having to melt large amounts of snow just so they could flush.
The human waste is composted, generating enough heat to destroy pathogens that can spread disease.
Even in the coldest weather, according to Gord, the compost pile was so warm it remained snow-free, while the addition of wood shavings and a solar-powered fan kept the toilet odour-free.
The Bairds say the storm and six-day power outage only reinforced their determination to live sustainably.
“We need to seek proactive solutions in designing our systems so that we’re not fighting nature in the way we’re living,” Ann said.
editor@goldstreamgazette.com

Going green with building soon to be common sense

By Pattie Whitehouse
Goldstream News Gazette
Aug 30 2006

This is the fourth installment in a series of stories about the
‘Eco-Sense Project’ in the Highlands. Through the spring and summer,
we’ve been checking in on the progress, the challenges and the systems
employed in this ‘green’ home.

Ann and Gord Baird’s plans to build a sustainable home on their east
Highlands property is “the innovative excitement of today,” but will
be “the common sense of 20 years ahead,” says sustainability
consultant Guy Dauncey.

Dauncey, president of the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association
(www.bcsea.org) and the author of several books on sustainability
issues, said that the various systems the couple plans for their house
- including solar energy, composting toilets, grey water recycling,
rain water catchment and cob construction - are natural and sensible
things to do.

Moreover, with costs of renewable energy systems dropping while the
price, economic and environmental, of conventional energy rises,
homeowners can expect to see such options become more common.

“The whole concept of a sustainable energy lifestyle seems like
something new and intriguing today to many people, but I believe if we
look back in 50 years, we’ll notice that it became the mainstream for
everyone,” Dauncey said.

BCSEA is a non-profit organization “committed to promoting the
understanding, development and adoption of sustainable energy, energy
efficiency and conservation” in B.C.

Members range from interested citizens to professionals in the
sustainable energy industry.

BCSEA provincial co-ordinator Peter Ronald, attending an open house
the Bairds put on for association members, said that the couple’s
Eco-Sense project fits in with the purpose of the organization “120
per cent.”

“They’re going for a standard of sustainability that truly is laudable
and maybe is what we all need to start thinking about,” he said.

Ronald commented on the care that has been taken in choosing the
building site and planning the orientation of the house for the
purpose of both passive and active solar. The cob structure itself
will act as a thermal mass to store solar energy for heating purposes,
while solar panels will be used both for hot water heating and for
generating electricity.

BCSEA member Bill McCaugherty, currently an occupational hygienist
with WCB, used to engineer design sewage treatment plants. He said
that the “humanure” concept - the composting of human waste -
addresses many of the issues that plague conventional sewage
treatment.

One of the main challenges in designing a sewage treatment plant,
McCaugherty said, is sizing it in accordance with the hydraulic volume
- the amount of liquid that needs to be treated. The less liquid, the
easier the treatment is, and the fewer problems arise.

Separating the solids in sewage from the liquids is very
energy-intensive, as is converting the recovered solids into compost
or fertilizer, while the volume of water that ends up going out into
the receiving environment is a major issue, McCaugherty said.

The humanure system eliminates all those steps and “closes the loop”
when the composted material is returned to the garden, McCaugherty
said.

McCaugherty’s wife Cindy, a draftsperson trained in architectural and
structural design, has drafted the plans for the Bairds’ load-bearing
cob house, which will be built by hand.

Learning about earthen structures has “really changed my way of
viewing homes and what a home means,” she said.

The dominant attitude in our society is that one cannot do something
like build a house oneself; an expert has to do it for you. Building
an earthen home, using materials that are “right under your feet,”
promotes the belief that “I can do this,” McCaugherty said.

In the process, people build connections with community and the land
that sustains us, McCaugherty said.

From an architectural point of view, earthen homes are “so
dramatically different” from conventional structures, McCaugherty
said, because they are often curvilinear.

The Bairds’ house is no exception, which posed challenges when it came
to drawing up the plans with a computer program that was “all set up
to do straight lines,” McCaugherty said.

But building with natural materials is “very elegant, very beautiful,”
McCaugherty said. The walls, with a variety of textures, forms and
shapes, are “almost enticing; they almost want you to come and feel
them,” she said.

Although power lines were already installed right to the building site
when the Bairds bought the property, their intention is to meet as
much of their electrical needs as possible with renewable energy,
primarily solar power.

Kevin Pegg of Energy Alternatives (www.energyalternatives.ca), which
designs and installs renewable energy systems, said that planning the
system at the building plan stage, as the Bairds are doing, is an
“ideal process.”

Trying to “’solarize’ as an afterthought is not anywhere near as
effective as when it’s thought through with the whole building as an
integrated system,” he said.

Using solar energy as the primary source of power is “absolutely”
achievable, Pegg said, although it’s “unrealistic, given their budget,
that they’re going to meet all their needs from renewable energy.”

Backup power is going to be required for times when there isn’t much
sunlight. Although the Bairds had originally hoped to avoid tapping
into the power grid, Pegg said that he had persuaded them to install a
grid- intertie system.

The system will allow them not only to get power from B.C. Hydro when
required, but to sell power back to Hydro when they have a surplus.

It’s a “far more elegant way to go about it,” Pegg said.

And because energy from the solar system is stored in
permanently-installed batteries, the Bairds will still have lights
when power lines go down and their neighbours are in the dark.

http://www.goldstreamgazette.com/portals-code/list.cgi?paper=12&cat=23&id=717701&more=

New covenant for ‘green’ house – May 31, 2006

(May be slightly different than originally published in the Goldstream Gazette)

A new covenant will give greater protection to natural areas on a Highlands lot where a sustainable house is being built. Council authorized executing the covenant last week, responding to a request by Gord and Ann Baird, who with to build an off-the-grid cob and straw bale house on their seven-acre lot in the east Highlands. A covenant restricting the areas available for buildings, structures and improvements on the land was registered in 1992, before the Highlands incorporated. The original two-party covenant, which runs with the land, was held by the property owners of the time and, jointly, the Capital Regional District and the Ministry of Transportation and Highways. However, the designated building area includes environmentally sensitive areas in their natural state, such a s wildflower-covered rocky knoll, and excludes areas that have been extensively altered by previous property owners. Changes have included clearing, excavation and the doposit of substantial quantities of ill. The Bairds intend to use solar and wind power, rainwater catchment, greywater reuse and other systems to build a home that will minimize environmental impact without sacrifi8cing comfort and convenience. One of the first steps is the construction of a cob workshop, planned for early June. However, the site proposed for the workshop, although apparently used a a garbage dump by a previous owners, is outside the building envelope identified in the current covenant. In April, the Bairds wrote to council requesting hat the area affected by the covenant be altered to allow them to confine building activities and “improvements”, Such as a garden and chicken pen, to the already altered areas. In their letter, the Bairds said the “strongly support the intention of the building covenant and wish to limit our impact on the land.” “We feel that all parties are best serv3ed by amending the attachment to the restrictive covenant to allow us to build on previously impacted areas while protecting the undisturbed areas,” they said. In a report to council Highlands planner Laura Beckett said the proposed new building area appears to match closely the then already disturbed locations. The recommended process is to discharge the existing covenant and replace it with a new one between the district and the property owners, rather than transferring the current covenant to the district and then amending it, Beckett said. Executing a new covenant does not diminish the district’s ability to monitor and control building activity on the property. “The land within the building covenant will still be subject to all zoning setbacks and requirements,” Beckett’s report said. Furthermore, the entire property is subject to requirements for development permits for steep slopes, Beckett said.

(Note: may not be exactly as published in the Goldstream Gazette)

I approach the small building perched on a rock with a certain trepidation.
Some of the most vivid, and most unpleasant, memories of the summer camp I attended as a child are associated with the hold-your-nose reek of the outdoor latrines.
My apprehension grows when I detect the faintest whiff of “eau de outhouse” as I near the door.
Reminding myself that it is my duty to undertake, if necessary, disagreeable experiences in the cause of conscientious journalism, I open the door, step inside, take a deep breath, and smell – wood paneling.
I am impressed. Even with the toilet seat cover up, the only odours I can detect are the homey aroma of the scrounged wood panels that line the walls and, when I open the little bin next to the toilet seat, the sweet smell of fresh sawdust.
The outhouse smell, ventilated to the outdoors by a continuously running, solar powered 12-volt fan, is entirely missing.
The composting toilet is a key element of Ann and Gord Baird’s plans for the Eco-Sense Project, the off-the-grid, sustainable home they are building in the east Highlands.
Rather than squander water and a valuable organic resource by flushing human waste into the septic tank, they intend to compost it.
“We compost other animals’ manure, what’s wrong with ours?” Ann said.
Some would say that what’s wrong with human manure is the pathogens it contains – parasites, bacteria and other microorganisms which, if not destroyed, can spread disease.
The system used by the Bairds addresses that concern by ensuring that the pathogens are indeed destroyed, primarily by the action of thermophillic, (heat loving) bacteria.
The Bairds’ toilet is much nicer than the one I dreaded as a kid, being clean and bright and having a toilet seat, but the setup is similar. It consists of a bench with a hole cut in it.
Instead of a smelly, bottomless pit beneath the hole, however, there is a bucket. As necessary, the bucket is removed and the contents emptied into the straw-covered compost pile. Kitchen and garden waste end up in the same pile.
A scoop of sawdust thrown on top of the bucket’s contents after each use and the straw covering the compost pile both help eliminate odour, so much so that the Bairds have never had problems with rats or other animals. However, they have a much more important role.
The sawdust and straw are sources of carbon that, in combination with the nitrogen contained in organic matter, creates an ideal environment for thermophilic bacteria, which occur just about everywhere, including in our stool.
The microscopic forces work so vigorously that a tremendous amount of heat is generated, not only hastening decomposition, but killing pathogens.
Pathogen destruction requires that a temperature of 120degF be maintained for 24 hours. The temperature in the Bairds’ comppost pile (which is equipped with a thermometer to measure the internal temperature) easily exceeds those requirements every time new material is added.
The current compost pile will be used for a year, after which it will be left to rest for another year while a second pile is built up.
By the end of the second year, the well-decomposed, human-rich, pathogen-free material will be ready for garden use.
I imagined at first that I would find the prospect of having to dump and hose out buckets of human waste distasteful. On further consideration, I realized that I don’t think twice about changing a baby’s diaper, cleaning my cats litter box, or mucking out a horse’s stall.
Is there really much difference?

(Note: may not be exactly as published in the Goldstream Gazette)

Getting Off The Grid – Local couple creating environmentally sensitive, sustainable home in the Highlands. April 19, 2006

This is the first installment in a series of stories the News Gazette will publish about the Highlands’ Ann and Gord Baird and their ‘Eco-Sense Project’. Through spring and summer, we’ll check in with periodic updates on their progress, the challenges they encounter, and the systems they’re employing in their ‘green’ home.

Is it possible to live sustainably without making sacrifices? Ann and Gord Baird think so, and they’re out to [rove it. Not only will they use green construction methods and materials for a house they are building in the east Highlands, but the infrastructure in their new home will be cost-effective and environmentally-friendly.
Calling it the Ec0-Sense Project, the couple plans to build a modest, one-and-a-half-storey house of straw bale and cob construction, with an earthen floor downstairs.
Cob, a mixture of clay, sand and straw, is an ancient construction material that is a seeing something of a revival because of its low environmental cost, high insulation and sound-roofing value, fire resistance and seismic stability.
The unconventional building materials are just the beginning. The home will be off the grid, with electrical power provided by solar panels and wind generation.
A hybrid water system will rely mainly on rainwater captured from the metal house roof, supplemented in dry periods with water drawn from the well by a solar powered pump.
The house will be heated by a combination of passive solar, with the building’s outer cob and internal wood chip and clay walls and the earthen floor serving as thermal masses, and radiant heat provided by solar-heated water circulating through pipes imbedded in the floor.
Wood stoves for supplementary heating will have water jackets to boost the solar hot water supply when the weather is cloudy and cool.
The Bairds may never make use of the $30,000 septic field they were required to complete before they could apply for a building permit. Their plans include composting toilets and reuse of grey water for orchard irrigation.
And when the systems are in place, the Baird’s will offer educational tours of their home, with the goal of increasing awareness and acceptance of sustainable building methods.
“We wish to be a visible, respectable and reasonable example of sustainability within the community and the world,” they say on their website.
Ann and Gord know they face challenges in persuading authorities that their eco-friendly infrastructure should be accepted as equivalent to conventional systems.
Highlands building inspector Don Kitchen is interested in and supportive of what they want to do, but is bound by the rules in the building code, they said.
However, their engineer, David Romain of Spar Consulting, is creative, smart, has an open min and sees the bigger picture, they said. And the B.C. Sustainable Energy Association (BCSEA) has been “inspirational,” providing knowledge, encouragement and expertise to help the Bairds design their systems.
Not that the Bairds are lacking in knowledge and expertise. This is not a couple of starry-eyed optimists with an impractical and unrealistic dream.
Enthusiastic they are, but with their passion firmly grounded in experience. This is a “been there, done that” project.
Several years ago, Ann left the “bigger, better, faster, more” life and built an 1,100-square-foot, off-the-grid house on a small Gulf Island. Wise Island had little infrastructure beyond a community well, so seeking alternatives to conventional systems was a necessity.
House building required Ann to learn new skill in a hurry – including handling a chainsaw and running a boat, her only transportation off-island.
By dint of hard work, endless research, the support and help of family and friends, and being “stubborn as hell”, she ended up with a beautiful home, “with all the creature comforts including high speed internet.” That met the challenge of “living within (the island’s) fragile ecosystem without destroying it.”
Gord did not share Ann’s extensive knowledge when they met a year and a half ago (they were married in May 2005), but he does now.
During a two hour interview, the information flow shifted seamlessly from one to the other as both spoke confidently on topics as diverse as thermophillic bacteria, the insulating value of straw bale construction (R40 or more), or the use of a living bio-filter to treat grey water.
Also shared are values that dictate the choices made. Both financial and environmental costs are weighed every time a decision is required.
For example, Ann and Gord debated for two month before deciding to blast a small section of rock in the building area (which had already been mostly leveled by a previous owner of the property), rather than fit that part of the foundation to the contour of the land.

Building green poses significant challenges

All options were considered, including removing the rock bit y bit with a jackhammer. In the end, they decided that blasting would have the least environmental impact. Fitting the foundation to about six feet instead of the approximately two feet planned. That would have meant using much more energy-intensive concrete and bringing in many more loads of fill to provide a base for the earthen floor.
Installing a solar clothes dryer (a.k.a. clothesline) instead of an electric one was a choice conveying both economic and environmental benefits, as was deciding on a propane stove.
Although propane is a non-renewable resource, it is far more energy-efficient than electricity for any use where heat is generated, Ann explained. Propane is a low-emission fuel, and “cleaner than perhaps the electricity generated by a coal burning plant or the environmental impact of a new dam,” she said.
In addition, the propane stove will be supplemented by a solar cooker for slow cooked meals and a cob oven for baking.
Overall, the couple expects the financial cost of building their house will be about the same as it would have been using conventional construction – although they acknowledge that costs will be lower because they will do much of the work themselves. Seeking out recycled building materials will cost them in time, but save them money and reduce the environmental impact.
Long-term savings, though, will be huge. The infrastructure systems require minimal maintenance, and their components seldom need replacement.
Properly built, a cob structure will last centuries.
The Bairds believe that living what they call a “reasonable life” will allow them to dedicate more time to the things that are most important to them: family, community, enjoying the outdoors. Plans for the eight acre property include an organic garden, fruit trees and chickens.
Family is a high priority. Ann’s parents will share the home when it is built, and Gord’s children from his first marriage (daughter Emily, six, and son Parker, eight) will live half time with them.
By “buying less stuff and using less energy,” the Bairds anticipate that they will be able to spend less time working at outside jobs to support their chosen lifestyle.
Gord anticipates leaving his successful career in the autobody industry and creating a new job for himself that is fully consistent with his values and commitment to sustainability.
“If I had my dream job, it would be to be able to be up here teaching people, going out doing speaking engagements, doing some consulting, doing some physical labour for other people who wanted to” lead a sustainable life, he said.
More information about the Eco-Sense Project is available on the website, www.eco-sense.ca