This is the latest, up-to-date, list of things we have decided for the house. This page will change as we learn more info to either back up our choices or change our minds and why. This page is also here to assist us during the compliance process for the pilot project.
Site Petal
- Status: Compliant
- 01: Limits to Growth: our plot is not on or near any of the types on the list.
- 02: Urban Agriculture: We aren't sure what our FAR calculation is, however, we are planning on planting 10 or more fruit trees as well as berry bushes and other native varieties of plantlife throughout the plot, as well as leave almost the entire SW corner of the plot completely alone.
- 03: Habitat Exchange: This does not apply to us strictly in the sense that our plot is on only 1.45 acres. However, up to 25% of our plot is already being set aside to remain in it's natural state.
- 04: Car Free Living: We will not be compliant with this Imperative
- Evidence: Our property is located on 1.45 acres of land in Washougal. The parcel is legal and rated R-5. It is not near or adjacent to any of the specific land types listed in the Imperative. The plot previously held a residence which was burned to the ground in 2005 for training of the local fire department. Two nearby trees we damaged in that fire.
- Photo: This is the view standing at the north end of the plot. The gravel in the center was the location of the house (now gone). You can see the power pole and the pressure tank to the right.
Water Petal
- STATUS: Planned compliance with both Imperatives
- 05 Net-Zero Water: We are planning on capturing all of our water from the sky.
- The basic formula is:
1” of rainfall creates 55 gallons of water per 100 sq. ft of the roof footprint. There are 7.48 gallons per cu. ft.
(credit: greenhomebuilding.com for this simple formula).
- Our current design will create a main roof (not including the barn) of 3198 square feet.
1728 * .55 = 1758.9 gallons captured per inch of rainfall.
- The average rainfall in Washougal, WA is 44.85 inches/year. This works out to roughly 78,886 gallons of water possible in an average year.
- At our current residence, for which I have at least 15 years worth of data, our usage is just a little over 1 unit/month for 9 months out of the year and double that during the summer.
- Since commissioning our 1000 gallon rain tank last summer, our usage has dropped several billing cycles, to 1 unit every two months. Keep in mind we also now have ducks and they have both a pool and a pond in which to swim.
- One unit of water is 748 gallons.
- Liberally, we now use about 15,500 gallons of water per year using this calculation: ((1.5 units * 748 gallons) * 9 months) + ((2.5 units * 748 gallons) * 3 months).
- How will we accomplish this?
- Initially we were leaning towards a DARCO system which consists of 2,000 gallon modular Polyethylene tanks. They have a pre-configured underground system that has all kinds of bells and whistles. The cost for an 8,000 gallon cistern is around $14,000.
- Currently we are leaning towards a different kind of modular system called Rainspace. This system is very low tech but it is the only MFG we have found so far who make a product that is LOCAL (Jacksonville, OR) , made of 100% recycled materials (Cradle to Cradle certified) , is flexible enough to fit any shape of space we need and is earthquake proof (a concern in our area).
- 06 Ecological Water Flow: We will be using composting toilets to handle all of our black water. Greywater will be handled
