InfraRed Camera Reveals ALL!

I had an opportunity to borrow a FLIR E50Bx infrared camera from work. So, guess what I did? Nerdy me went around the house looking for where there are "hotspots" and areas of interest in our house.  I looked from both outside and inside.  I didn't pressurize the house, like they did during the blower door test, but nonetheless, there was still interesting things to point out.

If you can help it, don't build anything with a corner or windows. Or doors for that matter.  ; )

We still have some weak areas at the exterior wall/ceiling
intersection and corners. This is the top of our stairwell.

Weakness around the windows. And corner, again.
This picture is with the blinds drawn down.

Thermal mass works! This is the morning

after we had a fire going. Notice the brick is still

relatively warm behind the fireplace!

But unfortunately, the stove pipe top is really cold.

Mystery: why is one stair tread edge relatively warm?
It is not getting direct sunlight. Any ideas?

Found a window with a bad seal. Need to have this looked at.

Exterior shot. West elevation. Chimney at top, right.

Composite shot: back of house.
Notice the HRV intake and exhaust vents glowing
brightly. Sigh.

TechniColour Fun Times

Here are some fun shots from the infraRed camera!

Guess who?

Baseboard heater in the reiki room.

I was here.

Can you tell the hot/cold water lines?

Reflection of the tree behind me in the window!

Corrugated metal is beautiful.

Our neighbours to the south.

distant skyline.

home.

Testing Continues!

Robert was over for our monthly colour testing for the carbonized wood.  And it seems we keep on creating more things to test! So, the latest is a vertical panel that I'm hanging from the kitchen balcony. It has the same coatings as the roof decking, but the panel will be exposed to full, direct sun.

Rob testing our new panel that will hang from the kitchen balcony.

Can you believe this was taken on Jan. 7th? No snow and +5 C. 

Pantry, Take Two. or, "Happy Wife, Happy Life."

Lots of lessons learned on this house adventure. One of which is what not to use for a shelf with a 78.25" wide span. It seems like the wire mesh shelving, even with a mid support bowed too much for Serena's liking. So, I rebuilt the pantry with 3/4" wood shelves. Now I can sit on it without deflecting. Yay! Happy wife = happy life.

Sunny days make me so happy.

Sunny days make me ever so happy. Why?  Because every day it is sunny, I get an email at the end of the day from the SunnyBoy inverter that tells me how much energy our PV system generated.  Every overcast, cloudy day, I get a lousy, depressing number. So, go SUN go!

So, here are the monthly utility bills- not as brilliant as $3.26 from September.  Especially now as we kick in some electric baseboard heaters.

September 20, 2011 to October 19, 2011

Consumption: 505.19 kWh

Production: 389.0 kWh

Net use: + 116.19 kWh

Cost: $52.92

October 19, 2011 to November 18, 2011

Consumption: 713.00 kWh

Production: 300.0 kWh

Net use: 413 kWh

Cost: $95.23

Notes: November had a few -20 C days.  We started turning on baseboard heaters this month too.  And we fired up our wood stove.

If you want to track our production on the SunnyBoy website, click this link!