Not the biggest or most expensive (maybe strongest home)

[patrickg]

I thought a few of you might enjoy looking through the construction of our house. It is a very unique and strong system. The final result is over 12" thick of concrete and rebar on all exterior walls. The concrete was poured to resemble limestone and grout is used in the gaps between blocks. There is no exterior paint needed on the entire house. Only a few walls on the inside are gypsum board.

You can check it out from start to finish at http://www.GoldenRoc.org

http://goldenroc.org/Progress/NewFolder/5thcourse.jpg
http://goldenroc.org/Progress/NewFolder/porte1.jpg
http://patrickgold.tripod.com/complete/ext1.JPG
http://patrickgold.tripod.com/complete/kitchen2.JPG

[Mike44]

Very nice! Checked out your site too! You have quite the masons working for you - they must be pretty talented to form the concrete in the shape of those columns and curves at the top! I really like the look of the stone too - even though it isn't!!! I suppose it would be cheaper to texture the concrete this way rather than have actual stone blocks though. Anyways, very nice build - it shure looks like it can withstand a category 5 hurricane to me!!!

Mike

[patrickg]

We didn't build the blocks. There is a company that builds them and we trucked them to our site. We like the system because of its strength. A stone structure is not as strong as a concrete structure. Every block on our house is interconnected with rebar and the blocks have a continuous pour of high psi concrete.

[roberte]

Did you wind up with roof insulation and the geothermal heat pump? I'm wondering what the carbon payback is - trucking in blocks and concrete's own large footprint.

[patrickg]

We went with the Waterfurnace geothermal airconditioning unit. We also insulated the entire roof. We only trucked the blocks a short distance (about 30 miles) and we did half of it with my gas F250 burning E10 fuel. We burned approximately 80 gallons of E10 and 80 gallons of diesel (f450). We tried to do as everything we could to make sure it is an environmentally friendly house. The foundation is recycled crushed concrete and the driveways will be a recycled crushed concrete. I think the best thing for the environment is the fact that the house should be livable for the next 1000 years when many LEED certified houses are sitting in landfills.

[patrickg]

http://i70.photobucket.com/albums/i113/PatrickGold/geothermal.jpg
Pic of the geothermal unit.

The house is entirely electric and we have a well on the propery. We didn't want gas because of safety concerns. Our typical power bill so far has been around 130 dollars for a 3,000+ sq ft. space.

[Gripfill Girl]

thats really nice looking - sturdy too!

[whitmirehomes]

Tremendous work!! Your commitment to being eco-friendly should be applauded by all! Kudos to you for your dedication to be a "smart" builder. That is tremendous custom work in the kitchen!

What was the total completion time for the project?


-Matt Dubnik
Whitmire Homes
Gainesville, GA
"Building Custom Homes since 1978"

[dan]

Impressive.

[fixer5000]

thats just plain awsome construction there. dont think id be worried about any weather in that house...nice work to all involved on it

[zeeshan66]

refreshing to see something different. i like it not sure if i'd want one but it is interesting in many aspects