The Windows are the Eyes to the ... Front Yard?

Dear Tree-Huggers,

It's been a long time.  I know, I know.  I'm a terrible person.  Not really, but I have gotten very behind on writing posts.  Anyway, the progress on the house has been slow.  After the demo, they dug footings.  Yay, footings! You know, those concrete things that hold up the foundations, and therefore the rest of the house?

Inspector-In-Chief

Yeah.  It's important to get those right.  But they're pretty boring to look at.  And the bad news is that weather delays mean that it's unlikely we'll be moving in by June.

After the footings got dug, inspected, poured, dried, and backfilled, they brought in the plumber for the rough.  It only took a day to rough in the drains.  I don't have any pictures of that.

Now, we're waiting on the radiant heat guy to show up and do the install.  Toasty concrete floors are a must, and radiant is the greenest way to heat your house (aside from passive solar gain, of course).  I am looking forward to seeing how all seven of those zones get laid out!

In the meantime, we're finalizing the window order.  We'll be putting in triple paned European windows from an outfit called ZOLA.  They are custom sizes (they can make really big ones), they are built in a factory in Poland, and they're going to make the house look SWEET.  Are they expensive?  The answer is you'll have to sell your firstborn.  Just kidding.  But close.  You'll have to sell their future by spending the college fund.  But it's totally worth it.  These babies not only look good, but they perform!

R-11 Glass, for a total U value of 0.14.  That's tight!  Image courtesy of zola.com

Since most of the heat in your house escapes through the windows, it's going to save you money to have well-insulated, well-made windows.  Standing next to a standard double-pane window installed in a standard wall, you will notice a draft on a cold day.  This means your house is leaking.  By contrast, standing next to a Zola UPVC window feels like standing next to a wall.  It doesn't get drafty.  You don't lose heat.  Which means you're saving money and you're helping to save the planet.

I recently heard a report on the radio that the air in Salt Lake City is one of the 10 worst cities in the U.S.  Most of that pollution is caused by cars and by coal (power plants and mining).  But some of it is caused by our heaters in our homes.  And the less I have to run ours, the better I'll feel about preserving the air in Park City.

The windows will take 8-14 weeks to arrive after they're ordered, so I'll be posting about them again after the arrive, and then again after they're installed.  Installation will include a double-height atrium in the front of the house, and a 12-foot high, 30 foot long lift/slide glass wall out the back.  It's going to be pretty rad.  Check back for awesome pics!

Greenly Yours,

Parker