Changes yet again.  A year on the drawing board, and now the plans dictate that the old garage will stay intact, and instead a new garage/guesthouse will be built on the back of the lot, with a driveway opening to the street behind us.

Kind of makes two separate projects, and two separate structures - the main house to renovate and the new house to design from scratch.

Starting from the top, the main house is in need of a roof.  Not only is it old, ugly, wooden shingles, it also is designed poorly and leaks. 

So the bid gathering begins.  And the research.  Wish list for the tiles are ceramic from MCA Tile.  Samples arrived today and they are incredible looking.

But can't even think about installing them until we find someone to deal with all our leaks and design problems.  So now it's all about roofers.

Made oatmeal in the solar over today, and currently, a potato cooks for later.  Found this genius modification, a wall-mounted solar oven.

This design does not use collectors because they would have to be adjusted over the course of the day to make sure the bottom was not in their shadows.

But, what if this idea was combined with the technology of solar tube lights?  These lights tunnel sunlight from the roof, down into houses.  They are made to gather up sunlight, regardless of sun location.  Could they also be made to send sunlight down into a wall-mounted solar oven?

Ate very sweet corn on the cob that I cooked in a solar oven today.  Took about an hour and half to cook the corn and about three days to make the solar oven.  Longer really, counting all the boxes I had to search for.  Finally went to Safeway at 5:30 am to catch them while they were stocking.

I followed the directions here.  Well, kinda.

Pictures of the oven in various stages are here.

I already know changes I'd make for take two.  First thing would be the size. The one I just made is a little bigger than I would like.  I made it large because I found an inner and outer box that worked.  There has to be about 3 inches between the two boxes.  In this space goes lots of cardboard as insulation.  For me it took three trips of cardboard hunting.  Kinda wonder what a wood solar oven might do.

The biggest mystery I had while constructing the box, was why doesn't the cardboard burn?  Looks like it is about absorption:

"The heat gain inside a solar box cooker is due to “the greenhouse effect.” Sunlight passes easily into glass covered enclosures. Once light is absorbed by materials within the enclosure, it is transformed into longer wavelength heat energy. Dark materials placed in the bottom of the oven will absorb more sunlight and generate more heat. "

Once I'd assembled the oven, this morning, I put it out into the sun and threw a couple ears of corn on the dark cooking tray on the bottom.  Pointed it towards the sun, and awhile later had incredibly sweet corn.  Not bad for a bunch of old boxes and about ten bucks for paint and a piece of glass.

Energy efficiency is a top priority for our renovations and additions project, so solar panels are on the agenda.  In researching solar power and its use in homes, I stumbled across another way to harness the sun's energy: solar cooking.

I hadn't heard of this before, and that is too bad, since it seems to be a pretty incredible and simple way to save fuel, especially in countries where off the grid is not a lifestyle choice.

There are ovens to buy, and ovens to make.  And there is a good short film about their benefits here.

Today I will see if I can scrounge together the pieces to try to build one myself, and see if I can't get a jump on harvesting all this Lake Havasu sunshine.

For now, this site is a digital version of a well organized, but empty school binder, complete with all the hopes and aspirations of a new school year.

With absolutely no reason in particular, I decided to launch it to the world on November 1st.

Well, maybe there was a reason.  Hopefully, it sets in motion more self-imposed deadlines as the project progresses.  Next siginificant deadline/milestone is December 1, when we hope to have our rough sketches and list of housing hopes a dreams polished and pruned so as to start tearing things down and apart and live in shambles for longer than expected, the then longer.

Over beer at Barley's Brewery, we made a haphazard and incomplete list of some specifications.  This will be the start of a more polished list to be added to this site later.

• A one bedroom apartment at the rear of the car garage
• Demolish existing car garage, rebuild in Rastra.
• Fix leaking roof and make energy efficient
• Upgrade HVAC et al for energy efficiency (solar panels, tankless water heater)
• Remodel kitchen - new appliances, add island
• Arrange living room to make room for home office
• Use plaster wall cubbies in living areas
• Tiling
• Get rid of popcorn ceiling
• All rooms wired for TV and Internet
• Redecorate all rooms

Sometimes, just a taste of something, opens up whole new worlds.  Intensified, that was the case with us. The original plan was to build an RV garage.  Our contractor introduced us to Rastra and used it to build our new garage.  Initially, the interest was for the insulation it offered.  As the acquaintance grew, however, the pleasures and benefits of green building seemed to sink into us from the very recycled elements of our thick new Rastra walls.

The love grew with every hot day of summer.  I, dg, full time resident of Lake Havasu, hid within the cool walls as the temperature soared without.  Hidden from the heat in my cocoon of Rastra, I researched and learned more reasons to love Rastra and Green building.

First, on Rastra. Rastra is the name of a company that makes insulated concrete forms(icf).  Rastra is:

"The RASTRA® Building System is the only stay in place insulated concrete form system (ICF) of its kind. RASTRA® is a sustainable, energy efficient, environmentally correct construction system. RASTRA® is produced out of recycled, post consumer plastics - such as expanded polystyrene, which is mixed with cement. RASTRA® offers the structural strength of concrete paired with high thermal insulation, sound attenuation and fire resistance. A truly "green" building material for houses and commercial buildings."

The next phase of construction, and the topic of this web site, is to play with more Rastra blocks, demolish then rebuild the car garage, and update the rest of the house to be as energy efficient as possible, as our own contractors.

The plans are all tentative at this point, and the research continues.  This diary, and this site will be the pad on which we plan, sketch, mull, share and seek feedback for the project we have in mind.