Lee: Most of the walls had 3.5″ of expanded polystyrene (EPS) in them for about R-14 of insulation. The two sheets of OSB, the interior drywall, and air films brought the center-of-panel R-value up to about R-16. The roof panels had 7.25″ of EPS for R-29 of insulation. The windows were mostly U 0.35 and SHGC 0.31. The blower door test result was ~840 cfm50, which I think came out to ~1.7 ACH50.

I have my Texas lake house build coming in a few years and it will have a basement just not sure how I’ll get that done at this point. It’s been mentioned to a couple of contractors and I get blank stares. By contrast the neighbor two lots over just completed home construction and spent almost $20k bringing in loads of soil to get a level foundation start. Floating a slab on disturbed soil doesn’t end well and $20k will I’m pretty sure will build a 1500sqft basement.

What did you end up with for R-values, and window specs? Did you do a blower door test?

Now that I read your comment, David, I think the reasoning behind my choosing felt was that the instructor told us that same thing in the Southface class I took. Good old fashioned felt can work just fine and is a lot less expensive. I never worried about that as my choice of WRB. What I did worry about is the limited flashing I did around the windows and doors and at the roof-wall intersection. Most of the openings are protected by overhangs, though, so it’s the roof-wall intersections that are probably the weakest point.

@George, nothin’ wrong with building felt. Before I built my first home back in Charlotte (similar time frame as Allison), I hired Lstiburek to advise on wall design. He recommended 2 layers of felt paper (15#) overlaid by vertical strips of sill-sealer 24-oc to create drainage plane, followed by a layer of XPS.

Sure, Tyvek was available back then but installed cost was a lot higher and felt paper works just fine. House wraps are ubiquitous now, perhaps because lots of competition pushed prices down. Today, house wraps are more like a commodity than a novelty.

That home also had a finished basement (as does my current home in SE Arizona). Finished basements are great! Poorly constructed basement are not so great. You just gotta know what you’re doing.

One reason I love my basements is access. I installed suspended ceilings in both of my basements so I can easily add/change/repair plumbing, wiring & mechanicals, forever. You gotta love that! But I’m told those ceilings no longer allowed by code. That’s a shame.

Basements also make it a lot easier to bring air handler and ducts inside conditioned space. My ductless whole-house return in basement mechanical room keeps air well mixed between floors, even when there’s little or no load in the basement. Moreover, it’s easier to route ducts through the open web floor trusses when there are no return ducts. That also means less costly duct system and less blower energy. What’s not to love?

Tim, before I got divorced in 2006, a lot of my work was coming from Atlanta. Moving into the city instead of driving an hour each way (with no traffic) was a no-brainer. And as much as love being in the country, I’m really a city person.

George, Tyvek and similar house wraps were around at the time. I don’t recall why I chose felt for the WRB.

I’m pretty sure that basement has stayed dry the entire 20 years. It certainly was still dry when I moved out in 2006. We got real waterproofing done: elastomeric coating followed by a drainage mat and the foundation drain was in a trench next to the footing, not sitting on top of it.

JC, I’m not a stock-anything kind of guy, but I would do the plans differently. Instead of doing the design myself and getting a young architect to help with some of the sticky points, though, I’d have an architect do the design with input from me. The main things I’d do differently are:

1. More planning
2. Better moisture management details at the openings
3. Better air sealing on the roof with a self-adhered membrane
4. Spray foam on the band joist
5. Much better HVAC design!
6. Single story on a finished basement instead of 2 stories on an unfinished basement. That would have saved a lot of money.

The HVAC contractor I hired was good compared to other contractors and did an actual Manual J. He installed a 3-ton heat pump for 3,000 sf, which is 1,000 sf/ton. The actual load was more like 1.5 tons, though.

If you were going to do this again would you buy stock house plans and either upgrade* or possibly buy plans which are “Green” or have EnergyStar seal?

I keep reading about people who wish to build a green home but go off the reservation in terms of design in order to try to save $$.

*Example: Rain screen detail, better performing windows, etc.