AT HOME WITH THE SUN
Builder makes most of solar energy
Custom homebuilder Gord Meuser’s latest project is no ordinary house. But what really sets it apart is what it lacks.
The three-level, 5,000-squarefoot build has no furnace, no wood studs in the exterior walls, not a single pot light and no hydro payments.
Two years ago, Meuser, 62, set out to prove to himself that he could design and build a large home that was energy self-sufficient but also beautiful to look at.
“What I was trying to portray with this house is getting away from the idea that solar homes are sort of ugly and things are sort of afterthoughts,” said Meuser, who has been in the building business for 36 years. “So it was important to me that the solar be an integral part of the design but not overwhelming in its initial look.”
What he created is a traditionalstyle home — with a wraparound porch and open-concept living areas — that functions with cuttingedge technology.
That technology includes a thermal solar system that provides radiant in-floor heating for the entire house, an air handler to circulate and filter air and a heat recovery ventilator that pre-heats fresh air using warm air as it’s exhausted.
“When you’re trying to build a home to be airtight, suddenly it becomes unhealthy if you don’t have a chance to exchange air,” he said.
Energy is produced by rooftop solar panels discreetly tucked behind the roof line, visible only from the side of the house located in Kingsville’s Timbercreek Estates subdivision. It collect 10 kilowatts of solar energy on the south side of the home.
Meuser said heat from the thermo solar collectors is circulated through an 80-gallon water tank that has a heat exchanger inside of it. That heat exchanger warms up water that feeds the hot water tank. Excess energy is stored in the home’s three 80-gallon water storage tanks.
Thick, specially coated, highperformance glass reflects heat while ceiling-mounted LED lights brighten the space.
Exterior walls are constructed with six inches of solid foam sandwiched between oriented strandboard sheeting — an engineered lumber similar to particle board.
Meuser justified the home’s large size by designing it so that three generations could comfortably live together. The first floor is outfitted with a separate suite that boasts a kitchenette, a bathroom with a barrier-free shower, walk-in closet, access to the porch and its own heating and cooling unit.
The main-floor master bedroom, with its full wall of glass, is accessed through an atrium, which opens to the lower level and floods it with natural light. The atrium’s built-in planter is begging to be filled with pots of herbs and flowers.
Meuser envisions the lower level’s large common area and two bedrooms being used by the youngest members of the family, while the top storey’s bonus room could be used as a guest bedroom or a playroom for visiting grandchildren.
He tested his energy-efficient home over both winter and summer seasons to ensure it performed as well as he expected.
With his hydro contract that allows excess electrical power to feed the grid, he has received credits for the unused hydro plus delivery charges and HST. He said he hasn’t had to pay for any electricity.
“I’ve seen the failures of what past construction methods were and I’ve tried to combine the things that I’ve learned ... into this home,” Meuser said. "It has performed the way or even better than I assumed. If you can provide your own heat that’s probably as good as you’re going to find in home construction.
“I’m trying to work the idea that instead of just the size of a house, energy independence could be a status symbol.”
The house will go up for sale around mid-May with an asking price in the $1.5-million range. But before that happens, Meuser has invited high school students in to see the technology at work.
He also documented the entire process on his Facebook at https://www.facebook. com/TimbercreekEstates/ posts/1329936780432646.