Rants of A Coyote

10 years now.

I have had this current format of blog up for 10 years. Doesn't mean it has been active per-se for the entire time, but I think it is about time for a restructure. Why? Well... Many reasons:

• I have grown as a person
• My webhost is upgrading it's backend softare, and thus I don't know how much longer the current version of this blog will be active...
• Best be proactive
• Change is good (Remember "Humans Hate Change"?)

There are other reasons as well, but over the years there is so much that I could see changing on this site, but I haven't had the motivation to do so. Sometimes ADHD sucks in that regard. Nothing like finding out that the webhost I use is upgrading PHP version to light a fire under my rear to get it in gear and get me motivated to upgrade.

So, over the next few months Quixjote.com will see a full upgrade - all aspects. From my blog to my message board... to even my webgame. Something that has been desperately needed, but severly lacking.

To Growth!

PROST!

Over the las few yeasrs I have been working hard to learn my skills, and to work on this house. Let's start off with how things have updated:

House I Sold in 2015:

• Price Sold For: 309,900
• Heated Square Ft: 1800
• Rooms 3, Baths 2
• Property Size: 6500 sq ft
• HVAC: Central (Gas) Heating and (Electric) Cooling
• Water Heater: Gas Heated Tank - 60 Gal
• Cooking: Gas Range, Electric Oven
• Electric Co: PGE, Nat Gas Co: NW Natural
• Insulation: R19
• Garage: Double Car Wide

When I first Moved here in October 2015 to this house that will built in 1955 it sported the following:

• Bought For: 229,999
• Heated Sqare Ft: 1550
• 4 Bed, 2 Bath
• Property Size: 11,250 Sq Ft (.26 Acre)
• HVAC: Central, Gas Heating, Electric Cooling (Located in Attic for Heating)
• Water Heater: Gas Tankless
• Cooking: Gas Range/Oven
• Utilities: EWEB and NWNatural
• Insualtion: R8 in Old half of house, R19 in Addition.
• Garage: None, Narrow Sheds in Back.

The Original Plan: Move down to Eugene, OR and go through the Energy Management Associates Program and get my Foot in the door to eventually move back north to Portland/Yamhill area by 2028. As of today the changes to the house are:

• Ramped Entrance to the front (9k)
• Family room and addition all brought up to level of the rest of the house (21k)
• "Utility Room" updated as full Ulility room with Exit and ramp out side of house. (Part of previous project)
• "Family Room" Updated to full bedroom with closet, and south facing window updated with opening window. (Part of Previous Project)
• Kitchen modernized and made more wheelchair accessible with a 5' wide path all the way through. (20k)
• Central air taken out after issues with Carbon Monoxide and replaced with 2 Zoned Ductless Mini Split Units (Savings of roughly 200-250/mo; especially during winter months) (16k)
• Old shed hodgepodge demolished and replaced with two matching facing 12x16 sheds for accessibility, with a nice cement path circling the back yard connecting everything together along with a nice planting area. One shed is powered, the other shed is powered by two 100-watt solar panels and battery system for lighting. -- Overpowered. (22k)

Total estimated upgrade cost: 88k

Total estimated cost of house now: 317,000

House estimated list price: 405,000

Total gain: 88k

--- And now ---

In July I will have been with the same company for 5 years after graduating my Energy Management Associates. I am an Electrical Designer for a local Engineering Company, and over the last couple years with COVID, our strength in working Remotely has grown exponentially! Meaning that I am now closing on a blank slate of land back up north where I started to be closer to family. Instead of having to using my Education and "Getting my foot in the door" to be able to get in with a company in an area that is saturated for the field that I am in, I can just focus on building a house new, and continue to work remotely, with the occasional travel 2 hrs south for certain learning events, etc.

What does this mean? Well, in 2 weeks from today, I close on a plot of land back in the same town that I left back in 2015. I am working on designing a house right now, and as it stands I am looking at the following features:

• Estimated Price of Property and House after Built: 800,000
• Heated Square Ft: 2850
• Rooms 3, Office, Laundry, Pantry, Baths 2.5
• Property Size: 11,450 Sq Ft (.27 Acre) Flag Lot with 8250 buildable area
• HVAC: Central Electric Heating and Cooling via Energy Efficient Heat Pump.
• Water Heater: Twin Electric Tankless
• Cooking: Induction cooktop, dual electric built in ovens.
• Electric Co: PGE, Nat Gas Co: NW Natural
• Insulation: R19
• Garage: Extra-wide, Extra-Deep 3-Car Garage

The property is extra flat, making even more availability for a zer0-threshold house for Wheelchair accessibility. Where the house I am in now has 7.75' ceilings, the bedrooms will have 10' ceilings, and the living area will likely have 11-12 ft ceilings. The house is being designed from the ground up to be able to support up to 21kW solar system, with 10kWh battery backup option. Because of the size of the property, yard space is minimal, but there are some nice trees along the edge of the property, including a beautiful Redwood, and Cedar. In addition to being wheelchair accessible, there will be a cement path around the edge of the property allowing for 340 ft "track" to get extra exercise in on nice days right at home. Most of the largest windows are north facing, towards the Chehelem Mountains, so to bring in extra light into the main area of the house, I will be utilizing solar tubes.

Speaking of lighting, all rooms of the house will utilize White-Attunable lighting, so day/task specific settings can be taken advantage of.

Another benefit of this house is I will be designing it so that it will use rafters instead of web trussing. The Attic has the potential of a 1600 sq ft bonus room, that someone someday will be able to convert into rooms, etc... especially by placing dormers on the north facing roof line. At that point the Pantry can be converted to Staircase, and the Laundry room will even have an extra 220v stubout in the event a machine-room-less elevetator needs to be installed. - Thus turning the entire house into a 4400 sq ft beast.

Hoping to get some pictures of possible design up soon. Getting excited about the desgin phase!

It has been an interesting last few years. I definitely have not been able to keep up on this site like I had hoped, but I have much that I want to update it with. If I can keep the speed of this site moving smoothly, I hope to be able to keep things coming along at a decent pace :)

Last October I moved out of, and sold, the house that I built back in 2007 in Newberg, OR... and bought a house in Eugene, OR that was built in 1955. I consider this kind of my practicum house. As many of you already know I have a passion for making things more efficient, more sustainable.  The house I was in was already pretty good for what it was, and I didn't feel I could aptly find ways to help people become more sustainable in a price efficient way, by already being at the higher end that I was on my journey.

I needed to start at the beginning, or close to it.

So to start things off, here is my baseline:

Lets start by doing a comparison of what I moved from, to what I moved into:

*1 Most of the old portion of the house is still Lath and Plaster R8 insulation that hasn't been updated. However the addition from 2006 has R19 batt insulation, and the old Master Bedroom has dense packed blown in insulation.

My main goal is to make the 1955 house more sustainable than the 2007 house, as well as accessible. The difference between the two houses was $59,000 and that is my primary starting seed to get things going. Since I moved in on October 20th, 2015 I have had to make some adjustments and spend some $ already just to fix a few issues. I also had some moving expenses to take care of which took even more out of my starting seed, but this IS a learning experience.

So, right now: I have roughly $21,000 left to work with after moving, having a front ramp installed, having to replace the furnace and AC (Had a Carbon Monoxide issue, so did one update earlier than planned. Converted from the furnace and AC to a ductless mini-split system)

I have also started classes at Lane Community College for the Energy Management Program. Last year I started back in school for Electrical Engineering, but determined I wanted something that I could have more potential to be able to work within the residential sector more than a basic EE degree.

Welcome welcome welcome. 2016. Much has happened, and I can't wait to update you all... but for now I have been having to undo the damage that spammers and other crackers have done to my site. Yep, I haven't had the time or energy to even want to have to deal with it... However, now I am fighting back. Comments have once again been completely disabled and now my blog is only viewed from my main site... but, at least I am back up.

It has been a while! I have been so busy, but I am glad to be back!!! I think I may have gotten rid of the spammers finally. Sometimes simple means are the best and I am sorry for any legitimate people wanting to read my site from certain IP address ranges, but I highly doubt that when there are 10's of thousands of page views from a small IP range that the IP range is valid to be viewing my site (And it is repeated over time... so not even a search engine!)

Already I have noticed a speed increase so I look forward to seeing how my site does now!

Again... WELCOME BACK! We are here to stay!