Intelligent Mountain Snow Home Design for Comfort in Grand County Colorado Grand Lake

Intelligent Home Design & Site Selection

Back to Main Menu ... to mini-Yellow Pages ... to Land ... to Homes ... to Commercial opportunities ...

UPDATE: 2/15/2001
There have been a number of sewer line freezings and I have just learned
why from Dennis Everhart, owner of Lonesome Dove excavating services.
The unexpected line freezings appear to be related to the new ultra-efficient
natural gas furnaces people have been installing. The furnaces drip water
down the sewer lines! This is a recipe for disaster. Any drip, and particularly
a slow one, can cause ice to form in a sewer line. Plumbers have long known this.
The new difficulty is these ultra-efficient furnaces. If you have one or might acquire
one, it needs to drip its water in a container that slowly fills up and then is completely
discharged in one surge via a small inexpensive sump pump.

Coming soon to this page: photos of superior designs.
For thousands of years & billions of people, dwellings
of all shapes and sizes have been built. Even in identical
climates and eras, each home is individualized. Every year
builders and designers start anew, higgledy-piggledy advancing
their trade. There is no consensus. Through trial and error some
rules have been codified: they include a Uniform Building Code,
an electrical code and a plumbing code. They won't tell you what
your home will look like, but they will make it safe and enduring
and even pleasant to live in. The code books are filled with
requirements which were once just good tips. The construction codes are frequently
updated and keep abreast of the latest techniques and materials. To learn about specific
requirements for Grand County, Colorado consult our local Planning & Building
Department and/or speak with licensed builders, plumbers and electricians. Important
names and phone numbers for everyone you need are given in our mini-Yellow Pages.

In Grand County we have home sites to match almost every wish. Only you know what is best
for you. Almost any site (developed or undeveloped) can be improved and customized.
Move or add earth to give yourself a driveway, walkways and a private environment which is
kind and pleasing to you. Create your special place and then relax and let the earth cradle you
in return. This involves more than just "landscaping"; think about the orientation of every element
from your doorways to windows to even the layout of your furniture and pictures! What does it
feel like to arrive, to move around and to simply be still in your property's myriad environments?
What can you do to improve each aspect of your experience?

How many rooms do you really need? How many stairways and steps? How bright the interior?
How high the ceilings? How high the heating bill? What can be compromised? What is sacred?

O.K. ... you've thought and dreamed until your head might burst. Here are some free down-to-earth
tips for maximum winter comfort and year round enjoyment.

Make your driveway as wide as possible or have level pullover areas free of trees & obstructions.
Snowplows don't remove snow, they simply rearrange what you already have. They need places
to put the snow and maneuver. A simple half oval with side parking areas allows the owner,
visitors and snowplows to get in and out with one simple forward motion. Add earth as needed.
Imagine having an appealing covered walkway integrated with a covered porch and terraces!
Protect your doorways with roof coverings and have them several steps above grade.
This sounds obvious, but when our heavy snowpack begins to melt, you'd be amazed ...
If a deck is along a roof eave, it will be severely stressed and a pain to keep free of snow and ice.
Landscaped terraces can be maintenance free and are not taxed. Our county building department
now demands that there be no snow accumulation by pedestrian and vehicular exits. This requires
some thoughtful designing. Snow stops can be used as a last resort.
Orient your garage so that when you & guests arrive, they are greeted by your home, not your garage.
Roof valleys can be aesthetically pleasing, but they are expensive to build and almost always
experience considerable abrasion when the bottom layer of ice begins to move like a glacier.
Avoid having chimneys and vents near the eaves. It is often possible to merge your plumbing
vents and (separately) your heating vents and send them through the roof (if necessary) at its peak.
For a metal roof, you are now required in Grand County to have your vents within 1 foot of a ridge.
Avoid having too much glass facing south. During the winter the southward view will glare back
at you and the direct sunlight will be uncomfortable. These problems can be overcome if the south
facing room is properly designed to be a solarium which distributes its passive solar heat to cooler
parts of the home. Otherwise you'll find yourself using drapes or blinds during the middle of the day.
Instead of having a wood-burning stove or fireplace, convert it to natural gas or propane.
For those who do want to burn wood, Grand County has huge firewood resources.
The Best Heating system uses natural gas or propane to fire a boiler which then runs a heated
fluid through the floors of your home! This radiant heat can be adjusted for each room. Separate
"zones" (which can be shut off) can be created for each level, wing, garage or even your driveway.
A heating coil from the central boiler goes into a tank to heat water for showers and washing.
For details call Gene Gross Plumbing: 887-2023.
Your home has to breathe. Its attic, roof, walls, crawlspace and basement must all prevent moisture
from accumulating. In Grand County your home's interior will have a higher humidity than its exterior.
A number of new (and old) building techniques are available to keep the invisible moisture in the air
from condensing where it can cause mildew and weaken your structure. Direct snowmelt away from
your home. Otherwise you might have a damp crawlspace and a humidity gradient which brings the
damp earth smell into your home.
Protect your plumbing to -40° F (= -40º C) and have a backup plan (e.g. heat tapes on 2 circuits).
Never put plumbing in exterior walls and realize that your main electric power might fail.
Shut off your water or well when you leave for a several days. Before you close your house for the
winter, drain your pipes and put RV antifreeze in your drains. Have a plumber teach you the procedure.
Would you like a log home without the expense or constraints of full size logs? Do you like the
appearance of round logs lapped at each corner? Log siding is available which creates the illusion
of full size round logs projecting from each corner. Check back for an illustration. This siding can
easily be added to an existing home or used to conserve wood on new construction. Consider using
log siding on utility rooms, garages, bathrooms and other walls which on the inside should be flat,
waterproof or which are hidden.
Our short growing season can be put to your advantage. Land left in its natural state seldom becomes
overgrown or choked with vegetation. If you do want some lawn, it will have to be watered because
our high altitude and powerful sunlight causes a huge amount of evaporation on a clear & breezy day.
If you do have a lawn, it might need only a couple of mowings per year! Most people are satisfied with
our natural vegetation and want a zero maintenance property since their primary residence is in another
location. However, our dominant lodgepole pine trees tend to grow in stands which are too dense for
their own good. They intentionally bunch together to create a fire hazard! Where the earth has been
disturbed for roads & utilities and around the perimeter of a home, more trees will sprout than can be
supported. Thin and prune your trees and favor a few by using a root waterer and by landscaping so that
runoff water collects around your favorite trees. Don't clear cut. Views are best when there are trees in
the foreground to frame your view and give it depth.
To minimize your building, heating & maintenance costs and to minimize your property taxes
the first rule is to not build anything that you are not going to use. It sounds obvious, but almost
everyone overbuilds or has wasted interior space. The tax assessor will compute your taxes using
your home's heated interior space and then any additional unheated space including decks and garages.
When doing sketches, provide lots of space for your stairs to by properly designed.
In the past, 1/2" or even 3/8" sheetrock or wallboard has been used. Why not use 5/8" sheetrock?
It is now required around stairs, fireplaces and in garages. It does not require much more labor.
It gives you a firestop and some thermal mass. It can also handle more abuse ... Even if you want
a final wood finish, first apply a layer of 5/8" sheetrock everywhere. Use bullnose or inverted
bullnose molding to soften corners and where walls and ceilings meet.
Older homes were often designed with insufficient means of escaping in case of fire. The minimum
required egress is a window with a 5.7 sq. ft. clear openning and with its sill no higher than 44".
Smoke detectors are now required in every bedroom, in hallways leading to the bedrooms,
in lofts and at the top of stairs.
For truly isolated properties, you'll need at least $8000 for solar electricity. That's not
much considering it costs at least $3000 per pole for each 100 yards to extend a conventional
power line. A minimal solar system might give you 8kw/day. Ideally, you'll spend closer to
$24,000 for a hybrid solar/propane system which includes a $9000 propane generator,
propane appliances and special high efficiency electric ones (e.g. $900 Asko washing machine).
Don't forget to provide a lot of juice for pumping water using a deep 220 volt submersible pump.
The technology has improved, but don't wait for Al Gore's "million rooftops" program.
Watch for more tips. You may E-mail us your tips to relax@MountainLake.com

That's all the tips for now. Tight driveways and some decks can be cleared with a snowblower but it's
time consuming and noisy. Metal grates are sometimes inserted into decks to help pass rain and snow.
One can also consider expensive electrical heating methods to melt ice, but intelligent designs work best
and give you time (& money) to play in our winter wonderland and enjoy its beauty.