More doors (not pivot, though)

Browsing around to find the pivot doors led to many other interesting doors. I just don't understand why I'll have to import from Australia or Europe to get something that is nice and crisp. The Australian door company with the Corinthian series has some great designs. Both the Madison series and the Euro have really great designs.

Pivot doors for front door

I have been drawn to pivot doors since I saw pictures (in Dwell) from an Icelandic architect's own house. Tom Kundig also uses the pivot style door extensively (and they have some pretty cool pivot walls/doors in the studio in Seattle). I find the offset axis pivot particular interesting. One of the impressive things with the pivot principle is that an extremely heavy door can be opened with ease. But is is hard to find pivot doors.

An Australian door company carries a product series called Corinthian, that sports a kind-of pivot, but not nearly as offset I had in mind.

Then there are pivot doors with very rustic stiles, like Black Canyon doors. Here is a picture of one of their doors.

Very decorative, kind-of ethnic styled pivots are available from several South African manufacturer - funny that they are so prominently represented here. Examples are Moongard (bit too ornamental for my taste) and K. Parker (too boring).


The only modern style US manufacture I found was Megawood. They only describe a centered pivot, but may be able to do an asymmetrical as well.

Roof... green? flat? whatever...

I need to get to some decision about the roof - soon. The solar panel decision would require a new roof. It strikes me that I still haven't got a good idea of how much it would cost to go green.

The pros are, I assume:
- I need to replace the roof anyway
- A green roof will help insulate for both extremes: heat and chill
- I like the thought of having a green roof
- I was thinking of getting more substance anyway (the current roof looks so skimpy)

The questions are:
- Will the roof structure be able to carry the green roof?
- What is the real cost of a complete installation with correct drainage, irrigation and plant material? I have read estimates around $15-25 per sf for extensive roofs, and if all my 3000 sf roof area should be covered it would be $60K. That's a lot!!!! And it doesn't include the waterproof membrane - which I believe will easily cost $10-15K

I need some real numbers!

Solar energy

Google just announced a new benefit: it has negotiated that we Googlers will get special rebates with 3 photovoltaic system designers/installers - in addition to state incentives.

So it looks like the calculation will be something like this:
+ $20,000: 3kW installation (minimum installation for one of the rebate programs) - would it cost something like ?
- $7,500: State inventive for 2007: $2.50/W
- $1,000: Google rebate
- ???: Tax incentives in the form of tax credit

That is, $11,500 for a system that likely will cover my usage.

My current electricity usage is so low that it doesn't make sense, though that would change if I install the SwimEx spa. My normal usage is around 7.5 Kwh/day, with winter usage climbing up to 10 Kwh/day.
The real killer on my energy budget is gas, for heating. These last winter months cost a lot as my usage has jumped from the summerly 1-2 therms/day to a whopping 5-6 therms/day (or $200-250/month).

I have an email into SwimEx to get the estimates. If I go this route I could also decide to make some of the new installations and appliances electrical, for instance, a new dryer and perhaps even the furnace/boiler.

Current thinking re floorplan

I realize it has been a while since I last captured my thoughts about floorplans. A while back I got the idea that in stead of fighting the annoying 45 degree angle at the garage/entry way, perhaps I should in stead try to embrace it. That led to a series of drawings of which this one seems the most promising. Basically I am adding 214 sf to the 1680 I already have, and I can preserve a lot of the existing (messy) structure until I get into the mood ....
The "final" plan looks like this: