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Solar Project: The Wilson Natural Home

Photo Journal

SunFest Tours

Requirements

Design

Construction

FAQ

Press Releases

Appliances

Interior

Book

Video

Copyright 2003 John Wilson

Winner! Sustainable Design Category: Wilson Natural Home

The National Post Design Exchange Awards competition is Canada's only awards program to judge design by results; balancing function, aesthetics and economic success. The home has also bee included in the inspiring Living Spaces exhibit as one of the 21 featured designs.

More Information...

National Post Design Exchange Awards 2003 - award winners.

Wonderful article about the Wilson Natural Home from Private Power Magazine, written by Peter Forint. For information or to subscribe to Private Power Magazine click here.

Living Spaces exhibit - outstanding examples of Canadian homes

Overview

By keeping a journal of the process of designing and building the Wilson Solar house you too can learn what it takes to make solar living a reality. The house is being built on a 10 acre lot near Hockley Valley about 1 hour north of Toronto. The house is being built for Leigh Geraghty and John Wilson. (E-Mail - wilsonjd9@hotmail.com). Occupancy date was May 1, 2001.
See the latest construction site pictures to see where we are.

1 - Take the full tour that documents the construction.
2 - Go straight to the latest pictures.
3 - See the amazing video for a complete tour.
4 - Read the book about how you too can make your dreams of a natural dream home true.

Reviews

Read the Toronto Star article which hails this home as "Energy-efficient house is a model of sustainable living Family taps into solar and wind power" and "When it comes to living green, you can't do much better than the Wilson family." and "On most days, their hydro meter even runs backward at times as they export electricity to Ontario's power grid. It's a great example of what one family can accomplish in doing what's right for the environment." - Toronto Star article

Buy the new book, Natural Living, that tells the story and explains the process John Wilson discovered.

Get the inspiring documentary video that shows you everything about how the home was built, provides commentary by Martin Liefhebber the architect, and includes a complete tour of the house.

Find out more informatin about the architect and designer of this home - Martin Liefhebber at Breathe By Association.

Photo Journal Contents
Date	Description	Page
July 1999	The Design	1
August 2000	The Foundation	2
October 4 2000	The Ground Floor	3
October 8 2000	In Floor Heating	4
October 16 2000	Ground Floor Done	5
November 5 2000	Walkout Basement	6
November 13 2000	Steel Framing	7
November 25 2000	Glulam Post and Beam Framing Ground Floor	8
December 2 2000	Second Floor Framing	9
December 2 2000	Ground Floor Framing	10
December 2 2000	View from Second Floor	11
December 3, 2000	The House: A Solar Collector	12
December 17, 2000	The Second Floor Goes Up	13
December 23, 2000	The Second Floor Takes Shape	14
January 7, 2001	The Kitchen Takes Shape	15
January 7, 2001	The Second Floor Ready for a Roof	16
January 17, 2000	Roofing	17
January 20, 2001	Roofing Half Done	18
January 20, 2001	Rays of Light	19
January 24, 2001	Finishing the Roof	20
January 24, 2001	Construction	21
February 3, 2001	Car Port Takes Shape	22
February 10, 2001	Inspection	23
February 10, 2001	Roof and Car Port	24
February 11, 2001	Roof Lines	25
February 22, 2001	Sky Light	26
March 3, 2001	Framed for Walls	27
March 15, 2001	Curbing for the Greenroof	28
March 24, 2001	Roof Done, Ready for Windows	29
April 5, 2001	Windows Installed	30
April 13, 2001	Straw Bale Walls Steel Reinforcement	31
April 13, 2001	Straw Bales	32
April 14, 2001	Straw Bale Happening: Like an Old Fashioned Barn Raising	33
April 21, 2001	Plastering Straw Bale Walls	34
April 21, 2001	Zinc Roofing Started	35
April 22, 2001	Completing the Zinc Siding	36
May 17, 2001	North Side Radian Floor Heating	37
May 23, 2001	Painting and Banboo Flooring	38
June 17, 2001	Moved In	39
June 17, 2001	Warm and Cozy	40
June 17, 2001	Morning in Spring	41
June 17, 2001	Solar Powered!	42
August 14, 2001	Summer	43
August 31, 2001	Exterior Finishing Touches	44
September 30, 2001	Sun Sets on Exterior Work	45
December 2, 2001	The In-Floor Radiant Heating System	46
December 2, 2001	Interior Final Touches	47
December 2, 2001	Exterior Done, Grading Completed	48
June 24, 2002	Summer 2002	49
June 28, 2002	Summer Sun, Glorious Days	50
June 28, 2002	Fall/Winter 2002	51
June 28, 2002	Photo Voltaic Solar Panels	52
January 8, 2003	Wind Turbine Installation	53
January 9, 2003	Wind Power!	54
August 30, 2003	Wind and Solar Power	55
September 20, 2003	Fall Winds Power Colourful Change	56

Requirements

Build a house that is powered by the sun. Demonstrate that through the combination of best practices currently available a family can live with all modern conveniences.

passive solar heating	super insulation
photo voltaic power and wind power - Solera	high quality design and construction
use of local natural materials where possible	simple to build, post and beam
rain water for majority of requirements	straw bale walls - click here
integrated waste processing systems, composting toilets - click here	fiberglass windows, double glazed, krypton and/or argon filled, low-e - for information on efficient windows - click here - click here for information on the Inline fibergrlass windows we are using
sod roof or green roof - read an article about the advantages Find out more on the Hydrotech roof system we are thinking of using - click here.	solar water heating

Details of what we had hoped to create in the actual design and building..

Design by Martin Liefhebber

Based on the principles of "health housing" as exemplified in the award winning designs of Martin Liefhebber.

Bio - Martin Liefhebber
The CMHC's Healthy House.
Breathe Architects - Breathe Architects’ principal; Martin Liefhebber has been instrumental in advancing green design through his built projects for more than two decades.

Construction

Colin Richards is building the house. His company is C & R Construction. His crew includes Bernie, Doug and Richard. Occasionally John Wilson and Leigh Geraghty, the owners, spend a day or two during vacations helping out. Ian and Claire have also provided assistance. Martin Liefhebber is frequently on site reviewing the design and construction challenges with Colin.

C & R Construction and Colin Richards can be contacted at the following email address: gregory.richards@sympatico.ca

In-floor heating system by Alternative Combined Energy Systems, contact Lyle Jory, (416) 863-5835 or (888) 773-6893, P.O. Box 546, Sta. P, Toronto, ON, M5S 2T1. ACES specializes in radiant floor heating, solar heating and heat pumps.

Press Release

News Release - April 9, 2001

Straw Bale

The straw bale construction was coordinated and constructed by Camel's Back Construction. Pete, Chris and Tina know just about everthing there is to know about straw bale construction as they have developed many of the new ideas and concepts in this brilliant construction material. To find out more about this great team of straw bale home builders check out there web site at - http://www.strawhomes.ca/. They are the BEST! Literally they wrote the book on straw bale home construction. It is a great book, a must read for anyone contemplating building with straw.

Get the book before you design and build.

Click here to buy a copy at New Society Publishers.

Some good web site resources which Chris and Pete recommend in their book are:

The Last Straw: www.strawhomes.com
Surfin' Strawbale: www.moxvox.com/surfsolo
Black Range Films: www.StrawBaleCentral.com

Copyright 2000 John Wilson