Introduction

Welcome to the Beagle Brook blog! Aspen Design Inc. is a custom home design/build company that focuses on design that appeals to the style and taste of our clients while maintaining a sustainable and green approach. We invite you to join us on the journey as we build the “Beagle Brook Farm” home, a passive solar structure in Northeast Ohio. The goal of this blog is to accomplish three things. First, we want to introduce our company and the service we provide to our readers. Second, we want to share our passion for building a more sustainable future, and third, we want your feedback. We look forward to reading your comments and questions, so please share them with us.


Wikipedia defines a passive solar building as one that aims to maintain interior thermal comfort throughout the sun’s daily and annual cycles while reducing the requirement for active heating and cooling systems. Our main objective in designing Beagle Brook was to produce a passive solar home with a thermally comfortable interior environment that expends minimal energy to support the mechanical heating and cooling systems. Healthy indoor air quality and reduced utility bills are important to the homeowners. Working with them, we determined that the direct gain system was the best approach for Beagle Brook. The main principles that are incorporated with the direct gain system are:

1) Allow maximum solar radiation to reach the interior during the colder months.

2) Shade the interior from solar radiation during the warmer months.

3) Use thermal mass to control and disperse the solar radiation, and

4) Design a well-insulated structure to control the different interior and exterior environments.

During our Beagle Brook journey, we will explain how these principles guided our design decisions and highlight some of the special details and features we are using to create a well-insulated structure.

Tuesday, June 1, 2010

First floor framing


We have almost completed the first floor walls in order to start the second floor framing. We are only building the exterior and interior bearing walls for the first floor now so that when we pour the lightweight concrete floor it will be continuous throughout the home. This will allow the heat to penetrate the north facing bedrooms. We will pour this floor later in the building process so we do not have to work on it as much. Throughout the framing process we will be using 2X6 studs at 24" on center and some advanced framing techniques. These framing techniques will allow us to place the most insulation within the walls as possible.
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2 comments:

  1. UnknownJune 1, 2010 at 5:58 PM

    Great photos of the progress Pete. What sort of material will you be using for insulation?

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  2. Aspen Design Inc.June 1, 2010 at 9:57 PM

    That is a great question. We will be using a combination of closed and open cell spray foam with the addition of XPS rigid foam. The crawl space walls and joist cavities will be filled with 3-5 inches of closed cell foam while the 2x6 exterior walls to the roof will be filled with open cell foam. There will also be a layer of 1 inch XPS rigid foam over the structural sheeting around the home to prevent any thermal breaks. Our roof will consist of 2x10 rafters filled with open cell foam and 2 inches of rigid foam over the roof sheeting to prevent thermal breaks. Please stay tuned for the details on how we produce the vapor and air barriers throughout the walls and roof as well as the drainage planes. We will have thorough pictures and details.

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