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In February of 2006, I found 14 acres to build an off-grid home on, and only 30 minutes west of Fort Collins!


Please hit the REFRESH button on your computer for updates to this site to take effect. Thanks! (sept 2008)



 

I AM THE FIRST PERSON, IN LARIMER COUNTY'S HISTORY, TO HAVE OBTAINED A "HEIGHT VARIENCE" FOR A WIND TURBINE TOWER!!! (good story!)

 

 


Timeline of my progress:

2/23/06 - closed on the property! (home equity loan from the house here in town)

3/10/06 - have the drawing into the engineer! go for a site survey sometime this next week!

3/15/06 - a buddy of mine, Doug, brought up his bobcat and we put in the drive. now we can get "onto" the property.

3/07/06 - bought a really cool trailer to leave up at the lot. (see PHOTO PAGE)

4/26/06 - SUBMITTED THE PLANS FOR A PERMIT TODAY!

5/08/06 - PERMIT IS READY TO PICK UP!  (see UPDATES)

5/17/06 - excavator comes to dig out for the house. 

5/23/06 - variance meeting for the turbine tower height.  it gets APPROVED!

5/26/06 - closed on a CONSTRUCTION LOAN!!  (see UPDATES)

6/06/06 - septic system stuff shows up today and Hersh gets here to start the well! (see PHOTO PAGE)

6/09/06 -  picked up turbine/tower permit today! (waiting for the tower parts to show up)

6/15/06 - picked up the REVISED permit today! (made a few changes to the structure of the house, before picking up the permit back in May)

6/19/06 - start forms for the footings, took about 4 days w/ help from Jesus & Lupe. (fri 23rd, inspection of forms-APPROVED!)

6/24/06 - poured footings! (see PHOTO PAGE) 

7/10/06 - start constructing the ARXX WALLS icf forms. ("icf"-insulated concrete form) (see PHOTO PAGE)

7/31/06 - poured the icf forms w/about 44yrd of concrete! (see PHOTO PAGE)

8/04/06 - lumber pack arrives!

(photo taken FEB 11th 2007)  NOW THE COOL STUFF! Finally, I was able to fly out Craig Faw and Nate Curtis, from AFFORDABLE-SOLAR down in Albuquerque New Mexico, to help fire up the solar and wind power equipment. Took about 3 days to get things dialed in. (photo left to right: Nate, Craig, Kraig & ME!) 
9/06/06 - trusses are delivered!
9/08/06 - Rich w/ CANYON CRANE arrives to swing trusses up onto the walls! (see UPDATES PAGE)
9/29/06 - started erecting the tower for the wind turbine. (see PHOTO PAGE)

10/04/06 - found a plumber to plumb the house!

10/16/06 - poured garage floor. (see PHOTO PAGE #2)

10/22/06 - started roofing the house. (see PHOTO PAGE)

11/04/06 - had a friend help wire the house. (AC)

12/11/06 - hire out "insulating" the house.

12/16/06 - stucco crew starts.

12/20/06 - BLIZZARD 2006! get hammered with 3ft of snow up at the property! (see PHOTO PAGE #2) AND ... get hit with 3 more snows in the next 3 weekends!

12/28/06 - sheetrock delivered to gate. too much snow to have it del to the house, hauled it up in 5 trips w/ Andrew's truck/trailer.

12/31/06 - hire a few guys to help hang 4x12 shts of drywall.

1/03/07 - propane tank delivered (filled Jan 11th, wallmount heaters installed on the 15th to keep the house warm for drywall tape/mud)

1/23/07 - hired a crew to tape & mud the drywall. i plan to texture the walls myself using a skip-trowel method.

2/01/07 - start hauling up material to tile 1000+ sqft.

2/09/07 - Steve (aka Uncle Steve) starts the tile.

2/10/07 - WIND & SOLAR Install! flew Craig & Nate out from New Mexico to help fire up the solar/wind equipment. hanging out with theze two dudes for four days was like Comedy Central!

2/26/07 - WHISPER 100 wind turbine installed and charging battery bank

5/04/07 - PASSED FINAL ELECTRICAL INSPECTION!!

6/4/07 - FINAL INSPECTION of the house. I'VE MOVED IN!! (sold my place in Fort Collins & closed on it May 25th 2007)


Affordable Solar is supplying all of the solar & wind power equipment. February 10th 2007, I'm flying Craig & Nate out to help fire up the system.

CLICK HERE to check out their site.



I'll be powering the house with a Hybrid-system consisting of wind and solar... 100%!

(CLICK PHOTO above to learn more on how this system works)




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