I Made A Mistake Building My New Net Zero Home

I Made A Mistake Building My New Net Zero Home. Open an Atmos account today and take a step towards aligning your finances with the climate. www.joinatmos.... But that's not all - with an Atmos solar loan, you can amplify your environmental impact by embracing clean energy for your home. Join us in the journey towards a sustainable future while enjoying the benefits of lower energy costs. My new net zero energy home build is almost done, but there's been a few issues along the way that could be a good learning lesson. The high level goal for my new net zero home has been to build an energy efficient house that will produce as much energy as it uses over the year, as well as tying in some of the latest and greatest tech to make that happen. Tech like a geothermal heating and cooling system, as well as Enphase solar and home battery. And all of our electrical feeds into a Span Panel with EV charger for smart home energy management. It's all awesome stuff, but I made some decisions that have over complicated things. So why did I do that? And what would I have done differently? There’s a good learning lesson here.
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[@UndecidedMF]

Have you learnt any lessons when integrating new tech into your home? Open an Atmos account today and take a step towards aligning your finances with the climate. www.joinatmos.com/undecided And if you'd like to make smarter energy usage decisions, check out SPAN: link.undecidedmf.com/span

[@terryrodbourn2793]

You did have a after action review on n KISS and learn from this mistake, that's called experience!

[@solarcabin]

Too complicated, I told you so Matt! When you first described you house plans I said you were getting too complicated and should focus more on passive heating and cooling and reducing your power consumption. Instead you went with very expensive high tech systems that YOU will not be able to do maintenance on and will have constant failure issues to deal with. I built my super insulated off grid cabin myself for cash and my solar power is only 1.4Kw. I was able to retire at 49 from the savings and I can do all the maintenance to keep my system running for the rest of my life. No house payments, no utility bills and freedom!

[@rexreid2412]

I agree with your assessment. Many times K.I.S.S. can't be emphasized enough. All things considered, you did a heck of a job!

[@MrChristiangraham]

I'm a big believer in 80/20. First of all, find the smallest possible home you can comfortably live in. Make sure it's as well insulated as you can, install solar, replace appliances with better ones as they need replacing. Buy secondhand where you can.

[@bartroberts1514]

I've learned I have to think outside of everyone else's box, which means I have to communicate to businesses, institutions and governments outside their forms. I have to learn what the rules for building, zoning, manufacture, plumbing, electrical, HVAC are, and why those rules are in place, often when the people enforcing the rules don't know them. What I thought would be tech turned out to be civics. And in delay due to red tape. Especially, when the original builder did things outside the box, too, like laying all the electrical and telecommunications diagonally across the yard, making it impossible to do installations without excavating at great expense what they laid down without cost or thought for the future.

[@brendoncummins2762]

As a former specialist in construction, and armature architect, I've learned that you want to have a general idea of where larger components are going before breaking ground, and have exact details finalized 2-3 steps ahead. It also doesn't hurt to meet with all your crew leads day one and learn early wither to use carrot or stick with them. Either way being a GC is much like being a cat-herder with louder messier cats.

[@chrisking6740]

I am a big believer in conditioned crawlspaces and / or attics for many of the reasons you mentioned. It keeps envelope penetrations down, and allows for easy routing of any ducting, pipes, wires, etc when the building is being built and more importantly, down the line when you want to add anything or make changes. It is a great feeling knowing that your house has the freedom to grow and change as time goes on.

[@tibbified]

Absolutely. At minimum, a crawlspace. I will never do a slab.

[@veganpotterthevegan]

It's already a big, single family home. We should stop building single family homes and making homes continually larger. Especially if we wanna be intellectually consistent when talking about being eco friendly

[@albex8484]

so american :p

[@ChessMasterNate]

@@veganpotterthevegan That does not look like a large home. There is a double garage, and he has a filming studio for his KZbin channel.

[@veganpotterthevegan]

@ChessMasterNate for sure...by atrocious US standards. He also already had a perfectly good, oversized home. This is extremely wasteful at best.

[@aslye]

Love following along this journey, Matt. It's inspiring and will definitely help me in my own endeavor of turning my 1980 home into an energy-efficient one!

[@UndecidedMF]

It's definitely been a journey! Learn from my mistakes 😉

[@kepdani]

Hey, I like this guy 😁

[@jack0dds11]

I suggest from my own experience of having a house built to allow a lot of ventilation [ even in winter ] for the first 12 months despite energy loss. The building materials,sealers, paints, varnishes out gas an unhealthy amount.I did not do that and my wife got very sick over the first few months [ she works at home so she was home 24/7 ]. Sort of a chronic fatigue syndrome that disappeared in spring when windows were opened.

[@kittimcconnell2633]

Good suggestion. Houseplants can help break down off-gassing, too.

[@QH96]

Would an extremely airtight home not also cause humidity/condensation problems? Unless multiple dehumidifiers are used.

[@RoguePC4U]

Interesting. I'm also highly sensitive/aware of chemical off-gassing - so would have tried to find alternative (ie. less/no VOC) products ahead of time. But as this is obviously time consuming (and not typically a realistic thought with most sub-contractors), wouldn't an HRV (Heat Ventilation Recovery) system exchange the interior air enough? I was under the impression that any airtight homes require HRV's to constantly maintain fresh interior air. Thoughts?

[@fintux]

​@@kittimcconnell2633unfortunately, recent meta studies indicate that you would need a massive amount of houseplants for a significant effect. Air purifiers with high capacity active carbon filters would be better. But the best option probably is to keep the ventilation on a higher setting for the first year (with a heat exchanger, the energy loss is also reasonable).

[@happygilmore2137]

​@@QH96well, he's talked in previous videos about having a system that circulates air and replaces it with outside air while heating the outside air with the outgoing inside air. So air is getting replaced, it's just being done intentionally rather than unintentionally

[@GamerplayerWT]

I think an additional problem is that many contractors aren’t familiar with this new technology so they wouldn’t have known how to do it all either.

[@Hybridog]

There are companies you can hire to design the entire hvac/electrical/whatever systems from an engineering/architecture standpoint, not merely trying to figure out how to fit it all in place. There is a significant cost, but the chance of mistakes or bad decision making is greatly reduced and you also will have a system that works optimally. I know of one company here in Austin that does tis sort of thing.

[@willythemailboy2]

It's a learning opportunity for the builder as well in terms of making sure there's sufficient space in the utility area for equipment more conventional homes don't have.

[@justchillinout2002]

The problem isn't the familiarity so much, as much of this tech has been around for nearly 50 years, how it is being used and the allowable tolerances have added to the issues. Unfortunately, the greatest issue is knowledge and training in the industry. Most builders have little of either, and the trades have a tendency to learn what's popular in the industry, and never learn or do anything more.

[@NathanMichalik]

This is so true. I just wanted a simple heat pump water heater installed (in my county, I'm not allowed to do electrical/plumbing DIY or else I would have.. it's a 2 hour job). It took me so many different contractors to find one who even knew what they were.....

[@bertaboy]

@@willythemailboy2 The thing is, not many people are willing to pay to have their home be that "learning opportunity" Where the contractor makes those mistakes.

[@ryan6391]

I started watching this and was thinking, " wow he's over complicating this install" I'm glad I watched to the end where that was exactly what you said. We started an EV and battery installation business this year in CT. Keep learning and growing and life will never get boring. Good job Matt and yes being the GC can be a lot of work.

[@TheStevedie]

Whats your company name? I'm in Eastern CT. I've been toying with a home battery backup...i should have had tesla install it when i got the panels in 2020.

[@UndecidedMF]

I should have t-shirts made, "I overcomplicated things."

[@69Buddha]

@@UndecidedMF Sure it needs to be in past tense? :P

[@adstix]

Congratulations on your inspiring project, Matt 👍🏻 A few questions though: 1) Are you able to put a ballpark cost to the entire project? 2) And how does this impact your local property tax & home insurance? 3) What kind of windows did you have installed? 4) Because your home is so hi tech, do you have any protective measures in place if ever there was a freak internet downtime or malicious attack? Thanks in advance!

[@tedbear631]

Cool questions I'd love to see a video on this in the future

[@watvannou]

The cost just for those batteries probably costs the same as half a new house :( Wish this tech was more affordable!

[@andr0373]

Agreed, while I get trying to go all the way, cost is really important. With enough money anyone can build a "zero footprint" house. Since you probably aren't super rich I'm sure you have a ton of economical choices you made in this regard. Thanks for sharing.

[@servant74]

Being an early adopter of way to much tech, I feel your pain Matt. Sometimes it is pull it out and start over, sometimes the answer is 'live with what you got' (until the next shiny thing comes by anyway), but KISS is always a reasonable guiding light. We all need to remember that Murphy is always hiding ing the corner waiting for us to stub a toe. We all need to take our 'Murphy Moments' as learning/remembering opertunities and not to flog ourselves over it (70+ years of beating my head against the wall of experience here!)

[@smvsspould]

@@scsherman207 Why do you watch his content then bud?

[@ellsworthm.toohey7657]

@@scsherman207 Better safe than sorry and in ANY CASE, he is winning !

[@ellsworthm.toohey7657]

​@@scsherman207 If you live like the Amish, OK

[@angusaardvark]

@@scsherman207 I imagine that you will feel shockingly guilty and bad if it turns out that they were right all the time and the planet is severely damaged. Best to keep an open mind and appreciate the interest in gadgets and new technology.

[@andypeters3011]

@@scsherman207 maybe try some arctic fishing sometime to see how the ice caps are holding up. Your stance is basically saying "I don't understand how a fart can be smelt across the room". Gases have properties, CO2 and methane insulate better, so the more of those, the more heat. It's actually really, really basic. So we are not "controlling" the climate, if we could just flip a switch obviously we would not be breaking record temps in july across the world. We are affecting it. Wait, just re-read some of your comment. Must be bait, you can't really think all that. Good day.

[@SnappyWasHere]

In my house I did a full double wall. Insulated, sealed, dry walled everything. Then built a whole new interior wall and framed drop ceiling. All my hvac, electrical, cat cable runs inside the envelope. Costs nothing to heat and cool plus later modifications won’t require disturbing the sealed wall. Only downside is the 12” thick walls are weird at doorways.

[@bobbybyrne1899]

Expensive, but it's probably a banger of a wall assembly.

[@toddjasper1]

It would be really interesting if you did a video on how you constructed your house with a double wall config!

[@GammaRays10]

Childhood friend of my dad did a double wall, alternating 2x6 studs. Built in the 80-90s I think. Ever since I learned about it, I've always kept it in my mind for if I ever build my own. I assume the cost is worth it.

[@SnappyWasHere]

@@toddjasper1 I have pics but didn’t even think to video anything. I did it in 2021 when lumber was crazy but metal was cheap. It’s steel on the outside. Wall assembly is a normal 2x6 wall with horizontal stringers on the outside and inside of that wall. Rockwool in the 2x6 cavity and horizontally between the stringers inside and out. 8.5” total. Vapor barrier sealed on the inside and ceiling then normal sheet rock taped and mudded and a coat of paint to keep the tape from peeling. Then the inside wall is just 2x3 standard framing since it’s just there to run electrical and such. The dropped ceiling is custom made floor trusses 16” high that hang from the building trusses under the sheet rock. From there it’s just normal construction. There is only 1 penetration through the ceiling for the sewer stack and four in the wall, one for the erv, two bathroom fans, and conduit for all the outside electrical. 2500 sq ft and my most expensive electric bill so far is $120 so I’m super happy.

[@Imaboss8ball]

​@@toddjasper1double walls are fairly standard for efficient homes. It prevents direct heat transfer from outside to inside through studs.

[@briankuhl9314]

Matt, It would be nice to hear you wife's perspective on this build at some point. I've built a house, and moved a few times, and the stresses and pleasures of each move are seen differently by my wife and I. If it is something that possible, and compatible with your families feeling about personal privacy, I think it would be very useful perspective in this journey. Either way, thanks for another great video.

[@douglasburnside]

I took a very different approach to my "new" home. Five years ago I moved into my 60-year-old home in the mountains of central Mexico. The house is all masonry construction with 14" thick ceilings and 8" thick walls. The climate here is so temperate that most homes do not have HVAC systems other than opening or closing windows as needed. Electricity can be very expensive, even by US standards, and can be a hardship for local people on Mexican incomes. When we moved in, the electrical system consisted of four circuit breakers and ungrounded outlets, perfectly acceptable for 1950's construction. High on the list was to replace all the wiring and outlets and install a 20-breaker electric panel. For the first six months I kept close track of electrical usage with the idea of adding solar panels. Knowing in advance what my electric consumption was, I spec'd out the system to generate on a year-round average about 4 kWh per day more than I consumed. What I missed was the overhead to run the inverters and normal system losses between my panels and the electric meter, so I only ended up with a 2 kWh per day year-round average surplus. It's enough. Where my approach differs from yours is that I went for a brute-force energy system rather than trying to make a 60-year-old house energy efficient. I have enough solar panels that *_I don't care about efficiency._* My electric bills, which would run me more than $4,000 USD per year without the solar panels, comes to $1.33 per month, which is the minimum grid-connection fee. For my $1.33, the provider "stores" my excess production on a 12-month use-it-or-lose it system, 90% of which they get to keep without compensation because I rarely have to dip into the storage. I give them $16 a year plus four or five hundred kWh that I have no use for, and in return have no hassles or worries about my electricity. Two years ago I started polishing my tinfoil hat and decided I wanted some battery storage. I added enough that I am fully off-grid capable short-term, with "short" being defined as one to two years. This is because I specified deep-discharge lead-acid [I hear your gasp of dismay, but hear me out!] batteries instead of lithium-ion. Why? Because they were less than a third the price of Li-Ion and I could see the incredible changes coming with battery technology and knew that in five years I could replace them with new technology for half of what I paid for them and at the same time get twice the storage. As long as I remain grid-tied, they sit on trickle-charge with occasional short discharge when there is a local grid failure. They'll easily last 10 years at that usage level, but if the grid fails long-term then the heavier duty cycle will do them in in just a couple of years. To lessen the load on the batteries in that scenario, some non-essentials (garden lighting, swimming pool pump, one of the electric hot water heaters, limit the A/C, etc.) would be turned off, but other than that life would go on as usual. I saw on your video 13:58 the specifications on your 26 panel system, and at first thought "That's about the same as mine, but I'm generating 40% more power", then realized that with the exception of the three month rainy season (June-July-August) I am living in a high-desert climate with cloudless skies at 5,000 feet elevation day after day for the rest of the year. Insolation counts for a lot!😀 Anyway, that's my system, and it was one of the best financial decisions I ever made, coming in #2 after the decision to move to Mexico in my retirement.

[@mrmikesparks]

As the owner of a plumbing/hydronic heating company with 30years experience building high end custom homes, I cannot overemphasize the importance of picking the right builder with a solid TEAM of subcontractors. Especially when implementing new or non-standard tech/systems. Communication regarding systems integration between the subs is a MUST, and a good builder will have subs that do this automatically. We also do pre-construction meetings that include mechanical room layouts, etc. Matt, it sounds like your woes are not huge issues that will alter the overall livability or functionality of your house. Thank you for sharing your experience with us!

[@Andrewc87563]

I'd say the grey-blue interior wall paint is the most obvious mistake. I live in Australia with lots of sunshine and still have white interior walls to offset depression grey on the rare raining grey day. I guess each to their own tho.

[@kittimcconnell2633]

Gray is "in vogue" in the USA right now. I find it depressing also and chose a warm white for our walls.

[@JaSon-wc4pn]

We call it pebble

[@ge2719]

grey is a good colour for walls because then you can add any accent colour you want via more temporary objects, or even better for mood you can add colour with lighting. Some funky rgb led lighting is more effective if a room has no colour on the walls, and instead has shades of grey. walls with a colour to them already will change the colour of the light reflecting off them and effect how colour accurate the rgb effects are. Obviously this is more obvious with strong saturated colours. Like my neighbour, we decorated her daughters bedroom for her as a surprise while she wa son holiday. She had a dark purple wall, two lighter purple walls, and a wallpapered wall with a purple galaxy effect on it, and just bare led's taped to the top of the walls. Needless to say no matter how much light you put out of those leds, the room still felt dark and everything had a purple cast to it that made the room feel dark. Now it's got light grey walls, with silver crushed velvet for the curtains to match her bed frame, and i built some proper WLED diffused floor to ceiling light bars and the room feels bright, and clean with there being no colour tone from the walls. but then she can add whatever colour she wants with the leds on a steady colour mode. Or she can put them in a calming slow changing mode. or music reactive mode and the effect is far better with grey walls than the old purple.

[@doogiemcdougster6740]

I was actually wanting to know that color name so I could use it in my house, lol. It's very calming. 🙂

[@UndecidedMF]

Color is highly subjective, but whatever makes you happy. To each their own. 👍

[@ltborg]

Definitely do a video (or several) on your home automation and network. I think that would be good for a ton of people. Great video, keep it up!

[@SnootchieBootchies27]

If you include a service layer in your ceiling below your vapor barrier, the extra money in 2×4 will be saved tenfold in envelope management and penetrations. Then you run all of your wiring inside the envelope and only have to deal with plumbing vents penetrating the ceiling. Low profile clip in potlights help facilitate this setup.

[@jamesodell3064]

How much more expensive is your home vs a home built without energy use as a main concern? How much do you expect to save per year?

[@mybootscamewithoutstraps]

I now live by the idea of SSI, Super Simple Implementations. You can always scale up from there, but you cannot easily scale back down with many things.

[@mattstrauchon6756]

Have I learned anything?...every time I touch a hammer or lift a rock, I learn something new about my home and houses in general.

[@markstipulkoski1389]

The house design is too conventional with its unconditioned attic. Wouldn't have had this problem with a conditioned attic.

[@yolo_burrito]

Yeah I can’t believe he went with a conventional attic. The perfect wall theory always uses conditioned attic with insulation on the under side of the roof deck.

[@RobyWanKenobi]

Need to watch some Matt Risinger.

[@jmacd8817]

​@RobyWanKenobi An conditioned attic would have been "bomber".

[@steven.l.patterson]

I love all the tech, but the conventional design aesthetic isn’t appealing. Hopefully landscaping will help.

[@carlbeyer909]

It seems bizarre that the attic is not conditioned with a nets zero house.

[@Teukka72]

Idea for other building homes (net zero or otherwise): Design in infrastructure rooms and closets, as well as relatively easy-to-access conduits/culverts (trekkies, think Jeffries Tubes, albeit in a smaller form factor) in a way which allows for adaptability and resilience when it comes to upgrades and repairs to utilities.

[@veganpotterthevegan]

Starting with the flawed desire for a single family home is a problem in itself. We don't need more of these things

[@Thorgon-Cross]

@@veganpotterthevegan No we will not live in the pod and eat the bugs, get over it.

[@veganpotterthevegan]

@elff107 who's saying that dummy? I'm just wondering why people can't be intellectually consistent if they're claiming to be environmentalists.

[@Teukka72]

@@veganpotterthevegan Having an adaptable and resilient building allows for many and varied contingencies, such as more than one family or generation living there. And yeah, it appears some have bought the talking points hook, line and sinker as to living and eating. Such as certain foods being forced onto the menu at the cost of others, or that certain foods with crucial nutrients will always be available or affordable.

[@redsquirrelftw]

And make those rooms twice as big as you need, so there is room to expand. I find utility rooms are often overlooked, even in commercial applications. Especially communication. I've seen businesses shove their servers in bathrooms or other weird places because they never bothered to factor it in. It's often an after thought.

[@SuperReivan]

that span ad was brutal.

[@BIMRFRK]

SPAN is not available in Canada, in your research did you find any other smart panels that had similar features that I may be able to get my hands on,... Looking building a similar house setup this spring, but using ICF construction instead.

[@UndecidedMF]

There's a bunch out there (becoming more prevalent). If Span isn't available, check out Schneider: www.se.com/ww/en/work/products/product-launch/smart-panels/overview.jsp and Lumin: www.luminsmart.com/. There are others too, but can't remember them off-hand.

[@wayneyeo186]

I built mine 25 ish years ago, and one of the things we did was run some unused extra conduits "just in case". Since that time, that have been used !

[@ygdiget4119]

Love the Ubiquiti and Enphase setups but I dont think you should have gone with SPAN for your electrical panel. They are a very new company treating their early adopter customers as beta testers. Their local control solution for their panel is experimental and inadequate which means you'll no longer have a smart electic panel that you can manage in the app if they ever go out of business. They've trapped you into their cloud.

[@MikkelSV]

That sponsor sounds just like a pyramid scheme 😂😂 Other customers fund your loan, and you can get a 3% savings account, while they pay off other loans. Shut up and take my money!!

[@bobqzzi]

We installed a Span, 20Kwsolar system, and 3 powerwalls into our 1950s colonial in RI. Works great

[@nevadaxtube]

Sometimes I find it hard to decipher where the advertising begins and ends and where the objective information lies. It reminds me of all the 5 star Amazon reviews that are given by people who received the product for free in exchange for their "unbiased" review.

[@nSnowCrow]

This video felt too much like an informercial. Could have made it a 5 min video without the overload of in video sponsors and ads.

[@KevinLauscher]

Vehicle to house that supports >20kw is going to be a game changer to energy independence. That coupled with DC fast chargers located in more locations. In an ideal world you'd charge your car off solar and use that as the battery bank to supplment the existing 20 kWh you already have. Run low? Go and top off at a dc fast charger near by and move the energy from car to house bank.

[@MojoJomo]

Agreed. I have solar PV on my small house, and about 120 kW of battery storage - in my driveway. Buying batteries solely for backup is too costly for my budget. At some point I hope to be able to seamlessly power my home (or feed the grid) with my vehicles, as I do with my solar system.

[@johnwalterc]

Having the panel on an inside wall is great! Having it on an inside wall in the garage would have been the best. I think you missed a geo-thermal trick by not having a second 1000 ft of line placed and plumbed to the garage. With just the 100 watts needed to run a fan you could have cooled your garage in the summer and kept your cold weather temp to 45deg F. It could have been inside/outside temp driven. Think of your cars being 45 deg in the winter and no ice and snow stuck to your car.

[@josephpiskac2781]

Amazing system and house. Living in my van with two lead acid RV Batteries I recently found real battery cables. This is great no more alarms from my 80 watt inverter that it is starved for energy.

[@deldarel]

You'd better give us a full tour of the systems. Once it's all installed! This looks amazing and I'm psyched to see how it all works together! One day I want to do this too

[@TinkerTry]

OMG, can't wait to watch this after work today. I'm so happy for you. That teaser footage/intro grabbed me in all the right ways!

[@X.MillennialResponder.X]

LiFePO4 I would think it’s a bit safer than the previous two options you mention, as it is design not to have thermal Runway issues

[@ssoffshore5111]

After so much thought went into designing this house with efficiency in mind, one thing that jumped out at me with this build once I saw the overhead and elevation views in this video, is that the shape of it is far from an idea shape to minimize heat loss and to minimize cooling costs.

[@Thorgon-Cross]

Also bad for minimizing cost, really H pattern is about as bad of a house design as it gets. Plus WTF is the pimple on the right side of the front...

[@farmeunit]

@@Thorgon-Cross Nook…. Not to mention, some people like their houses unique or different. They’re the ones living in it, so why not make it what you want?

[@Thorgon-Cross]

@@farmeunit yea, hey what I like is far from common. Just a odd choice when the goal is efficiency.

[@charlesbarton6922]

I'm going to guess that the garage and hallway leading to it are outside the thermal envelope?

[@TomMcinerney-g9b]

Maybe good for solar capture, though (not sure orientation, or solar exposure).

[@cebo494]

I'm curious to know about the smart home stuff. I have yet to see many smart home products that actually seemed to be of any real value; the only one I can think of are the thermostats since they actually have a tangible financial benefit. Everything else seems like it's either too much hassle for the minimal benefit they provide, like smart lights, or come with other concerns, like the security/privacy concerns of most camera and doorbell systems (see: Eufy).

[@colinofay7237]

How much loss of effectiveness is there by running the long cables?

[@markae0]

What is running in the cable yeah?

[@rasmAn2]

I just installed a secondary hydraulic heating grid in my home, because i wanted cooling from a air source monoblock heat pump. This could have been avoided if, 9 years ago when we were redoing the original hydraulic heating grid from the '70's, I'd sprung for insulated lines. wouldn't even have been that much more expensive. But, no-one in the this country was doing heat pumps at that time, climate change hadn't hit us with 40c summers yet, and cooling was seen as a luxury for glass fronted offices. I did run cat5e to every box in the house, intending to run a CAN network and power over it. never used most of those since the house runs on many ESP''s and zigbee now. Hindsight is 20-20.

[@hanks_backyard]

I'd love to hear more about the SPAN Panel integrations / API. I had a SPAN Panel installed on my house during a remodel (along with 15kw of solar and Tesla batteries). It's a pretty cool set up but I'd love to further expand the SPAN with 3rd party integrations.

[@UndecidedMF]

Noted!

[@D2O2]

​@@scsherman207Yes, I agree. This is a company started by a bunch of former Tesla employees hoping to cash in on a solution looking for a problem. I don't understand the need to switch entire circuits. The energy monitoring could be accomplished with $200 worth of equipment. The cost v. real benefit doesn't add up to me.

[@PatDoyle]

@@D2O2 One thing you can do when you have a SPAN panel and battery back up is to dynamically change your list of devices that are powered by the batteries during an outage. Without SPAN, this is a one time decision you make at installation. With SPAN you can have your “must have devices” your “nice to have devices” and your “don’t backup devices”. When running off battery for a lengthy period you can easily move things around to extend your battery life. This is possible because those loads are managed by s/w rather than by being hard-wired.

[@PatDoyle]

@@scsherman207 True but most people are not going to their own thing like that.

[@D2O2]

@@PatDoyle I can do that with a standard panel by simply supplying the entire panel with a secondary power source and turning breakers on and off at will. I don't need to be able to do that from Italy once every 5 years. Also, span requires a cloud connection to function, no local control. Hope you can make that connection. Also, since the switching relays are only software controlled, if you lose connection with the SPAN cloud with a circuit commanded off, there is NO physical way to turn it back on. So, SPAN has total control of your panel. Yeah....No thanks! SPAN is a start-up, you have no idea what you are going to get now, or in the future. Best of Luck, hope they leave your circuits on when they shut the lights off at the company as it goes out of business or is bought by someone with other ideas.

[@ssmith2019]

20 kilowatts doesn't seem like enough storage for a 17kw solar system . . . . Why not more storage ?

[@dorandan100]

Nice house Matt, hope you really enjoy it once all the startup bugs are worked out. Question about that super-clean metal roof install - how did you route all the plumbing vents so you had no vent perforation in your roof and still meet plumbing code? Also is that a ridge vent under the metal ridge cap? Keep up the good information vids - you're definitely helping to blaze the trail forward for all of us hoping to get off of fossil fuels & get more energy self-sufficient.

[@web3web2radar]

Thanks for telling us the lesson that we could learned.

[@Nathan-vt1jz]

I really love the idea of making a super efficient or self sufficient home. It’s not something I can afford and may never be able to afford one. I still enjoy getting glimpses of you doing it. If ever I have the extra cash, I’ll definitely use your guide as principles for such a build/design.

[@tonysimi1776]

House is looking amazing!

[@gamertd4093]

I wasn’t quite expecting the issue you ran into! I had commented about modular home electrical being tricky awhile back, but this video was so interesting in what exactly your problems ended up being. You explain things very well here and it’ll definitely help people who are looking into the stuff you’ve done to your house for themselves.

[@Lord.Kiltridge]

I would have thought that a good consultant should have helped avoid most of these issues. Any chance of recommending a network or group that will help source specialist consultants for thin kind of build?

[@AlexTurpin]

Yes, more home energy / home automation videos please! I'd love to do something similar in a few years and your videos are a great source of inspiration!

[@bertaboy]

Once upon a time, I had grand aspirations to put a lot of tech into my house: home automations, whole-home audio, etc. Then I had the realization that kids don't give much time for that, playing tech support for the family becomes a PIA, and guests don't want to read instruction manuals when they come over to visit, babysit, or watch the house. KISS wins nearly every time, now. The one exception I've given I to is the robotic lawn mower, because the amount of time it saves me is worth any headaches that come along with it.

[@ChrisAbbey]

Hey Matt, would love to see a deeper video on the ERV system! I've always wanted to do something like that for bathroom vents, but the humidity and the number of them seem to make it way harder than it should be. Another video I think would be great to see you do, a little bit down the road, is how do you handle "de-teching" the house when you sell it? Getting it ready for a new owner without totally destroying the value of the home automation. This was a minor sticking point with my last home sale back in the mid 2010s because we had put nest thermometers in for the dual zone heat and the buyers real estate agent wanted us to rip them out and put in standard programmable thermostats because they didn't think we could transfer them to a new owner. I shudder to think about a more complex system like you've built in your old house.

[@pallyzplayzone4282]

You have to market the house to someone that is interested in buying it. Also find an agent that understands what you are selling. We ran into issues at our house because people buying our house thought it came with stuff that it didn’t come with.

[@worldtrav72]

Yes, more on the ERV…currently on the Gulf Coast and humidity is THE ISSUE that one is trying to control and the HVAC industry is still focused on temp control. Lots of energy could be saved with better humidity control.

[@ryanscott2118]

@@worldtrav72Be careful. ERV’s can be a colossal waste of money depending on your goal. We install ERV’s and HRV’s in Michigan and it is hard to justify if you know all the facts and the truth. If your home was built before 2000, don’t even consider it. The initial cost, running cost, maintenance and failure rate will not justify ANY money savings, if that’s why your installing it. If your house NEEDS more/better air exchanges that would be the ONLY reason to install. It’s going to cost you money, and it’s complication you don’t need.

[@mnhtnman]

Thank you and good morning!

[@UndecidedMF]

Good morning!

[@DailyLifeSolution]

I am a regulad viewer and a subscriber of your channel. This video reminded me of saying in mothertongue मराठी(Maraathee/Marathi)- घर पाहावं बांधून, लग्न पाहावं करून. It roughly means 'try marrying, try building a home. Then you will find out you will always have a problem you never prepared or anticipated for.' I hope the construction of your new home will end soon and we can watch your shifting video.

[@Brazilianfro32]

I love all this house stuff. My wife and I recently remodeled an old home and a lot of this would have been super helpful to see before then. We're already dreaming of doing a custom build to get the home tech and amenities exactly as we want.

[@ryanisaacson118]

I also like putting ultity room on oppisite side of garage or in garagewall it also makes it easier when replacing equipement

[@LordWhirlin]

SPAN! Thank you for the insight into Span, even if it's a bit because of the sponsorship. Having Solar, it's soooo annoying that I can't fully get the electric usage data, and I'm only getting the net result on a seemingly random basis from the electric company.

[@marcusmonson7717]

I've been in construction for 30 years and still regularly wish I had done things differently. Owning the mistake and drilling through the problem with a level head to solve it in a timely manner is where many tend to go wrong. I can't tell you how many stubborn customers wouldn't take my advice only to have it come back to bite them. The devil is always in the details!! Rember, there's never time to do it right but, there's always time to do it twice! Keep the information flowing!

[@philipvecchio3292]

This reminds me a little bit of an anecdote about American and Japanese cars versus German cars. I've heard mechanics say that German cars are designed by engineers who don't think about things like How hard it will be to turn a Wrench in the engine compartment, where American and Japanese cars usually allow space for people to work. It seems the same with homes. It's not just the ease of building, but the ease of fixing and servicing the house over time.

[@BlackbodyEconomics]

I've always wondered why nobody takes advantage of reserve conduit structures specifically for later alterations and/or additions. I'm also a little curious as to why subterranean conduits and ducts are so often avoided. There seem to be a fair number of cases where two or three simple 1x1' ducts lining the foundation of a home with a few access ports here and there could solve a lot of retrofit/after-thought issues.

[@Crazydiamond_1974]

Great suggestion. Cast in ribbed ducts are so strong and will never come to harm within a concrete slab. Future proof the infrastructure as well as the technology

[@billdillard885]

Well Matt… you didn’t invent this one… when we built our forever home (Me: Mechanical Contractor/Building Contractor) 22 years ago in Florida, I performed the mechanical and building automation. Miles of CAD5 back to a central hub. Multi-zone VAV Systems, Attic Radiant Barrier, Extra Insulation. Within a year the CAD5 was replaced by a thing call WiFi…. Who knew? Drove my builder nuts in the process… but he survived and we are still great friends today. Appreciate you sharing the good and bad of your new home construction.

[@michaelbianchi7639]

What to do different next time? Make the utility room much bigger so it isn't so crowded. Mirror-image the house, putting the garage on the right and the living space on the left. And in our PH we used a Climate Master GSHP HVAC that derives the hot water directly. ((Thanks for the PH saga.))

[@Serrol_]

I hate when people talk about Span's load balancing features and say "it'll save you the cost of having to upgrade your service!" The Span box alone is over $3,500; there's very very VERY few people for which $3,500 would be less than the cost of upgrading from 100 amps to 200+ amps. It's a great piece of technology, but paid advertisements like this stop pretending that Span will save you money over upgrading your service.

[@sinisterdesign]

Very cool stuff! A thought: I've been following this channel for quite a while, and I notice that the climate-conscious solutions presented here seem to begin and end with tech. It's awesome that your single-family home is passive and that your car is electric, but what about a video talking about more environmentally friendly alternatives to single-family homes and cars?

[@DristusFalchion]

Less profitable to encourage consuming less.

[@donaldendsley6199]

The main problem with that type of video is, it's kinda boring, and has a low feasibility in the US. The solution? live in multifamily building in a city near usable public transit (and use it), and eat a mostly vegetarian diet.

[@jmacd8817]

​@donaldendsley6199 Exactly. The biggest issues are our single family home culture, combined with zoning laws. Our cities and towns are designed and legislated to have cars and parking. Our culture wants a large home with a white picket fence (or some version. I'm guilty here, as we moved to a very rural area, so we could have a couple acres). The suburban sprawl of the US just doesn't really allow for environmentally friendly layout. Some things can be done to improve it, but the fundamentals, like mass transit just don't work when you have 20,000 people spread over 36 square miles (93 km squared)

[@DarylOster]

The truth is that single family homes are more sustainable than the ultra dense urban high-rise living promoted by pseudo-scientist politicians of a Marxist bent. For overwhelming proof (with transportation) research ET3 Global Alliance- and compare ALL value and sustainability measures with electric trains. Back to population density... it is the problem - not the solution. As proof compair the per square foot construction cost of a 100 story skyscraper to a typical 2 story rural farm house ... compair the tax rates ... compair the air and water quality... the noise and light pollution... the per capita crime... etc. And then understand that virtuall EVERY big city is going broke - AND the cities use political and media power to force those who make better decisions to pay the bulk of the enormous additional costs of density. Even still urban water, sewer, electrical, and waste systems are failing (while rural areas continue to thrive with a smaller percapita footprint).

[@UndecidedMF]

I do have other videos on apartments and some housing alternatives. Lots of possibilities to cover. Unfortunately, when I have touched on those topics not a lot of people seem interested. I'm trying to sprinkle them in as I can.

[@johnmcadon4248]

It would have been even more interesting and challenging if your home was 100% plastic-free (including everything such as carpeting, windows, doors, flooring). And if all products used for your home did not produce any plastic waste in the production process or packaging. Maybe next time? A plastic-free home was built in Reddich England (BBC reported 31 August 2022).

[@ian-c.01]

This is just one long ad, unsubbed !

[@pkuudsk9927]

#1 I would never park a EV car in my house with them catching fire daily now. #2 Thing is all this teck will be outdated in 5 years and you spent thousands on it. My all E house was built in the 60's none of the stuff is still available. So every 10-15 years it cost again 10-15k $ to fix. It's just not worth it. Rember having wires running every where to run a mouse computer and monitor? You save nothing vs natural gas or wood burning. Infact it's cheaper to heat the house for4- 5 months with wood than using grid power. The solar panels don't work during the winter worth shirt , the house roof is almost perfect for winter sun, angle. By the time the snow melts off the sun is going down . During the summer I am not home to use the AC.vs opening a window at night There is a very limited number of places this will work and yet they try to sell it as 1 size fits all. Thats a lie.

[@fitchmultz]

Stopped watching. Feels like an ad the whole time.

[@UndecidedMF]

Sorry you feel that way, but appreciate the feedback.

[@chipnvirginiahammond5612]

I need to catch up on a lot of your videos around your home build. I have so many questions. I am very interested in building a passive home but I am intimidated by how to start much less to pursue it. I have built two homes over the years with spec builders who would customize but never a truly custom home though my parents did it when I was growing up so I know the process is not simple. I am curious how much this is costing and the sq footage of your home as I won’t have a huge budget and so far based on my rough research seems like it may be out of reach for me. Just trying to find some benchmarks to decide if it is even worth pursuing. I did some checking around in my area (Mid-South) and I can’t find anyone building passive homes here. One place that focuses on commercial builds that looks well recognized. Energy costs where I live are relatively low (11-12 kWh) and I don’t know that my tax situation will truly be able to take advantage of all the incentives but I love the idea of energy independence and charging my EV (hopefully eventually 2 EVs) off sustainable and renewable sources like solar. Any ideas of where to start?

[@samiraperi467]

You don't want a perfectly sealed building for living. The replacement air has to come from somewhere and having to do everything mechanically wastes energy more than allowing air to flow passively in, *and* it can lead to air quality problems if you're trying to save *too* much. We used to make that mistake *a lot* in Finland in the 70s after the oil crisis.

[@KevinLauscher]

the erv solves this issue.

[@tincoandringa4630]

He has a heat recovering ventilator, it's a lot more efficient than allowing air to flow passively in. I bet modern Finish houses all have them too.

[@Harry._.Thompson]

Plus u can filter the air reducing reaction from allergies and better for ur health

[@sinisterdesign]

My understanding is that ERVs use way less energy than you lose from having to heat and cool a house without that airtight envelope. On balance, having less airflow from outside is better.

[@UndecidedMF]

ERVs are crazy energy efficient and solve that issue.

[@sciglassblower]

99% of the population cannot afford the expensive equipment and I am sorry, but if you are On The Grid, you are Net Zero! Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries must be kept in a temp controlled area of approx 75 degrees or lower if you want them to last forever. A simple solar system with mini splits achieve off grid function at the lowest cost without all the extravagant components you have. Water heating have cheap heat pump options which are easy to run on your solar. You will never be energy free when connected to the grid and have all those complicated energy hungry components. We live completely off grid. You are way too wrapped up in Tech and are making plenty of money apparently. Your solutions are for the Rich Techy!

[@MoonBerryShrimp]

Kind of a pointless video. What's the point of using a custom design if you don't take the time to make sure it's well-thought-out?

[@UndecidedMF]

It was thought out in almost every detail, but things come up ... curveballs come up that require compromises. In my case, some of those compromises bit me in the butt.

[@pammcnary2770]

I know that bi-directional charging tech is emerging, but are there any clear winners coming to the surface (grid power, EV car, solar, home use). I’m interested in NOT having separate batteries, just using the car battery to manage usage. I don’t own an EV car now, but when I buy one I would like one that plays well with bi-directional charging.

[@maximilianwe851]

Why are you using micro inverters when you want to be efficient? Using a central inverter and dc coupled batteries you can easily save 5% energy loss. At 17kwp one hybrid inverter and another stringinverter connected to each other would make it mich easier. Further you can use open source systems such as OpenWB for your energy management. Using one of these you can actually use almost any battery system and pv. The only benefit could be single module tracking, but with a smart mppt layout you should be able to avoid mismatching.

[@mikeyolio69]

Not hiring a MEP engineer to coordinate all MEP systems and produce proper load schedules, coordination drawings etc.. before the homes construction or pre construction began and acting as your own GC are the two biggest dumb decisions smart people make. Smart people make decisions purely based on what they read and consume an experienced MEP firm will take into account the information along with many years of experience will prove invaluable in the long run. The mechanical space from what little was shown appears to be boarder-line unserviceable which will be an issue down the line. Hope this helps some one.

[@JackWeems]

Can SPAN be configured to be 100% local control with Home Assistant? For me anything having critical infrastructure reaching out to anything I don't control is a non starter. I like the idea of SPAN but unless I can completely cut if off from the internet and it sill work it's a no for me.

[@ryansoo4000]

I think the biggest mistake every homeowner makes when building or remodeling a home is that they discover the mistake while the house is still under construction but think "it's too late to fix it" and then they live with it for 20 years until the next renovation. Of course, some things like "I wish I'd made the basement ceilings 9' tall instead of 8'" is something that's impossible to change once the framing has started, but things like "I wish I'd added a window on that wall" or "I should have put the bedroom door over there" can still be fixed. Yes, it will cost more money and take more time, but if you're already spending more money than you've ever done before in your life for something you want (a house), why not spend a tiny bit more and correct your mistake now instead of regretting it for years and years?

[@KJSvitko]

An energy efficient home or business is more comfortable and saves money in the long run. Solar energy on your roof combined with battery storage can make people more independent from the grid and natural gas supplies. Add solar and supplemental electric heating or a heat pump for home heating.. Added insulation, triple glaze windows, energy efficient doors, energy efficient heating and cooling systems, energy efficient appliances, LED lighting, smart thermostats, solar panels combined with battery storage and a electric vehicle charger in the garage or car park. People are too focused on the short term costs and miss out on long term savings and comfort. Blower door testing and air sealing are under appreciated tools.Even if you have money to burn you should not waste it. Climate Change will impact everyone. Leave a better future for your children and grandchildren. Join in and speak up for the future of the planet.

[@scotttovey]

Steps I would take after hearing your experience. 1) Determine where the meter "has to be" prior to house design. If you want all mechanicals on the same side of the house, then that is paramount to that design. 2) Design a larger mechanical room and don't be to tight on the specs. If you want all of it to fit, then make sure it's large enough for all of it to fit. 3) Don't start the build until you have all the specifications down on paper. By holding off the build and getting all the specs down first, issues like the unwillingness of two companies that need to communicate with one another, to communicate in a timely manner, would suggest that one or both of those companies need to be changed out for one's that will communicate with one another in a timely manner. But, if you insist on using those two companies, then waiting for both to get their heads out of their backsides is necessary before beginning the build. Even if you end up waiting an additional 6 months for the build to begin, by waiting, you can iron out all the hiccups and have the adjustments in the plans and the build will go a lot smoother and be more efficient. It's one thing to have to wait on something. But why let someone pressure you into having to hurry up and wait?

[@HenryLoenwind]

Got points, but I'd add: Design the mechanical room as being split in half by a wall, one side being inside and one outside the envelope. That way, all connections can be routed through that one wall in a low-airflow room. It's much easier to make that one airtight, especially because it doesn't need to be as thick and insulated as other walls with both sides being low-airflow.

[@kgsails7102]

Having built two houses from the ground up and remodeled several others, I can tell you that nobody has their design 100% when they start construction and there is a lot of work done by the contractor simply because they've done it many, many times before. In the current market here in the US, if you wait to start construction for 6 months, you likely lose your desired contractors which is a much bigger issue.

[@ottot3221]

Never be the supervisor on your build if it isn't your day job. In my last home I had it all sourced out and the developer knew the best people he wanted to work with so there was no problem, and if there was one it was his problem. Never go for exotic tech. I would never install an automated system if Co2 gets to high, what if it got high from a forest fire in the neighborhood. You system will make it instant unlivable in your home. What if the electricity goes down, do you still will have fresh air in your home. I don't like the dependency of this tech if it can work against you and if the solution is a very easy ventilation system that I can open and close myself. Sure my home isn't airtight but I don't want that because of the previous reason. I have a highly insulated home but air will flow trough it and I'm the person controlling it.

[@jimmyg6215]

Still like a full basement for unity homes. I seen houses they built and chatted with unity and I don’t like the slab on grade option. Too many mechanicals and space disappears quickly when adding solar, batteries, electrical, Heat recovery system, hot water, cooling heating, etc. It’s more cost and more work on their end to put the house on a full basement and seal it, but solves a lot of logistical issues.

[@jmz388]

The conduits should be on the outside and The house as standard as possible In order to be independent of all systems you have to add over time Or repair change remove of old Very intressting projekt keep up showing us all quits and steps Thank you

[@mzimmerman1988]

Huh, I was actually looking for a smart metre but didn't know what it was called. I wonder if it can be used to do some kind of "rate arbitrage" by drawing from a battery during expensive times of use. First time I've learned something from an ad 😄

[@couttsw]

Anyone noticed that Matt has OCD and micromanagement issues. He has not yet learned to read electrical plans from blueprints, and the use of 3D drawing programs would have sped up his problems immensely.

[@markpashia7067]

I will never understand this whole industry that relies on the cloud and wireless for integrated home systems. Everything should be hard wired and on a private network and if you must have one connection to the outside world it should be easy to disconnect and heavily firewalled. People spend all this money on high tech totally trusting all of these corporations that could disappear tomorrow. Warranties are only as good as the company behind them. One thing you can count on. Corporations will always put profits ahead of security. Just a thought.

[@AndyRRR0791]

I can't help wondering how so much complexity and technology can really be a net positive for carbon emissions. There's so much hidden energy consumption in this construction that it must be years before this pays itself back in net CO2 reduction.

[@aptasi]

Thank you for being transparent to share what you learned, your mistakes, and what you would’ve done differently. I appreciate the insight and it further adds to your credibility.

[@UndecidedMF]

👍It’s been a learning experience and want to be sure to share the good and bad of it.

[@lucasgoodding7857]

Definitely be sure to visit Edison Motors when you're at Fully Charged!

[@DanteVelasquez]

Don't beat yourself up as It was your first time and it's still amazing what you have done there. Though I get it it, we just want to kick ourselves that things aren't perfect LOL

[@logans3365]

You definitely overcomplicated it, there are a lot of design changes you can make to a house to make it more efficient without buying expensive tech Example, at point water heating, you can have a tiny tankless water heater in the shower, and under the kitchen sink, you will save about 50% the energy cost of a tanked water heater, plus you don’t have to run hot water pipes through the house. Also consider putting the panels away from the house, not in the roof, that way you can use plants to shade the hole from the sun, Greatly reducing heat absorption. A lot of my other ones depend on your climate, if you are somewhere warm then there a lot more you can do, but if you have to prepare for hot and cold in your house, then it gets a little harder.

[@markschuette3770]

gosh, you didn't even use Passive Solar building design!? which is the long side of the building to face south- most of the glass on the south side- minimal glass on the other 3 sides- all glass to have moveable window insulation- and let that south sun strike some mass (floor and or south facing walls to hold that heat). plus overhangs on all the sides (to keep the summer sun out) with a shorter one on the south (to let sun in thru may).

[@7swordmary567]

☠️ What’s raising CO2 Levels ? 🧐 Did I miss the part about how critical it is, for Health, to ensure effective Ventilation ?

[@TheShadowWw]

Home automation with HRV, CO2 sensors, air conditioning, motion sensing (maybe mmwave sensors) with lights, yes pls.

[@BlueEyedColonizer]

Can you imagine having to pay full price for this build if you weren't getting free stuff and discounts. It would be a disaster..........

[@KamelJabber1]

I'm sorry, this was an interesting but it took me a bit to realize how well you swapped into two different advertisements. So much so I actually zoned out and missed the point of the video.

[@OtterBeSwimming]

We just built our home and I put in conduit from the upstairs space to a place close to the electrical panels. I haven't installed solar panels yet but easy access between the roof and the electrical panels is important. I am surprised you didn't have the roof insulated so the whole house would be within the insulated envelope. More and more homes are doing this, making things easier. Also surprised that your mechanical room is so small, note you could have an issue with the heat pump water heater, it requires a great deal of air circulation to function properly. I would suggest you read up and verify that you have sufficient air for the heat pump water heater. As you note, JMO

[@sailingbrewer]

Well you could get rid of the security system. Really how likely are you to get broken into vs the cost of the system. At best you'll break even, but then you have to add the cost of powering the system which means at best you're out the cost of the extra solar to power all that crap

[@beyondu9048]

You tapped off the meter with the solar?? Why couldn’t you have feed the Span? I install Solar, Span, Tesla batteries.

[@watermaj]

Did your modular wall supplier think out pass throughs to the attic and roof for the solar feeds? Would be interesting to understand where your airtight envelope is - attic floor or attic ceiling? I was not aware of the value of the small electrical distribution panel. Did you do any kind of incremental ROI for some of the utilities (still trying to understand the value proposition for the geothermal heat pump, I had heard of reliability issues, and clearly it's expensive. Did you consider using a couple of mini splits around the house vs a central unit? 17KW of solar - enough for house and cars? Were you eligible for federal tax credits on that amount of power? Would be good to understand the cost trade off of passive house construction (modular walls), vs conventional stick construction, in my experience basic cost delta was about 10% without consideration for utility differences. Seems like a 'hot rodded' house vs what I see with normal passive house construction where overall energy usage is already down 80% from conventional houses. Some great info here, yearning for more. Jim Passive House Certified Designer

[@christoflimet9871]

My suggestion is: SPAN come to europe, we need you! Preferably next year when we uograde our electrical installtion.

[@justinscottbvcc]

Do you really need solar to have batteries? Seems like with span you could charge up your batteries from the grid and during the peak times switch from grid to batteries. Does the cost seem not to be worth it?

[@joejoe6949]

You should of used fox block

[@bennaylor3658]

You act like you can drill a whole though your roof/insulation and seal/reinsulate it same with every where you broke on seal you can reseal everything with closed cell foam i get it you dont want to redo work but it happens in construction the best part is you can redo about anything in construction