House has been rented to families since 2019! Some pictures here!

Interested in renting the house? 

https://www.sabbaticalhomes.com/rental/142649

 

Upstairs apartment construction nears completion

The upstairs apartment with separate entrance via the outside balcony is nearing completion! See the pics below!

Harvesting local Hinoki for Interior Furnishings

Apologies for the long delay in posting to the blog! I have been doing a lot around the house and community, including harvesting planks from felled Hinoki (Japanese cypress trees). Here is a shot of a chainsaw frame being pushed through a felled log in order to create the planks.

More updates coming soon!

Glass Balcony Added

Amazing that I have survived this long with only rope! Finally, a glass (safety acrylic) balcony railing goes up!

Pictures Prior to December Party

Bedroom Ceiling Up

Toliet Nears Completion

The Whole Story 2010-2014

The early construction story

The House in the Landscape

It was always the idea to keep the house lines and design in tune with the forest and mountain landscape. Shots from the road on an early Spring morning walk...

Preparing the Way

Okumura-san who dug the foundations 2 years ago stopped by to say hello. Poor chap arrived just as I was hand-digging the path way to the house. Wasn't too difficult to convince him to unload the digger to give me a hand! Saved me two days of manual labour!! Many thanks!

Rain Water Collection

This shot of the house from the mountainside to the east where the rain water tank that collects water from the roof terrace has just been placed.

Guttering Complete

That was scary! Top of a high ladder for a few hours was enough. Doesn't look too bad or detract as much as I thought from the minimalist facade.

Guttering about to go up

Been a year or more and finally getting around to putting guttering on the north side. Looks better without I think but will stop the deluge of water that floods the front garden.

ERV Vents

Quick shot of the incoming and exhaust ERV vents right at the top of the house. The freshest mountain air is up here and the ERV sends it all round the house. The vents are faced in opposite direction from one another to avoid cross-ventilation. So happy with the ERV!

ERV Finally installed!

It took a year of breathing stale stale air but today at last the final essential component of this passive house was installed.

A WhisperComfort Panasonic spot Energy Recovery Ventilator (FV-04VE1) bought in the US from WestsideWholesale.com (great supplier!) for $310. Fresh air at long last! Feels like having all the windows open without the hot humid air of summer coming in the house. Magic! A real difference to the quality of life.

Lawn is almost ready to plant

With Prof. Fujita moving earth like a one-man bulldozer, the front garden was covered in a ton of Rick husk ash. This picture shows half of the land covered in new soil on top of the ash. Well drained and almost ready to plant the grass seed. Thank you Prof. Fujita!

New Panorama Video from Roof-Top

Added this little spin around the landscape from the roof-top recently. It shows Prof. Fujita continuing working on the lawn to the north and the state of the south side of the house.

Drainage and landscaping

Been laying water drainage pipes and covering up with earth ready for landscaping. Thanks to Prof. Fujita!

Front Garden on the Way to Becoming a Lawn

This morning Professor Fujita helped with removing the stone and rubble from the front garden. Grass seeds I bought from the UK will soon been sown in time for Spring!