Original Items from 1969 Eichler
We are in the process of putting a basement under our Eichler, which was built in 1969. Our house is an MS-134R, a double-hipped gable model (roofs that are parallel to the street) with a center atrium.
As part of the ‘deconstruction’, we have a number of original Eichler items that may be of interest to you (I can send you photos of these items via e-mail. Specifically, we have the following:
- Stainless steel range hood (original and immaculate)
- Boiler for radiant heating (new in 1991, excellent condition)
- 50 gallon natural gas hot water tank, new in 2002 with seismic straps and additional insulation wrap
- Original kitchen and bathroom cabinets.
As well, there are numerous other Eichler parts in our house that you may need.
Please respond via e-mail with 'Eichler' in the subject line to:
nik1721 at yahoo.com
Thank you.
I don't need your items, but I'd love to hear some of the details of how you're putting a basement under your Eichler, what motivated the decision, and what general area your Eichler is located in.
Thanks,
Andrew
We moved into our Eichler on Via Sereno in Monte Sereno in June 1997. We bought the house from the original owner, who bought it from Joe Eichler in 1969.
With two children and grandparents as frequent visitors, the 2,120 sq. ft. house is too small for us. Since we love living in the community of Monte Sereno/Los Gatos and we love the Claude Oakland–designed Eichler, we decided to add a lower level, not a second story, to the existing structure.
While adding the lower level, we are pursuing LEED certification for our Eichler. The remodel will use innovative building materials and construction practices, including SIPs and hollow-core concrete panels. Energy savings will result from photo-voltaic solar panels and geothermal heat exchange. Construction waste will be minimized throughout the project, including the remilling of the existing tongue-and-groove redwood roof decking and the structural-grade Douglas Fir beams throughout the house.
We intend to complete the project in mid-2009 and then live in the structure for the next 15 years.
How did this turn out?
Reading your post, it sounds like you made some very extreme changes to your home. The fact that you were pursuing LEED certification caught my eye. I am currently working with homeowners to help them decrease home energy consumption and I have recently renewed my interest in Eichlers. There are a few of them here in Millbrae/Burlingame and it seems that there is a lot of room for improvement in all areas of energy efficiency.
I would love to hear more about your successes as well as the things that didn't quite work out the way you had hoped. I'm also interested to hear how the solar thermal is working as well as the pv system. Have you become a net 0 home?
Thanks
Scott
Sorry for the delayed response. We finished distributing everything from our pre-renovation Eichler so I haven't been on the Chatterbox Lounge for some time.
Our house will be very energy efficient. The performance results for our remodel and new construction exceed the Title 24 standards by 72.9% This is, to the best of our knowledge and belief, the highest (best) Title 24 in the State of California. In fact, the California Energy Commission reviewed our EnergyPro data file and confirmed its accuracy.
The construction is taking longer than planned. However, we're using concrete, glass and steel, which are not very maleable products so we're proceeding cautiously.
Our objective LEED-H Platinum and it looks like we could be in the 122 point range, which would be one of the 'greenest' homes in the U.S. It would be most interesting for an Eichler to be so 'green'.
Although it isn't very common here, we're putting in geothermal heat exchange to heat the house. We have a 3,000 foot long ground loop in place to capture energy from the earth and then use water-to-water heat exchange going to our radiant heating/cooling systems.
We are planning to put 48 175 watt photovoltaic panels on the roof (32 panels will bring our electricity consumption to net zero) and we are not bringing natural gas into the house. Thus, we will be net producers of electricity and have a zero carbon footprint. Oh, we also have a 3,600 gallon underground cistern to harvest rainwater for irrigation purposes.
We're not putting solar thermal in as we need the space for our photovoltaic panels. However, we will run the pool water through our decking around the pool to heat the water (and cool the hot concrete).
You can follow the progress of our Eichler remodel through our blog site:
If you would like a site tour, go the the Contact page on the blog and send me an e-mail or call me. We could arrange to meet.
Best,
Bryan
I might be interested in the boiler. I live in a Claude Oakland design double cable as well (Walnut Creek) - my boiler is original.
Some questions: (a) what is the sq ft of your house, and (b) what are the specs (BTU, etc), (c) what is the price - you can e-mail me at [email protected], and (d) can you send me some pics
Thanks - and good luck with your renovation!
