I am happy to report that we finally received approval to hook up (again) our washing machine to our rainwater harvesting system.  It’s been a 10 month ordeal of emailing and waiting and emailing and starting over and waiting (you get the picture). 

In my previous post I linked to the new Dallas rainwater harvesting guidelines.  Now I received the following from Mark Daniels, the acting Chief Plumbing Inspector, when I asked if an RPZ valve fulfilled the intent of the guidelines:

We find the “RPZ valve” acceptable for this individual case and consider, with your agreement and acceptance, that your required plumbing inspections are complete and this permit is in final status. There are no other actions required on your part.

There you have it!

PS:  mind you that I’ve had a plumbing inspection/permit since last April, so I really wasn’t waiting on a permit of any sort – just trying to do the right thing and pave the way for others who want to use rainwater in Dallas.

I’ve been extremely patient with the City of Dallas.  We have been trying to obtain the final regulation/code that governs the use of harvested rainwater in a washing machine for eight months.  Our rainwater contractor presented information to the City twice early this past spring.  And now, in January, it seems that we’re not any closer to having the regulations than we were in April of last year.

Lonnie Erwin, the City’s Chief Plumbing Inspector, informed me in an email back in August that we would have new regs “after October”.  While technically that could mean 10 years after October, I assumed it meant November-ish.  My last email to him (and to City of Dallas Chief Inspector Zaida Basora) dated 11/17 was answered in December by someone informing me that Mr. Erwin was no longer with the City of Dallas. 

I was also told that Mr. Erwin left behind ZERO information regarding our request and our presentations.  NO ONE had been working on our request for months!  Thank you, Mr. Erwin!

Theoretically someone from the City Plumbing Inspection office is working on the request now, but it’s been almost a month since I’ve heard from him.

What should I do now?!?!

I wanted to provide an update to the People Newspaper post that I created a couple of months ago.

The situation in Dallas remains the same:  there are no rules that regulate the use of rainwater in clothes washing machines.  I was informed by Lonnie Erwin, the Dallas Chief Plumbing Inspector, that the regs won’t be ready until the new fiscal year starts in October.  I’ve got a note on my calendar to send him an email on 10/1!

PS:  the photo is of our two 2500 gallon cisterns on the side of the house.

In a prior post I mentioned that our Home Provider (GWS) informed us that we have completed all of our documentation for the LEED certification process.  I thought I’d share a few tactics that we used to document our compliance where we were required to do so.  It might have been easier to compile this stuff as we went along had we understood the depth of information that was required.  Generally, our Home Provider accepted the following:

• Invoices/Purchase orders that clearly outlined the fact being proven (FSC Certification, specific framing orders, etc).
• Website links (that show local production, special certifications, etc).
• Google Maps (that prove distance to Open Spaces and Public Transportation).
• Spec Sheets (to prove characteristics of appliances, toilets, hot water heaters, HVAC systems, faucets).
• Photos (to prove specific installation facts – and also used to provide that we used 1.5 gpm flow rate aerators!).
• Statements from suppliers (we used this for our framing orders, local production, and FSC certification of framing lumber).

Generally, assume that you’re going to have to file proof of every point that you’re trying to get.  A helpful hint is that you should take a lot of photos of the house during each phase of construction.  Not only will it be helpful later when you’re trying to figure out exactly where that stud was placed, it will be helpful if you’re asked a question that you can’t remember the answer to because the walls have been closed up for 6 months!

Anyone have other helpful documentation hints?

I’ve been having some conversations with our Home Provider about permeability. 

Because stormwater runoff is a bad thing (moving water with pesticides, fertilizer and general trash into the sewer system, local lakes and streams), LEED SS4.2 values permeability – meaning it’s a good thing for the rainwater falling on your property to soak into your property and not run into your neighbors yard or into the street.

LEED provides a graduated point system that ends with 4 points for 100% permeability.  Keep in mind that 100% permeability doesn’t mean you can have -0- concrete.  Rather the Rating System states that you have to have features that direct water falling on the impermeable areas to features designed to capture the water and direct it to an area where the water will be absorbed.

With this post I provide a photo of our back patio – designed to direct water to the spaces between the concrete pads (versus having a solid slab).  Also, next to the patio (and difficult to see in this photo) is a swale that keeps the water from running downhill into our neighbor’s yard. 

The key question that I’m discussing with our Home Provider is the driveway ribbons.  We specifically designed this drive for permeability purposes.  The current question is whether the space between the ribbons is sufficient to support the amount of runoff from the ribbons…our Landscape Designer is working on the calculations.

We hosted the North Texas Chapter of the USGBC this morning in spite of what turned into an all-day rain storm.  About 60 folks showed up to hear a short talk from our architect, Kelly Mitchell, and our Landscape Designer, Jim Martinez.  I added a few words of my own.

There were lots and lots of questions ranging from how often we should seal our ipe wood deck to how much more did building a LEED home cost us.  I didn’t now the answer to the first question, but am all too keenly aware of the second.  Fortunately the guy we bought our ipe from was there and he told me that we should clean and re-seal the ipe every two years….good to know.

Robert will be posting photos from the event to the website gallery soon (I hope).

This coming Saturday ours is one of three homes being toured by the North Texas Chapter of the US Green Building Council.  We moved in 3 weeks ago and are hustling fast and furious to get the house presentable.  We’ve given our builder this Thursday as their deadline to be done and out (we’ll finish anything remaining undone after that).

The tour is featuring one LEED for Home certified Platinum house, and 2 LEED for Homes registered Platinum house.    Sign up quickly!  They’re limiting the tour to 60 participants!

See this article posted on cnn.com today.

Dallas:  Big Hair, Big Cars, Big Egos….but apparently not big on getting ready for the Green Housing boom!

This past week has been an eye-opener.  We’ve gone through multiple conversations with the City of Dallas inspectors regarding our use of reclaimed rainwater for irrigation and for washing clothes.  We’ve had visits from Building Inspectors and Zoning personnel who have all admitted that they really don’t yet have a handle on how to manage many green building features.

As mentioned, we’re attempting to use our rainwater in our washing machine.  Our contractor set up our washing machine just as they had done for other customers in surrounding cities – all of which approved of those installations.  However, Dallas didn’t know what to think of it!  The Inspector first wanted a separate “double check back flow valve” (or something like that), then he didn’t understand the filtration system.  Finally, they told us that they were not going to approve the use of reclaimed rainwater for the washing machine.  We were told to dismantle the water delivery mechanism and try later when they were ready to tell us what they would approve.

While our Rainwater Harvesting contractor made a huge mistake by not clearing the use of the system BEFORE it was entirely installed (lesson learned!), the City of Dallas is clearly not ready yet for innovative Green building techniques.

We’ll reconnect the washing machine when the City catches up to us – and I suppose this whole ordeal is the price we’re paying for being on the cutting edge (at least in Dallas, anyway) of Green building!

We are receiving most of the points in the Sustainable Sites category of LEED for Homes.  Three of them come from SS2.3(a) for the use of nonconventional turf (we actually get the points from limiting conventional turf to 20% or less of our softscapes…we’re at 0% of conventional turf).  We have chosen to use Buffalo Grass.  It is a grass native to the Central Plains “from Mexico to Montana”.  It requires little irrigation, little mowing, and little attention.  It has a great blue-green color and spreads easily throughout the lawn, but is easily removed from flower beds. 

And while we may not be receiving a specific point for this feature, you can see from the photo above that we have installed an 18″ gravel border around the entire parameter of the house.  This is to assist with pest control, and closely aligns with avoiding plantings 24 “  from the structure as outlined in SS5(d).