SHORT STORY
A SOLAR HOUSE IN SHADOW VALLEY
No one said it
would be easy to build a solar house at this particular location. The main
purpose I had in mind was to lower my utility bills. This I did in Aces, but it
didn’t come easy or cheap.
I first got
interested in a solar house when I read an article in the New York Times about
a guy who built a house using twigs, mud, and straw and stayed a cool 67
degrees all year round.
Shortly
thereafter, I saw a house in Uinta located at the west end of Bonneville Drive
that looked like what I wanted. I took a few pictures of it, and also some
pictures of the lot I owned at 4775 Taylor. I took the pictures into Don “Fred”
Fredrickson a well-known custom home architect and designer, and asked him to
sketch me a similar design. After a time he called me into his office and he
and his son showed me the preliminary sketches.
I loved the
sketches they were beautiful. No changes necessary, neither inside nor outside,
landscaping included. I next went to the lot and with the help of my son Jeff staked
out where the footings would be located.
Next is
to get a permit and approved by the city planning department. I persist; I was
saving on utility bills. No one said it would be easy.
So sometime later Fred “Farfuncle” and your
contractor too, ask you to sign a document saying you won’t sue. You make the
mistake of mentioning this arrangement to your wife, Jolene. But I was not deterred;
because I have a dream …it is going solar.
My next
hurdle is the Ogden city Planning Department. They like to approve things that
are similar to houses they've approved before. To do otherwise is to risk their
being laid off, and also they thought
the neighbors wouldn’t want to live next
to a house half underground and three stories, high made of glass facing the sun. But let's say, for the
sake of this true story, that everyone in the planning department is heavily
medicated with Prozac and they approve my project over the objections of
neighbors, except for the beavers and termites, who are a little suspicious if
project will go forward.
I next needed a
contractor who is willing to risk his career to build this cutting-edge project.
No builder wants a risky project that could end his career. How could he price
it? To be continued.
A Solar House at 4775
So. Taylor Ave. in Shadow Valley
