The Beautiful Mountain-Top Cabin for Sale, in Northern New Mexico - Mechanical Information

Roof:
10 inches of styrofoam insulation under a "ProPanel" steel roof (forest green). Then pine tongue-and-groove completes the ceiling - look.

Logs:
8 inch pine, evenly turned on large lathes, then a 2 inch hole is drilled the entire length so that the log dries without warping (all wall-logs except supports, trusses, lintels, etc. which are solid). This also provides insulation and conduit for wiring. "AirLock" log homes have a high "R" value (19 or greater in the walls alone). This home stays around 50 degrees in the dead of winter (when it is 0-20 degrees F. outside) without heating.

Water, Septic, and Plumbing:
Rain water is caught from all areas of the roof and stored in underground tanks. A total of 3800 gals is the capacity. Most of the year the tanks are full. We use about 40 - 60 gals per day maximum, with many days being around 20. Water is pumped from either of the West or East tanks via a pump and piping system under the floor and in the mechanical room (just behind the kitchen wall). East and West tanks are individually valved. The water then goes through two sediment filters to the pressure tank. Then what is fed to the kitchen sink, drinking water spigot, is filtered again with a .5 micron filter. The rain water is pure, clean, and very healthy. There is a septic system which toilets flow into. One of the toilets is fed by grey water from the two showers (20 gal. grey water tank sits under the washing machine in the downstairs bathroom). The other toilet is fed clean water (upstairs). All sinks are fed into the septic.

Power:
120 Volts AC, up to 2500 watts is provided by a full-sine wave inverter by ProSine. No 240 VAC is available. 24 volts DC is provided by the solar panels (8, Kryocera) and 8 deep cycle batteries to the inverter. All is up to standard code, with breakers, breaker-boxes, lightning arrestors, etc., and is mounted in the Power House. This has been more than enough power for us, using hair-dryers, power tools, TV, computers, etc. We also will provide a back-up generator (8000 watts), that plugs into the power house.

Telephone:
Is provided by La Jicarilla Telephone Cooperative, Mora. There are NO WIRES to the house. We have a radio-telephone (microwave) that transmits to another "box" near Coyote Creek State Park, in a "line-of-site" shoot. It works very well and requires no special maintenance other than power from a "wall-wart", 15 vdc power supply, plugged into the wall. During lightning storms we put it on a battery so that we can shut down the inverter (if needed) and still have telephone service (in the case of a fire or such emergency). Cell-phones, generally, do not work on this mountain.

Heating:
Space heating is by a large Jotel-brand wood stove. It easily heats the house to 75 degrees when it is 0-20 degrees outside. Water heating is done by a flash (propane) - on demand water heater. It is very efficient and fast. The stove and oven are fueled by propane as is the refrigerator. There is a 250 gal. propane tank on premisis, under contract with Pendelton Gas, Mora.

Cooling:
No cooling other than the refrigerator (propane) is needed. The house stays about 65-70 degrees throughout the summer when outside gets to about 90 degrees F.

Foundation:
8 to 10 inches odf Rock and Concrete floor with 18 inch stem-wall on two to three foot footer dug into almost solid rock.

Windows:
All are Pella, double pane insulated windows, wood framed, alluminum clad. The largest are in the front, South-facing, and are 6 foot by 5 feet.