What makes your home a Green or Healthy Home?
SIP wrapped timber frame, 12.5 ton thermal mass masonry heater, passive solar, geothermal, PV with battery backupProperty Description
RURAL ESCAPE FROM NEW YORK OR BOSTON
Easy to reach, peaceful haven in the Green Mountains of Vermont, 5 hours from New York and 3 hours from Boston or Montreal. The property contains a high-end, 3-BR, 3-BA 3074 sf custom timber-frame house built in 2007 and a 3-BR, 2 ½ BA 2600 sf 1840’s caretaker/rental house all on 82.6 acres. There are long views down a gorgeous valley across a pond and open fields of corn and hayfield framed by ridges on both sides covered in pine, sugar maple, beech, and other hardwood.
Energy Security--The main house is grid-tied with a new 20 kW automatic propane generator, as well as a 3.2 kW photo-voltaic system (easily expandable) with Outback inverters and power control and an 1156 amp-hour battery bank. It can be heated with wood using a 12.5-ton soapstone masonry heater or by a closed loop geothermal system drawing heat from a 500’ well or a combination of the two. The house is a passive-solar modified saltbox with due south exposure of the main windows with solar mass in the slate floor tied into the masonry heater. The timber-frame structure is wrapped in structural insulated panels with R-26 in the walls and R-40 in the ceiling and is extremely energy-efficient. Heating entirely with wood, we used less than 3 cords per year. The property has 60 acres of mixed northern hardwood forest primarily in maple, ash, birch, and beech for an endless supply of household firewood.
Food Security--Food production is excellent. The ½ acre garden area is currently under cover crop although 3 4’ x 18’ raised beds are still immediately ready. There are 2 10’ x 35’ perennial beds of raspberries and blueberries, 2 35’ rows of grapes, 130’ of asparagus, perennial beds of elderberry, black currant, red currant, strawberry, cranberry, and rhubarb. There is a 10-year-old orchard with 27 fruit trees, primarily apple, but with plum and cherry also, that are just starting to bear heavily. The kitchen was designed for canning with an extra-large burner on the propane stove and lots of counter-space for working. For meat production, there is an 8-acre pasture surrounded with 6-strand high-tensile electric fence with two separately fenced .3-acre sub-pastures. There is also a 2-acre hayfield that can be used as hayfield or fenced for pasture. The main pasture has a timber-frame run-in large enough for two draft horses.
Water Security—The property has 1300’ of river frontage, a small stream feeding into a large pond, a 500’ well for the main house, and a shallow well for the caretaker house. The main house has a soft-start pump compatible with the PV system.
The main house has an open floorplan with cherry cabinets and soapstone countertops in the kitchen and all bathrooms, custom cherry bookshelves and credenza and maple flooring in one study/office, carpeting in the other, hard-maple floors in the dining room and entry, slate flooring in the great room, garage connector, and airlock entry, and carpeting in the upstairs bedrooms. The airlock entry has 2 cords of wood storage attached for wood-retrieval without going outside. The kitchen has 2 convection ovens, a 5-burner propane stove, and lots of storage space. The house has a full basement with 9’ ceilings and contains the mechanical room with the battery bank, geothermal system, and Outback inverters, as well as an insulated root-cellar with ventilation for food storage, and the laundry room. There is a cinder-block and cement support for the masonry heater that could be easily converted to a walk-in safe.
The caretaker’s house has a combination wood/oil-fired furnace, a dry-laid stone basement for wood or other storage which also contains the oil tanks and hot water heater, a wood cookstove as well as a propane stove and oven, an electric oven, and a propane 14 kW full-house automatic generator. It has its own well and septic.
There is a 36’ x 42’ two-story timber frame barn with a 25’ x 28’ two-story addition for hay and equipment storage as well as animal housing.
The property has 660’ of paved road frontage although the houses themselves are on a town-maintained and plowed dirt road and are approximate 150 yards from paved road. The property is easily reachable from the interstate but is still 10 miles from the exits in either direction.Neighborhood Description
Market Area
Home is located 16.8 miles from Montpelier, the capitol of VT. Shopping is available there or in several nearby towns. Additionally, we are 52.8 miles from Burlington, VT and 40.7 miles from West Lebanon, NH. These are all areas with excellent shopping.School District
Brookfield is part of the Orange Southwest School District. The average student to teacher ratio is 10:1. Students attend public middle school and high school in Randolph, VT. School buses are available.Community
There are about 1220 people in this largely agricultural community, including many "transplants" who are writers and artists. Residents enjoy the "floating bridge" on Sunset Lake in the summer for swimming and fishing. There is also fabulous gourmet restaurant in town. For more culture residents head to Montpelier and Burlington.Location of Home or Land
Rural
Air Quality
| Agriculture in Area | yes |
| Industry in Area | no |
| Air Pollution in Area | no |
| Pesticide Free | yes |
| Fragrance Free | yes |
| Cleaned with Green Products | yes |
Interior Environment
| Heating System | Geothermal |
| Cooling System | Geothermal |
| Ventilation System | Part of Cooling System |
| Whole House Filtration | None |
| Whole House Vacuum | no |
Energy & Water
| Energy System | Photovoltaic (PV) |
| Water System | Well |
| Wastewater System | Septic System |
Construction Information
| Exterior Finish | Wood |
| Interior Finish | Gypsum Board - Sheet Rock |
| Interior Paint | Other |
| Floor Material | Carpet |
| Roof Material | Metal |
| Window Material | Wood Dual Glazed |
| Insulation Material | Urethane Foam |
Garage / Car Port
| Garage / Carport | yes |
| Garage Type | attached |
| Number of Cars | 2 |
| Garage Area | 625 sqft |
