Anatomy of a superinsulated wall

On Monday we had our weekly site meeting with Hammer & Hand. At these meetings we learn what is planned for the upcoming week(s), what went well/not so well the previous week, and what decisions need to be made (usually by us, the homeowners). Yesterday we walked along the foam that is the base of our footing, and we also got a quick lesson on the anatomy of a superinsulated house's wall:

The line on the geofoam marks the division between the interior of the house and the exterior. The tape measure shows how deep the walls are: The external parts of the wall (framing, lots of insulation, waterproofing and siding) are to the left of the line, and the internal parts of the wall are to the right. (The nail in the foreground is used to nail the geofoam to the concrete.)

If you look closely at the bottom of this photo, you can see a faint orange line running along the concrete. The geofoam in the photo above is nailed to the cement, and the orange line matches up with the line on the geofoam in the top photo. Together, this concrete and the geofoam form the base of our footings, which are the concrete mass that will support our foundation.

For more information about our house, you can also refer to Hammer & Hand's website page for our project: http://hammerandhand.com/pumpkin-ridge-passive-house

(If any of you Hammer & Hand pros read this and spot mistakes -- since I only think I know what I'm saying -- please e-mail me with corrections!)