Pitney Passive House: The Movie - take one

Don’t miss this short documentary about the Pitney Passive House Beyond Net Zero Project, built in McMinnville, Oregon by Cellar Ridge Construction (cellarridge.com).

Home Owners: John and Debbie Pitney

Contractors: Cellar Ridge Builders, McMinnville, Oregon

John Mead and Carson Benner, owners

Cinematographer:Ryan Ao of Ryan Ao Media (ryanao.com)

Yes, it’s true. They’ve finally made a movie about us. It’s about time! Well…it’s not exactly about us. It’s about the finer points of Passive House Construction applied at our place at 928 NW Cedar Street in McMinnville, Oregon. The premiere on July 27, 2016 at the Grain Station in McMinnville was a smashing success, with 40-50 people showing up to quaff local brew, see the film and ask questions about the best constructed house in the county.

Over the next several weeks, we will air the eight (3-5 minute) segments for your viewing pleasure. Along the way, we may suggest a few more snappy titles, but we list the regimented themes here, as they will come to you:

1. Introduction and the Building Envelope

2. Air Sealing

3. Insulation

4. HRV

5. Windows

6. Solar

7. Rainwater Collection

8. Why Cellar Ridge? Why Passive?

9. Beyond Net Zero (All 8 Segments in One).

When Debbie and I met in Ohio in 1973 and decided to get married, the recording of the hit single Our House by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young was still popular on the airwaves. It became a favorite of our life together. If we’d made this documentary film ourselves, its music and homey lyrics would have been the soundtrack:

Our house is a very, very, very fine house

With two cats in the yard,

Life used to be so hard.

Now everything is easy ‘cause of you.

Of course, we didn’t do the film. It was most excellently conceived and edited by Ryan Ao of Ryan Ao Media and narrated by John Mead, owner and co-founder, with Carson Benner, of Cellar Ridge Construction. Thanks Ryan. Thanks John. Now sit back and be inspired and, by all means, if questions arise as you watch, please ask them and we will try to answer. This first segment is descriptively titled Intro and Building Envelope. Or, as I like to call it:

Red Flags In The Attic

Don’t Look Now, But There’s A Hole In Your Envelope!