GreenBuildIndiana

It's Official: Our house has been designated LEED Platinum

USGBC to Require 5 Years of Energy and Water Bills for Buildings to Keep LEED Status

The New York TImes reports that many LEED-certified buildings are not living up to the energy-saving potential promised by their design.  The USGBC is going to change certification to require 5 years of energy and water bills in order to keep a building's LEED status.   I am feeling pretty confident that our house, built using PassiveHaus principles, will perform outstandingly in terms of energy savings.  We'll keep the records to prove it so that, if we do get LEED certification, in five years we won't have to give it back.  The Farmer's Almanac predicts numbing cold this winter.  I say, "bring it on".

Low and No VOC Paints

 GIven the tight envelope of our home, the avoidance of Volatile Organic Compounds, or VOCs, becomes even more important.  Chemicals in paint, cabinets, carpets, and anything that is brought into the house can continue to emit from their source over time.  Carpet absorbs these compounds and emits them over an even' longer period. 

Paint chemistry is very mysterious, given the competition among manufacturers and their reluctance to share the ingredients of their "secret sauce".  But given that paint occupies so much of the surface of our interiors, and given that we are exposed to the chemicals in paint both during its application and during months and even years afterwards, it is important to know what's in the paint. 

Good luck: aside from the degree of VOCs in the paint, manufacturers aren't required to disclose anything on the paint can label.  Claims about VOCs are tested before the maker can tout them, however, so that becomes an important way to gauge the "greenness" of the paint.

If you want to know more about what's in your paint or any other product, you can ask for the Materials Safety Data Sheet (MSDS) but you have to take the time to write to the company to get it.  Some MSDSs are available onlilne. 

For interior primer we are using Benjamin Moore's Eco-Spec brand, which is about as close to zero VOC that you can get. We switched to Pratt & Lambert's RedSeal Porcelain paint for the interior colors, because it's not as pricey but still very low VOC.

Treehugger has a good list of affordable low and no-VOC paints.

Our "Radically Energy Efficient" Home Gets Nice Local Press

Thanks to Mike Leonard and Jeremy Hogan -- and to the Bloomington Herald-Times, for the great feature story on our energy-efficient house today in the Sunday paper.

"The home that David and Carol Gulyas are building is based on many of the cutting-edge concepts in green construction and energy conservation, and while it most closely approximates concepts employed in the German passive home, there are differences.

'The German model really emphasizes being airtight, and while that’s a fundamental concept in this house, too, we have a different attitude about quality of life,' Gulyas said. 'In Bloomington, we like to open the windows and let the air in. Feel a breeze. So we’ve incorporated systems to accommodate that as well.'" --Mike Leonard, Bloomington Herald-Times, May 17, 2009.

Systems and features that will make the house so radical include:

• Energy modeling and design by Marko Spiegel and CTI
• Cool, heat reflecting metal roof finish
• 12-inch thick SIP walls and roof from Porter SIPS in Michigan
• Triple-pane Loewen windows
• Ten inches of insulation under the floor slab
• Energy Recovery Ventilator

Plus some not-so-radical features such as excellent construction quality provided by Chris Sturbaum's Golden Hands Construction crew, and outstanding interior design and construction management provided by David Gulyas (full disclosure, the latter is my husband).

House Siding is Nearly Finished -- Can't Wait to Paint It

The good weather of the past week allowed  the crew to make quick progress in putting up the siding.   We are using cement board because it is available locally, lasts for fifty years, and is made from wood pulp, cement, and water.  It resists insects and requires little to no maintenance.  It is pre-primed a beige color.  Stand by for the sage green color we plan to paint the exterior.

For the trim, we're using MiraTech, a silica-free machine-made material that resists water and takes paint beautifully.

Extruded Polystyrene and Why We Love It

Completing the Foundation
Originally uploaded by cgulyas2002

This past week the extruded polystyrene (XPS) is being laid down over a bed of gravel and sand, within the insulated foundation walls of our house. This 10.5-inch layer of XPS will be topped by the actual concrete slab, which will "float" upon the XPS, resulting in a thermally decoupled slab!

Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) will be erected upon the foundation walls. Adding 10.5 inches of insulation under the floor slab is radical, at least when compared to current practice, which is typically a one-inch layer.  The resulting "R" value, will be about R-50, pretty much the same for the 12" thick walls and ceiling SIPs.

Anyone who has sat on a carpeted floor in a typical Midwest house in winter can attest to the fact that one inch is not sufficient to prevent heat loss through the floor.

We had to insist that the workers laying the XPS, lap the pieces so that there were no deep cracks that would allow air or moisture to move from layer to layer more easily.  

We were glad to find that we could get reclaimed XPS from Plywood King in Spencer, IN. Though Marko Speigel, our energy modeler and guru of all things green built, was skeptical when we proposed using reclaimed XPS, the quality of the material we received was excellent.  We had very little waste XPS remaining after the installation.   The XPS will be disposed of by incineration;  when burned, XPS is about the same as burning wood, and therefore emits no dioxin products into the air.

Green Kitchen Design

It sure is nice to be married to an Interior Designer.   Here is the design of the kitchen, which we hope to begin work on in the spring, after the house is closed up.   (We are still in the foundation phase at present.) 

Planned green features include:

• Finished concrete floor, stained and sealed
• Locally, sustainably harvested wood for cabinets
• Energy Star appliances, including an induction cooktop (which are all electric and energy usage can be offset by the planned 2.5KW PV system)
• LED and/or infrared halogen lighting throughout
• Low-flow water fixtures

The rendering above was done using SketchUp. It shows the high degree of daylighting that will be provided by the open design and clerestory windows.

Pouring Foundation Footer Using Recycled Slag and Fly Ash

Pouring Foundation Footer
Originally uploaded by cgulyas2002

It's exciting to see the foundation being poured on our green-built house in Bloomington, Indiana. Here, Mick's crew from TPC (Trevor Powell Concrete in Gosport, Indiana,  pours the foundation footer,using concrete composed of recycled slag and fly ash. 

Using recycled slag, a waste of steel manufacturing, reduces landfill waste and adds to the strength of the concrete.

Fly ash is a byproduct of coal-fired plants, and using it as a component in concrete:

• Improves the performance of the concrete
• Reduces the amount of Portland cement (hydrated lime) required in the concrete mix
• Portland cement is hydrated lime, and is very energy-intensive to produce. Using it in reduces landfill and groundwater pollution, as the fly ash would normally just be dumped.

Using fly ash also allows us to gain points in the LEED certification process. These guys are doing a great job on our foundation, and have accommodated our request for recycled material cheerfully.

Why We Are Building Our House with SIPS

Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) are made from a thick layer of foam sandwiched between  two layers of Oriented Strand Board (OSB), made of plywood or fiber-cement.   "The result is an engineered panel that provides structural framing, insulation, and exterior sheathing in a solid, one-piece component."  (Toolbase)

--SIPS are extremely easy and quick to install; since they come from the factory pre-constructed to your specifications, your walls can be up in three days
--They are long-lasting and durable
--SIP-built homes are quiet
--They can be adapted to nearly any type of building design
--They provide superior insulation -- no more cold walls in winter!

Porter SIPS, in Holland, Michigan, is within the 500-mile radius required by LEED-H specifications to allow a material to be designated as "local". Porter SIPS' price came in thousands of dollars lower than Insulspan's, another leading manufacturer.  In addition to offering a price advantage, Porter will send a consultant to help advise during the installation process.
Image Credit: The Murus Company, Inc.

 

Breaking Ground on Our Green Home on Tuesday

On Tuesday, if the weather cooperates, we are scheduled to break ground on our green home
and we are very excited.  Handling the  contracting will be Golden Hands Construction of Bloomington, Indiana.  Chris Sturbaum and his  crew have  a golden reputation among Bloomingtonians for quality and an understanding of what makes homes beautiful, efficient and enduring.   As we begin construction in an effort to get the house shell up and closed before winter, my postings will increase in frequency.