HVAC

31 March 2010 ~ Facelifts

We love to give existing houses facelifts! Saving what you can of an existing home is perhaps the most 'green' thing we can do as architects and builders.

31 March 2010 ~ Communication, Please!

31 March 2010 ~ Ceiling Fans

Fans

We encourage the use of ceiling fans! Especially in energy efficient houses because they make such an impact.


A tighter, more well insulated house already requires less heating and cooling -as you know -and it shortens the heating season and shortens the cooling season. (The amount of time you have the heat turned on during the year, and the amount of time you have the AC turned on during the year)


Fans make the cooling season even shorter. Instead of using air conditioning - say 30 -60 days during the summer -you may use AC only 5-10 days during the summer.


Our houses are designed for cross ventilation and fans. Cross ventilation alone is good, but if you add fans it makes it much more useful/ efficient- especially at night.

How about with a geothermal system?
"We have a geothermal system. Does this still apply? The cooling comes so efficiently from that system."

Well, it costs electric to run the cooling for the geothermal (pump and fans). I guess its the difference between the electric for geothermal and fans...which is more? I just asked my contractor bud and he said fans would be cheaper than running the geothermal for sure.

What we do at Trillium Architects

At Trillium Architects we believe in quality. We believe in building homes that work, last and are loved. Looking forward into the past we believe that you should live in a home that you would be proud to leave your grandchildren - and one that will last long enough for that to be a possibility.

We have just begun observation of the construction of what will be our second LEED Home. We have recently completed 3 new homes in Fairfield County, CT (one of them LEED Certified Home) and have one new home in mid-construction outside of San Diego, CA. The common thread that runs through these homes is that they are all super energy efficient, sustainable, relatively small homes (for Fairfield and San Diego Counties). We also have a number of additions, renovations, curb appeal upgrades and deep energy retrofits underway.

At Trillium Architects we design green homes.

What does GREEN mean? Green is an umbrella term that means:

  • energy efficient
  • sustainable
  • healthy
  • low maintenance
  • low carbon footprint
  • natural
  • environmentally friendly
  • smaller in size
  • appropriately sited
  • practical
  • beautiful
  • enjoyable
  • user-friendly

At Trillium we pride ourselves in doing 3 kinds of ‘Green Homes’:

  • New Green Homes
  • Green Home Additions and Renovations
  • Deep Energy Retrofits 

16 March 2010 ~ Rowayton - Design Drawings and Concept

16 March 2010 ~ Rowayton Foundation and Basement

This image shows the foundation of the Rowayton house. The foundation is constructed with a product called Superior Wall. Superior Wall is a a pre-manufactured insulated concrete wall system. It comes to the site in large panels shipped on trucks and lifted into place by crane. The panels are set on a gravel foundation and bolted together on site. The manner in which they lock together creates a weather and water tight bond which is then also water sealed along all of the outside underground surfaces. The benefit of something like superior walls is that they are pre-insulated (Similar to ICF’s*) and due to their T-shape they break a great deal of thermal bridging*.

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