This Weekend ~ SoNo Arts Fest!

As happens every year Trillium Architects will be at the SoNo Arts Festival Aug 6 and 7, 10-5. Please come on by for free architecture advise and newly added sat. afternoon cocktail hour featuring free Dark and Stormies! 3-5! Come on by!

 

http://sonoarts.org/

April 11, 2010 ~ Should I really build a well sealed home??

I like this article form Fine Home Building- it explains the 'tight house'. 

Like I have said before- it's like a swimming pool- you don't want cracks and leaks all over the place- you will just keep having to fill the pool with more water! You want to be in full control of the amount of water in your pool and its temperature. Same goes for your house. You want to be in control of when and where air (and moisture) comes in and goes out and its temperature. If you have a leaky house, you are not in control. Leaks cause problems whether they are air or water leaks.

Please read this article for more info! Download FHB- The Well Sealed Home

23 March 2011 ~ A House of Good Intention

( A first snippet about the LEED registered home we are building in Darien - more and more to come on this one. LEED registered means that the house is in the process of becoming LEED certified. We are aiming for Platinum.)

Building a house is dirty work. The weather for this particular job has been relentless.  The job started Nov 1 2010 and by December the weather started to be problematic. Usually I tell clients that starting a project in the winter is no big deal.  As long as we can get concrete in the ground, building in the winter usually does not really cause problems- not in our neck of the woods.  But this year was a completely different story. This year we had 85 inches of snow and it was absolutely freezing for the first 6 weeks of the year. If the guys could even make it to the jobsite they were out shoveling- foundations, roofs, driveways, lumber stacks, etc. for hours on end. We have had 2-3 feet of snow on the ground for most of the winter. Now that the weather has warmed a bit everything is mud. No matter how clean the guys sweep the site at end of the day, it is filthy again the next. And now it won’t stop raining or sleeting or snowing and then raining again.

I am always amazed that the guys on the site have such a good attitude. The electrician did comment yesterday that he didn’t understand why we even have HVAC guys on the job 'it is always cold here- all they will need is heat' he said. It’s true I can see how he feels that way. Every day on site seems to be damp and cold and dark.

Today the job site was a royal mess – temporary subfloor had been pulled up to install ducts, holes were being cut in framing everywhere for plumbing and HVAC lines. It was all dark and mud and saw dust and way too many guys working and way too many holes in the floor to fall through. And of course I was wearing high heels. 

Yet every person on this site is totally cheerful, nice, fun, happy. It was the highlight of my day to go to the site. There is just something better about building a green home. Everyone on board cares and likes what they do. We all believe in what we are doing. Everyone is sort of cut from the same cloth- GC, subs, architects, clients. Everyone is doing a really, really good job. This is a great job. This is the way a job should be. People who have horrible building experiences have no idea what it is like to build a house of good intention. This is a completely different world. This is why we design green homes: because when we go to job sites we have a great day.

Here is a rare photo of the house in actual sunshine!

09 December 2010 ~ How to Prioritize the Insulating of a Historic Home

Below is an email to someone who is the recent owner of an 1800s house located in a historic district. The house had a Home Energy Audit recently in which it had a blower door test and a lot of air sealing done (in the obvious and easy places around door, at electrical outlets and any exterior wall penetrations) and then the blower door test was repeated. The air sealing measures improved the blower door test by about 18%- not bad.

But the final blower door test resulted in an Air Changes per Hour number of 10.45 ACH @50Pa. (If you recall a recent post on this blog the LEED registered house in Rowayton achieved a 1.24 ACH @50Pa. Another recent home we did in Westport (a well done house but not LEED level) got a 3.52 ACH. For the record a Passive House would need to be 0.6 ACH and the average decent house is about a 5.0  or 6.0 ACH. SO 10 is not great but it is a very old house. To improve this number and get a better thermal envelope for the home, this was my advice:

Hi Rudy,

It was very interesting analyzing your house and talking about your blower door test last night. 

If it was my house I would prioritize things this way:

(of course as money comes available...perhaps when our lovely economy changes)

1. Insulate the attic as much as possible (with cellulose or sim. If you don't use the attic for storage then fill it up! Leave roof vents of course. Try for a minimum R50 which is about 11".

2. Insulate and seal the ceiling/floor between your basement and the first floor. Definitely use a closed cell foam for this. This involves 'filling' each joist bay (maybe 4"-6" thick continuous) with spray-on closed cell foam. Your house is balloon framed so you will have to block the tops of each joist sill box (the area between the top of the foundation wall /the sill plate and vertical exterior wall rising above) to keep the foam where you want it (in the joists bays at the top of the foundation wall..not up in the walls.) This will not only give you a great R value to keep house warmer but it will reduce to almost zero the air and moisture infiltration from the basement into the conditioned house. In the end it's really all about air infiltration - as I am sure they told you.

3. Since you do not have the original historic windows on the house- and instead have wood with triple track aluminum storm windows,  I would recommend - eventually - replacing windows. The Historic board would never let you put the windows that you currently have on the house today. Replacing the windows with a U.28 or lower double pane window with true historic lite patterns and muntin design will not only greatly improve your energy efficiency but will also bring the house back closer to its true historic aesthetic. It is actually getting easier every day to get some more highly energy efficient windows that actually mimic the original window designs and satisfy historic review boards.

Also, by getting windows with a U-value of at least U.28 you will achieve a  better thermal envelope overall and you will earn the federal tax credit (for as long as it lasts.) and be sales tax exempt.

There are windows out there that get U-value as low as .14 readily available now (awesome!) and I happen to know they are working hard to make these things look good too so if you wait a year or 2 you could actually get some fantastically insulative windows that look good too. Replacing windows either way double or triple or 'awesome' will run you probably $30,000 - $40,000 or more depending on a lot of things. (Yes if you go 2 pane vinyl you can get much cheaper but I don't think historic will let you.)

(Financially, you kill 2 birds with one stone by replacing windows - efficiency and aesthetics. Since it is easier to replace windows than to retrofit the walls with insulation, it is perhaps not a horrible idea to do the windows if you- financially - can only do one. Historic homes sell better if they look more accurately 'historic'. I also am a believer in aesthetics. I believe that houses that look and feel beautiful and 'quality' get treated better, resale better and are cared for longer. And a long lived house is a very green thing.)

4. As the ultimate move- take off your vinyl siding  and possibly your exterior sheathing and insulate the walls of the house from the outside. You can do this the easy way or the hard way. The hard way means taking off the sheathing (the boards behind the siding) and adding insulation to the wall cavities from the outside. This is nice because you do not disturb the interior plaster. However, because you have interior plaster walls you have to be careful of what you put in the wall cavity. There are dangers of moisture passing from inside to the outside and condensing in the wall cavity- causing all sort of moisture problems. Blown in cellulose truly depends on a vapor barrier to keep it from getting soggy inside the walls. Most old houses don't have vapor barriers. Unless you can really stop the air infiltration through the wall, this is not a good way to go. Foam insulation would provide a form of air barrier and also has the qualities of a  vapor barrier but many people feel it is too untested for use in old homes. This is a route I would like to look into more thoroughly.

Your house is balloon framed so blocks would have to be introduced to prevent the insulation from simply falling into the basement. If you have already foamed the floor between first floor and basement than this is taken care of at the bottom.

The easy way to insulate from the outside, would mean leaving the sheathing on and adding insulation that wraps the house. Consider putting one layer of 1/2" to 1" polyiso foam wrapping the house. Tape all the seams  and carefully tape or caulk every wall penetration- including window and door openings - to create an exterior air barrier.  This will greatly reduce the air flow thru the walls. Doing so will  greatly enhance the functional R-value by significantly reducing air infiltration, plus it adds a bit of thermal value. You can shoot the siding right through the new exterior insulation and only add 1/2" to1" thickness to the walls. It could work with the current detailing and add a lot of insulative value to the house (air infiltration and thermal bridging being greatly reduced....)

Insulating the outside walls- in the end is the hardest and most 'dangerous' part of making your house energy efficient. Moisture is much harder to control in older, existing houses than it is in new construction or more recent retrofits. The most bang for you buck will come, anyway, from taking care of attic and basement heat loss and stopping air infiltration wherever possible.

I think if you do the first 2 for now you would see a very good result. If you only ever do the first 3 I think you would be doing great. If we found a way to do all 4 your house would rock!

02 December 2010 ~ Top 10 Green Building Priorities

To summarize, here's my top-10 list of green building priorities:
by Alex Wilson

(Alex Wilson is founder and executive editor of BuildingGreen, LLC in Brattleboro, VT.)

#1. Reduce energy use
#2. Reduce water use
#3. Ensure a healthy indoor environment
#4. Reduce the need for driving
#5. Build smaller and optimize materials use
#6. Ensure durability and reuse existing buildings
#7. Protect and restore the site
#8. Use green materials
#9. Create resilient, climate-adapted buildings
#10. Make it easy for homeowners to be green

In addition to this Energy Solutions blog, Alex contributes  

30 November 2010 ~ A Great Blower Door Test!

Congratulations to B P C Green Builders + Trillium Architects!

Yes we are patting ourselves on the back. Yesterday we did the blower door test for the house in Rowayton. For those of you who don't know what a blower door test is you can read about it here. Basically it is a test to see how air tight and generally awesomely well constructed for energy efficiency a house is.

The lower the number the better. As a reference:

The
IRC’s current energy code requires 7 ACH at 50 pascals.

Energy Star requires less than 5 or 6 ACH, depending on the climate zone.

Tight house Less than 5 ACH/50
Moderate house Between5 and10 ACH/50
A Leaky house Above 10 ACH/50

The Rowayton House (drum roll please.....) 1.2 ACH/50 !!!!

This test  just how awesome a job the contractor did at building the house. The truth is hidden in the walls and once the drywall is on the inside and the siding is on the outside you have few ways of knowing what is really happening within the walls. And if you are not on site all day everyday watching the contractors work, you could miss a lot. An architect's best friend is a trustworthy contractor. A trustworthy contractor is - of course- also the owner's best friend.

They are hard to come by but they definitely exist. BPC Green Builders (Chris and Mike Trolle) are definitely a great example.

Every construction project takes a team. The owner has a dream, the architect draws the dream and the builders constructs the dream. Along the way there is a ton of planning, changing, detailing, thinking ahead, worrying and bill paying. We all discuss and work on detailing the house and figure out exactly how it will be built. But a lot of times no matter how much you figure it out ahead of time or how well the architect details a house...it doesn't always get built the way it was planned.A bad contractor cuts corners when architect and owner aren't looking. A good contractor builds it better than the architect and owner expect.

I just want to publicly thanks Chris Trolle for a job VERY well done. Every job meeting was -if not simply very pleasant - actually fun. The entire construction project was a smooth sailing. And the results are undeniable.

I also want to thank Leslie for being an awesome client. They don't come any better: Smart, savvy, good at communication, completely understanding of the process and great at allowing the process to happen, plus a fabulous eye for design and wonderful taste. A true and equal team player. 

02 November 2010 ~ A Video Of Rowayton House

28 October 2010 ~ Catching up

For a while now things have been too busy to write. 3 of our 4 houses are now basically complete. The third family moves into the third house tomorrow. This is the house in Rowayton- the LEED certified house. We will be wrapping things up and doing final testings and then we will see where it stands- LEED gold or LEED platinum. Meanwhile   broken ground on what will be our second LEED home in Darien. It is interesting how different the process is with this one. I will be blogging regularly about as we proceed.

One final note as the day ends- we will be holding free classes in our office revolving around 'How to prioritize your energy efficient, green renovation or new home' and 'How to work with an architect or contractor.' Please check back for dates!

May 29, 2010 ~ House Parts: Insulation

OK, let's talk insulation.

The number one basic rule in creating an energy efficient building is 'first address the envelope'.

What does that mean? Well, when we say envelope we mean the outer shell of the house. The roof, all of the exterior walls. the bottom floor/ slab/ basement/ crawlspace (whichever the case may be.) So the first goal is to make that envelope a) very well insulated b) very well sealed by filling any holes, penetrations, nooks and crannies and cracks  c) protected from moisture infiltration and d) protected from air infiltration.

A lot of people's reaction to this is 'I don't want to live in a sealed box!' or 'Isn't it bad or dangerous to completely seal your house??' while it is true that a house needs to be sealed with care and that concerns about air exchange need to be addressed, you actually do want a well sealed home. AND just to ease your mind- addressing the air exchange in a well sealed house goes hand in hand with sealing the house. It is a given- like breathing- no architect or builder who builds well built, well insulated, well sealed houses will ever 'forget' to provide fresh air (unless they are a completely crazy or utterly incompetent and you will have noticed that long before you get to the building sealing stage! ) 

Basically I always use my swimming pool analogy. If you own a  swimming pool, you want to be in control of when the water leaves or enters your pool. If your pool was full of little cracks you would have no control over the water. You would have to continually fill the pool and constantly adjust and observe water levels, and all sorts of problems would occur in the area of the cracks (the cracks get bigger, deterioration of the liner occurs faster, dirt and critters collect there,etc, etc.) You want the same for your house. YOU want to control when and where air and moisture come and go. Simple. Logical.

Ok - back to the rules of the envelope list:  a) very well insulated b) very well sealed by filling any holes, penetrations, nooks and crannies and cracks  c) protected from moisture infiltration and d) protected from air infiltration.

The last 3 have to do with preventing the flow of air and moisture through the walls and are addressed through caulking and flashing and various tapes and sheet barriers (think Tyvek- tho we don't use Tyvek exactly). The reason you want to keep moisture and air from flowing back and forth through your walls is that air and moisture are the very things that cause building material deterioration, mold and mildew and dust (major allaergens), dust mites (which lead to spiders), insects and critters, etc. All are bad! bad! bad! for a house! never mind you the occupant. Remember the laws of physics: hot moves toward cold, wet moves toward dry. Air constantly wants to move through your walls and moisture travels on the air. We want to keep air and moisture from traveling through the walls. We want to control where and when it goes in and out ot the house and we will do it though ducts and vents and other specifically planned appetures. (AND we will talk more about how to do that in another post.)

One other thing that the flow of air and moisture do is that they reduce the functional R-value of your insulation.

SO now lets focus on the first item on the list - the insulation.

There are many types of insulation and they are all rated by one rating system and labeled with something called an R-Value. R-Value is a measure of thermal Resistance. The higher the R-value the better the insulation is at keeping heat or cool  inside your house at a steady temperature - this is because it is better at not allowing the heat to pass through it (either going out or coming in)...thus the term thermal resistance.

Most houses that were built in the post war era used fiberglass batt insulation (the pink stuff, the stuff you don't want to touch or breathe, the pink pather stuff, the stuff as one insulator I know says 'works GREAT as a filter! Cause the air passes right through it! which makes it not so awesome at thermal resistance' ) Usually we find houses of this era built with 2x4 studs so that means there is fiberglass batt insulation- about 3.5" thick slumping in the walls. Unless fiberglass batt is meticulously installed and unless it never aged and pulled itself off its staples overtime - its not really filling the wall cavity. Bottom line- its not the best insulator, it needs to be really well installed and almost never is, it falls and gets dirty over time, its bad for you to work with, critters don't mind it. We never specify it. We can't even believe people still use it as their primary insulation.

So what are the options. Well in the old days people used all sorts of things from straw to newspaper, to mud, tires, almost anything has been packed into walls. But we want something easily available, verifiably tested, regulated, readily installed, fire resistant, critter resistant, clean, mold and mildew free, etc. If we are going to make a good, well sealed, clean and healthy house we want insulations that work and work with our newer building methods.

The options we look at fall into these categories:

Blow in foams (Open cell or Closed Cell)

blow in 'other' (cellulose, fiberglass, cotton)

Batts (cotton or other)

Rigid Foam Boards (XPS, EPS, Polyiso)

24 May 2010 ~ What Kind of House Do You Drive?

Would you rather drive a Yugo or a Mercedes?  How about a Prius?  With cars it is generally considered obvious- you get what you pay for. There are quality levels associated with cars brands and price tags.  What are we talking about when we say 'quality'. Generally quality in a car refers to the power of the engine, the expected longevity of the product,  the experience to the interior, the overall driving experience, etc. 

Traditionally, however, in America quality has not referred fuel efficiency nor has it referred to the amount of time the car spends in the shop.

Traditionally high-end cars like Mercedes, BMW, Audi,etc do not necessarily get exceptional gas mileage and many of them have the reputation for going to shop a lot more often than- say a Toyota.

{If we start talking about even higher- valued cars (Maserati, Ferrari, Jaguar) - Gas mileage goes down, shop time goes up even more. But that is ok because they are such amazing driving experiences and usually they are not the cars we use on a daily basis - so lets not look at those for the  moment.}

But lets get back to the Mercedes, BMW, Audi, Lexus etc. Nice cars. Status symbols. Fantastic! Who wants to drive a Toyota when you could drive better? These are the cars many of us drive everyday and in the last years a shift has begun to take place. Most of these companies have begun creating more energy efficient versions of their cars. In Europe more energy efficient versions of these cars have long been the norm.

Why? Because even people with plenty of money available to drive these cars have become aware of the price of oil on many levels. If you are smart enough to make enough money to buy one of these cars, you are generally smart enough to understand the value of a dollar.

[A friend of mine (a very wealthy, high achieving friend in the financial industry) asked me my opinion of the Land Rover he was about to purchase. I said right off the bat "I love it. It is a beautiful car! I have often dreamed of having one in my own driveway". he smiled. But then I said "BUT- did you know that car gets about 12 miles to the gallon?" He rolled his eyes- there she goes again, on and on about the environment. But really my argument has nothing to do with the environment this time. It is purely financial. This friends drives all over the tri-state area every day.  Say he drives 100 miles a day (which he does easily- for work and on the weekends.). That would mean he would go thru just about an entire tank of gas every 2.5 days. It would cost him about $75 to fill up. That means it costs him about $225 a week- well over $11,000 a year!!  simply to fill his tank!! Plus it means he has to constantly go to the gas station! What a drag. I go to the gas station once a week, spend $45, and I hate it!]

So all of these awesome car companies are going the route of the Prius...at least in the efforts toward fuel efficiency. And people are asking for it. It is slowly becoming the logical thing to drive a hybrid. It is even respected amongst the wealthy and those who don't believe in global warming. Great! There are strong reasons for fuel efficiency that have little to do with the environment. 

QUALITY should refer to design, beauty, solid long lasting product, power, AND efficiency. It should be a great driving experience on every level.

The same is true of houses. You can get a builder box (a Yugo) you can get a developer home (a normal Honda Civic perhaps) or you can get something better.

That's what we design at Trillium Architects, We design anything from the Prius of houses or a Mercedes ML 450 Hybrid and beyond. If you are designing a  new house or simply want to renovate or upgrade the house you are in- why waste your money? The same money can be put toward quality, efficiency, beauty and a great LIVING experience... or it can be put toward a lower quality- large quantity box.

But doesn't it cost a lot more money? Not necessarily. When we design we focus on:

1.quality of construction = energy efficiency + low maintenance

2.excellence of spacial experience and use = smaller overall square footage

3.light and air quality= less energy use and higher indoor health and a naturally cleaner environment.

4. health, beauty and textural experience of materials and products = a well loved, longer lasting home.

All of these things if planned well and executed properly may result in no or little up front additional cost and a lot less operational cost over time.

We don't design huge houses. We design extremely high quality houses of more modest size. Yes we understand that traditionally the size of your house was a status symbol. For some that will always be true(think Ferrari). But for many the quality of your house and the amazing energy efficiency of your house is the new status symbol...like a really nice new BMW X6 Hybrid.

17 May 2010 ~ House Parts - Siding

Here are some updated photos of the Rowayton House. It is getting its siding put on and Carlos and his team are doing a great job!  

The siding is James Hardie Hardie Board - a fiber cement composite product. The trim is MiraTEC  which "are manufactured with environmentally preferable phenolic resins use recycled content and have no added formaldehyde". We are using these products because they greatly reduce the need for maintenance (including painting and cleaning with harsh chemicals) and last a very long time (both can easily go 20 years without a new paint job and will last indefinitely.)And by using these products we are not using raw natural recourses- like Cedar,etc. Plus these products look great. We are VERY picky regarding aesthetics and these pass the test.

 
 

We do not use vinyl products on any of our houses (unless ABSOLUTELY necessary for very small applications where nothing else will hold up to the weather). We do not use vinyl becuase it has such a negative impact on the environment and the people who live inthe vicinity of vinly plants (cancer, mostly in the soth). Please check out the film Blue Vinyl for a better understanding. plus vinyl looks awful and is NOT problem free...

What are all of those battens doing there? You can see vertical wood battens all over the house. These are for letting the siding 'breathe'. Allowing the siding to breathe reduces moisture build up behind the siding and makes the siding and the paint job last even LONGER! (This also works with cedar or any other siding.)

We have clad the house with a structural insulated sheathing (SIS) material from Dow (a 1" thick board that replaces normal sheathing- like plywood or OBS) that does the double job of giving stability to the framing and a continous layer of insulation for a much better thermal envelope (more on that in the Insulation Post which is coming I promise! I have been so busy and that post will be a meaty one!) Anyway the SIS also has the added benifit of providing an air barrier- sort of like Tyvek. We have taped all of the seams at the edges of each board and at each door and window,etc. Reducing the amount of air infiltrating into the house does the same thing that the airspace behind the shingles does- it tremendously reduces the amount of moisture and deterioration  within the wall. And that cuts down on mold, mildew, dust mites and spiders,etc. never mind rot! AND it makes the insulation perform much better.

Air moves moisture. Hot (air) moves toward cold, moist moves towards dry (usually via the air). Basic thermodynamics. We want moisute to stay out of walls and away from siding or anything else that likes to be eaten by mold and mildew. We want to control temperature and moisture.

I always say: Its like a swimming pool. You don't want any cracks in your swimming pool. If you have cracks and you want your pool to be full- it will seep out thru the bottom. If you have cracks and you want your pool to be empty you will have water seeping in from underground. You want to control when water goes in and when it goes out. (You can't control it all- think splashing or evaporation.) But you can do you best to control it where you can. Then YOU decide when to add or subtract water.

Your house is the same. Your walls are the same. YOU can control the air and moisture in your home (or you equipment can do so automatically. You can either have a passive or active system monitor your air and moisture.) But you know exactly how, when and where it is coming and going. This also allows for installing air filtration systems. A tight, well sealed, well insulated house is never lacking for fresh air if done correctly. Simple air exchange- fans,etc. easily assure the homeowner of pleanty of fresh air... More on that in the Insulation part also.

OK- have a great day! More soon!

Elizabeth

04 May 2010 ~ A 'rant' from Justin the conscientious realator...

GUEST BLOGGER!

(But remember ~ Justin is in Colorado- things are a bit different here in the North East…but not much…)

Hybridize Your Home!

‘Hybridize Your Home’ is a term that I like to use to describe the path to alternative energy because it seems like so many think that energy efficiency is still the realm of granola-eating hippies at the one end, and the changing of a few light bulbs at the other.  Hybridized makes us think of smart neighbors that drive a Prius and have Scandinavian designed computer bags.  Also, hybridization implies multiple systems functioning simultaneously, or trading off when it is better for one to work than the other.  Which is perfect for describing how we can improve the value, livability, and carbon footprint of our homes.

I raise hybridization and alternative energy with you as your Realtor because it is fundamentally tied to the cost of your home, and the long-term enjoyment and comfort of that home.  (As always, email me at justinchipman@kw.com or give me a call at 303-955-4618 for specific information about your home, or to schedule a free consultation).  

Because it is beyond the scope of an email, let me give you ten quick ideas to think about alternative energy and the direction that you need to take to maximize the use of your dollars, and to minimize the cost of living and the energy that you use.

As a general rule, lower your consumption through efficiency and smart choices, then look to the sun.  Here are some important steps.

1.  Look at your energy bill!  Most people just see the shocking number at the bottom, but you need to look at the breakdown between gas (or oil) and electricity.  Chances are that, if you are in Colorado, you spend vastly more on gas (North East = Oil) than you do on electricity.  Also, it is important to remember that the energy company is a privately owned, for-profit business.  By law they seek to maximize their profits, which means they want for you to spend as much as you can.  See them as a direct competitor for your money, so they are not a reliable source when you have questions about how to minimize your energy needs.

2.  After you determine which is greater, consider that you will get more bang for your buck by first focusing on more efficient gas systems than on replacing your electrical system.  It looks really good to get that big rack of panels on your rooftop—and I encourage that--but it is always cheaper and easier to go for the other things first.  Let the savings from a tank-less system pay for those panels in a few years.

3.  ‘Go Tank-less’.  Tank-less hot water systems have come a long way.  They are expensive if compared to the up front cost of a conventional hot water unit, but that difference is paid off quickly.  It costs more to keep a conventional hot water heater hot than it does for one person to actually use a tank-less system.  Think about how really stupid it is for us, as a nation, to be keeping 4.8 billion gallons of water hot all of the time.

That’s right, about 4.8 billion gallons of water are being kept hot right now.  We could save that energy every second of every day just by going tank-less.

4.  Replace when things break.  Most of us have old hot water heaters and forced air heating systems.  If you have a furnace that needs new guts, or a hot water heater that has rotted from inside out, then now is the time to go tank-less.  Tank-less systems can REPLACE your furnace AND provide you with hot water.  The savings are massive (can be about 50%).  These systems seem expensive up front, but remember the cost to our society—4.8 billion gallons being kept hot every second of every day.  The cost of the replacement is actually trivial by comparison.

Remember, the energy companies are your enemy in this.  4.8 billion gallons of sitting hot water is nice payday for them, so the nation by being sensibly alternative costs the private energy companies Trillions.  Oh, that is not a loss unless you watch Fox.  Those trillions saved by you can be used to spend on other things that you might want more.  Things like sending your kids to college.  A new car.  A nicer home.  You get the idea.

5.  Solar Thermal Supplement.  (SOLAR DOES WORK IN THE NORTHEAST! Not as well as it does in Colorado, but it does work). Solar thermal panels can quickly heat water to near boiling temperatures, so much of the time this can provide you with your domestic hot water needs (if you can adjust when you shower and do the dishes, solar thermal systems can easily replace the need for any other hot water system.)  The panels are also relatively inexpensive.  The water from the sun was so hot, that …

I have lived in homes where all of the domestic hot water was provided by the sun.  Other than showering in the afternoon instead of the morning, it is really no big deal.  In traditional homes, this super hot water, provided free of charge by the sun, can go a long way to heating the home, also.

6.  Boiler Replacement.  If you have a boiler, not a furnace, then consider a new boiler.  New boilers operate at 96% efficiency.  Old boilers commonly do about 55%-60%.  You can cut the heating cost in half.  I have paid off boilers in 3 years, so as a simple investment it is kind of a no-brainer.  I know that it isn’t sexy to, say, forgo buying that new car, but pay for the new energy systems first—the savings will pay for the car in a few years.

Again, the energy companies are not your friends.  They want for you to pay them to pump natural gas into your home and to generate electricity by burning coal to boil water to turn a generator so that they can run electrons through your wires.

7.  Boilers will do your domestic hot water.  If you have a boiler you can easily add a zone that will heat all of your domestic hot water.  The boiler has vastly more power than a hot water heater, so it does so much more efficiently and cheaply.  You can also add a couple of cheap rooftop solar thermal panels, which will supplement this system, also.

 See the pattern here.  Make your system more efficient, then look toward the sun.  Don’t get all solar, first.  You will need giant, costly systems if you try to go all solar without getting efficient first.

 8.  Now that the gas (oil) hogs are eating less, get to the electric.   Here is a punch list of electric savings:

A.  Turn off your lights, silly.

B.  Hang dry most of your clothes.  You don’t need lines outside, just get a pile of plastic hangers and hang the clothes on a rod, on a door, on the shower curtain, even in the closet.  It will humidify your home and your clothes will smell great.  The dryer is one of the two big hogs in your home.  It takes seconds and saves you a bundle.

C.  Electric piggy number 2 is your refrigerator.  If you have an old one, get rid of it.  Get rid of the old on in the garage or basement, too.  We buy massive amounts of food in bulk to save money, then we spend hundreds keeping it cold or frozen for six months.

As a note to anti-regulation bozos, the refrigerator is the great example of how regulation can work in our favor.  Basically modern refrigerators use about 40% of the energy than those built in the 70’s.  Our scientists and engineers are smart, just give them the right problem and they can probably get it done.

D.  Hitch all electronic devices to power strips—in one or two easy locations--and turn the strip on and off as needed.  You can also buy a $5.00 timer so that you only have the power strip turned on during specific times.  Do it manually if you don’t want to do the timer thing.  I have built switches into my house so that I can turn off specific outlets that are likely to have charging devices or items like stereos that always seem to have something turned on.  This is impractical for many, but it makes a difference.  Think, how many clocks do we need?

There are billions of devices that are turned on, but not being used.  A power strip and an ounce of conscience would save us, as a nation, billions of watts.  

9.  Get that bill out again—After you have made some easy changes--how many watts do you use now?  Once you know how many watts you use each month, then you can predict the size of solar system that you would need.  It is much, much cheaper to simply turn things off than to buy another 1000 watts in generating power, I can show you this if you don’t believe me.

10.  Net metering!  In most places you now have net metering.  When you are generating power that you are not using, your meter runs backwards.  You are giving to the grid and other users can take advantage of your personal power generation.  Easy.  No political battles.  No giant federal programs for those of you that are celebrating ‘Confederate Month’, and no more infrastructure.  It is really quite brilliant.  The sun is shining and it is hot.  You aren’t at home, but your solar panels are generating power like crazy.  You are sitting in your office, and since your office is using electricity, and your home is making electricity and giving it back to the grid, you are indirectly contributing clean energy to the cooling of your office.

Think of the city as a giant tree and each rooftop as a leaf of that tree.  The existing electric grid is like the branches of that tree, so the system is already in place to distribute the power generated by individuals.

I know that I harp on this point, but the energy companies are hostile to this system because they no longer monopolize power generation in a world that is focused on utilizing solar energy.  Each end user has the ability to also be a provider.  It is naturally co-operative and about nearly as red, commie, socialistic as nature itself.

If you want a preachy, personal rant on the stupidity of the rhetoric of our times, then that is also free of charge.  I’ll even buy the coffee!

11.  You’re still on the grid, so you don’t have to pay for perfect.  These few easy steps, done over time by everyone, would cut total household fossil fuel usage by about 75%.  Maybe more.  It is important that everyone know that this is a smart investment in your own home, and not a moralistic expense.  This isn’t Buck Rogers technology, either.  It is off the shelf technology, particularly cost effective when installed in the place of outdated systems, backed up by the system that we all currently use and understand.  It is simple and insanely inexpensive when compared to the trillions of dollars that we will spend in order for the energy companies to provide us with energy that they produce.

If you have read this far, you are truly my people and I thank you!

Thanks.

Justin

26 April 2010 ~ Alternative Building Materials

Sorry I was away on vacation last week and lost time for blogging to the beach! While there I was thinking about a time when I was younger and had less responsibility and how I used to travel and live 'off the grid'. So when I came back to an email from a guy who wants to build a house out of shipping containers - well- I had a lot to say!

(There is often the urge - especially in the green or creative worlds - to use found objects or alternative products as building materials. In architecture school we all do projects of this sort. It is very mind opening for a designer to really work through the realities and fantasies of building.)

Below is part of that email:

I used to live in the high desert of Colorado (I lived in Crestone CO, in the Sangre de Cristos just north of Taos + Sant Fe) I lived there in a converted railroad box car. While there I built straw bale and adobes and pumice houses and earthshps (passive solar tire houses). So I am very familiar with building in the climate of the desert as well as that of Connecticut.

I have always been interested in container architecture and have done many designs with containers in mind and while I feel it is possible to get a pretty awesome house out them I think that it is only ideal for certain climates- like Los Angeles (where I also used to live).

The old box car I lived in in CO was an insulated/ refrigerated car. Awesome insulation in the walls and really nice raw wood lined the insides- walls and ceilings. This was a perfect 'container' to turn into a house - especially in the high desert where it is really quite cold half of the year. Not only was the car insulated but we burmed it into a hill on the north side and opened up a good deal of the south wall for passive solar heat gain. We poured a simple adobe floor to collect the sun's heat through the day. The wood walls we easily stained and they made for a beautiful warm interior. Because it was a box car it came with 2 rectangular cut outs in the roof - one at each end - used for adding ice to the box car. These we turned into beautiful sky lights.

Your average shipping container is not like this. The average container is all steel and only steel. There is no built in insulation and there is no beautiful exterior or interior surface as a given. Unless you live in L.A. you have to add insulation. (For either heating OR cooling). And unless you truly love the look and feel of cold rough steel as a wall surface you have to cover the interior and possibly exterior with something more appealing. (Drywall, wood paneling, cedar,etc). Steel can look really cool- especially slightly rusted- but really you probably don't want to lean on it or touch it a lot in your day to day living. It will always feel very cold.

 I could see a steel exterior but then you would have to add insulation to the interior and then a secondary wall inside to cover the insulation and so would lose a 4-6 inches all around the house on the inside. Containers are already small inside.Also you will have to cut openings for windows and doors and carefully craft the doors and windows to fit those opening and avoid leaks etc.

So what are you getting from a container? Structure. You are getting a structure and you are getting a potentially interesting house. You are re-using items that may otherwise go to landfills. You can stack them! You can arrange them, etc. They are inspiring to the designer mind. You will not get and average house for sure and that may be enough of a reason to take that route...but it is not easy or cheap really in the end. It would probably be more cost effective in a CT climate to simply build a stud wall box from scratch.

Actually- below is a picture of a house clad in steel (rusted - or 'corten' steel). It is not built out of shipping containers. (house by Simon Ungers and Tom Knislow)

Update on 2013-10-12 01:21 by Elizabeth DiSalvo

Shipping containers are designed to be water tight. If you insulated on the inside, the moisture would condense on the cold steel skin. If there was an interior vapour barrier, you would trap the moisture. It would probably be best to insulate on the exterior. In any case, reusing a shipping container (a former boss from Newfoundland called these seacans) is an interesting challenge.
Jim

06 April 2010 ~ House Parts - Windows

Not all Green houses are created equal. Some are 'greener' than others. We like refer to this as 'shades of green'. Of our 4 new houses I would rank them like this:

Rowayton and California: Super- dark Green! Definitely LEED certifiable Gold or Platinum. (Rowayton is the only house actually getting certified and we are hovering on the Gold /Platinum line) Both are extremely energy efficient, use low carbon footprint materials and construction and make good use of alternatives in the form of Geothermal (ground source heat pump), Photo-voltaics (electrical solar panels) and Solar Thermal Panels (hot water solar panels)

Westport: Very Green. This house would probably get LEED Silver at least.  Very energy efficient, mostly green materials and  products, and use of geothermal.

Greenwich: Light Green. This is a solid energy efficient house- much better than your standard house construction - but not extreme in its green measures.

(btw: LEED is a rating system that registers how 'green' a building is. You can go to this website to learn more:USGBC website

So what is the difference. Well, as Mies van der Rohe said 'God is in the details'. Its all about individual components, very specific construction details and methods and degrees of performance in products such as insulation and windows. Today we will look at windows:

Below is a photo of the windows at the Greenwich house. They are quality Marvin windows. Nice.

 

You can see from their sticker (below) that they get a U-factor of .32, a Solar Heat Gain Coefficient of .26 and Visible Transmission of .45.  The U-factor is like the R value of insulation. It tells us how energy efficient the window is. Solar Heat Gain Coefficient tells us how much of the sun's rays are getting though (You want the sun to get in if you are in a heating season and your house is designed for passive solar heat gain..you don't want the sun to get in because it fades the upholstery.) The Visibility refers to just that -how 'see through' the window is.

Films that are applied to make the window more efficient will lead to less visibility and less solar heat gain. So sometimes if we have designed a house to work in a passive solar way -yet still want it to be very energy efficient- we have to play a trade off game. Like maybe we decide to make the south facing windows less energy efficient than all the others so that we can get that winter sun in to heat up the house.

Here is a picture of the Westport house's windows:

 
They look very similar and are in fact made by the same parent company - Marvin Windows. These windows are - however- Marvin Integrity Windows. They get a U Factor of .29 or .30 depending on which window, a SHGC of .26 and VT of .46.

With U-factors, the smaller the number the better (the more efficient the windows). With this U Factor they are eligible to get the $1500 federal tax credit for energy efficient windows...but just barely.The u-factor needs to be .30 or less to apply. Next year I think they are lowering it to .28...I need to verify that. These windows meet Energy Star requirements (another sort of rating system.) 

These windows are better performers than the 'normal' Marvins on the Old Greenwich house. Both are double paned, Low-E glass and filled with Argon gas. The Integrities are primarily fiberglass frames with wood veneer on the inside where as the normal Marvins are primarily wood frames with aluminum cladding on the outside. Fiberglass is more efficient than wood, wood is more efficient than metal.The difference in U factors comes from other tings too- like what the spacer bar between the glass is made of and how the windows are assembled.

The Integrities are less costly than the normal (O.G.)Marvins. So why not buy them? Well many people don't like fiberglass windows (Integrities or anyone's) when they get up close and personal(too thin or flimsier than the normal Marvins.) But honestly I think they have come a long way! I think they look pretty darn good up close and personal these days.

(And just as a note- my Minnesota architect friends think that the Integrities don't even cut it as energy efficient windows. They usually spec triple pane fiberglass windows with no muntins (you know those window grilles that everyone likes so much). Those windows achieve U factors of .20 or .22 or sometimes even as low as .15 or .16!! Pretty amazing. But in our neck of the woods we have a more mild climate and it is not really worth the cost to get windows that are THAT efficient. (Although if you really want to live 'off the grid' you should go for it.) People usually are concerned about the R.O.I. (return on investment) and don't see the value.

BUT speaking of triple pane windows- lets look at the Rowayton house:

These windows are triple pane  Eagle windows with a wood frame and aluminum clad exterior. They get a U factor of .27. The best of our group. They achieve this due to the 2 air spaces between the 3 panes as well as having the low-E 4 glass. You can read about it here at Eagle Windows.  These windows cost more than the Integrities but less than the normal Marvins and they give the benefits of having a nice wood window with high efficiency.

The performance of the window in the envelope also depends a lot on how they are installed and how those gaps around the windows are sealed. We'll get into that more later...

01 April 2010 ~ Rowayton- Solar Day

Today we had the guys from C-Solar out to the Rowayton,CT house to map out the PV and Solar Thermal systems. The roof faces due solar south- perfect orientation - (because we planned it that way!)and we have 2 different roof slopes. The main roof will be optimal for winter sun PV and year round solar thermal. The big shed dormer provides and excellent angle for the summer sun. We can easily fit a 10kW PV system alone, OR 7.5kW PV system with 3 or 4 solar thermal panels for hot water. The guys are going to crunch the numbers (show us the rebates and tax incentive numbers and energy use estimates) and then the client will decide which way to go.

This house also has a geothermal system.

With these three systems working together- as well as the super energy efficient building envelope, LED can lights throughout, low flow plumbing fixtures, and energy saving controls - the client will see a great reduction of grid based energy use. We will tell you the exact break down of numbers later after all is up and running.

Now we just have to pick a floor stain color...

70 degrees and sunny! Happy spring.

Elizabeth

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.

I drive around and see the potential in every small and tired house. We can't help it! Perhaps it is like a hairdresser instantly giving a client a make-over in their mind as they walk in the door. We see the many possibilities of composing beauty out of almost any house and we love doing it ~ it is one of the funnest parts of our job.

AND there is a great added benefit! If your house is in need of a curb appeal 'facelift' it probably means new windows or new siding or both...maybe a new entry porch and maybe a small addition are also on the agenda. All of these things offer the PERFECT opportunity for what is called a 'Deep Energy Retrofit'. Usually this entails re-insulating, caulking around construction gaps and windows and doors etc. All of which is amazingly easy to do once the siding is off the house! And new windows will greatly enhance your energy efficiency if your existng windows are 'of a certain age'...

SO what better time to make your house really energy efficient than when you are doing a 'face lift'?

Then you can do the HVAC system and maybe add a PV or Geothermal system.... We always tell our clients: the place to start is the building envelope. If the building envlope is super insulated and well sealed, then the size of your HVAC gets to be much smaller. Don't update your HVAC until you have addressed the leaky building envelope.

Listen to your mother : )  

31 March 2010 ~ Communication, Please!

I am thinking a lot about communication today. The team that builds a house consists of three entities- for the most part- Client, Architect and Contractor.

If all three are communicating well and supportive of each other the job goes incredibly smoothly. Everyone sleeps well at night, everyone feels respected, money and time stay within the realm of expectations for all.

Our worst building experiences ALWAYS happen due to bad communication- on anyone's part. Lying, misleading, trying to cover your butt instead of admitting to missing something, bad mouthing the other party ~ all of these are the hallmarks of a terrible construction project. All of these things lead to more problems down the line and more money wasted by all. No good!

Our goal on every job site is to have information openly shared, problems solved as a team and everyone working together toward a common goal of a great house and a solid job done. Then, we all want to repeat the experience. We love contractors who work with us to figure out the best way to build something or solve a problem. We love clients who communicate. If these things work then we LOVE our job!

Here's to excellent communication!  

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

This house in Rowayton, CT is approximately 4,000 sf including the basement, 1st and 2nd floors. It is being built on the site of a previously existing 2,200 sf home. The original intention of the owner was to keep as much of the existing structure as possible. In this case, however, the ceilings of the existing home were all 7’-0” tall and the structural members of the home could not economically support any additions. (Large quantities of steel would have had to be added. This was a disappointing revelation for both the home owner and the architect shared the goal of creating a very green, LEED certified home and keeping the existing home from entering the landfill is a big first step in sustainable construction.

Once it was decided to tear the existing house down and start fresh, we were given a bit of a blank slate as far as design went. We had a few parameters to work with:

1. The footprint would be limited by zoning code to approximately 1400 sf.
2. The house would be turned to face due solar south for a roof PV installation.
3. The driveway could not be moved.
4. The major living spaces in the house should face the view (a small pond and stream in the back yard.)
5. The first floor would be open living space, the second floor would hold 3-4 bedroom for the family of 4 and the walk-out basement would house playroom, guestroom, mudroom and garage.
6. The clients were invested in the idea of having a great house for entertaining.
7. The clients were very invested in the idea of having an extremely energy efficient and healthy house that they would have LEED certified and would do so for the purpose of promoting environmentally friendly building.
With these parameters in mind we came up with these floor plans.

The house is highly suitable to the family and every space is utilized. There are no useless living rooms and dining rooms that are only used 2 times a year. The spaces are flexible enough to work for the family during day to day life and for friends and parties when needed. For example, the dining room is designed to be intimate in its located space but able to expand out into the foyer when a long table is desired. The bedrooms were designed as more intimate spaces for sleeping only with large closets storage, sitting rooms and bathrooms for other uses that often creep into bedroom living.

Posted at 01:09 PM in LEED Home in Rowayton, CT | Permalink

 | Reblog (0)