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.

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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*.