Element land planning . engineering . architecture . beyond

What Color Blue is Your Sky?

Over the past few years of designing living spaces for clients, we have discovered that the establishment of a starting point is critical.  Architects and Designers have been criticized, and at times, rightly so, for laying out what they want and what they think would be best.  There are trends and there are themes that are hot in the world of residential design and construction, but that doesn’t mean that our clients want to live in that trend.  With the vast amount of home plans that are sold daily on the internet – it would seem that the theory just presented is in fact true.

One of the things that we try to establish on each project is an interactive session or sessions with our clients to initialize the design concept.  Instead of taking an order over the phone of 3 bedrooms, 2 baths, master down with a big shower and big kitchen, we pull out markers and trace paper with the site plan and have at it.  Everyone gets a marker and everyone gets to contribute.  I remember my first design studio in college.  The professor, an impressively talented artist who, coincidentally, told me I had the soul of an accountant, challenged us to not think in terms of preconceived notions.  Don’t think about doors or windows – think in terms of a way to get from one room to another or a way to let natural light into a space or capture a view.  Those may sound like abstract themes, but it forces your mind to think outside of an arrangement of space that you already have laid out in your mind and that is hard to break away from – even when you have a client telling you differently.

When we plan these charrettes we ask that the clients bring as much as they can in terms of clippings, pictures, books or even plans – and we ask that they have what they like and, perhaps more importantly, what they don’t like.  It is only through these pictures and ideas that we can see what the client sees.  We can listen to anyone describe what color blue the sky is but until we are looking at the same sky, we truly don’t know. 

These sessions are immensely helpful to everyone – the clients, the designers and the builders.  It is helpful because the establishment of the basis of the design and the basis of the aesthetic will set everyone’s expectations.  These expectations are square footages, room sizes, budget goals, and where the client wants to spend the most money.  If there are multiple clients (families, couples, etc) they will start to see, maybe for the first time, what is important to the other.  How people live, cook, relax, sleep and work set the tone of the house.  Drawing on the site plan allows these concepts come to life.  Where will the sun rise and where the sun will set may determine where the owner’s suite is and where the perfect spot is for the porch.  Questions like can we have a basement, how many trees can we save, where are the best views are all solved this way.

Having this interactive engaging session really allows you to get to know your client.  We live in a world of constant interaction but not always of depth.  It is unfortunate but engaging is something that our society lacks.  There are few things more personal than a living space designed for you and your family.  Knowing, seeing, touching and experiencing the process of the design helps you connect with that space before anything goes vertical.  Everything can easily change on paper – it gets more complicated with concrete. 

The outcome of this process is a ton of trace paper, spent markers, and multi-colored hands from the layering of those markers.  But more than that is a scratched out conceptual floor plan and some elevation ideas.  Now when these get refined they will change, most likely, but everyone was a part of what some firms “keep behind closed doors.”  The process of design – especially custom design –is a process best played out live.  These sessions are fun – you are laughing, drawing and investing in one another.  Each person benefits - the architect and designer are engaging with the builder, the builder is included up front to help with how they like to put things together, what they have done in the past, and the client has the benefit of having all the people that will be a big part of their next year, right there, listening to them, their needs and their desires.

Fear and Designing Custom Homes.

So it has occurred to me that some trends in housing are simply the result of fear.  We have the privilege of working with Clients on the design of their custom homes and have realized this is a concoction of one part creativity, one part counseling, one part discernment, and one part fear suppression.  The last statement may strike you as odd, but it’s true.  People are designing their homes and making interior selections based on what Realtors and the real estate market are saying you must have or you must not do.  Not that they are at fault, everyone is saying it – from home builders to interior designers to architects.  It has just occurred to me how funny it is.

Here you have everyone involved in an industry that strives to deliver what the Client wants, it is the meaning behind the word “custom” after all, right?  Why spend the time and the money on an Architect, a Designer, and a Custom Home Builder if you are modeling what you “want” after a production built home down the road?  There is freedom in custom homes.  There doesn’t need to be a huge expense – that isn’t the point – but if you are looking to break from the world of “someone else’s house plan” and into the world that suits your life and lifestyle – do it with reckless abandon – and allow design based  consultants keep it grounded. 

Almost every home we design, the Client makes the statement:  Do we need a tub in the Owner’s Suite?  Our response is:  Do you use a tub?  The question is not of need in daily use – the question is a result of this:  “Will my house sell if the Owner’s Suite doesn’t have a bath tub?”  The ironic thing is that if everyone is asking the question apparently it is not something people really want.  I would venture to guess that there is less than 20% of the population that uses a bath tub regularly.  We, unfortunately, don’t have the time – there is blogging, tweeting, and facebooking to do, after all and, last I checked, bad things happen to electronic devices dipped in lavender scented water and to the people that are holding them.  In seriousness, the tub is no longer something that is necessary in the Owner’s Suite.  We do suggest a tub or tub shower combination in a bathroom somewhere in the home to accommodate the 20% and the children that come and visit or are living in the home.  Another idea that we have incorporated into some baths is an area that could accommodate a tub and have the plumbing stubbed into the wall.  This relieves tension for the Client and provides an excellent location for a piece of furniture to store scented bath salts….oh, wait, well, you weren’t going to use them anyway.

This is just one example of many things that we have seen from the homes that we have designed over the last five years.  The point of this is to work on a design that suits your needs and your lifestyle.  If you think something you are doing is over the top – talk to your consultants – they need to be of the caliber and have your trust to be able to tell you the truth.  We have recently completed a home that can only be described as Modern Coastal.  The home is contemporary on the inside – sleek lines and bright colors.  The architecture accommodates how the Clients live and the Interior Designer designed the space through color, furniture, and finishes that take the contemporary look the rest of the way.  I have been in that home with a few people that are the diabolical opposite of “contemporary” but even they agreed the house was beautiful and they could really see how someone would want to live there.  That is the product of good design – holistic design – Architect, Interior Designer, Custom Builder and Landscape Architect.  When everyone is working on the vision of the Client and are working together – great things happen.

All that is written to write this:  if you are designing a custom home or you are remodeling your home – dig deep, take courage, and don’t be scared.  Move your home to the next level and embrace your ideas, your thoughts and your dreams.  Trust your consultants to be there for you and listen to them about what your ideas will look like when it is built.  It is time to break out of the mono-beige production look and get to a style that is tailored to you.

So Here We Are

So here we are – Earth Day forty years on – and for the better.  What started as a “teach in” by a Senator from Wisconsin (my home state…) in 1970 has grown to be an international day of reflection, demonstration and dedication for over a billion people.  The best part is that it is not partisan politics.  One does not have to choose a side on the Climate Change debate to celebrate what Earth Day is about  Earth Day is about making a difference for our environment for our environment, for our planet and, actually, for ourselves and our community.

Community is something that has grown out of this movement – this call to sustainability.  Sure there are finer points to debate – are we better off now than before?  Maybe or maybe not – but are we more informed? Yes.  Are we moving as inhabitants of this planet towards a better tomorrow?  I like to think so.  There is more talk in coffee shops, in churches, in homes and amongst businesses about what it means to be “green.”  Perhaps “green” is more hype than reality, but in that promotion is truth.  With a focus and some energy dedicated to this movement of sustainability, to Earth Day, we can make differences.

For those of us not involved directly with an event on Earth Day, use the time as a reflective day where you weigh decisions that you will make in the next year.  We are pushing in every direction to move this economy, this place, and ourselves to impact the earth less and to take account of what can be done differently in the future.

Both Delaware Tech and the University of Delaware are making strides in environmental stewardship.  Delaware Tech on 3 May will break ground on a building unlike any other in our region.  A hybrid classroom/demonstration lab that will look, feel and perform like a single family home – a place that is designed to the criteria of LEED for Home – Platinum.  This will teach the students of DTCC, the citizens of our area, and demonstrate to policy makers that the future is sustainability – that future being jobs, careers, and buildings.  The Lewes campus of the University of Delaware currently has a 2.0 megawatt (megawatt!!) tower being built to take advantage of the conditions at their location – conditions that are only matched elsewhere in the South China Sea.  The advantages of ocean current, wind flow and a bunch of words that end in –tion that I was supposed to learn in college create an environment that produces electricity through a spinning blade that will come close to taking the campus off the grid and be advantageous to the Lewes Board of Public Works.  Just consider those two projects alone.  An enormous reduction in electricity use in Lewes and a facility that will educate, inform and inspire students and citizens for years to come.  Those are projects started in 2009 and being completed this year.

So what do we do?  The list is infinite.  If you are reading this, you are probably already doing a part in reducing, re-using, and recycling (in that order, please). Let’s do this, let’s consume less.  Earth Day is about protecting the planet – and with good reason – we don’t really have a back-up plan for a place to live.  I have watched House Hunters a few times and I know some good Realtors but haven’t seen anything outside of our atmosphere for sale. Use less potable water and use more rain water.  Drive less and demand more gas mileage in our vehicles.  Use the landfill less and the compost bin and recycle can more.  Meet a local farmer, join a co-op, or buy from a farmer’s market more. 

Where do we go from here?  We decide together to join with others and create an informed community.  We decide as a community to support local businesses.  What do they have to do with sustainability? Local businesses are concerned about where they live, work and play – that means they are concerned about the same places that we live work and play.  They are one of us – they are us.  Support initiatives that strive to bring sustainability to where you are – volunteer and become part – with your hands, with your wallets and with your speech. 

My hope is that through conversations that have already started next year we will celebrate Earth Day a bit wiser and more deeply than this year.  Our focus will continue to be on sustainable design and building – there has been success already with homes using less than a third of the electricity that similar homes that were not designed and built sustainably.  We are working towards construction recycling and, potentially, trash metering (where you are charged based only on what you throw, not a flat rate), where compost bins and rain barrels are SOP (sorry, work with engineers and the government long enough you start “talk” like them – for those of you that don’t  – SOP = Standard Operating Procedure).  We are in conversation with policy makers and politicians about these concerns and are listening to their ideas to make tomorrow better – for the environment, our health, and for economic growth.  Unite with us as we move toward Earth Day 2011 and the continuation of making this planet a place to live.

Seven Habits of Highly Sustainable People.

Every movement begins with a few people with shared ideas that slowly gain like-minded people that ultimately begin to change the way things are done.  Sustainability is no different.  Sustainability is not intended to create Utopia – it is intended to allow our society, our community, our place to survive the changes that are happening around us – increased costs (both to the environment and to our pocketbooks) in electricity, scarcity of water, pollution caused by vehicles, the depletion of local economies, and other such news making issues.  Let’s look at seven habits of a sustainable person.

Use less water.  Using water in our homes, places of business, and just about everywhere we go is inevitable, but water is a resource and should be conserved.  A few simple changes reduce the use and the water bill at the same time.  Turning the water off when you brush your teeth or, men, when you shave can save gallons a day.  Limit your showers to five minutes – yes, I know the water feels good – let it feel good for 3 minutes (see, I am limiting it even more now).  Take the next DIY step and add aerators to your faucets and when you remodel that bath, make sure you use a low-flow shower head and add a dual flush toilet.

Use less electricity.  Pretend that the next words you read are in the voices of your parents:  “TURN OFF THE LIGHT WHEN YOU LEAVE THE ROOM.”  At my house that was usually followed with a chore after “Room” but I think you get the point.  Use less electricity.  The easiest solution is to add Halogen light bulbs instead of standard incandescent or even CFL’s.  CFL (compact fluorescents) have peaked.  The halogen light, with its long life span and better quality of light, have taken over the efficient lumen per watt market.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.  These three simple words are great words to live sustainably by and the order by which to live them.  Reduce how much you use of everything – like water and electricity mentioned above.  But also, try to reduce how much fuel you use by accelerating slowly and by driving the speed limit (55 to 60 mph is an optimal speed for gas consumption – I swear that it is 80 mph but most researchers disagree…apparently those researchers have less on their schedule and no sunroof).  Before you discard something, is there another use?  Old coffee cans to help organize your garage, old t-shirts for rags – I mean, do you really need to buy rags to clean with?  I use two old 6-pack holders as desk organizers.  Recycle everything that you can, compost what can be composted and, then, only then, throw something in the trash.  If you do this, you will be shocked how little “trash” you produce.

Bicycle or walk for errands or to work.  This is a double benefit and the weather is perfect for this right now.  A tisket, a tasket, go and buy your bike a basket.  Riding your bike for small errands or work is a great way to get a bit of exercise and not use your car.  If you don’t have a bike, do you have shoes?  A walk is great for the mind, body, and environment.  I have found that slowing down (clearly in stark contrast to my abovementioned driving habits) helps you think more and, again, it takes a car off the street for this trip.

Plant only drough tolerant and native species.  Every region has beautiful vegetation that is native to the climate and soils.  These plants need less in terms of water and, typically, you will need less water.  The great thing is that for people like me, with a thumb only a light shade of green, these plants survive and thrive.  Most nurseries or your friendly local Landscape Architect will readily have a list of these plants – from flowering perennials to shrubs, to groundcover to trees.

Frequent a farm stand, shop at a Farmer’s Market, and eat local meat.  We have some great local farmers and they have fantastic local produce.  They are sold sometimes at their stands on the farm or at our amazing Farmer’s Markets.  I was amazed to find blueberries from Dagsboro and a great local source for Honey.  Typically, this produce is fresher and less expensive than grocery store produce and it didn’t sit on a diesel powered semi for seven days while driving in from Hawaii.  Did you get that one?  Here in our area there are also local sources for meat.  Couple that with local sources for beer and wine (Dogfish Head, 16 Mile, EVO and Nassau Valley Vineyards) and you could, well, you could almost make a meal.  Imagine sitting at a table with all local food and drink…it may be coming to our area sooner than later.

The seventh habit is based on all of the above.  Put these into practice and it will generate a new way of living that isn’t any harder than before – in fact, it may be more enjoyable, healthier and cheaper.  Not only that, it is a great for the environment and for our local economy.  With these new habits, start to teach and educate others, talk about these new habits and help start the movement.  Each of us doing these small things combined can have a huge payoff.

Rain Drops Keeping Falling on My….Rain Barrel

Today is literally the 80^th day with recorded precipitation in Coastal Sussex since September 2009…doing the quick math that is around 3 times per week.  All this rainwater brings to mind the concept of rainwater harvesting.  In ancient times, this was a very common practice as many societies around the globe depended on rainwater for a myriad of uses – not the least of which was drinking water.  Not that long ago, here in the United States, most rural home sites, too, depended on rainwater for a number of uses.  With a focus on sustainability, this week we explore what rainwater can be used for in your new or existing home.

The most basic way to capture rainwater is in a rain barrel.  These are relatively simple products composed of a 55 gallon drum, a vinyl hose, PVC couplings, and a screen grate to keep debris and insects out.  At its most basic level, this can allow you to divert the water from your downspouts into a container that you can use to water your lawn, top off a pool, or wash a car.  Forty percent of our water consumption in the summer months is used outside the home for the purposes mentioned above.  Even if you are not environmentally conscious, this is a great money saver in using less potable water.  Rain barrels are great for a DIY project over a weekend and can be linked together to store even more water if necessary.

The next step up in capturing rain water would be a cistern.  A cistern performs essentially like a large rain barrel.  Best suited to concealment, typically cisterns are substantially buried with only a portion above ground.  In a typical whole house system, all the downspouts would be tied together and would be diverted to the cistern.  In the event (and this is quite common) that the cistern fills to the top, the excess will be diverted into an overflow area.  You may feel like this is wasted, but prior to having a cistern, you were wasting it anyway - that was a joke, kind of. 

The interesting thing about a cistern is what you can do with this water from this point.  Typically, this water would be tied to an irrigation system to water your lawn, planting beds, etc.  Because they are designed with filters and pumps, cistern stored water can also be used like a hose bibb – so you can wash cars, clean the garage, etc.  Looking beyond just the outdoor use, let’s look at how this water can be used inside.

Twenty-five percent of the water we use indoors is just flushed down the toilet.  No, actually, flushed down the toilet.  We use perfectly potable water, of which there is a worldwide shortage, to flush toilets every day.  Would you pour a bottle of water down the toilet?  The right answer is:  I don’t use bottled water.  Gotcha!  This cistern collected rainwater can be diverted to your toilets for use in flushing.  There is a bit of redundancy in the system that allows your homes water system to supply water should the cistern be empty – it’s like they thought of everything.  Couple this concept with a dual flush toilet (yes, it does do exactly what it sounds like it does) and you will be conserving significant water. 

That is probably the top of the line to where folks are comfortable getting to.  There are places all over the world and here in the US (Austin, Portland, and Hawaii) that are using purification methods to use rainwater for household use – potable water – for cooking, bathing and drinking.  This requires more complex systems that do two basic things.  The first is to divert what is called the “first flush” during a dry season from the cistern.  The “first flush” contains all the dirt, dust, pollutants, animal “stuff” and other things that collect on roofs and gutters from the cistern.  Typically that is accomplished in the first 1” of rainfall or less.  The rest of the water will flow into the cistern.  From that point, through the miracles of modern science and engineering, the water is filtered and purified.  Obviously this is a bit more complicated and does require maintenance and cleaning similar to that of a pool. 

From the DIY to a more complex roof catchment system, we can see that rainwater harvesting is something that is of interest to all of us.  It is a great way to use less “I paid for that” water and the environmental benefits are great.  Hopefully as these technologies are embraced, the demand will increase – so, will you give a few of these a try?  We hope so, and, if you want to learn more, contact us and we can help answer questions or point you in a good direction.

Uniquely Delaware – A Green Building Perspective

We have been talking and writing a lot recently about what makes Delaware unique.  There is no shortage of topics there – from our rich history, to our waterways, to the people that call Delaware home.  The one thing that does get neglected from time to time is our incredible amount of natural, usable, environmentally sustainable materials.  The idea of being able to piece these sometimes seemingly, separate industries together could revolutionize sustainable initiatives and sustainable building.

Delaware is still an agriculturally driven state.  Our farms produce an incredible amount of crops, animals, and, some of you may not know, wood.  Pine plantations in Delaware were at one time big business.  They truly could be again.  Follow along with this interesting scenario that is an illustration of what could be and should be here in Delaware.  These are the ideas that we are working on now to take Delaware to the next sustainable level.

A pine plantation is a well-managed forest that has “crops” of pine trees.  The management insures that the trees are harvested when appropriate.  This harvest produces good wood for building (and we have a lot of building on the DelMarVa Peninsula).  Because of this, there really is no reason that this wood should ever leave the state.  We can plane that wood down into lumber.  Pine lumber is the most prevalent woods used for building material.  That lumber can be sold to hardware and mega-home improvement stores for sale.  This would cut down on the amount of transportation needed to move lumber from one region to another.  Another use is in the truss industry.  One of the most economical and efficient ways to build a home or smaller commercial building is using trusses – for floors and roofs.  There are several great local companies that build trusses in Delaware and they could be using wood grown, harvested and planed here at home.  Sussex County is also home to great modular home companies that are very progressive.  Modular homes are efficient both in performance and the use of materials.  Same principle used – all the wood would be grown, harvested and planed in Delaware by Delawareans.

Take the by-product of the planning and harvesting industry – sawdust.  Mate this with our agricultural industry and some good things can happen.  Sawdust makes great bedding material for livestock.  That livestock, due to natural biological processes, produces a product that mixes with the sawdust.  I know what you are thinking; did he just use more words than Hemingway to talk about manure?  Yes, yes, I did.  That sawdust-manure mix is rich in organics that can be used for the fertilization of crops.  Two by-products of two different industries combined to make a natural and effective fertilizer.

This fertilizer can be used by a farmer to grow one of our mainstay crops here in Delaware: Soy.  My first thought was, “Great, all you can eat edamame night!” or maybe a local discount on Soy Tazo Chai Lattes.  And maybe that will be the case, but if so, that’s someone else’s article to write.  Soy can be used for a few other products.  Actually, a better way to put that is:  Soy can be used instead of another harmful product:  Petroleum.  Not that petroleum is that harmful, but it is a less than sustainable resource.  Trucks that run up and down the state of Delaware could be powered by Bio-diesel, which is a soy derivative.  Another great product, and one we have discussed here before, is soy based spray foam insulation.  The great double benefit and now triple benefit of soy spray foam insulation is that spray foam itself (regardless of ingredients) keeps your home better insulated, decreasing the cost of heating and cooling, add soy to the mix and now it is not petroleum dependent, now add grown, harvesting and processed in Delaware and you have hit an environmental and economic home run (it’s Spring – I had to use a baseball reference…)

As you can see the circle of life here in Delaware is very close to being able to cross pollinate similar but different industries for the betterment of all.  Additionally, with some of the ideas above, new companies employing Delawareans can be created.  This truly is the illustration of both cradle to cradle at the grassroots level and the manifestation of the triple bottom line.  It is something that I believe in and it is something that I think is great for community, for quality of life, and for the economic viability of a small state that is very close to my heart.

Rain, Rain, Go Away

With record breaking snow amounts, and now consistent nor-easter’s bringing April showers one month early, I’m wondering when summer is going to arrive with its bright sunny days and less saturating conditions.  But since everything seems to have wet feet nowadays, let’s go with the flow and talk about wet tolerant plants, perfect for wet environments, pond edges, and rain gardens.

There is a variety of plants that can take “wet feet” and at differing levels of saturation, from occasionally wet to permanently inundated.  Here are some of my favorites:

Bald Cypress (Taxodium distichum): a magnificent deciduous conifer – a cone bearing tree that loses its needle-like leaves in autumn.  This tree actually thrives in wet areas and can be found along rivers, lakes and pond edges, as well as in swamps, coastal marshes, and river bottoms.  A unique feature of the bald cypress is its “knees” that form only in wet areas.  An outstanding example in Delaware is the Cypress Swamp in Trap Pond State Park.  Hauntingly beautiful, it is the northernmost stand of naturally occurring bald cypress.

Red Maple (Acer rubrum): a beautiful deciduous tree that turns shades of golden yellows to flaming orange and reds in the fall.  The red maple naturally occurs in wet areas and is tolerant of many soil types.  It is more often multi-stemmed in low, wet areas but can grow from 50 up to 100 feet tall at maturity.  When driving along the highway in the early spring time, you might see a reddish haze on the tree tops nearby.  That is the red maples’ buds beginning to swell and preparing to leaf-out, a sure sign of warmer days ahead.

Atlantic White Cedar (Chamaecyparis thyoides): a handsome evergreen tree that is characteristic of fresh water swamps and bogs.  Growing up to 50 feet in height, it is more on the slender side with a diameter averaging 15 feet.  It does well in garden situations, but does not compete well with hardwoods nearby.  Unique in that it is a wet-loving evergreen, groves of Atlantic white cedar can be found in swamps and along the coasts from Maine to Florida.

Winterberry (Ilex verticillata): one of my favorite shrubs, its bountiful red berries provides a splash of color and a food source for birds in the winter landscape.  A deciduous holly, it is most often found in swamps and forested wetlands.  Planted with an evergreen backdrop, its brilliant berries appear to jump out of the grays and browns of late autumn and winter.  Many cultivars exist today, from compact growth to 12’ tall specimens, and plants with its typical fire engine red berries to golden yellow varieties.  Being a holly, make sure you have a male plant close by as only the females produce the berries.

Summersweet (Clethra alnifolia): A fragrant shrub found typically in forested wetlands, swamps, bogs, and coastal river floodplains, it can tolerate some flooding of party salty (brackish) water.  Summersweet is also greatly valuable to a variety of wildlife including songbirds, waterfowl, butterflies, and a plethora of other beneficial insects.  Its sweet smelling fragrance fills the air, especially when planted in mass and its spikes of white and pink flowers are equally enjoyable to view.

Redosier Dogwood (Cornus sericea): another one of my favorites, this shrubby dogwood loves moist areas and can be found mostly in wet, swampy situations.  It’s adaptable to a wide range of soil types, and similar to Summersweet, beneficial to wildlife.  Another important characteristic of this plant, is that it is stoloniferous meaning that it easily spreads by underground stems making it an excellent choice on banks and other conditions that require erosion control.  Perhaps its best feature is its stem color.  Redosier dogwoods have brilliant red stems that are spectacular in the autumn and winter, especially with snow providing contrast.  Also available with yellow stems (‘Flaviramea’), this shrubby dogwood goes a long way in the residential landscape.

These are just some of the many trees and shrubs out there that can tolerate wet and saturated conditions.  There are even more herbaceous plants that like it wet too, and we will talk about a few of my favorites next time.  So don’t let the recent rain get you down this spring, make lemonade out of mother-nature’s lemons, and plan a rain garden for next year and watch it grow!

Edamame, Stewardship and Green Stars

You have likely heard talk about building with “renewable resources” and potentially some of us even know what that means.  There are products available that are renewable and products that seem like they should be.  Couple this with locally harvested, processed and manufactured products and you get like 4 or 5 Green Stars.  Ok, I made up the “Green Star” program but on the renewable side of sustainability, local is important.  This installment of the NAHB’s Model Green Building Guidelines series focuses on those products that we use in our remodels or new builds that promote environmental stewardship.

There are national and international programs that certify that products, typically wood, are, through a chain of custody process, the best environmental choice that can be made.  This chain of custody, exemplified by the Forest Stewardship Council, promotes that from seedling to installation best practices are used.  This includes managing forests from a cutting, replanting, and health standpoint.  Each company that handles the product has to be reviewed and certified for environmental controls.  The idea is that the forest and, consequently, the community and eco-system are not put at risk by cutting too much just for profit.  When FSC (or other equally valid associations/certifications) arrive at a job site to be installed, the triple bottom line has been met.  The driver of the truck delivering it will probably be drinking fair trade coffee and wearing organic cotton socks.

Insulating your home is probably next to last on your list of things to think about when designing a new home or even remodeling an existing home.  It really needs to move up – maybe not past whether the light switch is on the inside or outside of the closet (you laugh, but I have seen fights) – but higher up than it is right now.   Fifty-six perfect of all homes in the US are un-or under-insulated resulting in the loss of 800 trillion BTU’s.  I couldn’t tell you what a British thermal unit is – but losing 800 trillion of them is incalculable.  Properly insulating a home will keep the conditioned air in (where we like it) and keep the outside air out (where we like it).  The most effective insulation available right now is spray foam.  Spray foam insulation gets into all the small spaces, behind electrical junction boxes and in all those hard to reach spaces for batt insulation.  Spray foam has been available in the petroleum based version for some time, but there are now versions that use soybean oil instead.  This product is a double win.  Spray foam insulation to keep your home sealed tight that is made from a renewable resource.  One of Delaware’s most major crop productions is soy beans.  There is the triple bottom line.

In terms of renewable resources the idea is to not negatively impact the environment.  The two ideas above are just two examples of resources that can be properly managed and properly manufactured to promote sustainability and renewability.  There are three other resources that are the perfect renewable resource – the sun, the wind and the Earth’s ground water.  Without diving into this too deeply, these three resources can be used without taking anything away from them – that’s renewable.  But more than that, these three resources can be used to help reduce the electrical load demand on the existing system we have.  Most of the power that we have comes from fossil fuel burning plants.  Fossil fuels are non-renewable resources.  Solar can be harnessed for electricity or even, through proper siting, daylighting.  Wind can, also, be harnessed to produce electricity and ground water can be used in a geo-thermal system.  A geothermal system will demand less electricity to condition the home.

Renewable resources are the way products are trending right now.  FSC managed forests represent about 10% of all forests and that number is growing daily as more of us are requesting this “seal of approval.”  Soy based insulations are gaining ground because of the importance of spray foam insulation.  While researching this, I read an article in a journal about soy based insulation where the author wrote that using soy based spray foam can stem the loss of energy from within the home.  Stem the loss?  And he didn’t acknowledge the pun.  Oh well, let us know if there are questions you have on this topic or any others and we hope see you around Coastal Sussex soon.

Mauve Paint, Coal Fired Power Plants, and Soda Bottles.

When we think of our homes and the finishes on the interiors, we have realized that many of these materials can be better for our health and better for the environment.  We do not want to sacrifice quality or aesthetic but we are not going to pay more for it.  This is accomplishable now and there is a way to take this one step further.  Using materials that have recycled content within them is a great way to get the same (or a lot of times a better) aesthetic without spending more in terms of cost.  In this eighth installment of looking into the NAHB’s Model Green Building Guidelines, we will look into this concept deeper.

There are essentially two types of recycled content:  pre/post-consumer and post-industrial.  Pre-consumer content comes from materials generated in manufacturing, such as damaged or obsolete products, overruns and trimmings. Post-consumer materials contain materials that have been used and discarded by a consumer – this includes paper, plastic, steel, rubber and similar items.  Post-industrial content are byproducts of industrial processes that would otherwise end up in a landfill.  Using products with a level of recycled content has gotten much easier as these products have proliferated.

There are some products that are already in widespread use that people may not be aware contain recycled content.  These are things like concrete that contains fly ash.  Fly ash is one of the residues generated in the combustion of coal.  Also, backing paper that is a part of gypsum wall board is made almost entirely of recycled newspaper.  The gypsum board manufacturers also rely increasingly on “synthetic” gypsum as an effective alternative to natural gypsum. Synthetic gypsum is a byproduct primarily from the desulfurization of flue gases in fossil-fueled power plants. This material, too, would otherwise be disposed of in landfills were it not used to manufacture gypsum panel products.  This is why we support coal fired powered plants – without them we wouldn’t be able to harvest these recycled products – KIDDING.  Seriously, these two products are great uses of recycled content – there should be labels on the products indicating the amount of the content.

Other products that are available with high amounts of recycled content are tile, carpet, insulation, countertops and, most interestingly, paint.  Ceramic tiles may be made from post industrial waste generated by the production of conventional tiles. Some manufacturers produce tiles that contain 50 to 100 percent manufacturing waste.  Recycled carpet can be made from recycled polyethylene terephthalate (PET) or from used carpet. PET plastic is usually found in plastic soda bottles. About 40 two-liter soda bottles are recycled per square yard of carpeting. The backing used for recycled content carpet is the same as traditional carpets.  Recycled content carpet fiber is said to be more resilient and colorfast than virgin fiber carpet.  Fiberglass insulation uses waste glass in up to 40% of some manufacturer’s products.  Spray foam insulations can be made with recycled newspaper and telephone directories.  We wonder if you source this locally would you still be able to use the telephone directory after application…probably not.  Countertops can use recycled content made out of recycled newspapers with soy based resins.  Certain lines of this product look like granite.  On the higher end, recycled glass countertops are stunning – looking at times like radiant sea glass.

Recycled paint caught our attention as this is something new to us!  Made out of unused latex paint collected from households, government, businesses and painting contractors with some added new materials to improve the paint's consistency and make standard colors.  The standard colors kind of bothered us – we were hoping it would have a mixture of all the colors per brush/roller stroke.  There are two types of recycled-content paint: reprocessed and reblended. Although both types originate from the collection of leftover latex paint, there are important differences. Reprocessed paint is mixed with virgin materials. Reprocessed paint typically contains a minimum of 20% post-consumer content. Reblended paint is re-mixed, screened, and packaged for distribution. Virgin raw materials such as resins and colorants may be added in much small quantities. Typically, reblended paint contains anywhere from 80% to 100% post-consumer content.

All of these products divert what would just go to a landfill into useful building materials.  The price is consistent with products only containing virgin materials in many cases the product is more durable.  From a life cycle costing perspective this is a home run.  Similar upfront cost and will last longer – couple that with reducing landfill volume – and you have achieved the perfect triple bottom line.  Besides, you get to tell people that you redirected products from the landfill to your foyer – well, maybe you should phrase that differently.

House Painters Beware!

In the world of Sustainable Design and Construction, the goal is minimal impact to the environment, conservation of materials and the use of durable products that will stand the test of time.  Taking this to the practical environment where costs and efficiencies are of the utmost, Designers and Builders must find those products that meet all the criteria because, in general, Home Owners that are renovating or Clients that are designing/building homes will not pay more than 3% more for “green” products.  One way to achieve this and deliver a product that is low maintenance for the End-User is by using “pre-finished” materials.

Pre-finished materials are those that arrive ready to install with no additional work in the field required.  This can save the Builder time and, because no field finishing labor is required, the Client money.  The environmental upside is achieved as most pre-finished materials, if specified correctly, are much better for the environment because they are finished in a factory and constructed of environmentally preferable ingredients.  In this installment of our on-going series about the NAHB’s Model Green Home Building Guidelines, we will look into the types of products that can come to the site beautiful, healthy and sustainable.

Exposed to the sun, rain, wind, and, now popular here on the Coast in Delaware, snow, the exterior of a home must be durable.  The elements (plug intended) that can be either finished on-site or prefinished can help this durability.  The exterior products available that are pre-finished are mainly a form of fiber cement. There are several great manufacturers – James Hardie, Nichiha, and CertainTeed to name a few – and all provide great exterior cladding.  The look is timeless and can match the vernacular of most regions.  From Craftsman detailing, to Colonial, to Modern, fiber cement siding can create the aesthetic.  Additionally, fiber cement is made from water, sand, wood fibers (usually post-industrial waste) and cement.  Those are four of the most readily available materials on the planet.  Most fiber cement manufacturers now make their products impregnated with color.  This means no painting – and no maintenance for a LONG time – up to 50 years on some products.  The impregnated color is important because that means the color is a through color – if it gets nicked – sorry – WHEN it gets nicked the color is still there.

The trim around windows and doors, as well as, soffits, corners, and fascia pieces all can be found pre-finished.  Manufactures like James Hardie, MiraTEC, and AZEK come ready to install.  These, too, have 30 to 50 year warranties and are obtainable in smooth and wood grain.  Detailing with these products puts the finishing touches on the home.  One word of advice, found out the way all wisdom is gained – the hard way, check the thickness of the product you are trimming and the thickness of the trim.  Some products are ¾” or thicker, so trim pieces will need to be 1” or great to make the reveal authentic instead of the ever so popular movie set fake look.

To a great extent, the cladding of the home is typically the only field finished product.  These days, most windows, doors and garage doors come pre-finished.  Decks are typically all floored with synthetic materials made in a wide variety of widths, colors, and finishes.  Remember the great part about pre-finished is that it typically will not have to be finished again – if you are like us, that takes a potential weekend killer off the old “to do” list.  The environmental benefit comes in the form of durability, as it doesn’t have to be replaced as often, and factory finishing in a controlled environment with preferable products.  Next week we will move inside to pre-finished interior finishes – wood floors, plaster walls, doors, cabinets and counters….but if you think of any questions before then, contact us, we would love to help.