» Builders

South Sound Green Tour April 16th & 17th

Cory — Thu, 03 Feb 2011 00:29:20 +0000

The Eco Builders Guild, South Sound chapter is proud to announce the second annual South Sound Green Tour coming April 16th & 17th. We started the Green Tour last year and it was huge success. Just like last year, we will feature houses and commercial sites that represent the best in green building and sustainable practices. The homes are located through out Thurston County, including Tumwater, Olympia, and Lacey. We will also have workshops at each site demonstrating many of the features of each site. This year we have also added an expo which will be located in the new Lott buildings parking lot. It will house lots of vendors offering a huge array of green products and services.

Another big addition to the tour is that the Seattle chapter has joined in with us and will have a tour of their own on the same weekend. For more information, or if you would like to be a vendor or site sponsor please visit http://www.ecobuilding.org/events/2011-green-home-tour.

Dont miss the Tour of Homes October 2nd &3rd and Oct 9th &10th

Cory — Tue, 28 Sep 2010 03:39:09 +0000

Laupen homes LLC. is proud to showcase two homes in the OMB tour of Homes. First we will feature the Cooper home. This is the same home we had in last spring’s Green Tour. If you didn’t get a chance to see it the first time, come out this weekend and be amazed. This home was a challenge to say the least, but we persisted and the outcome is incredible. You can view photos of it on our project page and read the owners comments on our referral page.

The second home we are featuring is the Bouvier/Rogers house, also known as the hobbit house. Now we could really call it a hobbit house without a round door, so a round door it has. Handcrafted out of mahogany wood, the door has a tree carved into it. Master carpenter Mike Anderson was the inspiration behind the door. It is a must see. This home also features a “Floating Loft” over the main entrance and living room. With lots of curves and whimsical features this home is a must see.

Still being painted

But don’t let the playfulness of the home fool you. It has state of the art energy efficient systems including radiant heat and a Heat Recovery Ventilator. Six operable ski lights make for wonderful natural lighting and at the same time allow the summer heat to escape keeping the interior of the home cool without the need for air conditioning. The outstanding blower door score of 1.23, (most new homes receive a 5 or higher) made it easier to received a Built Green level 5, and Energy star certifications.

Cory in front of Mike's beautiful door

Come out this weekend and see these wonderful homes. I look forward to meeting you
Cory Eckert

What makes windows eco-friendly?

Cory — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 13:38:32 +0000

No, we are not switching to promoting green software – we’re going to stick to good ole’ hardware and home building. For a long time, windows have been thought of just as basic necessities to a house, or as ornamental and status-symbols. However, windows are a big factor in terms of our electricity bills, keep us healthier, make our homes last longer, save energy and essentially, save the planet. However, they can do all this and more.
Eco-friendly windows are essentially energy efficient windows. The make, material, frame, size and positioning of windows has a great impact on interior lighting, indoor temperature, heating & cooling systems and indoor air quality. Energy efficient windows work at maintaining optimal levels of all these aspects and thus significantly reducing our bills and our carbon footprint. And with the new eco-friendly wave taking the construction industry by storm, energy star certified windows are easily available. Also, the certification system is such that it works well for different kinds of windows that are made for different home requirements and weather conditions.
Yet, it can still get quite confusing and most of us are not quite familiar with scientific window terminology. Essentially, when you buy energy efficient windows, you will come across a lot of numbers and ratings. There are five things you need to look at:
1. U-Factor (Level of heat transfer)
2. Solar Heat Gain Co-efficient (Heat capturing capacity)
3. Visible Transmittance (Light Transfer)
4. Air Leakage and
5. Condensation Resistance
And that’s why we have a series of how to understand and buy energy efficient windows – without wishing you’d done more math in high school.

Olympia’s own Green Tour

Cory — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 14:36:41 +0000

The ECO-Builders-Guild
South Sound Chapter
Presents
The South Sound Green Tour
Innovation – Education – Inspiration

April 17th and 18th, 2010

A community event to celebrate green innovations through education in sustainable building and inspired living.
This year’s tour will showcase the greenest homes and buildings in our area that incorporate significant use of solar or other renewable energies, new and reclaimed materials, low energy consumption and water conservation technologies, and sustainable design techniques.
Educational sessions will be held at various locations and feature real life topics on how to build and live greener. See our website for more details – www.SouthSoundGreenTour.com The site will be running by January 1, 2010

The Cooper project that we have been building will be one of many homes and businesses that will be open to the public for the weekend. Mark your calenders and join us, it should be a great time

The Northwest Eco Building Guild is an alliance of builders, designers, suppliers, homeowners, and partners concerned with ecological building in the Pacific Northwest.

A vital organization, our mission is to provide leadership in education to transform the built environment and build a sustainable society.

Green Tour Comes To Olympia

Cory — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:03:26 +0000

The Eco Builders Guild \ South Sound Chapter has announced it will host the South Sound Green Tour on April 17th and 18th, 2010
The theme of the event will be Innovation – Education – Inspiration

It will be a community event to celebrate green innovations through education in sustainable building and inspired living.
This year’s tour will showcase the greenest homes and buildings in our area that incorporate significant use of solar or other renewable energies, new and reclaimed materials, low energy consumption and water conservation technologies, and sustainable design techniques.
Educational sessions will be held at various locations and feature real life topics on how to build and live greener. See our website for more details – www.SouthSoundGreenTour.com ( The site should be up and running by January 1, 2010

South Sound Green Tour is looking for participants and sponsors. If you are interested in either contact me at info@laupenhomes.com. After January we you will be able to contact us directly at SouthSoundGreenTour.com

LED’s for residential lighting

Cory — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 02:52:14 +0000

If you’ve been to a house that was recently done up (in a rather fashionable manner) – you might have found a lot of small whitish lights used in places where the conventional bulbs and CFLs used to be. These tiny things are LED (Light Emitting Diodes) a new entrant in the field of home lighting.
LED is a certain type of lighting device which is being increasing used in homes for many reasons. Largely, they are used more for decorative purposes, but their efficiency and long-life as compared to other fluorescent and incandescent lamps have led to LED using lamps to be used as the main source of light in a house.
The main factor working in LED’s favour is its efficiency. Unlike regular bulbs and fluorescent lights, which waste almost 90% of the energy they consume in the form of heat, LED release very little heat, using up most of the energy to produce light. Thus, its input/output ratio is quite high, and typically LED’s last about 20,000 to 35,000 light hours (compared to CFLs which last 15,000-20,000 hours and incandescent bulbs which last about 1000-2000 hours). This makes them an extremely cost-effective option, when compared to other forms of lighting.
To add to this, LED is available in a variety of colours and can be used very effectively for home decor. Also, LED is a point source of light. Which means if LED lighting is recessed into a wall, all the light it emits will go straight ahead into the room? When incandescent bulbs are recessed, only a fraction of the light will actually make it into the room.

What to anticipate when you start Remodeling

Cory — Wed, 16 Sep 2009 08:01:03 +0000

Many times we come across home owners who plan the remodeling extensively and are very scrupulous about what changes they want and what kind of a contractor they’re looking for. However, the important part that most overlook is the actual ‘remodeling’ process. Remodeling can become quite inconvenient, because you’re still living in the house, while it is being torn down and built up simultaneously. A lot of families, especially the large ones, feel like they’ve been hit by a hurricane and eventually get very tired and irritated with the entire process. Here’s what you can do to make things easier:

1. With your contractor, chalk out areas of the house that the family can use and ones that will be worked on, phase by phase. Explain these areas to the family.
2. Keep essential items that your family will need in these areas, and move all other items, including furniture out – in your basement or garage.
3. A few days, or weeks before the remodeling begins, ask friends and relatives if you could use their basement or garage to store all the furniture that you will need to move out. Arrange for packers and movers or some neighborhood help.
4. Make sure the contractor explains to his workers which areas are off limits. Also make sure that the workers know if you want them not to smoke, drink, blare music or swear when they’re working in your house.
5. Try and get someone to watch toddlers full-time, if you cannot. If you have a dog, leash train them, so that they won’t disturb the workers and harm themselves.

How to Select a Remodeling Contractor

Cory — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 08:45:39 +0000

When you finally meet a few green remodeling contractors who fit your bill, you need to discuss certain things with them in order to know which one of them you would want to trust your house to. This is a crucial junction, at which you can do a lot to ensure that the remodeling project goes off smoothly, and you get exactly the house you want. Asking the right kind of questions will help you make this possible.

1. Can he provide References: Always check a contractor’s past clients. If possible, check out the homes he has remodeled. This will give you an idea about his style and also directly get to meet with the clients. It is also important that this past project happened in the near past.
2. Is he a member of any trade association: This will ensure that your contractor has a verifiable and authentic background.
3. Why he is in this business: Green building requires a certain type of contractor. He’s got to have some environmentalist streak in him, in order to be a genuine green builder. From his answer you will be able to judge if he seems to be the genuine type.
4. Will he also get permits if required: Almost always remodeling projects require permits from local authorities. If your contractor can offer this, then it’s a huge task taken off your shoulders.
The NARI website also provides a good list of questions that you could ask contractors before selecting one.

How to Select a Remodeling Contractor

Cory — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 08:35:09 +0000

Remodeling itself can be done in two different ways: The design-bid-build process, in which case you hire one designer to draw up the plans for the house, and then hire a builder to remodel the house according to those plans or the design-build process, in which one architect or contractor handles the designing and the remodeling together. Ideally, you want to select a contractor who works on the design-build basis. Why? Find that out on our post about design-build.

Other than that, you can use tried an trusted methods, like speaking to people who have remodeled their house before and also checking with local remodeling contractors. An important point to know here is that a remodeling contractor is different from a builder who also does remodeling. You want to ensure that you take the services of a remodeling contractor – since building is a completely different ball game.

You can take the help of associations like NARI (National Association of The Remodeling Industry) or the USGBC (US Green Building Corporation). Their websites will inform you on how to locate a certified remodeling contractor in your area. When you look for green remodeling contractors, you also want to make sure that they understand green building well. You can judge by their suggestions about the project.

Finally, what matters most of all is whether your contractor really thinks green building is important and if he really is into saving the environment. Green building is not so much about skills as it is about ethics. A contractor who looks at green building as just a competitive edge, is not such a good bet.

Buying, Installing and Maintaining a Solar Water Heater

Cory — Tue, 01 Sep 2009 08:01:47 +0000

Many of our customers want to shift to solar energy, but find the investment in a solar electric system too heavy. For such individuals, we often recommend going for solar water heaters to take care of the water heating requirements. This is relatively cheaper and easier to install, so you can save the environment and some cash too.

There is a basic difference between solar electric systems and a solar water heater. The former use the light energy of the sun and the latter, use heat energy. Thus, solar water heaters come sans the PV modules but with a solar collector which traps heat instead of light. There are 5 types of solar heaters available in the market:
1. Batch systems: For a 1-2 person household, low cost, temperate climate (not very cold winters), simple.
2. Thermosyphon systems: Passive solar system with no moving parts, suitable for temperate climate, less efficient and more expensive than active solar systems but very reliable, obtrusive in appearance. Fit for 3-4 person household.
3. Open-loop Direct Systems: Active solar system, the most simple of systems, heats domestic water directly in a storage tank, works well in temperate climates
4. Pressurized Glycol Systems: Closed loop system which heats up a non-freezing fluid and uses this fluid to heat up the water, suitable for regions with freezing temperatures,
5. Closed Loop Drainback system: Requires minimum maintenance, Works on similar principle as above, distilled water used as the heat transfer fluid.

Solar water heaters make a lot of financial sense and will drop your electricity bills or heating bills by almost 50%-80%. Add to this tax rebates and credits that you’re entitled to on purchase of a solar heater and the overall cost is reduced by a huge number.