» Design Build

Olympia’s Hobbit House

Cory — Mon, 31 Jan 2011 15:29:30 +0000

The February / March issue of South Sound magazine features a story of the Bouvier/Rogers home which we at Laupen Homes LLC. built last year. The article includes some wonderful photos of the home that really capture the fill of this unique house. Of course there is a great photo of the round, hand carved wood door along with others of both the interior and exterior of the house, however one photo in particular is especially impressive. It’s a photo taken of one of the master bath vanity’s and mirror. At first it looks to be just a good picture of the vanity until you look at whats in the mirror. Thats when you notice that the photographer was able to capture the walk in shower, second vanity, and the other mirror. It’s a wonderful photo and worth a look.

Along with a story that talks about the unique aspects and energy efficient features of this home, you’ll also find in the article, the phone numbers and web site addresses of many of the subs and supplies who’s work is featured. You can find the magazine starting tomorrow in news stands and grocery stores throughout the south sound.

Water savings is in the Flush

Cory — Fri, 26 Mar 2010 08:29:59 +0000

According to certain estimations, the average person flushes 35 gallons of water down the toilet, everyday. Considering you’re a family of four or more, you can safely presume that nothing less than 300 gallons of water are being used just to flush toilets, other uses of water notwithstanding. Although water is not really expensive in the US (so far) it’s only a matter of time before we begin to feel the pinch. And the ironic part is: despite the fact that it is as cheap as it is, no amount of money can buy or create water, when it’s gone, it’s gone.
So what can we do to prevent this bleak situation? Get new toilets. Conventional toilets use about 5 gallons of water per flush, significantly more than the new toilets, which use about 1.6 gallons. Going by that estimate, you can save phenomenal amounts of water, anywhere between 8000 to 20000 gallons a year, depending on your current usage. This translates into some nifty savings on cash too, upto $100 per year.
The 1.6 gallons per flush (gpf) limit is the newest upper limit enforced by the EPA for toilets, which means there are also toilets that use lesser amount of water, some even lesser than 1 gpf. Many homeowners worry that such ‘low-flow’ toilets will also be low on efficiency. However the latest generation of toilets are high on efficiency while being low on water consumption. Watersense labeled toilets are some of the best you can find today in this category.
Cost is another factor that bothers many homeowners when we suggest low-flow high efficiency toilets. Although these toilets are expensive than normal toilets, the annual savings on water bills pretty much offset the initial costs. In fact, according to certain estimations, the ROI on water efficient toilets is about 50%. Altogether, this makes water efficient toilets a very sensible option if you’re going to remodel your bathroom.

Windows and Heating

Cory — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 08:04:21 +0000

There are two ways that windows help in heating and cooling – by preventing heat loss from the room, and by taking in heat from the outside. The former is measured by a window’s U-Factor and the latter by SHGC. U-Factor measures how much heat is lost through the window. The actual math gets quite complicated – U-Factor tells you how much heat is lost in one hour for one square foot at a certain temperature. A low U-Factor value (usually of 0.35 or lesser) means less loss and thus better insulation. Conversely, some windows may even mention an R-value, which is a measure of insulation. A low U-value corresponds to a high R-value.
SHGC is a value between 0-1. The lower the value, the less the amount of heat a window admits. Depending on the climate and your heating/cooling requirements you will need to pick a window with the right combination of SHGC and U-value. In cold climates, you want a U-value lesser than 0.35 combined with a high SHGC of around 0.60 or higher. This will considerable reduce the load on your heating system. For warm climates, you want the opposite – a low SHGC of less than 0.40 with a high U-value.
Does this mean you will have to change windows to match the seasons? Not necessarily. A metallic oxide layer (called a low E coating) applied on the outside keep the heat out, lowering the SHGC and when applied on the inside decreases the U-value. Even tints work well, though they only reduce the SHGC value.
Does material matter? Very much so, windows made of wood are not very good on insulation, while vinyl and fibreglass frames have the lowest U-values. Metal should be your last option when looking for insulation.

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.

Led’s are much more cost effective than traditional lighting

Cory — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 08:00:32 +0000

There are also quite a few other things you should keep in mind when buying an installing LED lighting. Having the services of an experienced electrician at your disposal is very important, as is the knowledge of an interior designer who’s worked with LED lighting. Bear in mind the following points:
1. White LED lighting tends to emit a specific kind of white light, which is different from other kinds of white light. This causes certain colors to be seen differently. Thus, you might find that your interiors don’t look the way they were supposed upon installing LED lighting. It is thus important to get a ‘test’ done, or seek professional opinion to see if your interiors will go with white LED lighting. (However, newer LEDs seem to have conquered this drawback)
2. Many people will opt for LEDs specifically because of their aesthetic appeal. However knowing where to use which LED lighting is another important factor determining the aesthetics of the entire setup. An array of LED lightings could be used to illuminate an entire room, while miniature LEDs are great for lighting up stairways, corridors and external paths to the house. Many will also use miniature LEDs for lighting up kitchen closets from the inside. Using the wrong LEDs in the wrong place could lead to an interior disaster.
3. LEDs are the most expensive option – only in the beginning. Their initial high price is off-set by their efficiency (and thus the lower bills) and their lifetime. However, using them correctly is important to ensure this happens. Another aspect we suggest to all our customers who look at green building – When it comes to making eco-friendly decisions, we need to look at life time costs, rather than one-time costs. In this regard, LED seems to win the race.

It’s important that you install LED’s correctly

Cory — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 08:13:21 +0000

There’s quite a fraction of people reading this series on LED lighting who will nod their heads in disagreement. You’ve probably heard from your friend’s that they are very-expensive, very-chic, or that LED installations go bonkers after a few months. The problem is not with LED. LED is one of the best lighting options for residences, when used correctly. An inexperienced electrician and incorrect buying decisions can do a lot of harm to the lighting of the house, to you and your pocket. Here’s what to bear in mind:
1. Buy the right type of LED for your requirements. There are low wattage LEDs, which will work on 1mA (very little) of electricity and there are also new High-Power, high wattage LED which will work on more than 1A (100+ mA) and produce over 1000 lumens. The low wattage ones are used singularly to create different effects, usually for decorative purposes. The high wattage ones are used in place of a light bulb, or used in an array to provide enough light for an entire room.
2. Both types of LED lighting have different requirements. Low wattage LEDs burn out very quickly if not used with the right kind of voltage. They require much less than what is available by default in homes. High wattage ones, on the other hand can work with what we have in homes but need adequate heat sinks that will absorb the extra heat they will produce. If heat sinks are damaged, the lighting will burn out in seconds.
3. LEDs are quite affected by ambient room temperature. Installing them into walls which are not properly ventilated or in rooms that tend to get warm affects their life expectancy, causing them to fade out faster.

More Furniture Ideas

Cory — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 08:17:32 +0000

Getting eco-friendly furniture is now easier than ever. Many more people are joining the green bandwagon and manufacturers are more than happy to tap into this market, while doing their bit for the environment. More and more people are opting for furniture made from reclaimed or recycled materials over wood and companies are happily going first to landfills and then to the banks.

After bamboo, recycled rubber, tin cans and cane, it is now time for Urban Wood. This is a relatively new entrant is the eco-friendly market but is catching quite fast. Urban wood furniture is made from wood that is salvaged around cities from tree falls, demolitions, and generally from the road side. Most of this furniture maintains its rough and ‘woody’ look and people seem to fall for it.

Another very unique and beautiful furniture or rather material option is found with Kirei USA. Kirei manufactures tiles and furniture material made from coconut, wheat, bamboo and kirei. Their tiles made for coconut bark and fiber area thing of beauty and their Wheatboards bamboo are excellent fire-resistant substitutes for wood. Their flagship Kirei board is lighter than wood but as durable and strong. Each of these materials also possess a texture and colour unique to the raw material that adds to its aesthetic appeal.

Is Passive House construction worth it?

Cory — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 08:22:10 +0000

Quite frankly, it is not to much effort. Building technology has developed to a great extent since the passivhaus standard came into existence, and it is quite a bit easier to build a passive house now than it was 10 years ago. Most of the building material that you require are easily available. Passive houses are as comfortable to live in as any other homes and in fact are healthier and safer because of the building design.

Passive houses are more expensive to build than conventional homes because of the materials required between five and ten percent depending on size. However, over the long run, they have proven to be much cheaper. When you look at how much a conventional home costs in terms of heating, cooling, ventilating, electricity, and air conditioning – a passive house turns out to be a cheaper bargain.

Passive homes are not that uncommon either. Although it is difficult to find a completely passive house in the US – they’re common in the UK and across Europe. Closer to home, we have green homes that make use of some of the principles of passivhaus and add their own two bits to create an energy efficient green home. In Washington DC, we have architect and green builder Travis Price’s four story green home, just about 10 minutes from the White House. His house was featured on the Discovery channel’s World’s Greenest Homes – which, by the way, is a great show to see how much and how easily people can build green homes for themselves.

What do the Passivhaus Standards entail?

Cory — Thu, 08 Oct 2009 08:04:56 +0000

In order to be called as a ‘passive house’ a house must be built with certain standards in mind. These standards were created in Europe and hence apply to homes built in the European countries, but are used more or less in the same manner throughout the world:

1. The house should not consume more than 15kWh/m2 in a year for heating and cooling requirements.
2. Its total energy consumption in a year must not be more than 42kWh/m2

In the US, these standards change a little in the following manner:

A house to be called a passive house must be designed in such a way that it consumes 1 btu per square foot per heating degree day for space heating purposes, compared to traditional homes which use anywhere between 5 to 15 btu. Your contractor should be able to explain better what standards he expects to achieve.

Along with these there are also standards for insulation and air-tightness. The structure should not leak air any more than 0.6 times the volume of the house.

Standards of this type make most people think that achieving them will be rather expensive. However, in the long run, the energy consumption of a passive house is less than 25% than that of a normal house. Plus, the overall cost of building, installing and operating a regular house and a passive house are almost the same.

Open Spaces and Gardens

Cory — Thu, 01 Oct 2009 03:02:02 +0000

One can’t have a green home without actual greenery, can one? Open spaces, gardens and green areas are quite important in a house, not just for aesthetic appeal, but also because they help largely in maintaining fresh air indoors and keeping a steady temperature. If you’re few of the lucky homeowners whose homes have backyards then there’s nothing like it. We strongly suggest that you make use of the backyard to have your own compost pit or recycling plant. This is not difficult or messy. You’ll get helpful tips on how easily you can make compost at http://www.helpfulgardener.com/.

If you don’t have the advantage of a backyard, you can still do a lot. For starters, depending on the kind of walls you have, you could speak to your contractor about having a controlled ivy growing on the outside wall – but do this with a professional gardener’s advice only. If you have a terrace you could go about converting it into a terrace garden. It’s not too technical and it can keep your roof quite cool during summers.

Indoor plants are an excellent idea. A better idea is to create space outside windows by installing racks for keeping potted plants – They’re an excellent way of providing privacy. Many homeowners will also create indoor gardens – complete with waterfalls. Although these are expensive, you could speak to your contractor about the possibilities.