» Green Building

Heating with Mini Splits

Cory — Fri, 18 Dec 2009 14:36:19 +0000

We will all agree, that when it comes to home operating costs and maintenance, little else burns as large a hole in our pockets as heating and cooling. HVAC is one place where homes lose a lot of greenery – in terms of money, and in terms of the carbon footprint they add. Therefore, when we remodel homes, a lot of homeowners want to know how to restructure their HVAC systems, to make their homes (and their pockets) greener. Our answer to them – mini split systems.
Most homes run on centralized HVAC systems that use ducts and sometimes pipes to control temperatures indoors. While these systems are quite alright, they are not always feasible when you are attempting a remodel, especially if you are adding an extra floor or room space or making major design changes. Restructuring the entire duct and pipe system adds considerably to the cost. Mini split systems make it easy to manage indoor temperatures without any major construction or uprooting.
Mini split systems are also called ductless systems and are available for heating and air conditioning purposes. These systems come with three parts, which can be very simply explained as: one part which is mounted indoors to maintain air and temperature, one part outside which handles the condensing and compressing and a third part linking both parts with suction wires, electrical wires, drain and refrigerant tubing. This entire system can be fitted with minimal inconvenience and construction and works efficiently to heat/cool/condition as per your requirements.
The amazing thing about them is their efficiency. Bonneville Power administration just did a study that found that mini splits can be as high as 450 % efficient. For every $1.00 you spend you get $4.50 worth of heat. Nothing else on the market even comes close. Back that up with a supper insulated house and your heating bill will become a non issue.

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 offer huge Enviormental Savings

Cory — Mon, 30 Nov 2009 08:08:40 +0000

The main reason we’ve included LED in our recommendations, is because they’re quite eco-friendly, compared to all other options. LED produce much more light per watt of electricity. To be precise they produce around 18-22 lumens per watt, much higher than the incandescent and fluorescent lamps. This means they use less power to produce more, which cumulatively adds up to a lot of energy savings. In fact, the US DOE estimates that if LED lighting were used on a large scale, it would convert to savings of $265 billion, reduce electricity demand for lighting purposes by 33% ; and avoid the set up of 40 power plants across the country.
Also, every time you turn on the lights, you’re contributing to CO2 emissions to the tune of 196 pounds per year, for every light bulb in your house. LED lamps bring this to just 63 pounds every year. LED lighting is also non-toxic, it does not contain mercury like fluorescent lamps and thus recycling them is less hazardous. A few other benefits:
• LEDs are extremely small and are available in different colours. This goes well when you try to get creative with lighting in your house.
• LEDs can be dimmed quite easily. Repeated on-off cycles don’t damage LEDs the way they damage other lights. Thus, using LEDs for Christmas lighting is the ideal option
• They’re shock resistant, not fragile like usual bulbs.

Using Structural Insulated Panels (SIP’s)

Cory — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:48:18 +0000

Although not new, structural insulated panels (SIP) have recently garnered more attention than ever, thanks to the builders’, manufacturers’ and homeowners’ interest in green building and energy efficiency. With a view to energy efficiency, SIP is a good option. If you’ve ever been involved with any kind of construction in any way, you will notice that builders often use what look like large boards in place of conventional stick frames. Essentially, they’re replacing traditional house envelopes with SIP – and the best part about SIPs is that they can be used in place of any building material. SIPs are used in place of exterior walls, roofing material, floor boards and insulating the foundation.
The most obvious benefit of SIPs is that they have excellent insulating properties. A house built with one of the first ‘versions’ of SIPs in 1937 is still standing, after years of withstanding Wisconsin’s severe climate. The house was dedicated by then First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt and is currently used as a day care centre by the University of Wisconsin. Since then, SIPs have gone through many changes. The SIPs today play a significant role in reducing a house’s energy consumption requirements – particularly heating requirements, are quite low on maintenance and high on durability leading to lower operating costs and are easier and more efficient to construct. The only possible drawback that we might consider is their suitability over the long term in Northwest wet weather.

Using Old Growth Fir Beams

Cory — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 15:08:14 +0000

We had been looking for some beams to use on the living room and dining room ceilings and finally found some old growth beams in Seattle. The beams were originally installed in the Packard building, which was built in 1910, to house a Packard Auto dealership. From what we have learned, the building had at least two businesses occupy it during it’s 98 year life., the Packard car dealership and the Foley sign company. The building was torn down in 2008 to make way for new multi-use retail and residential building. A demolition company salvaged the lumber from the building and we were able to purchase a few of them.

As you might imagine, the beams needed a little work. We took them to Quality Solutions, a carpentry shop owned by Mike Anderson here in Olympia. Mike has the right equipment for cutting and planning large lumber like this. We started by cutting the beams down to the size we wanted, which was 8″ X 8” We then ran them through a planner to get all four sides smooth. From there we took them back to the house to finishes prepping them.

Using a hand power planner with a special curved blade, we proceeded to cut gouges into three sides of the beams. After that was completed, we sanded the beams with 60 grit and then again with 120 grit sandpaper. Then we coated them with a dark stain to contrast with the pine T&G boards we had already installed on the ceilings. After cutting the beams to fit between the walls and wedged them into place we crawled into the attic and secure them. We did this by laying 4X4’s across the top of the trusses bottom cords and then screwed ten inch long lags into the beams.

The end result is beautiful. It also fills good to know the beams have been given a new life ready to go for another 100 years.

The Road to Green Living is paved with Recycled Tiles

Cory — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:25:45 +0000

Forget wood, laminate, ceramic and all those other offensive gas emitting and environment degrading options for your floors and walls. No green home is green without recycled tiles. And thankfully when it comes to this, we have many options. Recycled glass tiles seem to be a hot item on the internet and also among those who want to build green homes. This is probably because everybody has use for glass tiles and they are relatively cheaper to recycle than other materials. Also, for those looking at colour and vibrancy in their showers or kitchens, recycled glass tiles are affordable and they fit the bill perfectly.
For those of you looking for something little more unique – try out recycled metal tiles. Very few people have ever really tried any kind of metal tiles; leave alone recycled metal ones but the ones at Eco Friendly Flooring leave you quite speechless. They’re made from recycled aluminium or brass and would look absolutely stunning in the kitchen or even as plain decorative elements on a wall.
Another great option is rubber flooring. Before you get ideas about bouncing along as you walk, let us make ourselves clearer: Rubber Flooring is actually safer (because it’s slip-proof); durable (because it won’t crack and will expand when your house settles); comfortable (it’s sound absorbent, soft to feel and walk on) and quite economical when compared to other options. And if you thought you might not get variety, check out Rephouse for their colours and textures.
If you find yourself confused by all the recycled flooring results when you try Google, visit www.ecosurfaces.com – a one stop shop that covers flooring surfaces made from all types of eco-friendly , materials in many colours and textures.

How do you build a Passive house?

Cory — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 08:11:31 +0000

By using certain principles for building aspects. The passivhaus technique achieves its standards by improving on many aspects of designing and building, particularly:

1. Passive Solar Design: This entails using naturally available sunlight, the suns’ daily and annual cycles to maintain a comfortably warm home without using other heating and ventilation system. This is done by building compact structures, window orientation, using lightweight materials and other techniques.

2. Superinsulation: The walls, floor and roof of a passive house are highly thermal insulated to prevent heat from escaping. Most houses have some form of insulation, however, they will depend on traditional temperature control devices to maintain constant temperatures throughout the house. Passive houses are superinsulated, such that the walls themselves are made up of insulating materials. Because of this, there are no thermal bridges, and there needs to be no external insulation of any kind.

3. Advanced Window Technology: Windows play an important role in designing passive houses. Window placement, size, alignment, material and design help to increase natural lighting in the house without adding to the heat or using electricity. Windows for passivhaus are differently manufactured and are made with extremely thermal resistant. The glass also is generally filled with argon or krypton gas which reduces heat transfer either ways and absorbs UV rays.

Passivhaus? Passive House? We just want a home!!

Cory — Fri, 02 Oct 2009 08:47:36 +0000

We’ve been talking about passivhaus a little too many times in recent posts, and you’ve also probably been wondering about what’s so great about passivhaus. Depending on what kind of research you’ve been doing about building or remodeling you might have come across the term ‘Passive House’. Well, passivhaus is the German term for the same.

Passivhaus is a building technique, or rather a set of building principles which result in creating a house that is extremely efficiently heated and cooled without the need for any external cooling/heating system. To make things simpler – imagine your current expenditure on heating and cooling – in terms of the system/equipment, the energy usage and the maintenance. Now bring this expenditure to almost 10% of its cost – this is what the Passivhaus technique looks at achieving.

Passivhaus achieves such efficiency by the inherent design and plan of the building itself, ambient and incident sunlight and weather conditions like windiness, cloudiness and sunshine. The principles of passivhaus are rigorous and strict ensuring that the structure built is extremely air-tight, optimally utilizes ventilation, super-insulated, and can remain at constant temperatures regardless of outside weather. Most of all – passive houses are sustainable, minimizing usage of energy and creating extremely healthy indoor air quality. Any energy, is required is produced with the help of solar systems – further reducing the carbon footprint and cost.

And contrary to what you might think, passive houses are as normal looking as regular homes and also not as expensive to build as others.

How to remodel the green way. Phase 1 demolition

Cory — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 02:14:12 +0000

Remodeling – Demolition

An eco-friendly home first begins by taking it all apart – the demolition we mean. Ideally, environment friendly construction should begin here. Here are things you can do to ensure that you have a green demolition too:

1. Start by reviewing all the times in your house, to see what can be recycled. Recycling is one of the simplest ways by which you can minimize waste, minimize cost and maximum your home’s green quotient. Start with the furniture – can you use the wood to create other things? Can you donate it? Can u refurbish it to reuse it? When you think of bringing in the new, think of what you’re going to do with the old.
2. Ensure you have a demolition crew that doesn’t tear the place down. Many items that are quite salvageable get damaged in the process of demolition. For example, you could use the bricks for the walls to pave your garden or backyard or for some other construction in the house, provided the crew knows how to bring them out intact.
3. When you finally do end up with things that you cannot put to any use, before discarding them, look for people who can put them to good use. For example, you might not know what to do with all your old plumbing pipes, or there may be items that get damaged and thus are not of any use – like glass or tiles. Contact companies that manufacture recycled construction material. They will be more than happy to get their hands on raw material or at least refer you to someone who would be.

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.