Posts Tagged ‘Home Builders’

1. Adaptability: GHP can be used in a variety of climates and conditions. With air-source pumps, the general external temperature matters quite a bit. However, regardless of surface temperature, the temperature beneath the earth’s surface remains more or less warm, constantly. This makes it possible to use GHP in different geographical regions with different temperatures. Add to this, there are four different types of GHP installations available, depending on different soil, climate and installation costs. The local installer will be able to guide you to the best option for you.
2. High Efficiency: Because the earth’s temperature is more or less constant, GHP provide you with better heating cooling without having to create any heat in the first place. For moving heat, GHPs use only 50-75% of the electricity used by other heat pumps. This makes them extremely efficient, with a rate of 300-400%. They’re also very efficient at controlling humidity, which works great for a wet weather like ours.
3. Durability: GHPs have no moving parts, and the parts are rarely exposed to weathering or destructive elements. As such, with a proper installation, the entire system can last up to 25 years (and certain parts up to 50)
4. GHPs are much quieter that other heat pumps, require less space and can be configured for use in a new home or old one. Plus, it is also possible to control the heat supply and therefore the temperature of different rooms with GHP.

When trying to conserve energy and your wallet, one of the important factors many people overlook is weather. There is a certain ‘optimal’ HVAC system for every kind of weather, and by designing with that in mind helps to makes sure that your budget remains optimal too. Not every house needs air conditioning or furnace heaters. For instance, if you usually have moderate weather throughout the year, like we have in the Pacific Northwest, you could actually replace conventional heaters and A/Cs with heat pumps. And we generally advice our clients to go in for geothermal heat pumps. (GHP)
A heat pump works by moving heat from a warm area to a cool area. It operates on electricity and generally moves heat from the warm air outside to your cold interiors or warm air indoors to cool exteriors. Heat pumps that exchange heat in this manner are called air-source heat pumps. Overall pumps have high efficiency, in fact the highest, since they use very little energy and don’t really create heat, only move it. A geothermal pump works in a similar fashion, only, it exchanges heat with the earth, instead of air. Geothermal heat pumps move the earth’s heat through ducts into a cool house, and vice versa. Because the lower layer of the earth remains more or less at the same temperature, and is warm, GHP work in almost every kind of weather and are favored largely in extreme temperatures.
Geo Thermal Heat pumps are generally more expensive than conventional heating systems. However, the success of an installation depends on the weather, soil quality and certain other factors. Yet, over the long term, the operating costs of heat pump, especially geothermal heat pumps cost very little to operate and provide up to 300% efficiency.

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.

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.

While working with American Clay, we also discovered quite a few other products that are as eco-friendly and work as well in place of the polluting material we used to use. The first thing we found was a new type of spray-on plaster that could be used to create any of texturing – the kind you see in artistic and decorative homes. Enjarre can be used in place of paint or as a plaster itself and is available in standard and custom colors. If you’re looking at making minor changes to your old plaster – American clay has a Primer for your needs – fully eco-friendly and suitable to enhance the finish and protect any type of plaster.

Also a product that we think is very handy is their sealer. The Penetrating Sealer is perfect for giving the earth plastered walls sheen and making surfaces smooth to make cleaning easy. However its primary purpose is making your wall water resistant – especially in places where you have water seepage issues. The Gloss Sealer is used over the penetrating sealer to create a high-gloss look where desired.

Their best buy however the Mud-Glue – which is a binder for their plasters and at the same time a primer for your walls. Thus, not only is it environmentally friendly, but it also saves time because you don’t have to prime the walls separately. As a binder mud glue works to create more resistance within the earth plasters against water.