Posts Tagged ‘Home Builders’

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.

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.

Design-build is a method or system of managing and delivering a construction project, by which one single contractor will take care of both the designing and the building. The alternative to this system is the design-bid-build system by which the owner would have to contract separately for the design phase and then for the construction with two separate entities.

The design-build system holds one individual usually the architect or a contractor, as the central figure, responsible for overseeing the entire project. This has obvious advantages for the owner – he has to interact only with one individual, co-ordination is easier and time is better managed. The design-build contractor or firm will strive to streamline the entire process of designing (drawing up plans), construction planning, obtaining permits, etc. Because of this streamlining, activities can easily be overlapped – construction on parts can begin even while the designing is in process. At times, the main contractor may involve other organizations on the project with him, but in those cases too, the contractor will be the one dealing with them.

This overlapping offers flexibility to make changes to the design of the house, while construction is in process. With the popular design-bid-build system, this isn’t possible, since construction can begin only once the blue prints are finalized. Thus, for a home remodeling projects, wherein owners may want to try out different ideas the design-build system offers a lot of freedom.

We brought in two crew members from ICWalls, Inc. This is the company that installed the ICF’s (insulated concrete forms) on the first floor of the house. We hired four local carpenters to assist them with the walls. The walls were completed on  April 30th.

Constructions also began on an eight foot high retaining wall in the front of the house. Once complete, this wall will give the Coopers a 12 foot wide level front yard.

Forming up the footing for eight foot retaining wall in the front of the house

All the retaining walls, and the footings on the house, have perforated pipe installed at their bases. The pipes have been wrapped in silt fabric to prevent infiltration of dirt. Drain rock was then put over the pipes, and covered in silt fabric before backfill soils were added. These pipes were connected to the city storm drains in the front of the house so all water along the foundation or retaining wall is now carried away from the structure. In the future, the Coopers hope to add a water collection system that would capture some of the rain water and store it for irrigation in the summer.

Tomorrow the framers will start the interior walls and then the trussed roof.

LEED is an acronym for Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design. Homes and building are certified as LEED based on a rating system. This rating system encompasses a broad spectrum of criteria. Everything is considered from the location and size of the building to materials and process used to install them. LEED is also the only green type of certification that requires third party verification.

One of the main advantages to LEED over other certifications is that it begins in the design phase. Before plans are drawn up the owners, architects, builder and key sub contractors like HVAC, plumbing and electrical, meet to discuss the design and ways to make the home more efficient and livable. The synergy created in this type of process produces a home that is very livable, healthy, sustainable, and has less impact on the environment.

The disadvantage is the cost. Third party verification requires hiring a LEED consultant to over see the process. LEED also requires a record keeping and inspections & testing through out the building process. All of this can add eight to ten thousand dollars to the cost of the home.

Although it is expensive LEED is clearly to most comprehensive certification process. With the third party verification, the record keeping and the testing done during the building process LEED far exceeds any other certification process available. Owners who buy or build a LEED certified homes defiantly know what they are getting.