Your Easy Built Green Recipe
It works better if you plug it in.
- Murphy's Laws
Maybe you've been thinking about becoming a Green Builder, but that
checklist looks a little intimidating. With over 140 options, is there too much
to chose from there? Are you worried it might take too much time to figure out
what you're already doing and what makes the most sense to add to it?
Lucky for you, there's a shortcut: just borrow the best ideas from your
colleagues. To make it easy for you, four production builders participating in
the Built Green program shared their Built Green recipes with the HBA's Energy
and Environmental Affairs Committee. That information is listed below.
A short reminder: to participate in the Green Builder Program of Colorado,
each home registered must either meet the 1993 CABO Model Energy Code or receive
an EStar energy rating of 4-stars (80) or better. Then you need to include at
least 38 items from the Checklist in every home you certify as meeting the Built Green threshold.
Were all four builder lists identical? Of course not; that would be
un-American, and would not meet market demands and differing builder interests.
But the lists showed a lot in common. The checklist items listed below, all
italicized, fall into three sections: the 22 items on everyone's list, 12
additional items on three of the four lists, plus items to consider thereafter
(recommendations from this writer). Editorial comments are also mixed in.
Everyone's common list
- Trees and natural features on site protected during construction.
- Minimize job-site waste by using materials wisely, and prohibit burying
construction waste.
- Furnace centrally located, all duct runs reduced as much as possible.
When done right, this saves money and should reduce callbacks.
- Thermostat with switch for furnace fan to circulate air. This is almost
a freebie; most thermostats sold today have this function built in.
- Set-back thermostat.
- Dishwasher with energy-saving cycle. Ditto #4.
- Light-colored interior walls, ceiling and soffit.
- Light-colored carpet.
- No can lights in insulated ceiling, or Insulation Contact-Rated
(IC-Rated) can lights are used. Most cans the industry sells are either
IC-Rated or, increasingly, airtight; this shift is relatively recent.
- Trusses or "I" joists used for roofs. This isn't always the
no-brainer it seems; porches, dormers, etc.
- Engineered lumber products for beams, joists or headers. Better
building costs more. You may need to break some bad habits by your framers.
- Subfloors: OSB made from fastgrowth material. A no-brainer.
- Subfloors: No Luan underlayment used. ...about conserving rain
forests.
- No Luan doors. Ditto #13.
- Exterior doors insulated to R-5 or greater. Most foam-core metal
doors qualify.
- Recycled-content sheathing (min. 50 percent), or OSB.
- Reconstituted or recycled-content siding (min. 50 percent). When
you have stucco or brick instead of siding, there are ways of getting another
point to replace this one.
- Reconstituted or recycled-content (min. 50 percent) fascia, soffit or
trim.
- Windows double glazed with 1/2" airspace. Just comparison shop;
this shouldn't cost anything.
- Paints and finishes that have minimal VOC content - less than 250
grams/liter of VOCs. This is already mandatory in California.
- Recycled content (min. 25 percent) insulation.
- Water conservation: Provide a list of native drought-resistant plants.
The Denver Water Department has these fists; it just requires a little copying
in your office.
The 3-out-of-4 list
- Save and reuse all site topsoil.
- Recycle job-site waste (greater than 50 percent).
- Advanced sealing package in addition to basic sealing practices; adds
sealing at top and bottom plates, corners, and between cavities at
penetrations. Should cost you an extra $50-$100 above basic sealing
package. Subs may need more training to give you what you pay for here...
- Radon mitigation installed or vent pipe laid under slab for retrofit.
But how many homes have slabs today? We may need to broaden this by giving
credit for air-tight crawl space and basement wood subfloor systems in the
future.
- Gas water heater with an Energy Factor of 0.60 or greater. Most
units today are only 53 to 56 percent efficient. Shop for this because, as
with many items, this upgrade varies a lot in price--from $20 to $100 extra.
- Large dimensional solid lumber (2x10 or greater) avoided in floors and
roofs wherever possible. Saves old-growth trees.
- Engineered wood "I" joists used for floors.
- Reduced framing package (24 " O. C. studs in interior non-bearing
walls, and 3stud corner). This saves money - $50 to $200; get the book on
OVE framing from NAHB and save even more than is required here.
- Recycled-content carpet pad.
- Regionally produced brick. Caution: what if there's no brick in a
particular home?
- Finger jointed trim.
- Formaldehyde free insulation. Formaldehyde is a suspected
carcinogen.
Your writer's final eight
Wait: if you put in all 34 items that the 3-out-of-4 builders did, you only
need four more items, right? Well....no. To realistically participate in the
program, you need a few extra items as a buffer, because some framer or product
supplier won't have gotten the word and they'll lose you a point. Then a
different design (no brick for "regional brick," no slab for "sub-slab radon
mitigation ventilation system") may lose you another point. Local building
inspectors cost one builder a point. Based on experience, most builders
recommend shooting for 42 points.
- If appliances are not included, a list of energy-efficient
appliances is provided. Buy copies of Consumer Guide to Home Energy
Savings by the box and hand them out. A very educational 200+ page book, it
lists all the most efficient appliances you can buy. Published every two
years, it should cost $7 in bulk purchases. (To order, call 510-524-5405.)
- Cellulose insulation with UL-Rated fire retardant. Shouldn't cost
any more; sometimes costs less. This insulation is more dense than blown
fiberglass in attics; helps dampen air leaking from house into attic. Due to
fiberglass shortages, your insulators are much more open to this product right
now.
- Insulate hot and cold water pipes 3 feet from the hot water heater.
Pipes above tanks are big heat losers; feel how hot yours are in your own
home! If this costs you $10, you've paid too much.
- Gas water heater with insulating blanket installed to manufacturers'
specs. Manufacturers don't want the blanket to slide down and block
combustion air access beneath the tank; but blankets don't damage the tank.
$10 to $15.
- No ducts in outside walls or attics unless ducts have minimum R-13
insulation. Eliminating wall stacks in exterior walls helps avoid comfort
callbacks; this is more a design issue than an up-charge. If you have attic
furnaces, you may not be able to use this point; but if you cool through that
same ductwork, you'll avoid comfort callbacks if you insulate all attic
ductwork with R-13.
- Return-air ducts in every bedroom. This promotes better circulation
and reduces pressure imbalances from room to room. Okay, we're in the home
stretch. My last two recommendations are highly personal ...and they'll add
some bucks.
- Low-e windows NFRC rated at 00.37 or better. Maybe $200 to $600,
depending on house size. But this adds market value if you market it: better
comfort, protection against fabric fading, less condensation, lower bills,
better resale. In the northeast and northwest states, low-e windows are now
almost standard. Would you buy a 66 megahertz computer today, when the latest
technology is up to 450?
- Furnace ductwork joints sealed with brushable low-toxic mastic.
Most duct tape loses its seal within several months to several years; just
check the tape in your older model homes. The new International Energy
Conservation Code prohibits duct tape on ducts! Yes, brush-applied
mastic costs an extra $150 or so, but it would be the #1 item on my entire
list, period. The top priority here is safety. Based on the house testing
I've been involved with over the last four years, in the wrong situation the
extraordinarily leaky ductwork in approximately 15 percent of all new homes
can create unsafe conditions due to frequent negative pressure in basements
when the furnace blower is operating. The second priority is solving comfort
problems caused by poorly designed and poorly sealed ductwork. Last summer, in
eight model homes in a row, basement temperatures were between 10 and 15
degrees colder than those on the main floor-the Goldilocks effect; mastic
could have solved this comfort problem and saved a lot of energy in the
process. Mastic is forever...
The above list is focused at making it easy for production builders to
consider entering the Green Builder Program of Colorado. But this is a generic
approach that may not match your company's angle. If you were more concerned
about indoor air quality, the list would include sealed combustion appliances,
cabinets made with formaldehyde-free particle board, use of low toxic adhesives
and water-based finishes on woodwork and wood floors, etc. If energy-efficiency
was your top priority, better foundation treatments, use of foam sheathing and
improved building orientation might be on your list. If you are more focused on
building materials, you could go for forger jointed studs (straight! what a
concept!), finger-jointed plates, and outdoor decking made with recycled
plastic.
So yes, your recipe options are endless. But don't let that stop you. As the
Nike commercial says, "just do it!"
Our sincere thanks go out to the four builders who broke trail here, making
your job of figuring out how to meet the Built Green threshold a lot easier.
Steve Andrews consults with builders for E-Star
Colorado and writes on energy issues (sbandrews@att.net).
E-Star (www.e-star.com),
is a nonprofit home energy rating system that works with both new and
existing homes statewide.
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