Green: Is It Your Color? Part I
By Molly Erin McCabe, AKBD
Reprinted with permission from West Sound Home & Garden Magazine (Wet Apple Media, Inc., an NKBA member company)
In case you have not heard, green is the new black, but mind you, this is no
fashion trend. Decorating, designing, and building sustainable homes is the wave
of the future. This first installment in a four part series on the fundamentals of
sustainable design and build will help ensure that your project won’t get left on
the beach.
Sustainable design and build, aka building green, is defined by the
efficient use of energy and material resources in the construction and
maintenance of a structure so as to minimize its overall impact on the
environment. Designing and building green is really nothing new. It's a staple that
has been around for decades but is now getting renewed attention due, in part, to
high energy prices and concerns over the US’s reliance on foreign oil and global
warming. The fact that green design/building has historically not garnered a lion’s
share of the construction market can be attributed to both lack of financial
incentive as well as a perception of poor product quality and selection. Today
there is a wealth of well studied environmental building science along with an
incredible selection of innovative green products that are making sustainable
design and construction not only easy but affordable. This is evidenced by the
fact that Big Box retailers like Home Depot are promoting environmentally
friendly products.
Designing and building green is not an all or none proposition - every little
bit count! It is not a matter of single-handedly saving the environment on one’s
own, but rather focusing on the small things that individuals have control over
such as installing dimmer switches on lights, replacing incandescent light bulbs
with fluorescents, or fixing leaky faucets. If everyone does a little bit, the benefits
will add up.
To expand on this philosophy we turn to the four R’s of sustainably
designed and built homes – rethink, reduce, reuse, and recycle.
Rethink
We need to rethink the way we have been designing and
building residential spaces. Start by siting houses on their lots so that you can
maximize day lighting and minimize western exposures (unless you have
sufficient roof overhangs) which will reduce the need for artificial lighting as well
as cooling needs in summer not to mention maintenance of the home, all of
which will have a positive impact on the environment.
Second, we need to rethink the size of residential structures. With careful
design and planning it is possible to maximize space utilization providing a
spacious living environment with out tipping the project into the McMansion
category. Sarah Susanka, the author of the Not So Big House book series, has
been successfully promoting the concept that bigger is not better when it comes
to housing size and that using higher quality construction and finish materials
rather than building more square footage will produce more satisfying results.
Also consider the style of architecture - in an effort to minimize material usage,
modern or contemporary architecture with its inherent open floor plans have
fewer walls which means less framing, wall board, millwork and ducting as well
as more potential for natural day lighting. All of these suggestions will reduce
building costs as well as operating and maintenance costs by minimizing utility
bills and material replacements, effectively saving homeowners money and
potentially increasing their leisure time.
From the build point of view, we need to consider the materials we are
building with. By utilizing factory made and assembled structural materials such
as panalized walls and floor joists, roof trusses, structurally insulated panels
(SIPs), gluelams and LVLs we can reduce the logging of old growth forests,
construction waste and project delays while saving considerable time and
exposure to the elements during the build process. A house built with SIPs can
be assembled in 5-7 days with the assistance of a crane (this includes the frame,
exterior sheathing, insulation and interior sheathing) versus over eight weeks for
the same materials on a traditional stick built home in good weather.
Lastly, rethink your selection of common materials. You can start by
substituting a standard product for one with a green benefit, or by altering a
home’s design in a green way. For example, most homes will be painted on the
interior. Consider using a low VOC (volatile organic compounds) paint such as
Yolo, or Ecospec. These paints not only reduce smog emissions but also
preserve indoor air quality allowing you to breath easier both while applying the
paint and thereafter. Houses need toilets, so why not consider a dual flush model
that uses only .9 gallons per flush for liquid waste and 1.3-1.6 gallons for solid
waste. Homeowners will recoup the investment via a reduction in their water bill
over the life of the unit. Consider installing tubular skylights to enhance day
lighting and reduce dependence on artificial lighting and get a nice little tax
deduction for your troubles (go to www.EnergyStar.gov and search tax credits or
your local utility companies website to find all the products that are eligible for tax
breaks and rebates).
Reduce
It is important to minimize a home’s energy and water
consumption as well as its operating and maintenance requirements. To reduce
energy and water consumption focus on selecting Energy Star rated appliances
(www.EnergyStar.gov), low flow plumbing fixtures especially those that sport the
WaterSense certification logo (www.epa.gov/watersense) and using native plants
for landscaping which have much lower irrigation requirements than non-native
species. The key to reducing maintenance requirements and material
replacements is by selecting the most durable products a project budget can
afford. As an example, metal roofing has a 50 year life versus three-tab asphalt
roofing which has an expected life of only 20 years. The metal roof is more
expensive on the front end but is has more than twice the life of the asphalt roof
making it less expensive in the long run. Metal roofs are also easier to maintain
than asphalt and they can be recycled at the end of their useful lives unlike
asphalt roofs.
Reuse
Consider remodeling or expanding an existing home rather than
building new. By reusing an existing lot, foundation and framing, you are
preserving what is referred to in the trade as embodied energy. Embodied energy
is the total amount of energy required to produce, transport and install a product.
Preserving embodied energy can be augmented by using salvaged materials.
Reusing materials whenever possible reduces project costs by avoiding the
expense of disposing of them and by reducing the need to purchase new
materials. When reusing structural materials, it is important to check with your
local building authority regarding strength reductions or limits. Code may require
some downgrading of structural capacity. Some materials commonly reused
include: framing timbers, concrete forms, windows, doors, cabinets, moldings just
to mention a few.
How do you get the most reusable materials out of a project? You
deconstruct. If you really believe that you need to knock down an existing house
to build a better one, consider deconstruction first and this same concept can be
applied to remodels too. Deconstructing is just as it sounds, you take the
structure apart sometimes stick by stick. According to Quarterly Remodeler
magazine, the average new home produces between three and five pounds of
construction waste per square foot (or 10,000 pounds for a 2,500 square foot
home) while the average remodel produces between 70 and 115 pounds of
construction waste per square foot and that 85-90% of this is recyclable. I
recently deconstructed my own 2,000 square foot home and in the process
diverted approximately 40,000 pounds of house from the land fill not to mention
saving myself at least $8,000 in dump fees.
Successful deconstruction takes planning and creativity. It is important to
determine how/where salvaged materials will be stored for future use as well as
deciding how/where to best recycle the materials that will not be reused in a
project. Unwanted materials can be sold on eBay or Craig’s List, donated to
charitable organizations such as Builders Bargains (a division of Kitsap Habitat
for Humanity) in Bremerton and the Re-Store in Seattle or responsibly recycled at
your local transfer station or through local chapters of Freecycle.org. If you are
not up for doing the deconstruction yourself, note that there are companies and
non-profit agencies for hire that specialize in deconstruction.
Recycle
As was mentioned a moment ago, 85-90% of construction
waste is actually recyclable. So whether a building project entails deconstructing
and building back up or building new, a concerted effort should be placed on
recycling construction debris. For example save the end cuts from framing timber
for kindling or give them to someone who uses a wood burning stove for heat.
Maintain a collection bucket for bent nails, bits of wire and metal straps from
wood deliveries and periodically recycle this at your local transfer station. Save
the plastic wrap off product packaging and use as drop cloths, masking off
painting areas or covering materials being stored out of doors. Recycling will
reduce dump fees and minimize the quantity of materials being placed in landfills
while potentially providing useful items to others and a tax deduction to the
donor.
There are multiple motivations for designing and building green. For some
it is the monetary savings, for others it is the sense of wellbeing by living in a
healthy home and for many it is the idea that they are reducing their impact on
the global environment. What ever the reason, the key to successfully designing
and building green is the same as conventional design and build – planning. By
incorporating the four R’s of sustainable design and build into the planning of a
remodel or built new project, you can ensure that your efforts will be paid off
aesthetically, ecologically and economically. So ask yourself, is green your color?
In the next installment we will look at “how do you know that you are really
getting a green product/home?” The final installment will look at design features
and materials to make your kitchen, bath or laundry room environmentally
friendly.
About the Author
Molly Erin McCabe, AKBD is a professional kitchen and bath designer and
owner of A Kitchen That Works™. She is a member of the Olympic West Sound
Chapter of the National Kitchen & Bath Association and the Kitsap Homebuilders
Association Green Built Program. Ms. McCabe is the co-designer and co-builder
of a three star Built Green home. She can be reached at 206-780-1906 or .