Spring is a great time to do an assessment of your home. This will provide you with a priority list of things to get done before next winter to help create the most healthy, energy-efficient, and durable home possible.
1. Water Management
Check your roofing for damage – repair or replace as needed
Check your gutter for proper slope and drainage
verify your rain tanks or splash blocks are still in place and functional
The snow is melting, the birds are chirping, and Spring is coming – it must be SVBA Home and Garden Show time! This year’s show in Harrisonburg has some great new additions including a plant sale, Canstruction, Education Sessions, and the Home Show Food Fest! Plan to attend this great event on April 11-12 at the Rockingham County Fair Grounds. All the fun activities from the past will return including a kid zone, Beer Garden, Classic Car Show, SPCA Adoption Event, and of course all the industry leading experts in the Home Construction industry.
Attend The Home Show And…
• Shop, compare and save. Ask exhibitors for show specials
• Save time by meeting a wide range of companies under one roof
• Discover new ideas and interesting products for your home
• Find the best resources in home improvement, landscaping, and design services
• Meet face to face and get a “feel” before you hire
• Get expert advice and learn from the pros
• Get inspired and excited about your home and the countless possibilities
The Education sessions include topics such as gardening, canning, herb gardening, soap making, native plants, purchasing a home, reverse mortgages, vegetable gardening, soapbox derby car construction, and beer making.
Green Terms Defined: Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV)
An ERV or Energy Recovery Ventilator is part of a balanced ventilation system that transfers water vapor and heat from one airstream to another. In a mixed humid climate, it works differently in the hot season and the cold season. In hot months, the ERV works to maintain the interior relative humidity of a structure as outside air is conditioned by the ERV entering the fresh air ventilation system. In cold months water vapor is captured from the outgoing air to humidify the incoming air.
An ERV or HRV (heat recovery ventilator) provides fresh air and improved climate control while reducing the energy requirement for heating and cooling a building.
Need a little more space? Finish your basement, but have a solid plan in place first. Here are 10 things to consider:
Figure out the code requirements that might impact your home. You have to meet egress, ventilation, heating and cooling, electrical, and permit requirements.
One of the biggest mistakes people make when finishing a basement is not taking measures to keep it dry. If your basement walls have any signs of moisture at all (and even if they dont) you should leave an air cavity behind the finished walls. This will allow space for the wall to dry out if water gets into the wall system.
When building a wall in the basement you need to install a seal sealer under the pressure treated wood plate in order to reduce the chance of mold growth or water issues.
The rim board is a huge air leak in most homes. Seal it with open cell spray foam. You should also insulate the walls to R-19 in the basement. This will make the space more comfortable and probably cut your energy usage.
Pick your ceiling type with thoughts of future renovations. If you will need to get to plumbing that is above head, leave an access. If there are a lot of access point, perhaps you want to consider an acoustic ceiling (I really don’t like this option).
A basement can be a dark spot in the house without proper lighting. Spend the money to get the appropriate number of lights installed with a nice color spectrum. After all you want to use the space don’t you. If at all possible, get natural light into the space through windows or if it is a walk out basement doors. If there is a bedroom, this is a code requirement.
If your house was not originally designed to have a finished basement, you need to get a qualified HVAC technician to look at your system. It is important to make sure the system can handle the additional finished space, remove unwanted humidity, and provide the appropriate amount of ventilation.
Test materials that might contain asbestos or lead. Removing these items can have serious health consequences to your family. You need to take specific cautions when working with these materials.
There is nothing worse than finishing a basement for your home theater space / sports hangout / man cave / gym to find out you cannot turn the television or music up after 9pm because it is below your kid’s bedroom. Make sure you add sound insulation measures into the design to create the kind of space you want and don’t create problems with the existing spaces in your home.
If you are adding a bathroom in the basement – first make sure your septic system will allow for it (gravity and size), next make sure you can provide the needed ventilation, and then figure out how to connect it to the existing plumbing system. It is not complicated to get it right, but it does take some planning.
5 ways to reduce the Stormwater Fee you will have to pay in Harrisonburg
Rain falls from the sky. Buildings, parking lots, sidewalks, and streets collect and funnel the water into the storm water system. In Harrisonburg, this water all finds its way into our local creeks and streams. Walking through downtown, you see (smell) it in Blacks Run for instance.
Each year, a cleanup is organized to remove the storm debris (trash, paper, plastic…) from Blacks Run. However, this does not / cannot remove all the pollutants that get into the waterways and eventually find their way into the Chesapeake Bay. These pollutants have been flowing into the Bay for years from all over the state. So now each resident of localities that have mandated Municipal Seperate Storm Sewer System permits issued by the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (Harrisonburg, Charlottesville) will pay to help clean it up.
Harrisonburg will institute a storm water fee for every home owner of $10.50 per 500 sf of impervious surface. For most home owners this will amount to $50 per year. For larger property owners, this will be a harder pill to swallow.
Here are 5 things that you can do to help (and it will reduce your fee to the city by up to 50%).
You could install pervious concrete sidewalks / driveway / parking lots to allow the water to flow through the pavement into the ground.
Every three years (or so) Virginia updates the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code (VUSBC). Virginia typically adopts a version of the International Building Code (updated every year) that is 3 years behind the current year. As of July 1, 2014, Virginia adopted the 2012 International Building Code, which will be mandatory for new buildings starting July 1, 2015. Part of that code is a subset called the 2012 International Energy Conservation Code. Virginia does not adopt it without some modification (I wish they did) so here are some things to expect.
New homes being built have to be caulked and sealed to create an air tight envelope. Virginia modified this requirement to allow for a visual test – essentially making this a worthless requirement. If you are building, you should ask your builder for a blower door test to at least meet the 2012 IECC requirements of total building air leakage.
Ducts and air handlers must be sealed with maximum leakage testing to show tightness. Once again, Virginia allows for a visual test instead of the more effective duct blaster test.
50% of light bulbs and fixtures in a dwelling must now be high-efficacy lighting. I have not designed a house in more than 10 years that did not meet this requirement.
Wall insulation requirements have increased from R-13 to R-15 or R-13+1 Continuous.
According to a report developed by the Department of Energy, full implementation of the 2012 IECC would add $215 to a home over the 2009 IECC. The projected savings the home owner would see over the first year is $388. So ask your builder to build to the 2012 IECC instead of just the worst possible thing allowed by Virginia law – the Virginia Uniform Statewide Building Code.
