by Charles Hendricks | Jan 27, 2017 | Green Building, Harrisonburg Architect, project update
Click here for our first post on this house.
Click here for our past update.
Beck Builders is starting roof framing on Harrisonburg’s first ever Carbon Neutral home. The walls of the house are mostly insulated concrete forms, but a couple of walls needed to be wood framed. In order to achieve a high performance framed wall, we worked with the builder to design a system that eliminated thermal bridging and air leakage.
We added high windows for ventilation taking advantage of the chimney stack effect for natural cooling. The ICF walls are completely air tight and offer a high level of insulation value.
The deck provides incredible views towards the west.
The high windows provide natural light through the living room space. The open floor plan provides ample space for entertaining friends.
This home is setting standards for others to follow literally doing testing and analysis. This information will provide us with data to offer better design for those seeking energy-efficient, carbon neutral design solutions.
by Charles Hendricks | Mar 28, 2016 | Building Science, Green Building, green term defined, Indoor Air Quality
An energy audit is an inspection that looks at energy flow in a building. The objective of an audit is to identify things that can be modified to reduce energy usage and increase comfort and safety for the occupants of the building.
These audits usually involve a blower door that depressurizes a house or office and thermal imaging technology to see the thermal bridges and air leaks. The audit will also identify equipment, lights, and appliances that can be replaced or upgraded to reduce energy consumption.
There are common places that you can address without an audit to cut your energy loss.
- Caulk the gaps and cracks
- Seal the electrical outlets
- Seal your crawl space
- Add insulation in the attic
In Harrisonburg for homes that use electric heat, HEC provides free energy audits. This free audit is performed by me and is a very basic level audit that will identify a litany of items to improve. If you do not live in the city, or do not have electric heat ,or own a commercial project, or want a comprehensive audit, you should call Building Knowledge.
by Charles Hendricks | Dec 21, 2015 | Building Science, Green Building, green term defined, Indoor Air Quality
Green Terms Defined Summary 2015
2012 International Energy Conservation Code: Minimum energy code standards adopted by the Commonwealth of Virginia
Air Changes per Hour (ACH): the measure how many times the air within a defined space is replaced.
ASHRAE 90.1: a standard in the US that provides minimum requirements for energy-efficient designs for buildings except for low-rise residential buildings.
Carbon Footprint: a measure of the impact our activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of greenhouse gases we produce.
Carbon Neutral Building: the process of taking into account measuring, reducing, and offsetting carbon energy used by the building.
Cellulose Insulation: a low-thermal-conductivity material use to reduce heat loss and gain from a building.
Ceramic tile: made from clay that has been permanently hardened by heat, often having a decorative glaze.
Commissioning: verification and documentation that a building and the systems used are designed, installed, tested, operated, and maintained to meet the project requirements set by the building owner.
Conduction: the flow of heat through an object by transferring heat from one molecule to another. Think frying pan on a stove or wood stud that touches the inside drywall and the outside wall sheathing.
Convection: refers to the transfer of heat by a moving fluid. Thing warm air rising and cool air sinking in a room. Convection loops circulate near walls. During the heating season, warm air is cooled by exterior walls and falls towards the floor, creating a convection loop. Convective loops can also happen within framing cavities if the insulation doesn’t completely fill the space.
Edible landscaping: the practical integration of food plants within your landscape for the purposes of decorating as well as producing food.
Erosion: the removal of soil and rock by water from one location to another.
ERV or Energy Recovery Ventilator: part of a balanced ventilation system that transfers water vapor and heat from one airstream to another.
Flashing: a strip of impervious material used to stop water from penetrating the junction of a wall or roof with another surface.
Fly Ash: a fine, glass like powder recovered from the coal-burning process for the production of electricity.
Formaldehyde: A gas used widely in production of adhesives, plastics, preservatives, and fabric treatments and commonly emitted by indoor materials that are made with its compounds.
Grasslands Conservation Carbon Offsets: similar to forestry, native grasses and other vegetation provide a natural source of greenhouse gas (GHG) absorption and sequestration.
Historic Building: a structure that has historic, architectural, or cultural significance.
Humidistat: an electronic device that measures the relative humidity in a space.
HVAC: Heating, Ventilation, and Air Conditioning system in your home or business.
Infrared Thermography, thermal imaging, or thermal video: a type of infrared imaging used for determining air leakage in energy audits.
Insulated concrete form (ICF): a wall building system made of reinforced concrete and most commonly rigid thermal insulation.
Insulating Curtains: Thermal curtains have a lining that resists temperature change and are heavy enough to stop air flow.
Interior design: the art or process of designing the interior of a room or building.
Karst Topography: an area of irregular limestone in which erosion has produced fisures, sinkholes, underground streams and caverns.
Lifetime Home: A design approach that encompasses specific design features that ensure that a new house or apartment will meet the current and future needs of most households.
Light Shelf: a horizontal overhanging element located above the eye-level and typically having a highly reflective upper surface.
Linoleum: a resilient flooring product that was developed in the 1800’s. It consists of cork flour, linseed oil, oak dust, and jute.
Natural Ventilation: the process of supplying and removing air by natural means from building spaces by using windows, doors, solar chimneys, and non-powered ventilators.
Net Metering: a method of crediting consumers for the electricity that is generated on their home or business in excess of the total electricity that they have used.
No-Step Entry or zero-step entry: a flush entry from the driveway or garage into your home.
Pervious Concrete: concrete that allows water to move through the material into a storage area under the pavement.
Radiation: flow of heat from a warm source through space in waves of infrared or visible light energy. Think sunlight through a window.
Renovation: the act of repurposing / updating / remodeling of a building.
Resilient Design: the capacity of a design to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance.
Single-stream recycling: a process or system where all paper, plastics, metals, cardboard, glass, and trash goes into the same can and is sorted by the facility into separate commodities.
Solatube: a tubular daylighting system
Specifications: define the requirements regarding materials, products, installation and quality aspects pertaining to the execution of the work and contract.
Thermal Bridge: where heat occurs across more conductive components in an otherwise well-insulated material, resulting in disproportionately significant heat loss.
Tiny House: home designed to be less than 1,000 sf
Vampire Load: the power consumed by electronics and appliances while they are technically switched off or in standby mode.
Vapor Barrier: a barrier that reduces the rate that water vapor can move through a material.
Wastewater: water from bathtubs, shower drains, sinks, washing machines, and dishwashers is considered grey water.
WaterSense: a label program created by the Environmental Protection Agency for consumers to easily identify water efficient products.
Weatherization: the practice of using cost-effective strategies to modify a building to decrease energy usage and increase comfort.
Window: Casement or Double-Hung glass opening in a wall system.
by Charles Hendricks | Nov 11, 2015 | citizen architect, Green Building
Citizen Architect – Green Building Tours
I get involved in a lot of different ways of promoting green building. Last month I had the pleasure of meeting with an environmental ethics course at JMU. I have a variety of building projects that are pushing for the most sustainable design solutions possible. I performed multiple FREE energy-audits around the Valley. I even had a chance to travel to a national conference to discuss building science with construction industry leaders from all over the country. However, giving green building tours remains my favorite way to share my knowledge about how to build right (green, sustainable).
This past week I had the honor of giving tours to a group of 15 French students – high school and post-graduate – of three green buildings. We started with a day with a discussion of becoming an architect in the United States. Our language barrier was overcome by some wonderful translators (thank goodness for them – otherwise it would have been a very LONG day for all of us). We then went to The Gaines Group Charlottesville office to check out work in progress and our vegetative roof. The students had a chance to discuss multi-family projects with Adrienne and life as an architect with Ray.
After a quick stop at Burger King (apparently this is a destination when visiting Cville from France that is worthy of a loud cheer?) we continued our tours going to Martin Horn. This Charlottesville based General Contractor has been a leader of the green movement for many years. They renovated their office building to LEED standards in 2009. They very generously opened their office and had a discussion about sourcing local materials and reuse of existing materials with the students.
Our last stop of the day was to see a project under construction. The Building Goodness Foundation building was a great example of precast insulated wall systems – a totally new concept to the students, lightweight floor framing (seems trusses are not common in France), and an in-depth discussion on wall system permeability. Discussing ZIP wall compared to the advanced rainwater management systems used in France was beneficial to all of us. Having to explain why we use thin trusses to support a floor above was difficult.
I learned a lot about how they build in France. It seems they use the house wrap layer as the air barrier. Their small travel footprint encourages panelized framing, but they don’t have a common use for trusses, which is interesting. I was very happy to learn that they have teachers specifically for wall systems focused on permeability and water management. As an architect, it is critical to help educate everyone about building science, but most critical to help the next generation understand the importance of sustainability.
by Charles Hendricks | Aug 24, 2015 | architecture, Building Science, Green Building, green term defined
Green Term Defined: Thermal Bridging
Thermal bridging is one of the biggest problems we have when trying to create a high performance home. It is imperative to find an economical solution for walls that eliminates any thermal bridging from inside to outside the home. Thermal Bridging is where heat occurs across more conductive components in an otherwise well-insulated material, resulting in disproportionately significant heat loss.
Thermal Bridging can occur when using wood studs, steel studs, pre-engineered metal building, Insulated Concrete Forms, and even SIPS. In 2012 the building code in Virginia recognized this as an issue for code minimum buildings adding new requirements. To build the least energy-efficient possible building (code minimum) you have to either add additional insulation in your walls or wrap your building in a insulation blanket such as rigid board insulation. The minimum attic insulation has also increased dramatically over the last several years to meet code minimum. There are many places where bridging happens in a home including door and window frames, studs, attic access panel, trusses, nails, and even foundation walls can have issues. There are products that perform better to eliminate these challenges, but it sometimes takes a different way than builders are used to doing construction details.
There are challenges with adding more insulation, from diminishing returns to vapor movement. A keen understanding of building science is needed to deliver the best possible solution for health, durability, energy-efficiency, and budget. The biggest challenge I encounter are builders that have always done it another way and don’t want to change for fear of it not working.
by Charles Hendricks | Jun 22, 2015 | Building Science, Green Building, green term defined
As our weather patterns change, we have to change the way we think about the built environment. We have seen the challenges the built environment faces from Hurricane Katrina and Superstorm Sandy. We have seen it in the flooding in Texas. We have seen the challenges from tornadoes in the mid-West. How do we change our approach to design and building?
According to the Resilient Design Institute resilience is the capacity to adapt to changing conditions and to maintain or regain functionality and vitality in the face of stress or disturbance. It is the capacity to bounce back after a disturbance or interruption. Compared to climate change, resilience addresses the adaptation to a wide range of regional and localized impacts that are expected to come with a warming planet including intense storms, greater precipitation, coastal and valley flooding, longer and more severe droughts, wildfires, melting permafrost, warmer temperatures, and power outages.
Resilient design is the intentional design of buildings, landscapes, communities, and regions in response to these vulnerabilities.
Things to include:
:
Pervious Concrete
Solar Panels
Durable wall systems
Solar hot water
Rainwater Harvesting
Composting
Gardens
