# Simple green building tips?



## CowboyAndy (Dec 5, 2008)

First I would like to start by saying that I am new to the whole "green" thing... but I am trying to make whatever impact I can, no matter how small. 

I am on the board of directors for our local habitat for humanity. We only build 1 house a year on average, and the next one is slated for an April ground breaking. I would like to suggest going green with it and have a few ideas, but would like some more. In order for me to sell the idea to the rest of the board, its going to have to be low cost...

The only things I have really come up with so far is recycled carpet, bamboo flooring, recycled glass countertop for building materials. I also plan to donate my oil furnace, and take home any wood scraps that i can burn in my wood furnace.



I know it seems like everyone is "jumping on the going green bandwagon", and yes, i am too. i know alot of people are doing it because its the trendy thing right now, but i think that its good no matter why the reason.

so, what other suggestionsdo you have for building green?


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## d.n.f. (Dec 5, 2008)

Why build at all?  There are so many empty homes out there.

Build small and energy efficient.  I grew up in a 1200 square foot home.  My previous previous house was 1000.
Why can't people live in smaller homes?
I am guilty as my current place is like 1800 but I didn't build it.  I have lived in 3000 square many moons ago.  

How did we all grow up with one family bathroom?  One car garage/carport?  A closet only a four year old could walk into?
Now if these homes were efficient (mine had r12 in the roof and single pane windows).....

You want to build green?  Put no carpet in your house.  Mold, chemicals, dust collector.


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## smokinj (Dec 5, 2008)

building green imo would be to insulate in the very best way possiable and the rest just let price dictate what you get.The whole green thing still comes down to affordablity.


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## homebrewz (Dec 5, 2008)

For a start, a good southern exposure with many energy efficient south facing windows for high solar gain on sunny days. Combine that with the available 
light energy being absorbed as heat onto some sort of thermal mass.. say, a brick or stone floor (dark colors: can even be recycled materials) if you can take 
advantage of the sun in this way, there will be some winter days when you will barely need a wood stove or other heating device at all. You could even have 
a thermal mass with duct work (tubing or something) running through it and then have a thermostat controlled fan pipe warm air into the house when it reaches 
a certain temperature. 

These things are easy to implement into a building when you're starting from scratch. Btw, about the green movement.. is it trendy? I guess so.. but it doesn't 
matter what other people are doing.. just as long as we try to do the right thing.


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## mbcijim (Dec 8, 2008)

Homebrewz is right, orientation is the #1 issue with green building.  I've built 3 Gold LEED buildings.  

South orientation.  Max windows south & north, min or NO windows East - West.

Insulation, efficiency of HVAC unit, material selection would be next 3 on my list.  Others may say differently of course!
Depending on your location, water use is up there too.


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## rowerwet (Dec 8, 2008)

I worked with a guy that built his house himself, He used those curved laminated beams (they are intended for potato barns) for the frame and built the walls/roof with 2' of insulation. He has a three bedroom house with a cathedral ceiling living room, and only 6 windows, 3 in each end. According to him he burned 60 gal of oil a year.
If it were me I would go for passive solar as the best bet to reduce energy use.


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## awoodman (Dec 8, 2008)

We need more straw bale housing. Inside stucko and concrete floor good thermal mass. A guy north of K.C. has been building them for years, his is off the grid.
My daughters house I am building is ICF construction.


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## d.n.f. (Dec 8, 2008)

My last house was straw bale.  Cool in the summer and toasty in the winter.  And sooo quiet.
I loved it.
Water is an issue with straw bale.  

I would build one if I ever needed to build.  Sadly I am in a piece of shi* house with r28 in the roof and drafts everywhere.  Slowly filling them but some are just ghostly.  My heating bill is tripe my straw bale house (just natty gas, not the woodstove).


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## CowboyAndy (Jan 7, 2009)

Okay, I would just like to bump this to see if anyone else has any input as I am working on my presentation now to present to the board.

Here is my list so far, please add whatever comments you have - good or bad.

The purpose of building with "green" in mind promotes:

Less waste in landfills

Sustainability for our forests through responsible forest managment and naturally suatainable (ie quickly renewable materials)

Less emmissions/waste from manufacturers that employ green processes

Products that consure less energy, lowering the carbon impact on the enviornment


BUILDING PRACTICES:

Maximum number of window north and south facing, minimum east and west facing

Planning construction for minimal waste (ie 4' width incriments to minimize waste of sheathing)

Recycling waste building materials

Using local/community recycled materials (ie donated cabinets, tub, etc)



BUILDING PRODUCTS AND OPTIONS:

Flooring - 
            Recycled carpet, made from recycled plastics and sustainable materials (starts around $1.20 sq/ft)
            Bamboo wood flooring, made from bamboo which is a rapidly renewable resource (starts around $3 sq ft)

Lumber, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council insuring it comes from manufacturers that partake in responsible forest management practices

Windows, low emmisive and triple paned to improve heating and decrease uv exposure

All energy star certified appliances, including choosing gas/lp stove over electric to reduce energy used

Tankless HW (which are up to 98% efficiant) to redude energy used

Radiant in floor heating, to increase efficiancy of HVAC system

Low flow water fixtures (shower head, faucets) to reduce water consumption and hw consumption

recycled denim insulation, made with up to 90% pre consumer recycled materials

Recycled countertops, made from recycled glass 


Some suggestions I need are other types of countertop options and insulation options...

and any other suggestions too!


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## smokinj (Jan 7, 2009)

Foam band boards in the craw space. But you have done your home work well!


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## mbcijim (Jan 7, 2009)

Just be careful on specifying recycled products.  

Do you want to spend $3,000 on recycled glass countertops when you can buy un-recycled Formica for $500?  That's marketing NOT green.  

One product I liked was getting drywall out of Lexington, KY.  They use gypusm out of a coal plant waste stream.  That only increased the cost of the drywall by a very small amount.  I think there is a plant in Turbotville, Pa now too.  

If you're going to spend $2,500 to recycle, would you rather do it so you can put recycled materials in one countertop or a whole house of drywall?  There are some highly recycled products out there at the same market cost as un-recycled, they just take a lot of research to find.  

I have had a lot of sucess with the waste stream.  Waste is 80-90% cardboard, wood, drywall, metals, and plastics.  All recyclable.  If you have room for 3-6 dumpsters on site, and can get the dumpsters for a reasonable fee, it is profitable to recycle.  Many times though the dumpster companies don't like you having their dumpsters for three months and they only pull it once.  It depends how fast you fill them.  You can EASILY fill a dumpster with cardboard from just one house, but it will take a while.


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## wenger7446 (Jan 7, 2009)

Don't forget about landscaping...plant  everygreens on the north of the house and deciduous.  The evergreens will shield the house from the north winter winds and the deciduous trees will drop their leaves in the fall allowing thermal gain from the low winter sun. 

I second the idea of remolding...there are so many houses that can be rehabbed opposed to destroying virgin land.


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## awoodman (Jan 8, 2009)

Do a frost protected shallow foundation, no basement, no carpet. The floor is a thermal mass, when foam is used under and arround the paremeter before it is pored. Use acid stain to collor the concreet floor and their is no need for carpet just use throw rugs.
Use post and beam construction with the straw bales. If the house is 30' wide you can use 16' 2X6's for site built trusses on 6' centers put on a metal roof.

If going Green go with the best. A LOT OF TIMES LESS IS BEST.

Any thing less than R 40 walls is inferior and a wast of time. Trust me and you beter get on it while their is still time left to buy any thing.


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## d.n.f. (Jan 8, 2009)

Carpet is just evil.  Mold, bugs, scum, dirt, pet sewage...

Your house will probably be tighter, do you want to be breathing in that crap plus whatever the carpet itself leaches off.


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## j00fek (Jan 8, 2009)

http://greenbuildingelements.com/

http://www.freegreen.com/


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## dvellone (Jan 8, 2009)

We designed efficient use of space - no halls, "dead space" areas etc. Galley style kitchen has as much counter space as most kitchens but is at least 1/2 the size of most. 
Deep southern exposure with plenty of glass. Salvaged windows and we built our own storms. They're as insulating as the few thermal panes we put in and cost a fraction. 
We used lumber from a local mill so it came from a local forest and saved emissions in terms of trucking. We air dried it too so no kiln drying waste of energy.
No plywood in the construction. For diagonal reinforcing in the walls we used let-in steel bracing. 
Lots of insulation.

We had a small burn pile of cut off ends after construction - all pine and hemlock or larch. 

Seems green to us.


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## jebatty (Jan 8, 2009)

> BUILDING PRODUCTS AND OPTIONS:
> 
> Flooring -
> Bamboo wood flooring, made from bamboo which is a rapidly renewable resource (starts around $3 sq ft)



Give me a break on this one! Shipped from Asia? What about good old maple or oak grown in your NY backyard? Locally produced; renewable; provides local jobs and supports local families. Our floors are pine from trees on our own land, with a forest stewardship plan, sustainable, local, no shipping, renewable, etc, etc, etc. Bamboo doesn't even come close to the green-ness of our floors or locally produced wood flooring. 



> Tankless HW (which are up to 98% efficiant) to reduce energy used



Works good, unless the husband, wife, kids like to spend an hour in the shower, and they will if the hot water never runs out. These can end up wasting large amounts of energy and water. Put it on a one minute timer and you're good to go.


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## Dune (Jan 9, 2009)

mbcijim said:
			
		

> Homebrewz is right, orientation is the #1 issue with green building.  I've built 3 Gold LEED buildings.
> 
> South orientation.  Max windows south & north, min or NO windows East - West.
> 
> .



Why max windows North? am I missing something here? I think you meant NO windows north. And why no windows east and west? For maximum solar gain, one would want some windows east (morning sun), most windows South, some windows west (afternoon sun).  Back when people still had common sense, there were either no windows, or very few, very small windows facing north.


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## mbcijim (Jan 9, 2009)

Dunebilly said:
			
		

> mbcijim said:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Good questions.  

1.  I dealt with 2 "green" architects - they both had this as 'must have items'.  
2.  I forget which one (north or south), but on one elevation all windows have an awning type feature that stops direct sunlight
3.  It was not a typo on North.  
4.  These were commercial buildings, maybe residential is treated different. 
5.  I was in one of the buildings during construction - 20,000 sft & 15'+ ceilings when it was 10 degrees outside.  With 1 torpedo heater, the building was 70+ degrees.  The building was super-insulated

I can't answer the science behind it.  Maybe commercial is different that residential??


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## Titus (Jan 9, 2009)

I suspect you will find commercial buildings spend a much higher percentage of their energy budget on cooling than does a residential building. All those people and lights generate heat. Think of all the grocery and convenience stores with coolers and freezers. Commercial buildings have very high air conditioning usage... offices, hallways, lobbies. So, IMHO, architects are more concerned with keeping the heat out than letting heat in. Window placement would then seek to maximize light entry with minimal heat gain.

At home, during the hot summers, we can just sit outside, use a fan, or AC just our bedroom.

BTW, here's a nice article from a local home energy guru (who's mantra is insulate, insulate, insulate):
Spending a lot of money doesn’t demonstrate energy efficiency 

"Last week, I came across a blurb online about a fellow in Massachusetts who is retrofitting a duplex in Arlington with 3 inches of foam on the exterior of his home.

Neat project. We have done several of these over the years, wrapping the thermal envelope of the building with a cocoon of 1 to 10 inches of foam, depending on the rest of the building and when we did the project.

The interesting part of the Massachusetts project was the cost: $100,000. That’s a lot of money, even for Massachusetts. I had to post some comments on that one."


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## jebatty (Jan 9, 2009)

All windows are not alike and placement is not the whole story. Both commercial and residential windows now are available with U factor ratings of 0.08 and better (R-12 and better), and with coatings that, depending on climate, let heat in or block heat from the outside, and let heat out or block from the inside. Windows like these have thermal characteristics nearly equivalent to a 6" fiberglass insulated wall, and can have net solar heat gain or blocking (if wanted) no matter where placed, N, E, S or W.

For northern climates, with the net solar heat gain plus light into the structure, interior lighting can be eliminated in the daytime, resulting in significant energy savings, as well as heating energy savings.

Further as to location, for typically best solar heat gain, E, S and W placement are all important, or to reduce heat gain, N and S placement. As to both situations, placement has to be matched with roof eave overhang or awnings to admit solar heat gain when needed (winter and maybe fall and spring) and to reduce solar heat gain by shading when not wanted (summer and maybe fall and spring). 

By accident, our house built in 1956 was nearly perfect as to window placement and eaves, house orientation, and when we replaced all windows in 1992-2000 with R-8 (U-0.16) windows, also scored on solar heat gain. Our eave/roof overhang is 4', which allows the sun to shine in during spring, fall and winter, as well as early morning in the summer - in other words, only during low sun angles, with eave shading as the sun rises.  Orientation is SW overlooking a lake, so in winter the full afternoon sun shines in, as well as reflects off the lake ice and snow for a double whammy. In summer the sun is too high and does not shine in at all from the SE, S, and SW during the main part of the day. We further have deciduous trees which when leafed out and together with roof overhang block the SE, S and W high sun during the summer, but let this sun in during the winter. We have lots of windows, on all four walls, including bedrooms, and rarely need any lighting in any room during the daytime.

As to passive solar efficiency, even though we are nearly 47 degrees N latitude and winters are long and cold (18 nights below 0 during December and on track to exceed this during January this year), night winter lows from -10 to -30F common, and day winter highs from -10 to +10F common; with heat also needed typically from Sept and into June; we heat our entire house 24-7 with a single free-standing wood stove in the living room; and on sunny winter days frequently need no heat in the afternoon because the sun heats the house through the windows.

Point simply being, easy rules of thumb for windows barely begin to deal properly with lighting, heating and cooling. At the same time it really is not too complicated, once some thought is given to sun angles, shading, seasons, need for heating or cooling, quality of windows, and house orientation. These things allow us to have nearly 30' of glass across the front of our house overlooking the lake, facing SW, with no direct sun in during the summer, only early spring and late fall direct sun in, and full winter direct sun in. We have solar heat when we need it, we have solar heat blocked when we don't need it, we have lots of window lighting, and a great view.


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## Dune (Jan 9, 2009)

jebatty said:
			
		

> All windows are not alike and placement is not the whole story. Both commercial and residential windows now are available with U factor ratings of 0.08 and better (R-12 and better), and with coatings that, depending on climate, let heat in or block heat from the outside, and let heat out or block from the inside. Windows like these have thermal characteristics nearly equivalent to a 6" fiberglass insulated wall, and can have net solar heat gain or blocking (if wanted) no matter where placed, N, E, S or W.
> 
> For northern climates, with the net solar heat gain plus light into the structure, interior lighting can be eliminated in the daytime, resulting in significant energy savings, as well as heating energy savings.
> 
> ...



Most everything He said, plus conniferous trees north of the house to block windchill.


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## jebatty (Jan 9, 2009)

> Most everything He said, plus conniferous trees north of the house to block windchill.



Didn't mention it, but ditto for us too with regard to conniferous on northwest, solid woods on north and northeast. Our fierce winter winds come mostly from the northwest, thanks to our Alberta Clipper friends, and these winds are blocked by the pine trees.


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## Redox (Jan 10, 2009)

mbcijim said:
			
		

> Good questions.
> 
> 1.  I dealt with 2 "green" architects - they both had this as 'must have items'.
> 2.  I forget which one (north or south), but on one elevation all windows have an awning type feature that stops direct sunlight
> ...



Commercial spaces need windows for occupant satisfaction.  I don’t think you would ever be able to lease a space without windows, unless it were a warehouse.  Think about it:  All the primo offices are on outside walls and the CEO is in the corner!

Chris


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