Structural Insulated Panels (SIP) are a great high performance framing product to build the thermal shell of a home and have gained popularity throughout the world because of their superior characteristics. SIPs have some competition in other types of wall systems like Insulated Concrete Forms (ICF) with their biggest competition being conventionally framed homes with dimensional lumber. With respect to competitive wall systems, SIP can offer an efficient integration with the roof design to provide a complete thermal solution. For our region there are some really good reasons to consider SIP for your next construction project.

In hot humid climates like Central Texas it is important to have a sealed building envelope, so good insulation and keeping moisture out are big hot buttons. Travis Santi, the Design Supervisor of EH Systems in New Braunfels, Texas shared some advantages of SIPs over conventionally framed homes in 3 main categories; Energy Efficiency, Structural Integrity, and Time Savings.

Energy Efficiency

– SIPs have 13 times less air infiltration than conventional stick framing and batt insulation, according to an Oakridge National Labs study of a SIP house vs. an identically designed stick house.

– Air infiltration is drastically reduced compared to batt insulation because of the solid EPS core of insulation in the wall cavity, and expanding foam sealer used at all connections. Once you factor in thermal bridging from wood studs and leaks from no air barrier, you start to wonder why we haven’t converted to SIP earlier.

– The whole wall R-value of 4 ½” SIP wall is R-14, compared to the whole wall R-value of a 2×6 conventionally framed wall of R-11-13, depending on the attention to detail of framing and insulation.

– Your A/C system load design will be reduced substantially – up to 50% of what is needed for the conventionally framed home. With this savings, purchase an ERV and/or dehumidifier to pretreat the air. The indoor air quality will be significantly better because the incoming air is filtered and preconditioned by the equipment.

Structural Integrity

– SIP have superior strength, they can span farther, soar higher, and support more load than conventionally framed walls and roof systems. The in-plane shear strength of a SIP wall is 380 PLF which is twice that of a stick framed wall with wind bracing. An 8’ tall SIP wall 4 ½” thick can support 3,700 PLF of axial load. Also, an 8 ¼” roof panel with average load can span 16’, while the 10 ¼” roof panel can span 18’ horizontally.

– The uniformly spread load of SIP shell eliminates the need for window and door headers up to a 10’ wide opening in most cases.

– SIP are more resistant to mold, mildew, and fire than stick framing.

– SIP are very durable and long lasting through quality control of the lamination process.

Time Savings

– The framing, sheathing, caulking, air barrier and insulation are done in one step greatly reducing construction time and the number of trades on the jobsite.

– The walls and roof systems are pre engineered and pre-cut, so there is a 45-55% savings in time as compared to conventional framing, according to RSMeans Estimating. The framers put the pieces together like a big puzzle with instructions.

– SIP are installed with normal wood framing tools and special screws and foams are supplied by the manufacturer. The only additional cutting that is necessary is for the plates which are also supplied by the manufacturer.

– SIP reduce jobsite waste because all the panels come precut from the manufacturer.

EH Systems is the highest quality manufacturer of SIPs in Texas. EHS has their own nationally recognized code report and SIPs have also been incorporated into the 2006 IRC in section R614. EHS is also 1 of 2 companies in the country with a TDI report; Texas Department of Insurance criteria for use in designated catastrophe areas along the Texas Gulf Coast. They are the only SIP manufacturer in Texas with these credentials.

EHS will assign a builder service representative for your job to do onsite training and advisory. EHS has a 10 year warranty on materials. Typically, there is a cost premium on SIP, but as energy costs keep increasing, your return on investment time decrease. Current return on investment times is 2-4 years through reduced energy bills, not to mention all the other benefits you will enjoy in the mean time.

Travis says that since SIP are sold by the square footage of surface area, the design is critical in order to add value. Your home can be designed in a SIP friendly way to increase the material efficiency of the SIP package. This can affect the costs for your SIP package by up to 40%. By keeping your roof simple and maximizing panel sizes, spans, plate heights your total cost can be competitive with stick framing and much less than ICF.

Travis would like to refer contact to Allen Scarborough at EHS who can provide estimates and value engineering of your design. He can be contacted at 210-287-2205, ascarborough@ehsystemsllc.com

There is so much confidence in spray foam insulation that there is not much need for convincing. More people are realizing the short and long term benefits of using spray foam in their homes. But the question remains, open cell or closed for Central Texas?

My theory based upon my knowledge is that closed cell probably acts more as a vapor barrier because it is more dense than open cell. Since a vapor barrier is not recommended in our region I reasoned that the air barrier properties of the open cell would be preferred.

My own theories on the subject are fine but to really know what is best, I wanted to find a very knowledgeable person who has worked with foam long enough to know it’s properties and how it behaves. Kurt DeRuiter of DeRuiter Insulation Inc was both knowledgeable and kind to spend some time with me on the subject. In 2001, Kurt was instrumental in helping the city establish the code of certain applications of insulation by helping them understand the properties of foam versus other types.

Kurt first explained the properties of open cell and closed cell foam. Open cell foam has water as a blowing agent which creates small open balls, like whiffle balls with holes, in the foam. The cured foam has holes shaped like those in a sponge which create an air barrier and a higher perm rating of 3.6. Water can pass through open cell foam but air does not blow through it.

Closed cell foam has a blowing agent that is made of inert gas. The inert gas is encapsulated by urethane and the result is layers upon layers of tiny gas filled bubbles. Contrary to my theory, this makes it more of a vapor retarder not a vapor barrier. For a product to be classified as a vapor barrier it would have a perm rating of .006 and 1” thick of closed cell foam has a perm rating of 1.0.

In Kurt’s opinion, the open cell foam is the best for Central Texas in most applications. The main reason is that the cost comparison between 1” thick of closed is about 4-5 times more costly than 1″ of open. The R-value of 1” open cell is R3.8 and 1” closed cell is R7 so you get more R-value for your money with open cell.

Another reason for using open cell vs. closed cell, especially in a roof system is that since close cell would permeate very little to no water, you could have a roof leak for years that you would not know about until there was extensive damage. With an open cell application, the water would permeate through and the leak would be found quickly.

There are great uses for closed cell in wine cellars and in crawl spaces. With closed cell, you would be keeping in or keeping out the moisture with the vapor retarder.

The advantages of spray foam insulation are great and the most obvious one that bears repeating is the supreme insulating qualities. In a typical attic, temperatures can reach 145 degrees with ducts running through at 60 degrees. This is a 85 degree difference in temperature and is quite inefficient for cooling. In both the summer and winter, most of the conditioned heat or cooling loss is in the roof. With an open cell foam roof and sealed attic, the temperature of the attic is within 14 degrees of the heated and cooled space. What a difference!

I am so pleased to know that my theory was not too far off target; thank you Kurt for sharing your valuable knowledge of spray foam insulation.

Green Living Tips!

I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

This bit of green living encouragement comes straight from the Renewable Energy Roundup that was held in Fredericksburg this past weekend. I saw many people walking around with their own water containers and very few plastic water bottles. This was a very green inspired group of people! The stainless steel container can be found almost anywhere and comes in so many options with belt loop holders or flip top lids. Go buy one for your self before you buy another plastic bottle of water!

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle are the 3 R’s of the environment. But lately I have been hearing other words to add to it: Rethink, Redesign, Redefine, Repair…can you think of more?

Reduce
Simply reduce what you buy and what you use. So often, I am designing homes more for the peoples stuff and not as much for the people. The square footage is always so much less when people are realistic about what they need surrounding them. Think about what you really need. Maybe someone else could use that “thing-a-ma-bob” that you haven’t used in more than a year. Reduce the amount of square footage in your home and you will reduce your construction and operating expenses and you will reduce the impact on the environment.

When you buy fast food, do you find your self throwing away more volume in packaging than you have in food? Try to find food vendors who reduce the amount of packaging used. Also, throw away packaging on site so the restaurant can experience their own trash volume and hopefully rethink the way they are packaging their food.

Reuse
Also a simple concept. Buy reused when you have an opportunity to buy and reuse what you already have. We saved about $30 on school supplies this year by looking around the house for everything we needed. Next time you need building supplies, furniture, clothing, automobiles etc. search the locale resale shops or Craig’s list before you buy new. There is an extraordinary great supply of quality used items for sale everywhere. This reduces our dependence on raw materials.

We are really good at donating to Good-Will, but are we as good at buying from them? Check out their stores next time you need a new kitchen gadget, children’s book or gift.

Recycle
Austinites are doing a fantastic job of recycling. The single stream recycling that began last year increased our participation in recycling from about 60% to about 95%. The downside, at least at this time, is that in the state of our economy there is less revenue from recycled materials. This will change as our economy improves. To help on a personal level, make sure you buy products with recycled content or packaged with recycled materials.

Recycling Styrofoam is not very practical because of it’s limited uses. Be sure to keep it out of your single stream recycling bins, even the foam food boxes that have the recycling symbol. All those little bits of light foam get mixed in with the paper and can ruin a large supply of recycled paper. The best option is to try to avoid Styrofoam products like food packaging and packing materials. If you have any Styrofoam packaging to recycle, we are lucky to have one of the few Styrofoam recyclers in the nation right here in Austin. Cycled Plastics, located near the corner of Burnet Road and Rutland, recycles Styrofoam and most other types of plastics. Please call 512-339-8787 before dropping anything off to make sure that you have the right kind of Styrofoam.

Here is a comprehensive list of where to recycle most everything you can think of!! Ecology Action: Recycling Resources

Recycling glass is a huge benefit to reducing the need for raw materials. But sometimes saving something from being recycled is an even bigger benefit. Wouldn’t it be cool if we saw vendors at our local farmers market using all shapes and sizes of glass jars reused from jellies and condiments? In fact, I think that would catch our eye; what a conversation piece for those vendors. Hmmmm…

Rethink
Remember when you couldn’t get out of Target for less than $100? Did you really need all that stuff? I love Target, but they are so great at marketing inside their store. They have fresh, trendy merchandise that is affordable. Rethink: Do I really need this? Do I already have one? Can I get this used somewhere? Can I make one out of stuff I already have?

Next time you have a party, ask your guests to bring their food storage containers with missing lids or bottoms. Maybe there is a match out there somewhere???

Redesign
When designing your new home or remodel addition, plan spaces on your site for city or county trash and recycling bins and for onsite composting. In side your home, plan for trash and recycling bins to make it most convenient to dispose of waste properly.

Homeowners and builders need to redesign the way construction waste is managed. To save money in dump fees, construction waste should be reused on site, saved for the next job, recycled or sold to another builder.

Repair
Have you thought, “I would rather chuck this broken thing and just go buy a new one.” But this economy has forced us to rethink our old habits. Certainly repairing a broken item can be more time consuming than shopping for new, but the value or repairing is much greater than the thing it self.

Redefine
In remodel construction, the flow of demolition materials should be: What materials can be reused on site –> what materials can be reused by someone else –> what materials can be recycled –> the remaining materials are trash.

In construction both new and remodel, there are phases of construction to pay attention to. For example in the framing stage, what lumber is being thrown into your dumpster? Get it all out and redefine the value of each piece to your builder. Efficient framing can leave very little lumber unused on site to reuse later for another small project or chipped into mulch. In the finish stages, there are appliances, windows, hardware and other items that are shipped in boxes that should be folded flat and recycled. Look at Austin Energy Green Building to help your builder redefine their construction waste management practices. Sustainable Building Sourcebook: Construction Waste Management

Zero Waste
For the city’s initiative to get to Zero Waste or as close as possible by 2040, we need to start changing habits on a personal level now. The waste industry is rethinking every facet of waste management. From removing carbon from the atmosphere by making Biochar; using methane gas released from land fills as fuel and making biodiesel out of brown and yellow grease from waste water, engineers and scientists have their rethinking caps on. To support this effort, visit these websites and take a fascinating tour at Austin Water Utility’s Hornsby Bend Biosolids Management Plant and enjoy the best bird watching sites in Texas. Enjoy!!

Zero Waste International Alliance
Grass Roots Recycling Network
Zero Waste Alliance
Austin’s Future: Zero Waste
Biochar by Wikipedia
Hornsby Bend Bird Observatory

An enormous thank you to Jessica King, with COA Solid Waste Services and
David Greene, P.E., with Austin’s Water Utility whose expertise presented at the Austin Energy Green Building seminar gave inspiration for this newsletter.

Green Living Tips!

I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

Letting your grass grow long in times of drought will increase its drought tolerance. Also, understand the dormant period for your type of grass. Some varieties can go up to 4-6 weeks with out water but the typical sleeping lawn needs about 1/2″ of water every 2-3 weeks.

A roof radiant barrier has been the industry standard for a number of years in residential construction in keeping an attic cool in hot climates. This is done by applying a low emissive foil to the bottom of the rafters in a ventilated attic. More recently, we have been sealing our attics and applying spray foam insulation at the bottom of the rafters for an even cooler attic. This is a highly effective solution to cooling attics in our climate as long as the radiant barrier is adjacent to an air space. Applying any type of insulation so that it is in contact with the bottom of the radiant barrier renders it ineffective. The insulation must not touch the radiant barrier in order for it to reflect radiant heat properly.

A radiant barrier is a material with low emissivity combined with an air space to block or reflect radiant heat gain in a home rather than absorbing it. A material with low emissivity is one that does not absorb heat, such as aluminum foil. Radiant heat, such as heat from the sun, is transmitted through space rather than conducting heat through contact with another medium.

This is why the air space is so important. The radiant barrier blocks the radiant heat as it is traveling through space. If there is contact, then the heat will continue through the foil rather than be blocked, nullifying the effects of the foil. When radiant heat is absorbed by a material, heat then moves through conduction. If radiant heat is not allowed to be absorbed then conduction is greatly reduced. The air space prevents the conduction of heat while the foil reflects the radiant heat.

A better application of a sealed attic is to create an air space between the insulation and the radiant barrier. This can be done by using baffles to create the air space or by using a metal roof installed on furring strips creating the air space. In the case of the metal roof, the metal acts as the radiant barrier.

Some people have built with spray foam insulation and a radiant barrier foil without leaving an air space. The cost of creating the air space can be a deterrent because there may be more labor and more materials involved. While the radiant barrier is ineffective, the results are still good as compared to a conventional vented attic. When using a composition roof in this application, there is no point in applying the foil if it will be in contact with insulation.

However, the metal roof is a far better choice of a roofing material than composition and the air space cost nothing extra. By choosing metal and a sealed attic, you are creating the best possible application for your home.

Green Living Tips!

I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

If you happened to have an unfinished beer (maybe some people don’t have that problem), sprinkle it over your compost pile and turn it over to give a boost to the micro organisms. A beer can also be flushed into a septic system for the same micro organism boost.

It is increasingly important to correct energy problems in older homes. In many cases, correcting insulation in the roof, upgrading mechanical systems and weather stripping in doors is simple. These are the most typical corrections to make. But in some cases there might be a glitch that makes it difficult.

Here is a case study of a home in Elgin. This is a small low end track home on several beautiful acres. There are plenty of trees on the lot, but no significant shade over the house. The couple had recently remodeled the interior of the home with expectations of selling, but then changed their mind and decided to sell their home in Austin and live in Elgin. The home also had very poor wall and roof insulation. The wall insulation was expected to only be about R-9.

The couple plans were to add square footage on the North side of the home, add an outdoor living patio on the East side and a front porch on the South side. With much of the roof structure remaining in tact and with the additional square footage, we specified open cell spray foam in the rafters of the roof system to handle the insulation problem in the attic. We also specified a metal roof to give the look they wanted with the added green advantage of lower energy usage that metal gives.

The walls were a more difficult challenge. With the newly remodeled interior, we didn’t want to remove sheet rock on the inside of the home to reinsulate the walls. On the East side and much of the South side, the patio cover was to give us the extra protection to the walls, but with the new North side addition, we had a long West wall with no protection. Extending overhangs gave us a little help, but we really needed more protection. The only way to correct the problem was to go into the walls from the outside, but to remove everything including the wall insulation was cost prohibitive.

We specified to remove the old siding down to the plywood sheathing and add a layer of rigid foam insulation to the outside, then a house wrap over that. With this ridid foam insulation, you can get anywhere from an R-2 to R-10 depending on the thickness of the material.

On top of that, we detailed a rain screen for extra protection. A rain screen has airspace between the house wrap and the siding. The purpose for the air space is to keep the house wrap dry, preventing capillary action from wicking water up into the wall that can sometimes happen when it rains. This also allows water from either rain or condensation to drip down out of the wall. The other purpose is to create an air flow not only for drying but cooling the wall. This is done simply with furring strips and a screen to keep pest out of the wall space. The space at the bottom and top of the siding allow for the air flow.

This detail gave us the added protection of air flow and “shade” on the long west wall and made up for the less than standard existing insulation. It is such an easy detail that we specified it on all 4 sides on both new and old walls.

Let us try it out on your house!

Green Living Tips!

I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

If you don’t have a grey water collection system in your home, but your dry grass is driving you crazy, buy a simple pond pump, some as low as $11.00 at Pondepot. Pump your bath water onto your thirsty grass after a 107 degree Austin day!

If you have been following my newsletters regularly, you will know that each month we feature a great product, service or idea. This month, it is time to toot our own horn! So far, 2009 has been quite an unusual year and in this economy we have found it very easy to become even more green. We are proud to offer 2 new services for our clients.

1.) Energy Modeling: With this technology and with certain facts about your home such as north south orientation, building square footage and size of the building envelope, mechanical systems, window sizes and locations, insulation, etc, we can predict the energy usage of your home, based on your local utility rates.

Using house plans we design for you, or with plans you already have, we input the necessary data to show you the various cost-savings options for your particular house design. Which HVAC system do you need? What type of insulation is the most cost-effective? What type of water heater should you invest in—tank or tankless? Should you do solar water and/or Solar PV?

In order to “Green” a home in the most cost-effective manner, there is not a one-size-fits-all solution for every house. Using our Energy Modeling technology, we can help you make critical decisions without guessing. We work with you to determine what to change in your home to make it more energy-efficient or even Zero-Energy!

This technology can be done for any construction project whether it new construction or remodel addition. It can even be done on an existing home if you are planning on a major energy renovation by replacing any or all insulation, mechanicals, ducts, roofing or adding additional shading on sunny windows.

2.) 3-D Modeling: This new service is not as green as the first, but it compliments it beautifully. 3-D Modeling is a wonderful way to see your home while still in the design stage of planning your home. To see a home this way will help to identify not only the look and feel, but potential problem areas that are difficult for a homeowner to see. This technique helps to reduce the cost of adjustments in the field during construction.

With 3-D Modeling, a client can even see changes made to the design, in real time, during a design consultation! As a result, our design process becomes even more of a “conversation,” with all participants being able to easily visualize the options we are discussing at the meeting. The 3-D Model, also serves a basis for the data we would need for Energy Modeling, so when these services are used together on the same project, the costs to the homeowner are greatly reduced.

It is exciting to see how this kind of technology can make it easier to be green. Let us try it out on your house!

Green Living Tips!

I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

I recently tried a new natural bathtub cleaner. My kids play hard and they are dirty, so the bathtub usually needs more than a one time per week cleaning. This product called Green Works Natural Bathtub Cleaner by Clorox is made with filtered water, a coconut based cleaning agent, citric acid and essential oil for fragrance. There is no bleach or phosphorus. It cut through soap scum like nothing else I have used. Let me know what you use in your bathtub!

A little over a year ago, I wrote about the best kind of roof for Central Texas, Metal!! Metal has reflective qualities, is recycled and recyclable and great for rainwater collection and solar energy collection. However, I am changing my opinion for some cases to another kind of roof…Green!

Green and living roofs have come a long way. Yes, I am talking about plants on your roof! When you think of a green roof, you might imagine building your home underground and mowing the grass on the lawn of your dirt roof. Or you might think of the Ford assembly truck plant in Dearborn Michigan with the largest green roof in the world!

But you might not consider a green or living roof on a conventional home with a typical sloped roof for either a new home or retrofit. It’s not just for extreme homes or large warehouse type commercial buildings! This company is making it easy! LiveRoof has created a modular and economical installation that is fully green the day it is installed.

So, why a green roof? A green or living roof will shade and protect your roof from the sun’s UV rays and other elements that can degrade the materials over time, so it is long lasting compared to a composition shingle roof. The shading and cooling qualities of the plants also keep your roof and attic cool. Additionally, plants transpire which create humidity for evaporative cooling and improved air quality.

A study done in Chicago on the Chicago City Hall building is interesting to note. The city hall side of the building has a green roof and the other side over the county offices has a tar roof. On each side of the building, weather stations are in place to monitor the differences between the 2 sides. One August day with temperatures in the 90’s, the difference in temperature between the green roof and the tar roof was 50 – 70 degrees! The heat from the tar roof will radiate through the night contributing to the heat island effect. Imagine having green roofs on all the city buildings in Austin! How much cooler downtown would be!

The LiveRoof system was developed by a horticulturist who has studied the best kinds of plants and soil for this application. The soil is very light weight and is predominately composed of high quality inorganic aggregates. When installed, the roof is instantly green because modules are grown by selected growers off site and installed by certified installers. The plants are typically drought tolerant succulent type plants and selected to be appropriate for the climate in your region. The plants seldom need additional watering but can be installed with an irrigation system. The rain that falls on the green roof is 99% absorbed so there is little water that is run off unless we have a typical Texas gulley washer. There is little need for maintenance because of the cushioning and shading qualities of the plants. There is currently not enough study to know exactly how long your green roof will last, but they speculate it could be more than double the typical composition shingle roof.

The LiveRoof grower for Austin is Texas Green Roofs in Lindale, Texas. Ed Borger says that there are 20 affiliate growers around the United States for the Live Roof system. I asked Ed if he had ever had any problems with nesting animals. He said that at the last Live Roof conference, they did discuss that issue but there have not been any reported problems of that nature. He did say that it is a good idea to walk around your green roof every couple of weeks, especially during the big growing season, to investigate problems or pull weeds from seeds that might blow onto your roof. Contact Ed at 800-777-9849 for more information about the LiveRoof system.

I also asked Ed about what the process is for installing a green roof on an existing home. He referred me a LiveRoof certified roofer installer for our area, Charlie Glaze with A.D. Willis Co. Inc. Charlie says, “Retrofitting a garden roof onto any building should begin with a engineering study, to determine whether the existing structure can handle the additional weight. The weight of the LiveRoof system is 27-29 lbs. That’s over a ton for every 10ft by 10ft area.”

Charlie also recommends removing the shingles from your home and replacing them with a waterproof membrane. This would remove some of the weight from the structure. With a sloped roof, install a “cleat system running horizontally across the slope of the roof” to keep the system in place. Charlie says that you have more water runoff with a sloped roof, but he has seen green roofs on pitches at steep as 6:12. This might be a little extreme, but it gives you an idea of what can be done.

Whether you use LiveRoof system or more traditional green roof methods, Charlie recommends attending classes on the subject or employing the services of someone educated in all aspects of the subject. The wildflower center is a great source of information. He also recommends that native local plants will work best in any green roof situation. Contact Charlie Glaze at (512) 385-3993.

Some great applications of green roofs for homes would be a combination of metal and live plants, especially if you have tree cover on some areas of your roof. On a particular hot area on the west side would be a great place for the green roof, and metal in other areas so you can collect solar energy and rain water. Green roofs are also really great on a patio or other outdoor areas for a cooling effect on your outdoor living.

Austin is a Green city that we are proud of. But when we look around at other parts of the country and the world, we see that we are far behind cities like Chicago and countries like Germany who are encouraging and in some places requiring a certain percentage of green roofing.

Green Living Tips!

This tip comes from my very own Mom!! I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

Tip by Vicki Jurica:

My bathroom sink stops up periodically, and I really do not like to use chemicals because our house is on a septic system. So I thought…I will try a small little plunger and see if that works. I purchased a small plunger [which also happened to be green in color..most fitting] and tried it on my bathroom sink. There are a couple of things you will need to do when you “plunge” a bathroom sink…..

1. Put a washrag in the sink’s overflow drain to keep it plugged while you plunge

2. Hold down the stopper while you plunge so that the drain will not close while you are plunging.

3. Then plunge!!!

It works very well! I am amazed at how easy, inexpensive, and “GREEN” this was.

There are so many cool ways to build the structure of a home. SIPs panels, ICF blocks, Steel framing, Rammed Earth, Straw bale, Earth ships, they just keep getting more interesting!

The advantages of these alternatives is that they are more resistant than wood to fire, wind, insect and moisture damage. They also practice an efficient use or reuse of materials. It makes sense to check into these materials to explore what might work for your building project.

But the fact is that 90% of homes are built with typical dimensional lumber. Sometimes it is the initial cost of an alternative building material that deters home owners. It can also be the labor if some alternatives are so labor intensive that it is expensive or so unique that a local experienced trade does not exist. More often it is the builder who either is not familiar enough with an alternative and does not want to experiment or is building a spec home and does not want the added cost to pass onto a potential buyer.

So, that leaves most people with a traditional dimensional lumber built home. This does not have to be bad; it just has to be done right.

Start by using lumber with the FSC stamp (Forest Stewardship Counsel) FSC is an independent, non-governmental, not for profit organization established to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests. The FSC certified forests must follow the rules in managing their forests. The basic principles are:
• Prohibit conversion of forests or any other natural habitat
• Respect of international workers rights
• Prohibition of use of hazardous chemicals
• Respect of Human Rights with particular attention to indigenous peoples
• No corruption – follow all applicable laws
• Identification and appropriate management of areas that need special protection (e.g. cultural or sacred sites, habitat of endangered animals or plants)

Many forests around the world are harvested illegally. By using FSC lumber you can guarantee that the wood in your home was taken with care.

Engineered products are an efficient way to minimize the wood required and to strengthen your structure. Manufactured finger jointed studs made from shorter lengths of lumber, have no knots and actually are stronger than a single piece stud. Finger jointed millwork also have no knots and are straight and smooth for a more quality finish. Trusses for roofs and floor systems are stronger and better too. Less lumber is used especially when attic trusses are specified and they are easier to run duct work and other mechanicals through them. I-beam floor joists are made from wood particles and are engineered to hold the load.

In construction, wall studs are typically framed at 16” on center spacing. Code allows 24” spacing and works well structurally and even helps because roof and ceiling framing that is typically at spaced 24” on center can be stacked directly onto the stud.

Sometimes exterior walls are framed with 2×6’s instead of 2×4’s to allow for thicker batt insulation. Save the lumber, cost and space by using 2×4 exterior walls with a quality total fill insulation such as damp blown cellulose or open cell spray foam. These choices are better than batt because they guarantee a total fill application. The spray foam also will create an air barrier that eliminates the need for caulking all the joints in your wall system. These insulations do cost more, but you will get a much better wall and a higher R-value using 2×4’s and higher quality insulation.

In the demolition phase of remodeling a home, make sure your builder saves every scrap of studs, trusses, joists and rafters for reuse on your own job site. Trusses can be either reused as is or the 2×4’s can be cut out for reuse. Even small pieces can be used on site for blocking or fire stopping between studs. Watch the dumpster every day and pull out scraps that might have been tossed in and make sure your builder understands your desires. If you don’t have a need for all of it, find another use in a future project, with a neighbor or a reputable resource for recycled building materials. These values can be used in new construction too. For small projects, try to find a source of unused or discarded lumber from another job.

When building a “stick” framed home, your builder is going to be your best advocate for building sensibly and smart. Be sure that your choice in a builder is one who believes in and understands green building the way that you expect them to. Check their references and make sure they are a member of Austin Energy Green Building.

In Green building, the things you don’t see are sometimes more important that the things you do see.

Green Living Tips!

Please welcome this new segment of our newsletter! I welcome inspirations from your home to put into future newsletters. Email them to me; Cammi Klier. Thanks!!

If you have children that play hard like mine, you have to deal with stains on their clothes. Nothing seems to work better than a conventional stain treatment like “Shout”. To keep as much of this out of our ground water as possible, I dilute it 2/3 parts water, 1/3 parts solution and I do one stain load a week. After spraying it on the stains, I put the clothing in my washing machine and close the door (with out turning it on) to sit for about 20 minutes. During this time, the watered down solution soaks into the clothing. Then I start the wash as normal and do an extra rinse at the end if needed. Before the clothes go to the dryer, I check to make sure the stains are gone. Usually only the heaviest stains are not completely gone and they skip the dryer and go into the dirty laundry again to repeat the process.

Here’s an interesting, natural way to clean your clothing! They are called Soap Nuts and they come from a tree in the Himalayan Mountains.

Cabinets…Green?

Yes! They are off the grid, wireless and you don’t even have to plug them in! They do not consume an ounce of energy, except for your elbow grease when they need cleaning.

The cabinets in my home are green, really. They are painted in Kelly-Moore”Desert Moss” or something like that. Other than that, they are the most un-green cabinets ever. Years ago, I knew less about the importance of healthy cabinetry than I do now. The installer I hired used MDF, oil based paint and tried building the “frame” (there should be no frame work like this inside cabinetry) in 2×4’s!!! Can you BELIEVE that??? The original cabinets were solid wood but are almost falling down from the 1978 furr down. Thankfully, I know better now!

So what do green cabinets really mean? Healthy and Sustainable.

Jeff Mitzel, the owner of GreenAward Custom Woodworking, was kind enough to share his perspective on this subject. Jeff’s green cabinetry practices start in the shop which uses radiant heat and also bio gas heating which burns the hydrogen in the wood. He also uses common sense ways to keep warm and radiant heat strips are aimed to keep the back of your neck warm which warms the entire body. Waste materials are recycled and used in children’s art classes and in art therapy around Austin. Jeff is green down to his core and his values are present in every decision he makes every day of the year.

Back to the cabinets! The sustainable part, past the green of the shop, will depend on the client. Each has their own sense of green, different for each individual and in different moments in time. Jeff likes to find out what is the client’s next green step. He has created a pricing model to help clients have quality healthy and sustainable cabinets for different budgets. The best way to go green affordably is to use products in the mainstream like low formaldehyde plywood. Buying something local and commonly available helps avoid large shipping fees which helps his customers make choices that fit their budget.

The healthy part of cabinets is all about air quality. Jeff uses finishes on the cabinetry that are cured with ultraviolet light rather than by evaporation. Products that cure through evaporation need the volatile properties, VOC’s. Waterborne finishes are replacing traditional finishes but also contain VOC’s, though in smaller amounts. UV cured finishes don’t require VOC’s to dry and cure, and the level of quality of UV cured finishes are equal to anything else out there and are durable enough for commercial floor grade traffic while saving money. A high end quality finish is affordable, very green and very consistent quality.

This is important because we want clean air in our homes. Many of us have heard of off gassing, the evaporation process of VOC’s that can go on in some products for more than a year.

A Researcher at UT, Richard Corsi, has studied indoor air quality from a toxicity perspective and how products break down over time. Ozone bumps into molecules and breaks them apart and creates an exponential rise in new chemicals. What are they? We don’t even know, maybe something ok. Maybe not.

Off gassing from new products we bring into our home often falls off after a few months while small amounts of ozone in our air continues to break down chemicals in our home every day and becomes the major factor in our indoor air quality over time. The UV cured finish Jeff uses has been tested at the University of Texas and shows a very low interaction with ozone which makes for a very safe finish. No off gassing in the short term and very small ozone effect over the long term.

The important thing to think about is that the kitchen is our food storage and prep area of the home. We ingest the airborne chemicals that off gas from our cabinets and that also break down from ozone and which deposits on our cookware, tableware, plates, and cups and glasses.

We do respond to chemicals. We can become sick now or sick later, and they can change our DNA, especially in our children, while studies show infants raised in nurseries with new stuff have higher incidence rates of asthma.

When our children are born, many families seek out a healthier life style and begin to learn about other options. We buy organic foods that have been carefully grown to eliminate chemicals in the products, but then we put them in cabinetry that is both off gassing and that will go through the ozone effect.

Where do we go from there?
Jeff likes to show his clients samples with traditional finishes like shellacs and natural varnishes. In his shop, he has taken the time to study different finishes, what it does and how it looks. Stain versus not. Often we are looking for color and we want our kitchen to feel warm. Wood is appealing, but stains muddy up the grain of the wood. The point of a good finish is to show off the natural beauty and grain of the wood. You can spend thousands on a specialty finish, but you are better off with less because you going to lose the grain. You can really see the difference; you can see the natural shine of a hard wood that is not there in most cabinetry.

Natural varnishes can take longer to dry and have been replaced by modern chemical finishes in mass production facilities which value the speed in which these finishes can be applied and dry while the finishes and techniques used to apply safer natural finishes which also show off the beauty of wood have largely fallen by the wayside.

Now that we have brought back some of these techniques, we apply some of the same techniques on modern green materials. A technique used to create the rich dark Cherry color in our grandparents furniture can be applied to caramelized bamboo to bring out greens and yellows and then finished with a dark garnet shellac for a very rich and varied finish.

Creating unique finishes opens the door for combining materials in unique ways, and many green materials combine well with each in creative ways and also with local woods. Caramelized bamboo combines nicely with a flooring material made from waste wood products that has some of the same colorings and which Jeff has recast for use as doors. Locally harvested Mesquite combines nicely with a board made from Sorghum, Kirei. There are so many more ways to be creative!

Jeff Mitzel is definitely contributing to a better and healthier air quality with his natural and simple use of materials. Jeff likes to take his love for cabinetry, wood and beautiful finishes and share it with anyone who wants to know more. He can be reached through his email address; build@greenaward.com.

As we begin this year with a new president on the horizon and a slow market, we wonder how this year will progress. I think this is going to be the year that sustainable building and living green takes center stage. You may think that it already has, but there are still so many builders and people who do not think it is cost effective to build green and it is inconvenient to live green. In fact, you may have seen news articles that represent green building as too expensive for people to afford in this market and green builders that are losing money on building green. Well, show me a builder who is not losing money right now and I would bet that they are building more green than others who are not.

In the real estate market, we have seen a trend over the last 18 months or more in people wanting to purchase properties that have been green rated by the city or that have green features built into them. It is more than just the latest trend, “it’s a cultural shift that helps protect our environment and reduces our carbon footprint”, says Laurie Loew of Give Realty Austin, a philanthropic realty company. She says that “sales of “green” homes increased by 88% from 2007 to 2008. The national projection is there will be a 10 fold increase in green construction between 2005 and 2010, with green construction making up $20 billion of the new home market (national level) by 2010.”

Buyers are specifically looking for energy star rated appliances, a clean air environment with low VOC content and natural materials used and water conservation features. The biggest thing a buyer wants to see is the annual cost of energy savings and how quickly they’ll see a return on their “green” money investments.

This is where it can differ from home to home. If a home is built with a total fill insulation like open cell spray foam and a sealed attic, the energy star rated appliances and high seer rated HVAC will add great value to a very efficiently built home. Otherwise, the quality equipment may not be enough to show the savings they want to see. From a real estate perspective, the visible energy features of a home make a big impact on the buyer. But the way a home is designed and built is even more important and is often overlooked and hidden from the buyer eyes.

Laurie advises for a buyer who wants a green home; “If new construction is not an option, fairly simple modifications can be made to help reduce energy costs and increase efficiency. If you do major remodeling and finance the updates, weigh the cost of the upgrade vs. the money that will be saved over the life of the improvement.”

Whether you are buying new or used, or building your home, it pays to take advantage of the many incentives through Austin Energy. “Realize that small changes can have a very positive impact on the environment and your pocketbook!” Laurie Loew specializes in green and has recently completed her elective course and is anxiously awaiting the ability to use her new GREEN designation from the National Association of Realtors®. She can be contacted through her website at www.giverealtyaustin.com.