Cascade Built

Custom Sustainable Homes

2010-08-19T20:37:00.000-07:00

If you're interested in a custom sustainable home in the Seattle area, remember that Cascade Built does custom homes. We are capable of delivering cost-effective custom homes, built sustainably. We have delivered Energy Star, Built Green, and LEED certified homes, currently we are building twice as efficient as energy codes require, and that's our sweet spot. It doesn't cost much to cut your utility bills in half, so why not do it? We build homes that are far more comfortable and have fewer toxins than the norm. You'd think, of course our builder will do these things, but very few in fact do.

Modular Prefab modern homes

2010-06-22T23:31:00.000-07:00

SEATTLE, WA, June 16, 2010 /24-7PressRelease/ -- New legislation allowing backyard cottages on eligible lots throughout the city of Seattle created the foundation for Backyard Box's marked interest and success. The pre-designed modular prefab or custom dwelling units introduced earlier this year provide customers an easy and cost-effective way to add the living space they need with a variety of options depending on lot size and cottage usage. Backyard Box's designs recently won the titles of "Best in Show" and "Most Sustainable" in the Backyard Cottage Design Challenge sponsored by Method Homes and Infinity Real Estate.

"Aging parents, the rise in telecommuting, and the desire to create rental income are just a few of the many factors contributing to the increase in individuals and families seeking a solution to the problem of not enough living space," said Sloan Ritchie, founder of Backyard Box. "Me included. The idea started with my own family's need to have more space for a home office and ultimately resulted in a house that we rented for the added income. Depending on where you live, you can recoup the cost of building a backyard cottage in roughly five years of renting it."

Backyard Box is the easiest and most comprehensive solution on the market for detached accessory dwelling units designed with prevalent uses in mind - a place for baby boomers to retire, for children in college or between home and living on their own, for short-term or long-term visiting family members or guests, an office or retreat, or a rental income property. The cottages feature a contemporary design and range in size from the Mini Box at 325 square feet - perfect for a home office or studio, to the Big Box at 800 square feet - two-stories with a master suite.

Unique to the market, Backyard Box delivers cottages that are completely designed, making it simpler, more efficient and cost-effective for customers because they don't need to go through the design and contractor selection process. Instead, they choose from thoughtfully laid-out plans that match potential uses, including units that emphasize accessibility with all-one floor living. In addition, all models are available in a modular configuration, which means they are built off-site in a controlled environment, and then delivered to the site location, reducing construction noise and saving time.

Backyard Box cottage designs reflect Passive House standards with a 10x reduction in heating energy costs and an immeasurable increase in thermal comfort. Each Backyard Box also comes with sustainable features including rainscreen siding, an efficient lighting package, SIP framing, and non-toxic finishes. And, for the eco-conscious customer, the Smart Box option adds solar photovoltaic panels, solar hot water and an energy-monitoring dashboard.

Founded by Sloan Ritchie, an eco-urban developer and custom home-builder, Backyard Box homes start at $39,500 and are currently available for purchase. Design options and details can be found at www.backyardbox.net, with new models being released continually. Foundation and appliance costs are not included as costs can vary based on a customer's lot and personal preferences. Customers can also create a Custom Box if they prefer, using an experienced Backyard Box architect.

Backyard Box new models

2010-06-20T23:26:00.000-07:00

Backyard Box has 2 new units: The Loft Box and the Mini Box.

The Mini is our smallest, basically a 1-room studio that would be usable for an office, guest suite, art studio, yoga studio, hobby space, etc. A little retreat right in your backyard. It’s even upgradeable to a complete dwelling unit if future plans change. From $39,500, completed, tastefully appointed, insulated, wired, ready for use (not a kit, not a storage shed from Lowe’s!).

The Loft Box is another way to maximize living space in a very small footprint. The sleeping loft is above the living room & kitchen, yet the footprint is so small it will fit almost anywhere!

Backyard Box Launches new Backyard Cottage Product line

2010-03-03T13:56:00.000-08:00

Responding to Seattle’s new ordinance legalizing Backyard Cottages, Backyard Box has designed a line of Backyard cottages for Seattle area residents. Seattle homeowners can now build a separate dwelling unit in a side or rear yard to use as a guest house, rental property, home office, or extended family and multi-generational living.

And did I mention that these are built to the highest energy efficiency standards – they use about 85% less energy to heat and cool versus “standard” code construction.

Press release:

Custom-architected Backyard Cottages are Pre-Designed for Selection Ease and Cost Savings; Feature Sustainable Techniques and Three Finish Packages

01.2010 – Seattle - On the heels of new legislation that allows the construction of backyard cottages on eligible lots throughout the city of Seattle, Backyard Box (www.backyardbox.NET) today launched pre-designed dwelling units that customers can select based upon size, need and usage. Backyard Box cottages feature a contemporary design by award-winning architect Jim Burton of Blip Design, and come in three sizes, three finish packages, and a Smart Box option, which includes solar photovoltaic panels, solar hot water and an energy monitoring dashboard.

From the founder of Seattle’s eco-urban developer, Cascade Built (www.cascadebuit.com), Backyard Box has the easiest and most comprehensive solution on the market for detached accessory dwelling units designed with prevalent uses in mind – a place for baby boomers to retire, for children in college or between home and living on their own, for visiting family members or guests, an office or retreat, or a rental income property.

Another unique feature of Backyard Box cottages is the completed design work, making it simpler, more efficient and cost-effective for customers because they don’t need to go through the design and contractor selection process. Instead, they can choose from thoughtfully laid-out plans that match potential uses, including two plans that emphasize accessibility.

All current Backyard Boxes are also built to Passive House standards with a 10x reduction in heating energy costs and an immeasurable increase in thermal comfort. The smallest home, Match Box, is a one-floor studio in 400 square feet. The Sand Box is a 600 square foot 1 bedroom/1 bathroom home, also on one floor. The Big Box is an 800 square foot living space on two floors with a master suite. Every Backyard Box will be built with rainscreen siding, an efficient lighting package, SIP framing, and non-toxic finishes.

“We’re amidst a cultural shift where families are returning to living more closely, people are working from home more often, and simply selling your house to upgrade is no longer fast and easy,” said Ritchie. “Having the opportunity to add living space is the perfect solution for many providing a multitude of uses while increasing the value and usage of home lots.”

Backyard Box homes start $79,500 and are currently available for purchase. Design options and details can be found at www.backyardbox.NET. Foundation and appliance costs are not included as the cost can vary vastly based on a customer’s lot and personal preferences. Customers can also create a Custom Box if they prefer, using a Backyard Box recommended architect.

Healing or Stealing?

2010-01-15T13:23:00.000-08:00

Just came across this recently: Paul Hawken's commencement address to University of Portland's 2009 graduates. Sure it's a tad off topic, but it's inspirational and far reaching.

As a builder/developer, there's a market reality out there, and there's constant pressure (called market forces) to revert to the mean, and do exactly what everyone else is doing, which results in more of the same old energy wasting homes being built. Hey, if it's behind the walls and under the slab no one will ever see it, so why work any harder to make it airtight, why insulate better than code, why strive to build something more than the market is currently demanding? And then your competition who builds code minimum Legal Boxes claims to be "leading the industry in sustainable building," because they used a can of low VOC paint and bamboo flooring. But I digress.

Paul Hawken captures the essence of why we have to do what we have to do:

Healing or Stealing?

The unforgettable Commencement Address 2009.

By Paul Hawken

When I was invited to give this speech, I was asked if I could give a simple short talk that was “direct, naked, taut, honest, passionate, lean, shivering, startling, and graceful.” No pressure there.

Let’s begin with the startling part. Class of 2009: you are going to have to figure out what it means to be a human being on earth at a time when every living system is declining, and the rate of decline is accelerating. Kind of a mind-boggling situation... but not one peer-reviewed paper published in the last thirty years can refute that statement. Basically, civilization needs a new operating system, you are the programmers, and we need it within a few decades.

This planet came with a set of instructions, but we seem to have misplaced them. Important rules like don’t poison the water, soil, or air, don’t let the earth get overcrowded, and don’t touch the thermostat have been broken. Buckminster Fuller said that spaceship earth was so ingeniously designed that no one has a clue that we are on one, flying through the universe at a million miles per hour, with no need for seatbelts, lots of room in coach, and really good food—but all that is changing....

read the rest

http://www.up.edu/commencement/default.aspx?cid=9456

City Council approves Backyard Cottages

2009-11-03T09:20:00.001-08:00

The city approves Backyard Cottages citywide: (I'll build you one if you want!)

SEATTLE – The Council today adopted legislation to allow the construction of backyard cottages on eligible lots in single-family zones throughout the city. Backyard cottages also referred to as “detached accessory dwelling units,” have been permitted in Southeast Seattle since 2006, and approximately 20 have been constructed since that time.

“This is a smart and modest step to create affordable housing options, help someone pay their mortgage, get older on their property, or to make a room for a son or daughter moving back home," said Councilmember Sally J. Clark.

After more than a year’s work involving public testimony, surveys, meetings in the community, briefings, and tours, the Council voted to carry over the development standards from Southeast Seattle to the rest of the city. Backyard cottages will be limited to 800 square feet, including garage and storage space. The legislation also prohibits the construction of backyard cottages on lots less than 4,000 square feet or located in a Shoreline District.

The property owner must live in either the principle structure or the backyard cottage for at least six months out of the year. Other requirements include a side yard setback of at least five feet and limiting the total lot coverage of the principle residence, backyard cottage and any other accessory structures to 35 percent.

The legislation also states that if a homeowner currently has an attached unit, such as a basement or attic apartment, those homes would not be eligible to build a backyard cottage.

Amendments to the legislation include reducing the maximum permitted height to 22 feet unless the lot is at least 50 feet wide or served by a rear alley. It also eliminates the earlier proposed cap of 50 on the amount of cottage permits allowed per year.

“We learned a lot looking at the cottages in Southeast and the older ones in the North neighborhoods,” Clark said. “This will be a tool that gives people a new housing option while preserving single-family density and building rules.”

The full bill with amendments, C.B. 116528 is available on line from the City Clerk website.

Alley House sold

2009-10-30T13:15:00.001-07:00

The Alley house is sold. The buyers are already enjoying the efficient heating and thermal comfort provided by the radiant heated floors...

Washington State energy bill takes effect this week

2009-07-28T10:19:00.000-07:00

This spring, governor Gregoire signed into law a bill that sets an energy policy framework for non-residential buildings in this state through 2031 (SB5854). One of the first provisions is to require utilities to support benchmarking of building performance by mandating that they provide data to building owners in a format usable by federal EPA benchmark programs such as Portfolio Manager. Utilities must comply by Jan 1, 2010.

Other measures incrementally take effect, including requiring building owners & sellers to provide benchmarked energy use data to prospective buyers & tenants. This may become more of a factor in property values, and therefore drive owners to consider energy upgrades.

The bill includes provisions to develop methods to benchmark and rate residential structures as well, but this has been stongly opposed by industry groups such as the National Association of Realtors.

Oh, did I mention that washington state energy codes are also tightening up? A 30% increase in performance will go into effect in 2009/2010. This is good news for climate change, the economy, contractors, designers, building owners, and tenants. The bill went into effect this week.

Carpets can harbor toxicants and other gross stuff

2009-07-26T21:32:00.000-07:00

I was reminded about carpets while hosting an open house today in Seattle at a LEED Platinum home that not coincidently has no carpets (you get LEED points for reducing or eliminating carpets, as they decrease Indoor Air Quality). Someone who came by today was quite pleased about the lack of carpet in the house, as he grew up in Mexico where carpet is uncommon.

In my experience most people indicate a preference for having carpets for keeping their toes warm in the bedroom and many like it in the living room as well. It does have acoustical benefits too, reducing footfall noise to those one floor below. And yes, it is soft. But before you tell me how much you love to let your kids play on carpet because it's so soft and safe for them, allow me to toss out a few carpet facts for you to chew on. *a note on warm toe carpet syndrome - if your house was well insulated and/or had radiant floors, you wouldn't miss carpet.

Builders use carpet because it's cheap. Starting at around one dollar a square foot, it's very hard to resist installing, especially toward the end of the project when cash gets tight. Compare to tile at $10 a SF, hardwoods about the same, linoleum somwhere around $5, it's hard to beat. Plus imagine the dificulty (and expense) of installing stair nose for every stair, versus just rolling out the carpet and tacking it down. Nice and cheap, cheap and easy, in and out in one day, and it's foot traffic ready that same day.

There is one fact about carpet that the industry might wish you didn't know, and it kind of sums up whats wrong with it in one quick tidbit: Carpet weighs twice as much when being removed from your house as it did the day it was installed. That should conjur up some pretty good images.

Everything you and your guests ever tracked in your home remains in the carpet, and can embed itself permanently deep in those lush fibers to the backing and in the pad too. Well, it's just dust, no biggie. Did you ever wonder what dust actually is though? I recently attended a lecture by toxicologist Steven Gilbert, and what I learned is that dust contains:

􀂄 Lead

􀂄 Cadmium

􀂄 Gypsum

􀂄 Fiberglas

􀂄 Carpet fibers

􀂄 Soot

􀂄 Dust mite feces

􀂄 Mold spores

􀂄 Rug dyes

􀂄 Flame retardants

􀂄 Tire fragments

􀂄 Dander

􀂄 Charred wood

􀂄 Insect hair

􀂄 Paint spheres

􀂄 Pollen

􀂄 Paper fragments

􀂄 Pesticides

􀂄 Fly ash

􀂄 Etc.

By the time I got to dust mite feces, that was more than enough. You can vacuum most of that detritus out, if you're willing to vacuum for anywhere from 6 to 40 minutes per square meter.

You would be able to reduce the lead by 80%, fine dust by 90% and dust mites by 90% as well according to research. Anyway, has the point about the carpet link to dust to toxicants been made? Just in case not, here is an additional thought: Carpet backing is chlorinated, carpet and carpet padding contains formaldehyde, PBDEs and other VOCs. Just remember - twice as heavy on the way out as on the way in.

It sure is soft though.

How do you know it's Green?

2009-07-21T10:07:00.000-07:00

Looking for a new home? Want it to be a Green home? How do you know it’s Green? What does Green mean anyway? Almost every house on the market says it’s green now.

It’s true, a Green home can be better: it may be cheaper to operate, have fresher air & fewer toxins, more durable construction, and tread lightly on the environment – or not. But it’s not that easy to know when comparing one home to another. A slick sales and marketing program may talk the talk and then mention how “the builder saved some money by not getting it certified, so they passed the savings on to you.” This may be a red flag, as you can almost be certain they passed the savings on to themselves by taking shortcuts during design and construction as well.

How would you ever know? Here are some questions you should ask if seeking a green home:

1) Is it certified Green? Energy Star Home (not just an appliance, but the whole house), LEED Certified, Built Green, HERS rating, 2030 Challenge Compliant, Living Building? And at what level of certification? A HERS rating of 100 is a code home, barely legal, where a rating of 50 means twice as efficient. LEED Platinum is better than LEED Gold & Silver, and so on.

2) Third Party Verification? – are the marketing claims verified by someone besides the builder and their sales team? Built Green 3-star rating is not verified, where 4-star and 5-star are measured and verified by independent inspectors (all LEED certifications are 3^rd party verified).

3) What is the energy performance of this home? Get the number, it can be calculated or measured. If it wasn’t calculated precisely, you can bet it’s no better than any other place. Having radiant heat does not make a home green. Numbers that might help here are: Blower Door test result, HERS rating, EUI (Energy Use Intensity), recent utility bills if occupied, etc.

4) Is there any Urea Formaldehyde in the construction materials? Cabinets, baseboards, casing and other construction materials often contain toxins that have ill health effects. Just like with food products, if you can’t pronounce it – u-re-a for-mal-de-hyde - don’t stew yourself in it!

5) What is the U-Factor of the windows? The number equates to heat loss, less is better. Code is .4, energy star is .35, .10 is very efficient, but too expensive for most. U .30 or .28 is just a bit more expensive than code but way more efficient.

6) What is the R-Value of the wall, ceiling and floor insulation? “R” stands for Heat Resistance, more is better. Code is somewhere around 21 for walls, go for more, like 30 or 40, insulation is cheap, energy is expensive.

If you got this far with the seller or sales agent you are probably on the right track, unless you got a blank stare. If you think Green means something more than just Bamboo floors, you’ll have to educate yourself about construction a little bit and ask questions. Do you know what a U-Factor is? R-value? FSC certified wood? Stick-built vs. panelized, SIPs and ICFs? Post-consumer content, salvage, waste? Pick the things that matter the most to you, and define Green on your own terms: rainforest preservation, salmon habitat, climate change, erosion, healthy indoor air, or anything that’s personally important.

Alley House now selling in Seattle

2009-07-16T09:42:00.000-07:00

The Alley House is listed for sale as of July 16th 2009. It is a single family 3 bed 2.5 bath LEED Platinum rated green & modern home located in the Madison Valley neighborhood of Seattle.

Some of the features:

· 50% Energy savings vs. other new homes

· Sleek & Modern custom design

· Radiant in-floor heat, 5 controllable zones

· Large Green Roof

· Bamboo courtyard

· Rainscreen siding system

· Solar Hot Water & Solar PV pre-wire

· Drainwater Heat Recovery

· SIP construction & ICFs

MLS Listing

Can we make it a Passive House?

2009-07-09T11:25:00.000-07:00

Wouldn't you know it, just as soon as I pessemistically described the local market demand for passive houses in 2009, one popped up. A client is doing an ADU (Accessory Dwelling Unit) to use as a studio on their property and said yes, let's target passive house standards. It's too early to say whether we'll be able to achieve that (solar access is sub-optimal on the site due to mature trees, among other possible barriers), but it's certainly not too late to incorporate the concepts - eliminate thermal bridges, airtight design, super insulation, triple glazing, etc.

Passive House

2009-06-02T11:20:00.000-07:00

How would you like to reduce your home's energy consumption by 85%? It can be done, according to the Passive House Institute of US with an upfont cost premium of about 10%. So far I only have an understanding of how the concept applies to new construction.

Fascinating stuff. I thought I had a good thing going by reducing energy to a third of average. This method gets energy use so low that carbon neutral is just a very small solar system away. This level of performance is not achieved in the US, except for a few isolated homes, schools, etc., but the word is spreading.

Who knows if it will catch on here, or if we're just going to keep on building Mc Mansions. It would be so relieving to know that you own the home completely and dont' have to subscribe to the utilities year after year. It has caught on in Europe - they have built 10,000 of these homes in Germany. The mechanical engineering and architectural rigor is astounding. It would take a disciplined crew to execute each and every measure, no thermal bridges, and 0.6 ACH @50 pascals air tightness. Who's up for the challenge? I'll build one, if you'll buy it! The current economic situation would dictate that it should be done very inexpensively. I wonder if it can be done for $400K in city?

KUOW interview on Green Building in Seattle

2009-05-06T06:59:00.000-07:00

http://www.kuow.org/program.php?id=17476

Check out the interview on KUOW, comparing light green (Howland Homes) to dark green (Cascade Built). One critique of the analysis is the apples-to-oranges comparison of a single family home in Madison Valley versus a townhouse in Bitter Lake, price-wise, although I certainly concede the "sustainable may cost more than unsustainable" point, at least in first costs. I would however, like to meet the current occupant of that light green home to compare utility bills. :)

Healthy Home assessment

2009-04-13T15:40:00.000-07:00

For those of you in Washington state, the Lung Association has created a program to assess and remedy health risks in homes, called the Healthy Home Assessment, performed by the Master Home Environmentalists trained by the Lung Association in partnership with the City of Seattle and others. Best part is, it's free. THat's right no cost to you to have highly trained professionals come out to your house to help you identify and improve health risks that lurk in your own home.

Mine was just done. Paul from Pathway DC, a Seattle contracting firm, is a Master Home Environmentalist, and performed the assessment. It was very thorough, much of the time was spent interviewing me to understand our home cleaning routines (do you ever vacuum the underside of your rugs?). The rest of the time was spent inspecting parts of the house that might harbor unhealthy chemicals or potentially problematic situations.

We learned alot. He gave us the top three recommendations, and a small list of other things we might think about doing.

Go to the Lung Association website for more info, or to sign up for yours.

Featured on Kirei website

2009-04-09T12:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, Check out the Kirei website. They featured our Alley House project since it's LEED Platinum and uses some Kirei board in a custom door. We have some extra Kirei baord left over and are still mulling what to do with it. Suggestions welcome.

City of Seattle Proposes Expanding BackYard Cottages

2009-03-19T14:15:00.000-07:00

The city of Seattle today announced a proposal expanding the use of backyard cottages to the rest of the city (allowed in SE Seattle since 2006). This land use proposal addresses several needs and opportunities that exist within our communities. Read the press release for more info:

SEATTLE – More homeowners would have the option to build backyard cottages, under

legislation proposed today by Mayor Greg Nickels. While backyard cottages are found

in many cities, here they are currently allowed in southeast Seattle only.

“In these difficult times, now more than ever, people are asking for a range of good

housing choices,” said Nickels. “Backyard cottages offer a small, but important choice.

Whether it’s for a family member, an option to downsize, or simply a financial decision

that allows you to stay in your home, the backyard cottage can be a real-life solution.”

Backyard cottages have been described as “mother-in-law units with a little more

breathing room.” Since 1994, Seattle has allowed attached accessory dwelling units,

which are attached to or inside principal residences. Since 2006, homeowners in southeast

Seattle have been allowed to build backyard cottages. A backyard cottage is a small

dwelling unit on the same lot as, but physically separate from, a single-family house.

So far, 14 backyard cottages have been built in southeast Seattle, many of them above

garages. Yolinda Ward and her partner Lynn downsized to a 620 square foot backyard

cottage. Now, her godson, his wife and new baby live in the main house. “It’s like a

tree house,” Ward said. “It gives us a warm, bright and separate space to live, while still

staying close and being a part of the upbringing of their 15-month-old son.”

Under the proposal, homeowners in other neighborhoods would also be allowed to build

backyard cottages under certain conditions, including requiring the owner to live on the

premises. There would be an annual limit of 50 new cottages citywide. “Backyard cottages

are a perfect solution to most of the things we worry about in Seattle: affordable housing,

and allowing people to stay in their homes in single-family neighborhoods,” says Kate

Martin, Greenwood neighborhood resident. “We need this option in my neighborhood.”

To ensure a cottage fits within the neighborhood, the lot must be at least 4,000 square

feet in area, with minimum width and depth requirements. The principal house and

backyard cottage combined must not exceed the current 35 percent lot coverage limit for

single-family zones. A cottage can be no more than 800 square feet in area, with a

height limit of 15 to 23 feet, depending on lot width, and off-street parking is required.

-moreBackyard

cottages offer more choice for Seattle families

March 19, 2009

Page 2 of 2

In a survey of 118 neighbors living near permitted backyard cottages in southeast

Seattle, 96 respondents felt that owners of single-family homes should be allowed the

choice. More than half the respondents living near backyard cottages were not actually

aware they had been built, because the cottages are often not visible from the street.

Other cities and jurisdictions allowing backyard cottages include Clyde Hill, Issaquah,

Kirkland, Mercer Island, Shoreline, Newcastle, Redmond, parts of unincorporated King

County, Woodinville, Yarrow Point, Portland, Ore., and Vancouver, B.C. Legislation

will be submitted to council shortly.

In addition, the mayor and the Seattle Planning Commission announced the release of

the commission’s new Guide to Building a Backyard Cottage in Southeast Seattle. The

guide was prepared to help a homeowner successfully design and build a backyard

cottage. Subjects in the guide include site planning, designing for privacy, green design

ideas, as well as sample designs and construction and permitting information. The guide

is directed to development in southeast Seattle, where backyard cottages are already

allowed, but can be quickly adapted for use by homeowners in other neighborhoods.

“The Seattle Planning Commission is pleased to provide this guide for creating attractive

backyard cottages that are designed to fit well in their neighborhoods,” said the

commission chair, Linda Amato.

To view the guide: http://www.seattle.gov/planningcommission/

For more information about backyard cottages with pictures and examples:

http://www.seattle.gov/dpd/Planning/Backyardcottages

Get the Nickels Newsletter and the mayor’s inside view on transportation, public safety,

economic opportunity and healthy communities. Sign up at mayor.seattle.gov

###

Environmental Priorities Coalition

2009-02-17T09:36:00.000-08:00

Feb 19th, 2009

The 2009 Environmental priorities for Washington state are:

Cap and Invest
Efficiency First
Transit-oriented communities
Invest in Clean Water

Legislative concepts:

Build super efficient, low-energy-use buildings

Require energy use performance scores and disclosure

Provide incentives for energy efficient building operations

Facilitate up-front financing for energy efficiency

Reduce high energy costs for low income residents

learn more at:

http://www.environmentalpriorities.org

2009-02-16T22:50:00.001-08:00

The Project

Development of a single family residence on an in-fill lot in an urban area of Seattle. In order to design it in the most sustainable manner, a primary objective is to reduce the amount of energy this home will consume every day of every year for its expected lifetime of 50-100 years or more. The team is targeting an 80% reduction of energy use compared to current averages. To achieve this goal a number of factors must be considered prior to design: occupant needs; local climate; and local renewable resources. Only in that context can the building’s energy systems be appropriately designed.

Sustainable Energy Use

What quantity of energy consumption would be sustainable? US consumption rates are embarrassingly the highest in the world by any measure: five times global per capita, ten times the Chinese, and twenty times the Indian average consumption rates.[i] Residential buildings in the US are responsible for 1.2 Billion metric tons of CO₂ emissions.[ii] Over the past 50 years in the US, home size per occupant has nearly tripled along with our energy consumption.

As a result, we find ourselves in a position where current consumption levels cannot be met without severely impacting future environmental conditions, namely climate change (among other negative impacts). Forecasting the current 1.9% annual CO₂ output rate increases in to the future leads to what the UN International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), the EU, and numerous scientific organizations around the globe believe will be uncontrollable and catastrophic climate change, unless we take dramatic action now. These reports represent current scientific consensus.

2030 Challenge

The thrust of the 2030 Challenge[iii] is to meaningfully reduce the carbon footprint of the built environment over the next 20 years such that all new building stock and rehab work is done to increasing levels of energy efficiency, eventually resulting in a zero energy standard. It is a high bar to be sure, but it is possible. The current 2030 Challenge requirement for new building stock is to reduce energy consumption by 50% relative to average consumption for that building type. That percentage ratchets up every five years until 2030 when zero energy is the requirement, adjusting to the 60% level in 2010.

Energy reduction target

One of the project team members has recently completed construction of a home that exceeds the 60% threshold, so the team decided to push that level up significantly while remaining realistic in the context of the market environment, and the methodology of incremental yet meaningful increases in energy performance. We selected an 80% reduction, which per the 2030 Challenge, equates to 7.7 KBtu/Sq. Ft./Yr[iv], and is required in 2020.

Methodology

How do we achieve an 80% reduction on a speculative housing product, selling into the general buying population, which is largely uneducated on this topic? By employing an integrated design process to engage the right resources early enough to optimize the project, our costs can stay reasonable by “tunneling through the cost barrier.” The problem with that concept in residential applications versus commercial is that productivity is not measurable in residential, and home owners are less sophisticated than company CFOs who have the resources to analyze costs and future benefits. So we have to be especially sensitive to first costs, and effectively communicate future savings to potential owners.

Heating & Cooling

The structure is a 3-story single residence, 600 SF per floor for a total of roughly 1600 SF of living space with 200 SF of conditioned garage. Heating & cooling is the largest user of energy in the home. Assume a typical residential family unit of 2-4 persons for living, and some home office use. The location, East-West orientation and solar access are sufficient for moderate passive solar heat gain with the current existing structures to the south. However, modeling all future potential allowable density and development would yield almost no solar access in the winter months across most of the south façade except the roof, therefore this must be the design baseline. Using a simple energy model to calculate heat losses, SIPs are selected for wall (10.25”) and roof (12.25”) construction, and ICFs (6.75” EPS) for below grade first floor, and 4-inch rigid foam under the slab. Triple glazed windows will be necessary to meet energy goals. Air sealing to achieve approximately 1 ACH at 50 Pascals will ensure tight envelope performance and use of an Energy Recovery Ventilator with a very high efficiency rating (90%+) will ensure that energy is not wasted thru infiltration or mechanical exhaust. Heating load is reduced by 80%.

Hot Water

Hot water is the second largest energy use in the home, so the house will utilize vacuum tube solar hot water collectors on the roof at a 65 degree pitch to optimize winter production, but still produce 100% in summer months. Load reductions such as very low flow fixtures will reduce this demand further. Hot water heating is reduced by 80%.

Lighting

Lighting is next: The Energy Star Advanced Lighting Package will guide the lighting selection and beyond that, natural daylighting can be utilized in the space thru design strategies such as open floorplan, using fewer walls and doors. All exterior and some interior fixtures will employ occupancy or photo controls to eliminate unnecessary use. Lighting energy will be reduced by approximately 75-80%.

Everything else

For the remaining energy draws, “best in class” methodologies will inform product selection. For example, the Department of Energy publishes a list of every make and model of refrigerator available in the US and its precise consumption level[v]. Surprisingly, some models of almost every type of appliance can be as much as three times as efficient as the common models for only a marginal additional cost.

Offsetting Electric load

Ideally we can get to 80% without the use of PV solar electric generation. This is an important point for this project as PV generally is considered cost-prohibitive, particularly in spec development projects. The house will be pre-wired so that occupants can add PV more readily in the future, and the cost to pre-wire for PV is nominal.

Measuring up

To confirm the analysis, the building energy use must be modeled and then tested and measured to generate a HERS index (nationally acceptable rating system) and compare this result with the goal of 80% reduction. This step has not been done yet (this calculation requires inputting results from the blower door test at the end of construction). Until this step is completed the actual performance will not be known, merely estimated.

Costs

This house will incur additional costs relative to a code-built home of similar size. The window package, ERV, SIPs, lighting, and appliance upgrades will cost into the low 5 digits, but probably not much beyond an estimated $15-20,000 extra. For a house of average size and priced in and around the $400,000-$500,000, this is a premium of 3-5%. For the typical mortgage of say $400,000, monthly payments of $2900 are typical. With average home energy bills at $2000/year, an 80% reduction will net enough savings to cover the costs of those energy performance improvements. It is imperative to think long-term in order to realize these efficiencies. If developers continue to only focus on first costs, and buyers zero in on cost alone, we all lose. Understanding cost is the key to this becoming a reality.

Result

For roughly no net cost it should be feasible to build a home that puts us on a path to sustainable buildings, at least as it relates to energy consumption. The envelope is one part of the house that can’t easily be retrofitted after construction, and energy consumption takes place every day over the 50-100 year life of the structure, so its environmental impact is very large in that context, and must be taken as a primary objective. You can always add rain barrels, solar panels, and faucet aerators later on, but you can’t re-insulate the slab after you move in.

[i] Making Better Energy Choices, Worldwatch, www.worldwatch.org/node/808#1

[ii] US DOE, http://www.energy.gov/energysources/electricpower.htm

[iii] 2030 Challenge, http://architecture2030.org/2030_challenge/index.html

[iv]2030 Challenge, http://www.architecture2030.org/downloads/2030_Challenge_Targets_Res_Regional.pdf

[v] DOE, Energy Star, http://www.energy.gov/applianceselectronics.htm

Toxics in and around the home

2009-02-16T12:40:00.000-08:00

Went to a lecture on Toxics in the home given by toxicologist and author Stephen Gilbert, of Toxipedia. Top tips for reducing toxins in existing homes (my summary):

1) Remove carpets from home (carpets harbor toxins & dust mites and are very difficult to get clean, and the material backing may be made from toxins such as PVC)
2) take off shoes when entering home (you are tracking in lots of different toxins on your shoes, leave them outside)
3) Ventilate home to below 60% humidity, use bathroom and kitchen fans regularly to prevent mold, mildew, and dust mites, which all thrive above 60% humidity.

All the above are much more relevant for children, who are in closer proximity to the toxins...wash your hands kiddos.

Of course these suggestions apply to new homes too. The basic gist of the lecture was: people spend 90% of their time indoors, and indoor air quality (IAQ) is poor due to man made chemicals that don't biodegrade, but rather bio-accumulate over time, as well as poor ventilation that can result in worse IAQ levels.

Improve your air quality by building homes with non-toxic building materials (urea formaldehyde is a very common toxin), using non-toxic paints and finishes (formaldehyde and others), including drapes and furnishings (which may contain PBDEs, Phthalates, Urea Formaldehyde, BPA, etc). It's a jungle inside!

WSJ weighs in on Green Building

2009-02-12T10:14:00.000-08:00

WSJ Online gives green building a boost where the rubber meets the road: utility bills. In these economic times, green building talk is less about recycled content, embodied energy, and Life Cycle Assessment: people want to know how much money they'll save on utility bills each month. Enlightened self interest? Or just old-fashioned budget trimming.

"Energy efficiency, in particular, has emerged as a top priority for consumers because power bills have more than doubled in many markets. When asked to list their top 12 influences in buying a home, consumers responding to a National Association of Home Builders survey last year put energy efficiency at No. 2 , behind quality of living space. Five years ago, energy didn't even make the same survey."

Note: our latest completed project uses 62% less energy than an average home of the same size, so try that in your budget.

2030 Challenge Compliance

2009-02-11T07:15:00.000-08:00

The 2030 Challenge is a national imperative if you believe the science, and a great idea even if you don't. Wouldn't it be nice to not have any utility bills to pay every month? Yes is would. Unfortunately this isn't a reality for most in the developed world. We have a nasty energy habit that just keeps getting worse (expected to increase another 50% by 2030). Do your part to reverse the trend.

The Alley house in Seattle meets the current challenge levels. At 15.1 KBtu/SF/Yr, it in fact exceeds the next level 2010 60% reduction. So far so good. However, I attended a Passive House presentation this weekend and their standard is 4.75 KBtu/SF/Yr, so we have a ways to go for that. Also of note, the 2030 challenge has the 90% level in effect by 2025 at 3.1 KBtu/SF/Yr, but we have a few more years to figure that out.

I'm working on a project currently with colleagues in the SBA program (concept stage) with an 80% reduction target. I believe we'll have to use ERV and probably triple glazing. Not sure til we run the numbers.

And of course the real challenge is in 2030, zero KBtu/Sq.Ft./Yr.

Energy Savings, in dollars

2009-01-28T22:57:00.000-08:00

I've been asked to explain how much energy is used by the houses I build that are supposedly energy efficient, so we measured it on the latest one, the Alley House in Seattle. First step was to do energy modeling during design phase, then to blower door test and hire a HERS rater to verify everything. Enough about that. Let's just spell it out in simple terms:

The result is that the Alley House uses 61% less energy than an average home in the area (whether using Seattle City Light data or Federal data, the result is about the same). So if the neighbor pays $100 in energy bills, the Alley House energy bill should cost only $39 for that same period.

I'll post the calcs here if anyone is interested. Disclaimer: I'm not an engineer, but I do have a calculator. Engineering critiques welcome!

Average, West region 38.4 kBtu/Sq. Ft./Yr

2006 IECC (current codes) 29.5 kBtu/Sq. Ft./Yr

Alley House 15.1 kBtu/Sq. Ft./Yr

61% savings versus average home

EIA, Energy Information Adminstration, 2001

Energy Audits

2009-01-16T07:18:00.000-08:00

From the NY Times - Oregon State is looking to implement mandatory energy audits for residential and commercial properties being sold, mirroring a similar mandate implemented in Britain last year.

Owners of drafty old homes are understandably nervous, as their homes would not fare as well as newer and or more efficient homes. Buyers would theoretially be able to predict utility costs with the new information. This measure could also provide an incentive to improve the energy effiency of ones home or building, and several of the improvement measures are relatively inexpensive.

Realtors' and builders' associations oppose the measure. Probably on the "change is bad" principle. I concede it might be tough to implement, from the standpoint of measuring what you think you're measuring. For example, a couple that lives in a drafty old house but keeps the thermostat set to 65 when they're home wearing sweaters may have a utility bill that's lower than the better insulated larger house next door where they run it at 71 degrees arund the clock, so some of the data could be misinterpreted.

http://greeninc.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/05/oregon-governor-seeks-mandatory-efficiency-audits-for-home-sales/

Mortgage Rates are 4.5%

2009-01-14T11:39:00.000-08:00

Mortgage rates are low and staying low for the time being. The lowest rates are hovering at 4.5%, and national averages are around 5% Check out the latest here:

http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/mortgage_rates/

If you don't buy now and wait until rates are at 6.5% (also not a bad rate), which they were recently and will be again soon, here's an example of your payment:

500K house

400K loan

at 4.5%

$2,600 P&I& taxes

at 6.5%

$3,111 P&I& taxes

That's $500 a month, or $6,000 a year in savings or cost. Another way of looking at it is in terms of the house you can qualify for on your income. All things being equal, you'd need roughly $78,000 in income to qualify for the 4.5% loan on that house, but would need $93,000 for the same house at 6.5%.

The point is, now is the time to buy. Interest rates are at historic lows, and that coupled with lower prices and a buyer's market makes it an opportunity.

Jetson Green Top 40

2009-01-04T22:40:00.000-08:00

Hey check it out on Jetson Green:

http://www.jetsongreen.com/2008/12/green-homes.html

We made the top 40 for 2008. Not bad, since they cover stylish eco friendly homes all over the US. The Alley House was certified LEED Platinum in August 2008, and built by Cascade Built in Madison Valley Seattle. Designed by Urban Mix. It is currently for sale. http://www.redfin.com/WA/Seattle/222-26th-Ave-E-98112/home/17298275

Happy New Year!

--Sloan

Residential Solar subsidy - tax credits

2008-11-10T09:23:00.000-08:00

As part of the Wall Street bailout package passed by congress this fall, solar tax credits got a long awaited major boost: an 8-year extension of the program through 2016, and elimination of the previous cap on residential systems. Past extensions had been for shorter periods, making it difficult for businesses to commit to expansions to support new business, and with the residential incentives previously capped at $2,000, the effective support level was much lower than the stated thirty percent. Now that the credit cap is lifted, in combination with state and local incentives, as much as 50% of the system can be subsidized. Additional support was included for R & D, energy conservation measures, and renewable energy financing.

Winter Energy Saving tips around the home

2008-11-03T22:07:00.000-08:00

A friend of mine was asking for some home energy saving tips, how to make his house a little bit greener and whether he should install CFLs (compact fluorescent lights) and or motion sensors, so I responded to him but thought it would be good to share with others as well. This is for a temperate climate (Seattle), so your climate may differ.

Green your house tips:

Lighting is generally about 10% of your home energy consumption. CFLs can trim that by up to 75% (for a total household energy savings of 7%). If you want to save more than 7%, consider air sealing, as heating is roughly 50% of your energy consumption, and around 40% of that can be lost to poor air sealing. Weather stripping is super cheap and can be used for windows & doors. Also on the list of cheap fixes: install those foam gaskets behind your outlets to seal that gap as well (10-pack at Home Depot is only a couple dollars). It really depends on your particular house, what the best strategies are going to be. I just got done replacing all the doors and windows on my house and sealing up all the gaps, and it seems to make a huge difference so far. On the other hand, if your house doesn’t have any insulation in the walls or attic, that would be your biggest bang for your buck.

Next after space heating (in terms of energy consumption) is water heating and the refrigerator. If you have an old refer, replace it with an energy star one (side by side are the worst, bottom freezer the next best and top freezer the best, but there are energy efficient ones in all categories). Water heaters can insulated or replaced (go tankless for replacement).

Other ideas: Buy several packages of CFLs that say Instant-On, and get warm or cool “color temperature” depending on your needs. CFLs have come a long way the last 5 years. If you use motion sensors, don’t put in CFLs, they tend to respond poorly to continuous on-off operation. Vacuum under and around your refrigerator, those dust bunnies prevent the condenser from efficiently transferring heat.

Energy Star website has good information on energy savings. http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=home_improvement.hm_improvement_index

Musings on Sustainable Design

2008-10-28T18:04:00.000-07:00

(excerpted from a writing on the philosophy of sustainable design)

Approaching sustainable design from a philosophical perspective has the distinct benefit of providing a clear definition of the term, as well as the implications of that definition on the design process and what the designer must consider in any project. Sustainable design is a broadly used and misused term. As ecological awareness has continued its rise in mainstream consciousness, sustainable building has fittingly taken up residence in the thinking and projects of increasing numbers of architects, builders and contractors.

However, not all participants are in agreement as to the meaning of the terms, what buildings would qualify as sustainable, or why it’s important. With the increased popularity of environmental awareness has come the inevitable green washing, where firms tell consumers what they want to hear (“Our product is Eco-Friendly!”) but don’t back it up with meaningful actions. We are today with green building where we were ten or fifteen years ago with food, where “All Natural” foods were competing with “Organic” foods and what exactly that meant to the buyer.

Philosophical definition of the concept corrects the misconceptions that green design is an aesthetic style or that somehow it’s a quality of life compromise where a yurt is the end goal of the process. These not uncommon assumptions are discarded, and we are left with the basic definition that sustainable design seeks to maximize quality, and to minimize or eliminate negative environmental impacts. The concept of good design is simply expanded to include the consideration of the ecological impact into the design process. How good can the design be if it achieves many apparent objectives but in the process imposes steep environmental costs?

The pitfalls of the philosophical position are several in my experience. For one, environmental costs are generally externalized in the sense that those costs are neither measured nor borne by the architect, builder, contractor or owner, but rather they are shouldered by society at large. So from that standpoint, it is difficult to justify the enacting of any sustainable design concepts except in cases where the owner is dedicated to the principles.

A counterpoint to this argument is that rising energy costs, and increased productivity reports from green buildings in the commercial sector demonstrate economic rationale for sustainable building practices. So there are cases where the costs are internalized, but they are few and far between. With the continued use of measurement systems and green building rating systems, some of the cost externalization issue will reverse.

Another pitfall of this or any paradigm shift is that change is difficult and inertia is hard to overcome, and introducing new methods and concepts into complex systems such as buildings can lead to increased risk and expense and market rejection.

Discussing the philosophy of sustainable design is an exercise in vision, context, where we must go, and why it’s important but it fails to illuminate the path we need to travel to achieve sustainable design. That part of the story is being written right now...

Smart Home Owner

2008-10-24T15:48:00.000-07:00

The Alley House is on this month's cover of Smart Home Owner magazine. You can grab it off the newsstand or sign up for a free trial online subscription. It's the November/December issue but our newsstand had it today. The article inside is really well done too, they covered pretty much all the sustainble design features we incorporated into the home.

It is listed for sale currently at $699,000 (price reduced this week), and also featured on the Cascade Built website . Cascade Built is creating high performance sustainably designed homes for those who also appreciate a sleek modern aesthetic in Seattle. You asked for high quality, you asked for a truly green home, this is it.

Lower your carbon footprint. The home scored 51 on the HERS rating scale. That's 51 on a scale of 0 to 100: zero being uses zero energy, 100 being energy use for a 2008 code-built brand new home. Ideally we'd be at zero, but we're not there yet. Comps I have seen in the neighborhood claim to be eco friendly and Green, saying they have bamboo flooring and hydronic heat. Hmm, what is their HERS rating do you think?

This home was 3rd party inspected and verified to as to its energy performance. So wouldn't you like a 50% discount on your utility bills this winter, and every winter after that?? I think you would, you smart home owner.

Seattle Real Estate

2008-10-22T22:41:00.000-07:00

Did anyone see the Seattle Times article(s) this weekend - Seattle is the number one real estate market? After last week's headline story "housing hammered" it was a welcome respite. In the report, Seattle improved its rank to #1 among large cities for best place in invest in commercial and multifamily real estate for 2009. It is a relative ranking, so it may be merely the byproduct of a rebuke of other cities' prospects. Negatives for Seattle included the prospect for WaMu office space vacancies and even Starbucks trimming the fat.

2030 Challenge

2008-10-16T09:23:00.000-07:00

Cascade Built signed up for the 2030 Challenge last year; one of the first Seattle firms to do so. If you have ever had the opportunity to hear Ed Mazria speak about the role of buildings in climate change and the huge opportunities and responsibility we have in the building sector to control carbon emissions, I imagine you would also be inspired to sign up and commit to the goal.

So what does it mean? For all new construction built by 2010, it means a 50% reduction in GHG emissions. If you look at the target tables, and go down to the residential detached row, it shows maximum load of no more than 21.9 kBtu/Sq Ft/Yr. The energy modeling software we used for the latest project is called REM Rate, but is only available to professional HERS raters, and I'm not one, so all I have is their HERS score output number.

The Alley House scored a 51 on the HERS scale. THe range is 0 to 100, zero is using zero energy, and 100 being the norm for a code built home. So at 51, we are roughly at the 2010 goal of 50% GHG reduction.

WSJ article on LED lights

2008-09-15T00:48:00.001-07:00

Wall Street Journal article on LEDs:

I guess if the WSJ qoutes me as going to LED lights next year I'd better do it! I have an upcoming project in the Madison Valley in Seattle that will be a good test...

Bright Future

Thanks to improved technology, LEDs may be ready to take off

By SARI KRIEGER

Using LEDs for general lighting may finally be a bright idea.

In the past few years, light-emitting diodes have made huge advances in energy efficiency. Industry sources and outside experts say LEDs are now the most energy-efficient lighting source available. They use far less energy than other bulbs, last a lot longer, and cost less to use over their lifetime.

However, the LEDs use about 85% less energy and last 30 times longer. They also use about half as much energy and last five times longer than compact fluorescent lights.....

.....Sticker Shock

For now, price remains the biggest obstacle, especially for residential use. But there are signs that this is changing as well. Consider "down lights," the kind of directional, recessed lighting that is common in many homes and offices. LEDs are well-suited for this kind of lighting because they typically provide directional light (although some LED lamps have added lenses to give more diffuse light). But despite their suitability for this purpose, Sloan Ritchie, a sustainable-home builder in Seattle, says he isn't yet installing LED down lights because they're too expensive: about $80 each, compared with $15 for an incandescent and $35 for a fluorescent. Even though LEDs offer savings in the long run -- and use less energy -- consumers still are reluctant to pay more up front. However, with LED prices falling about 25% a year, Mr. Ritchie says he may begin using them next year.

Read the rest of the article here

Equity Office goes LEED in Boston

2008-08-28T12:09:00.000-07:00

Equity Office has committed to upgrading all its Massachusetts properties to LEED standards. It's great to hear that they are doing this, setting a strong precedent. Reasons cited are not just social and environmental but economic. "It has become necessary to maintain tenants"

Read on:

Boston's biggest property owner going all green

Equity Office cites social, fiscal benefits to upgrades

By Casey Ross Globe Staff / August 28, 2008

The city's largest property owner - spurred by high energy prices and rising demand from tenants - is seeking "green" certification for all of its office buildings, marking a major milestone.... READ THE ARTICLE HERE

Apartment Therapy post

2008-08-18T06:42:00.000-07:00

Apartment Therapy is a great site for ideas on living small, and affordable design ideas, etc. My wife loves to read their articles and we use it as a resource for say, selecting best compact toilets for a remodel in a tight space.

So it's great that they picked up on the LEED Platinum Alley House in Seattle, on their San Francisco blog site.

Blogosphere - Jetson Green

2008-08-15T18:16:00.000-07:00

Cascade Built got props on Jetson Green, check it out here:
Jetson Green keeps tabs on Green building trends throughout the US, and is probably one of the best blogs on the topic, mostly from a consumer standpoint. Good reviews of homes, renewable energy systems, trends, and market data. Check 'em out.

LEED Platinum certification

2008-08-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

Sorry for the hiatus, the last month of compressed construction schedule was very busy. The open house was last night and today I just found out we did achieve LEED Platinum. The rater at O'Brien & Co just gave me confirmation of that. Here's a picture of James the rater doing the blower door test a month or so back.

But most importantly we achieved some pretty amazing stuff on this house. Check it out:

LISTING

Pictures of the house:

Green sells faster, for more $

2008-07-10T23:03:00.000-07:00

New data released by Greenworks realty suggest that Environmentally certified homes (Energy Star, LEED, Built Green) sell 18% faster, and for 28-37% more per square foot. Sounds good to me. Especially since Cascade Built is doing LEED homes, and about to complete its first Platinum home, the Alley House.

article here

GreenWorks Realty Analyzes Green Homes Compared to the Rest of the Market SEATTLE--(BUSINESS WIRE)--On the one year anniversary of the Northwest Multiple Listing Service’s addition of green design search features to its property listings database, analysis shows that new environmentally certified (ECert) or green homes in King County sell in up to 18% less time and for 28-37% higher value per square foot. ECert homes are built to a higher standard than local building codes require. These better built homes offer a variety of potential benefits, including increased energy efficiency, water conservation, improved indoor air quality, environmentally preferable materials, and reduced construction waste.

In June 2007, GreenWorks Realty, Built Green™ of King and Snohomish Counties, Northwest Energy Star® Homes, Cascadia Region Green Building Council, representing LEED for Homes™ (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design), and other industry leaders worked with the Northwest Multiple Listing Service (NWMLS) to introduce ECert homes into its search categories. The NWMLS includes 19 counties of western and central Washington is the second and now largest Multiple Listing Service in the country to include green criteria. Portland was first....

read the article

High gas prices bad for suburbs...

2008-07-08T22:10:00.000-07:00

This article appeared in the Seattle Times yesterday July 7th 2008. It is about gas prices and how they change the economics of where people live - at $4 a gallon, it really starts to change behavior of home buyers, and at $10 a gallon it will be much more pronounced as even those who greatly dislike city living will be forced to move closer to work. It probably won't lead to the alarmist predictions of "The End of Suburbia" (a movie), but it's hard to say. We really have no idea how it's going to affect our daily lives, as we haven't yet completed the economic cycle with $4 gas, so the ripples can take a while to percolate out through supply chains and even within companies. The changes will be dramatic as they play out.

Will Gas Prices Drive Homebuyers away from Suburbs?
(read the article here)

As gas prices climb, homebuyers increasingly will choose to live closer to work, and that eventually will depress suburban home prices while strengthening in-city values, a Portland economist predicts.

By Elizabeth Rhodes

Seattle Times business reporter

The price of gas is starting to affect homebuying decisions for people like David Underwood. He and his partner, Kali Kuwada, were commuting from Kirkland but are now buying a North Seattle town home, seen behind him.

As he gassed up his 2002 Honda Civic recently, David Underwood found himself at the intersection of two priorities: transportation costs and housing. Paying $53 for a tank of gas to commute from his Kirkland rental condo to his Seattle job, Underwood realized that price set a "personal best" he'd rather not repeat.

That's why after much discussion, he and his partner, Kali Kuwada, decided to buy their first home in Seattle, as close to their jobs as possible." We found ourselves......

..... read article here

-Sloan-
developer of Cascade Built homes

Article in the DJC

2008-06-30T16:45:00.000-07:00

June 30, 2008

A LEED platinum project, right in his own backyard

By KATIE ZEMTSEFF
Journal Staff Reporter

Photo courtesy of Cascade Built [enlarge]

Developer Sloan Ritchie used most of his yard, and bought part of his neighbor’s, to create an infill lot that made the project financially feasible. The 2,000-square-foot, three-story house sits on a 2,000-square-foot lot.

Sloan Ritchie is not your typical developer. To start with, the project he's working on right now — a house targeting LEED platinum — is in the backyard of his Madison Valley home.

The project, called Alley House, is a 2,000-square-foot, three-story house on a 2,000-square-foot infill lot. If it wins certification, it will be one of the first LEED platinum homes in the state.

Ritchie, 37, formed a construction company called Cascade Built three years ago. He said part of his philosophy is to continuously improve the sustainability of his projects. His first project, Jackson Place Townhomes, was one of the first LEED silver townhouse projects in the country. After that, he wanted to do a platinum house, but was concerned about financing because there aren't many platinum houses on the market.

The answer to his problem was in the backyard. He used most of his yard, and bought part of his neighbor's, to create an infill lot that made the project financially feasible and helped boost the project's sustainability because the site is pedestrian friendly and close to services and transit.

But building a house on such a small lot was a very difficult process because of city codes, Ritchie said. The team had to change its design from a two-story house that used more lot space to a three-story house with more open space and parking to meet codes.

Ritchie said he probably could have kept the original design if he had gone through the design review process, but the extra three-month time period was prohibitive.

A representative of the Cascadia Region Green Building Council said LEED platinum houses are still pretty rare. But Ritchie said LEED isn't the pinnacle of sustainability. Within five years, he hopes to develop a net-zero energy and net-zero water house. Net-zero energy means it will not use any more energy than it generates over a period of time. Net-zero water means all water will be treated on site.

Development is a new career for Ritchie. Three years ago, he was a wireless engineer who loved working with his hands and did construction on the side. After working on some large remodeling jobs, Ritchie said he realized that to be truly sustainable, projects needed to use green techniques from the very start.

He said he was also discouraged by new construction in Seattle, saying the quality is low and it is not integrated into neighborhoods.

“A lot of it is garbage,” he said. “It's all gonna get torn down.” Doing sustainable projects, he decided, “was my calling.”

Ritchie got a masters in business administration from the University of Washington and that gave him the confidence to start Cascade Built, which he calls “a bootstrapping operation.” Ritchie depended on equity, credit cards and good relationships to get the company going.

The Alley House mixes green features and luxury finishes. It has a footprint of 1,600 square feet, which was achieved by taking out hallways.

The house is made with structural insulated panels or SIPs. The polystyrene panels combine framing, insulation and exterior sheathing in one system. It uses radiant heat and a solar panel preheats water.

The project has Energy Star lighting and appliances, and a green roof. It is also prewired for photovoltaic panels. Luxury features include Italian tile, Caesarstone countertops, custom doors and a private bamboo garden.

“I don't think you have to live in a yurt to be light on the planet,” Ritchie said. “(You can) live a little bit greener and you don't have to forego modern conveniences.”

The house will be priced around $800,000, which Ritchie said is comparable with other houses in the area that aren't green. It should be on the market by Aug. 1.

The project team includes Elizabeth Grace of UrbanMix, architect; O'Brien and Co., LEED consultant; GS Custom Homes, general contractor; and Richard Pulkrabek, landscape architect.

Ritchie has chronicled his process of building Alley House in a blog to share information with other people that might be considering similar systems or projects. It is online at www.cascadebuilt.com/about-us/index.htm.

Katie Zemtseff can be reached by katiez@djc.com or at (206) 622-8272.

Modern Green in Seattle

2008-06-30T09:00:00.000-07:00

One month to go. Interesting facade here, more edgy than the nearby structures. Modern clean lines, targeting LEED Platinum certification. Built by Cascade Built about 1 mile from downtown Seattle in the Madison Valley. Exterior paint done. Millwork paint is this week, so we're getting close...

Stairs

2008-06-23T07:12:00.000-07:00

Stairs are now roughed-in for the final product. Here's the architectural detail:

And before the 1" Medex goes down, here's the roughed in substrate. The carpenter trimmed the treads at 82 deg, or whatever that angle would be.

That Medex is 100% recycled, formaldehyde free, and sourced locally, my kind of product. And it looks good too. Images of that coming soon.

Flooring install

2008-06-20T06:52:00.000-07:00

The flooring is being installed, as well as the casing, base trim and doors. We selected a Sierra Pine product called Medex. It's formaldehyde free, highly resistant to moisture, made from 100% recycled wood fiber, and a few other features. It is a little light in color when unfinished as it is in this picture, but here's a closeup with the Nikon Macro of the edge and screw detail, unfinished, dust and all.

We are using the sierra pine product for all the trim, casework, and mouldings. Its environmental properties coupled with high performance and a clean aesthetic makes it an ideal finish material for any Cascade Built home, I'm sure we will be using it again...

Scuppers and metal Coping

2008-06-18T23:07:00.000-07:00

The roof job leans commercial, in price, in build quality, and in look and feel. They have finished out the sheet metal fabrication and installed the parapet caps, metal coping and scuppers. This roof is built to last, here are some pictures:

Walkscore 80 out of 100

2008-06-14T08:41:00.000-07:00

Check out Walkscore. It's a tool to help you understand the "Walkability" of a home's location. If you're looking for real estate or want to know about your home, check out your walkscore.

Here's the walkscore for the Alley House, - 80 out of 100, very walkable. That seems about right to me, I should know since I live next door and have for the last 9 years.

My wife and I share 1 car, and we do a fair amount of walking. I just walked to the grocery store this morning, it's about 5-7 minutes up the street, 4 blocks. Last night we walked to Chinoise, and had dinner at the sushi bar 3 blocks from here. For a treat we dine at Harvest Vine, one of Seattle's best restaurants, 2 blocks away. We walk to Madison Park a couple three times a week for banking, drugstore, mailing packages, and sometimes lunch at Cactus or Bing's. The gym is about 10 blocks from here, so we walk there too.

ICFs Insulated Concrete Forms

2008-06-12T13:48:00.000-07:00

Here are some shots of the ICFs from the inside after completion. Note that these were completed prior to framing, so the sequence is a little off.

This one is the SW corner, these are retaining walls and exterior grade is almost at the top of this wall.
Wall assembly: 2.25" EPS foam, 8" concrete & steel, 2.25" EPS foam, Aqua rub-r waterproofing, stucco finish.

This is in the kitchen, the window at R is over the sink. The 2x6 embedded above is for kitchen cabinet installation.

Planet Green - Renovation Nation

2008-06-09T06:12:00.000-07:00

About 6 months ago, the Discovery Channel came to my first LEED project in Seattle, the Jackson Place townhomes to see what it's all about. It was my very first TV experience. Heck, I don't even watch TV! Steve Thomas from This Old House was the main guy, and it was reality TV style filming, so Steve asked the questions with Patricia Bittner the project architect and myself responding.

It airs June 11th at 3PM PST on the Planet Green channel. The show is called Renovation Nation, hosted by Steve Thomas. It just aired for the first time last week. I could go on about the evils of TV and advertising, but I can tell you this is one interesting looking show, based on the website and videos.

So if you want to watch me, Sloan Ritchie on the Discovery Channel, Renovation Nation, getting interviewed by Steve Thomas, check it out this Wednesday June 11th. Might be pretty funny.

Sheetrock

2008-06-06T15:28:00.000-07:00

It's finish time. They say production builders can go from drywall to final inspection in 45 days. With drywall completion yesterday June 5th, that would be about July 20th. I'm pretty certain it will take me quite a bit longer to get there, but with a little luck, I'll be done in early-mid August or so. Here's a picture I took in the kitchen looking out into the living/dining areas. Not much to see, the windows and doors all taped over so very little light in here.

ICFs Insulated Concrete Forms

2008-06-05T10:08:00.000-07:00

A little out of sequence, but I wanted to share photos and my observations of the use of ICFs on the Alley House project, a current Cascade Built single family sustainable project in Seattle.

The site is quite small, only about 2000 SF, 40' by 50'. The site slopes 9' , so we have a large retaining wall and the first floor is daylit only on the east and north facades, the rest is underground. That left us with 3 10' retaining walls along the N, W and S sides.

The engineer specified that the metal track for the ICF be secured along the footing edge. It is fastened with a concrete nail. The nail cracked the still green concrete in a couple places (as you might predict) so the track wasn't 100% secured. During the pour, a panel at the bottom broke out of the improperly secured track system and we lost some concrete at that point and caused costly delays during the pour while the crew fixed the blown out panel.

Otherwise the system is pretty easy to deal with. It would be suitable for a homeowner doing a small foundation, as it clicks together and the rebar rests in the clip system easily. I'm not entirely sure that the ease of use is a benefit to contractors. Not having to strip forms is only a minor advantage. However, the resulting foundation is quite stout, and pre-insulated, so there's no need to fir it out on the inside and add insulation. It is completed already.

Power Pipe - Drainwater Heat Recovery system

2008-06-02T09:23:00.000-07:00

The Alley House is utilizing a heat recovery system in the shower drain. The basic concept is that hot water leaves the shower head at 105 F and 1 second later it's going into the sewer. Using heat recovery on the shower drain, you can re-capture the heat on the way down, to pre-heat the cold supply on the way back thru the shower head.

The Power Pipe we installed is 60 inches long, 2" wide. It is rated at 50.5% efficient. That means your showers are using about half the hot water of a shower without heat recovery. Of course, you won't notice the difference until you open your utility bill.

As for the metrics, I think it will work approximately like this: Assume all electric power, assume hot water is 25% of your load, assume showering is most of that, so perhaps 20% of your electric load for showering. The 5' pipe we use recovers at 50%, so right there you chop 10% off your utility bill (not to mention carbon footprint). If your electric bill is $150/month, that's $15/month savings or $180 a year. At about 5 1/2 years you reach payback, and then it's all gravy. At 30 years (typical house finance term) you would profit by $4,500. Seems like a wise choice.

Insulating the SIP house

2008-06-01T18:43:00.000-07:00

You'd be correct if you're thinking, why would anyone insulate a pre-insulated SIP house? This is of course in reference to the Alley House in Madison Valley, in Seattle, targeting LEED Platinum, or maybe LEED Gold, we're still running some energy models to determine where we fall on that yardstick. With the SIPs, there's no thermal bridging, so insulation values are much higher than with stick framing. THus the reason I have no idea how exactly we'll perform on the energy model. I would guess about 50% better than a new IBC code house.

We insulated the rim joists, and underneath the overhang. The exterior walls are already insulated. The rim joists are insulated with 2-part foam (achieving air-sealing at the same time) or cellulose, depending on location, achieving R-38 for the Green Fiber Cocoon Cellulose areas, and about the same for the 2-part foam.

Green Building - LEED vs Built Green

2008-05-21T16:37:00.000-07:00

Shoreline Solar

http://www.shorelinesolar.org/

May 21, 2008 Meeting: Demystify the Green Home Rating Systems

Sloan Ritchie, developer of eco-urban homes and townhomes, will present the two most common rating systems available today for residential homes, distinguishing between each certification and identifying opportunities for new green technologies, including solar. Whether a remodel or ground up project, determine if the national US Green Building Council’s Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) rating or the local Master Builder Association’s Built Green program is right for you.

6:30 PM at Meridian Park School, Library
17077 Meridian Ave N, Shoreline 98133 [map]

Weathered in and drywalling

2008-05-20T08:56:00.000-07:00

Cascade Built - Alley House Postcard, targeting LEED Gold (might be able to do Platinum!)

Cedar and Hardi Rain Screen

2008-05-02T17:08:00.000-07:00

Siding & windows - Madison Valley Alley House

2008-04-29T18:13:00.000-07:00

Green Building in Seattle: finally something interesting to look at on the exterior of the Alley House. The siding is about half installed now. Cedar rain screen on the taller recessed volume, Hardi panel, open joint rain screen system along the lower volume. In discussing the rain screen system further with the architect Elizabeth Grace, she's detailed it with input from both product reps: Premier Systems SIPS, and Vaproshield Wall Shield, and they both recommend the rain screen system, as it has many advantages over traditional siding systems. With some of the high-end design features, when 2 such features interact the product may be less than the sum of the 2 since the features can overlap in terms of benefit provided. 'Nuf said.

Note the design details, balancing the cedar volume with a repeating pattern in the corner of the lower volume. Also, this is pre-paint: the cedar is already one coat machine applied on all 6 sides, and the cement board is primed, but paint is not yet applied. Waiting for sun.

Rainscreen Install

2008-04-21T11:52:00.000-07:00

The Rain Screen is being installed. The green building paper is WallShield. It's becoming pretty commonly used around here, has several advantages over other WRBs. I should point out that by using SIPs for framing, the interior moisture won't be escaping through the walls like in traditional stick framing. So that's an advantage that SIPs have, that may detract from using the WallShield. Anybody ever used a Rain Screen on a SIP house before?

Blog Slacker

2008-04-17T09:52:00.000-07:00

I am remiss. A blog should be updated regularly, but I totally let you down, you very possibly being my only reader. Onward.

The Alley House continues. Currently we are framed up, and partially sided. The electricians are working today and for the next week or so. I will include photos of the last couple weeks. SIPs are completed. We are happy with the results, this is one stout building, between the ICFs and the SIPs. Remember ICFs are Insulated Concrete Forms, and SIPs are Structural Insulated Panels. We're going for tight envelope and high R-value.

Pictures of: EPDM roof (for Green Roof), .29 U-factor windows, Vaproshield Wall Shield WRB building wrap. Also using Wet Flash (the brick color) per the envelope engineer. Top right photo is of the facade from the alley side.

SIP Panels craned up

2008-02-04T15:32:00.000-08:00

Pre-fab factory panels SIPs, or Structural Insulated Panels, being craned into place. These are plywood-foam sandwiches, so there are no studs in the walls like standard stick-framing. Premier Systems in Tacoma is the supplier. Supposedly they're the biggest SIP manufacturer in the US. This is the first time we have used SIPs.

Great insulation, very stout construction, excellent soundproofing qualities, and look how easy to build. Just hoist the panels up and secure them together.

We are still targeting LEED certification. Somewhere in the Gold or Platinum range. Not sure until we complete the Energy Modeling. This will be an Energy Star Home. That's saying alot more than just, we have an energy star dishwasher. The home will be certified Energy Star, which according to the Energy Star folks means a 15% more efficient home. Of course, we are shooting well above that range too. Perhaps in the 50% savings range.

LEED for Homes is now in full release. Cascade Built's first project was LEED Silver, certified under the pilot program before the program was formally adopted.

LEED Silver Townhouses

2008-02-04T13:41:00.000-08:00

Huge Ass City blogs about the Jackson Townhouses:

"Seattle’s first LEED certified townhouses, designed by OPA, built by Cascade Built. Located in the Central Area, at 712 26th S (one block west of MLK Way, two blocks south of Jackson), currently priced at $450k.

They claim these townhouses will be 30-50% more energy efficient than a typical home. That’s pretty impressive given that they haven’t done anything that radical. The most unusual feature: heat recovery ventilation...." Read More Here

They liked the concept, but wondered how we hit 30-50% energy efficiency without radical strategies, except the Heat Recovery Vent. They're absolutely right - we employed few radical strategies, unless you consider the cumulative effect of several known simple strategies as radical, which it is in most spec homes. Here are some of the energy efficiency tools we employed to achieve impressive net gains:

Advanced Framing (24" on center wall studs, 2-stud corners, drywall clips) means less wood and more insulation in the exterior walls (25-30% less wood & more insulation)
Blown-in insulation - instead of cheap "batts" we used dense pack blown-in insulation to improve R-value
Air Sealing - One of the advantages of LEED certification is they measure the air tightness of the building and won't certify until you hit a certain level. We didn't measure up on the first test, so we went back and improved until we could meet the standard (turns out one of the subcontractors had made a mistake that resulted in some building envelope air leakage).
Energy Efficient Windows - Code requires U-factor of .40, we were less than .32 average, a significant contribution to overall efficiency.
Heat Recovery Vent - ventilate without losing heat, about 65% efficient, so on a 30F day you're bringing in 55F degree outside air. Most houses use window trickle vents, which let in 30 F air on a 30 F day.
Tankless hot water - don't pay for "standby loss" with a hot water tank. Just heat the water you are using. Up to 50% water heating cost savings.
Daylighting - natural light floods this home, so you won't need the lights, except after dark
Energy Star Advanced Lighting Package - use of mostly fluorescent lighting reduces lighting costs by up to 75%
Radiant heat - efficiency claims for radiant heat are more abundant than the evidence to support those claims, but there it's probably somewhat more efficient.

SIP House 2nd level

2008-01-30T15:32:00.001-08:00

2nd level half done, will be complete later today. Pretty easy to tilt up the panels once the floor joists and subfloor are in...

The Bar is Raised - Platinum in Kansas

2008-01-30T15:13:00.000-08:00

The city of Greensburg, Kansas has just announced a commitment to certifying all city buildings at the LEED Platinum level. In case you are wondering about the countless other great cities that have led before them, because you've never even heard of Greensburg, and maybe never been to Kansas, I will gladly provide you with a comprehensive list of all the other cities to have gone before Greensburg. In fact, I've been able to compile the list here, today, to present to anyone who wants to know how long Greensburg waited before finally just jumping on that bandwagon and going Platinum with the rest of the crowd. Here's the list:

#1 Greensburg, Kansas. End of list.

I live in progressive Seattle Washington and would expect to be on the list before Greensburg, Kansas, but too late. Now at least we can look to their example and be #2, right? Mayor Nickels? City Council members? I'm a builder and I'm asking for it.

Article here

SIP house framing

2008-01-28T10:44:00.000-08:00

The Madison Valley SIP house is under construction, finally. Nice thing about SIPs is they are manufactured off-site, so framing is faster with less waste. The first level was framed in a day, and the next day the joists are going in for the second floor.

What are SIPS?

Structural Insulated Panels

It's a foam sandwich, here's a picture of one:

It's like 2 sheets of plywood with urethane foam injected between, so it's solid, and insulated. Insulated and constructed like a cooler. There's no thermal bridging, just solid insulation between the sheathing. Thermal bridging refers to the studs in typical wall construction that interrupt the insulation inside those walls.

Even the beams and headers are insulated, looking like an Oreo cookie:

LEED Certification never looked so good!

2008-01-08T16:58:00.000-08:00

The Jackson townhomes are now officially LEED Certified at the Silver Level. They are the first townhouses in Seattle to be LEED Certified, and were early participants in the pilot program (now the LEED for Homes rating system is in its final form). Local firm O'Brien & Company performed the 3rd party rating, and helped navigate the LEED certification process.

PI Green Building Blog covers Cascade Built

2007-11-13T23:07:00.000-08:00

The PI Green Building Blog covered the Jackson Townhome project today, see below for the first paragraph and go there to read the rest:

November 13, 2007

Cascade Built's LEED for Homes Projects

Cascade Built was founded by Sloan Ritchie to build quality sustainable homes and is one of the earliest participants in the USGBC's LEED for Homes pilot program, a rating system that promotes the design and construction of high-performance green homes.

While LEED certification is not a new concept in Seattle, now used extensively in commercial construction, LEED for Homes is making it's first debut. Cascade Built currently has two registered LEED for Homes projects - the Jackson Place Townhomes designed by OPA Design, now completed and featured in NW Home + Garden's green issue, and the Mad Valley Alley House designed by UrbanMix, which will be...MORE

LEED - H Townhomes

2007-11-03T16:01:00.001-07:00

The Jasckson Place Townhomes are listed for sale now with Windermere. Check out the listing, there are tons of photos and information embedded within.

Modern contemporary
Energy Efficient
Healthy Indoor air
Radiant Heat
Many custom finishes throughout...
LEED Registered
1260 SF

Townhome Preview

2007-10-18T21:41:00.000-07:00

Subject: Preview Party: Cascade Built Debuts First Eco-Urban Townhomes

Preview Party

Cascade Built Debuts First Eco-Urban Townhomes

Join us Thursday, October 25^th, from 5:00 - 7:30pm, to celebrate the completion of Sloan's LEED Silver Townhomes in Seattle's Central District.

Sip, snack and sample some of the green features of these homes, including:

Custom Design
Cool, Natural Daylighting
Modern, Eco-friendly Finishes
Healthy Interior, including Non-Toxic Paints and Carpet
Comfortable, Radiant Slab Heat, Powered by Tankless H20

Priced in the high-$400's, there are two homes for sale.

Address is 712 26^th Ave S, Seattle, WA 98144 (Map)

Feel free to bring a guest and forward as you wish.

Cascade Built's vision is quality urban design using sustainable building practices and a smaller environmental footprint.

Blower Door Test?? LEED

2007-10-07T16:06:00.000-07:00

The blower door test is a Home performance test, and something that differentiates the LEED rating system from others. Basically, you create a vacuum in the house and see how much air leaks out. So even though many techniques may have been intended to tighten the building envelope, this is the only way to know the actual performance. This is a picture of the blower door in action at the townhome unit "B", every unit is tested by 3rd party raters.

Almost done...

2007-10-07T15:15:00.000-07:00

Getting the finishing touches on the townhomes now, Spore Doorbells (local), native drought-tolerant landscaping, rain garden, landscape designed by ModernBackyard
and OPA Design to achieve additional LEED points for water efficient design.

Jackson Place Townhome Animation

2007-09-27T08:37:00.001-07:00

Just a quick look at how the Jackson Place Townhomes will look when completed. As you can imagine, we're pretty excited!

Green Remodel - Done

2007-09-26T13:50:00.000-07:00

Just listed for sale the cute Victorian house which sits on the front of this lot where we put the townhomes. As a green builder, we are committed to green remodels too, which is an entirely different animal. Some items we greened up:

brought natural gas to the house
installed a Rinnai tankless water heater (approx. 50% energy savings)
installed euro styled Roca radiators for heat
No VOC paint on all walls (only a dollar more a gallon, I would gladly pay that not to embalm my family, referring to the formaldehyde in 'regular' paint)
Water based hardwood finish (not the toxic swedish finish)
salvaged lumber from the walls we removed, some we re-used, the rest is at 2nd Use,who paid me for it (see, not all Green remodeling choices are costly)
salvaged the trim for reuse in the house
Marmoleum flooring, made from all-natural linseed oil, very durable
PaperStone 100% Certified (100% recycled paper content) countertops, from the Environmental Home Center in Seattle
In-floor heat mat in master bath (not super green, but sure feels nice on the toes. Hey, green is not about absolute sacrifice, or we'd have live in Igloos!)

LISTING HERE

Balcony Railing

2007-09-09T22:07:00.000-07:00

Mike and Paul from Studio 23 installed balcony railings today. They are custom metal fabrications, in fact they are works of art (in my humble opinion). They completely transform this from a construction site to a finished project. Check it out:

Of course, these pictures are taken through the tiny lens of my cellphone. Just wait until Jeff Beck comes out to snap professional pictures in a week or three when it's all wrapped up.

Archtecture 2030 - the 2030 Challenge

2007-09-06T15:34:00.000-07:00

Cascade Built has adopted the 203o Challenge. I might add that we are the first Seattle developer/builder to do so. If you don't know what the 2030 Challenge is, go to their website and learn more. Basically, it's about how the building community - architects, builders, contractors, etc., have an incredible opportunity to change the course of global warming by designing better buildings. Did you know that 75% of electricity is consumed by the buildings we live and work in? That means that especially developers are uniquely positioned to take a lead and make a change. It's in our best interests.

Railings

2007-08-08T22:53:00.000-07:00

Here's a couple photos of railing samples - do you like them? Custom fabrications by Studio 23 in Olympia...

Countertops PaperStone Certified 100% recycled paper

2007-08-08T22:42:00.000-07:00

For countertops we selected PaperStone Certified, which is 100% recycled paper compressed with a phenol binder that has zero detectable formaldehyde off-gassing. So it's healthy even though it's a composite type product, and it's made from 100% post-consumer recycled paper. Bonus, it's made locally. Here's their product photo since it came out better than the ones on my cell phone camera. Again using products such as these aligns with the LEED for Homes pilot program.
The PaperStone was purchased at the Environmental Home Center in Seattle. They are the Green equivalent to Home Depot, except smaller.

Interior paint, Low VOC

2007-08-08T22:21:00.000-07:00

In keeping with the green building theme, and LEED certification, we are using low VOC paints, per the Green Seal standards body. We used Kelley Moore Enviro-Cote since it meets the LEED requirements for low VOCs and the painter thinks the performance is the same as "regular" paint, meaning there's no drawback to using it. Except that it's not potentially hazardous to your health, and not known by the State of California to cause cancer. The painter also informed me that very few customers "special order" such products, and he was concerned that it was cost prohibitive, though it was surprisingly "only a buck more a gallon" once he actually checked with the supplier. I love making these easy green building choices.

Painted

2007-07-11T17:57:00.001-07:00

Now looking better with some exterior color. Also in the middle of drywall this week: it's hung and ready to be taped. It's 95 today, so I dont' think they'll need to crank up the heaters for the taping compound drying.

You can start to get a sense of the aesthetic here with the straight lines, Fry Reglet metal edge detailing, ample glass, horizontal window grids, and contemporary color palette. It's remarkable how different these townhomes are compared to 95% of what's out there in the Seattle market.

Siding details

2007-06-25T16:30:00.000-07:00

Pictures of the siding in progress...

Rain Screen Siding

2007-06-25T16:19:00.000-07:00

We selected Hardie Panel cement cladding and a rain screen siding system. See this site for details. Additionally we selected Vaproshield wrap as it's a high-end product with a great reputation. Essentially, rain screens are used mainly in commercial and multifamily projects, but are finding their way into residential as well. The rain screen will breathe, instead of trapping moisture, the house wrap works like Gore-tex, shedding water, but allowing moisture vapors to escape from the inside. Here's a couple pictures of the rain screen details, the smaller one shows the insect screen attached at the top and bottom to keep bugs out, but still allow water to escape freely, and air to circulate.

Insulation Inspection

2007-06-05T11:47:00.001-07:00

Like with the Air Sealing, we hired special inspectors to inspect the insulation beyond what the code requires. They came out and identified some areas where energy performance could be enhanced, so the contractors made those changes. All these energy performance upgrades are part of the LEED program that will be certifying this project. Many of these extra measures are optional, but they are not very difficult or overly expensive to include, so why not. The life cycle costs of not doing it are far more expensive in terms of higher utility bills and increased dependence on the utility grid for heating.

When utility rates are 40% more in a couple years, you'll be glad you live here. (PSE just announced a 13% rate hike this week!!)

Here's our inspector from O'Brien & Co visually verifying the insulation job.

Insulation

2007-06-05T11:41:00.001-07:00

Insulation is complete. We used blown-in fiberglass, since it does a much better job of completely filling the cavity than batt insulation. With blown in, there is guaranteed insulation packed in behind all the outlets, pipes, wires, etc, since it's installed with air pressure and densely packed. Typical (less expensive) batt insulation is much more difficult to install properly, as the crew has to cut around for every electrical box and wire in order to reduce compression of the insulation which decreases its effectiveness.

Air Sealing

2007-06-05T08:13:00.000-07:00

These homes will be very energy efficient. One reason is that we go beyond the building codes in several areas. One of these is in Air Sealing. Typical "code" air sealing is done for draft stop fire protection, sealing the gaps made by the plumbers and electricians to prevent the flow of air from one space to another. Essentially, this inspection is done to ensure that if a fire were to start in a wall cavity, it would have nowhere to go, no air to feed it. That's one reason firefighters don't fight so many fires, because of building codes.

City code officials usually just glance around and sign off for code compliance. We hired special air sealing inspectors to come in after the city officials and make sure air sealing is done to higher standards, to deliver a tight building envelope with improved energy efficiency. They found many areas for improvement over what is typically done, so we did those things as well. Here's a picture of one of those items - an exterior electrical junction box, which has lots of little holes in it - our air sealing inspector pointed out that we need to seal every one of those holes, so we did.

Systems installed

2007-06-05T07:15:00.000-07:00

Wiring and plumbing and HVAC are installed. Haven't blogged about it since it isn't all that sexy, those wires and pipes behind the walls all get covered up anyway. After hearing the neighbor complain about how hard it is to add integrated speaker wire later, we decided to add that. So we have data, cable, phone, surround sound wiring, pre-wire for solar panels for electricity and solar hot water. If anyone wants to opt for these features, we'll be able to install it.

Did I mention that these are fluorescent can lights? They won't accept the energy sucking screw-in incandescent bulbs...

Windows and Doors

2007-04-29T20:50:00.000-07:00

The windows and doors are installed. There is a lot of glass in this place. Good for natural daylighting, and generally keeping us Seattlites happy through the dark winter months. Some of the walls of glass are frosted for privacy so you can come down for coffee without worrying about the neighbors (important feature in urban living!).

These are "temp" stairs, but this is roughly what it will look like later, with the stairs framed by the windows... Note that you can't really see out the etched glass.

The low U-Factor means that we spent extra money for better energy efficient windows to keep out the UV in the summer and keep in the heat in the winter. That means lower heating and cooling costs, and better comfort for occupants. We went 20% beyond code requirements on the windows... Why pay high utility bills if you don't have to?

Heat Recovery Vent

2007-04-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

The HRV (Heat Recovery Vent) is installed now. It consists of a whole house ventilation system that exhausts stale indoor air and replaces it with fresh outdoor air, but they do so without unwanted heat loss or gain. The HRV uses a heat exchanger to pre-heat the incoming air with the outgoing heat so 75% of the heat is retained, but without mixing the air, sort of like a car radiator. It works the opposite in the summer, cooling outdoor air before drawing it in. It also controls humidity. In a house with a very tight envelope such as these, ventilation is key. This is not your 1914 craftsman bungalow with no insulation.

Tankless Water Heaters

2007-04-26T16:15:00.000-07:00

Here's some info on the tankless water heaters that were just installed yesterday. Note that energy rating on teh yellow card, all the way to the left side: the most efficient heater, saves you money, and helps stem the tide of global warming at the same time - bonus!

Did you know? Rinnai tankless water heaters...

Produce and supply endless streams of hot water to multiple outlets simultaneously without any fluctuation in temperature
Are up to 50 percent more energy efficient than a traditional natural gas water heater and up to 70 percent more efficient than an electric water heater
Shut-off automatically when the water supply is closed, providing users with significant energy savings - in turn saving money on their utility bills
Are compact wall mounted units with a life expectancy of 25 years, whereas hot water tanks require about 16 square feet of floor space and usually last around 10 years

NW H&G

2007-04-26T08:57:00.000-07:00

Northwest Home & Garden featured my project in the May/June issue. Here's a scan of the article, my project is in the middle, the white/gray modern looking place...

Updated Photos

2007-04-24T16:21:00.000-07:00

Various pictures. Note the low U-value on the windows: .30

Updates

2007-04-24T16:09:00.000-07:00

Oops, I took a couple weeks off from blogging. Once the structure went up, there was less to talk about, and the pictures are of only inside changes. Here's what's happened since:

Plumbing
Radiant Heating
Heat Recovery Vent system installation
insulation behind the showers

Framing complete

2007-04-03T20:14:00.000-07:00

Framing is done. Five weeks in total, just two guys for most of it, until the last week where we had a crew of 5 wrapping up details & building interior walls. Now the plumbers and electricians will be coming through... meanwhile the roof and siding are going on. THe gap in the middle of the parapet is for the scupper, which will direct roof water to a stormwater filtration "Rain Garden" in the back yard.

Framing Updates - 3rd floor & some views

2007-03-29T09:32:00.000-07:00

Those tall 3rd floor walls (11 feet) are eventually going to form the roof parapet, to avoid looking like all the other townhomes around town with gables - the modern aesthetic doesn't have gables, but the City code penalizes shed roofs, so we're doing a parapet. The
upper image is of the 2nd and 3rd floors, taken from the driveway.

2nd floor

2007-03-20T18:25:00.000-07:00

This one is taken from the north unit, looking East across the kitchen and stairs. The 2nd floor walls are braced and this picture is taken just before they were sheathed.

More framing...Shear wall

2007-03-20T18:04:00.000-07:00

Look at that shear wall (the steel columns), they are bolted to the foundation with large bolts, 20" by 1" or so. Later that will hold everything together so all that glass can go on that rear wall.

2nd floor

2007-03-12T08:12:00.000-07:00

The 2nd floor is sheeted. Starting to get up hight enough to see the neighborhood. The long hole is where the stairs will be eventually, and the square hole past that will be a deck over the yard.

Framing

2007-03-12T08:03:00.000-07:00

So far, framing is the most fun. No more fussing with dirt and mud and gravel. The fresh scent of pine permeates the air. In a week the first floor is framed up and the HUGE beams are cramed into place. They're 5.5" wide by 28" high by 25 feet long, to support the cantilever. The framers can't move them at all without the crane.

Ground Ring "Ufer" Rod

2007-02-23T09:14:00.000-08:00

Somehow we missed the new City requirement of the Ufer Ground rod that's supposed to go in the foundation. But once you've poured it, you can't stick a 20 foot copper wire inside a concrete foundation underground. So we dug a new trench all the way around the house and set up a standard ground ring. That piece of paper taped to the plumbing drain is the "Passed" electrical inspection by the city indicating the ground rod was installed to code (the hard way).

One thing the contractors did for the project, as they're aware that it's a Green Building, and I told them about LEED certification - they used recycled crushed concrete for all the site work. As it turns out, it's cheaper than some of the alternatives, and it is a recycled product, going along with the ethos of the project.

This is a photo of the slab, just sitting out there waiting patiently for the framers to show up and build the structure. Where you see the plastic tubes sticking up is the radiant floor heating tubes, beyond that is the second unit, over on the right. It'll make more sense once the framers have started...

Slab Poured

2007-02-14T15:36:00.000-08:00

I have a bad back, ever since last summer's windsurfing injury. It flared up this week, so I wasn't able to see the pour Tuesday. But I did get some pictures of it this afternoon. It's covered for protection from rain, so there's not much to see. We added integral color to the concrete, since this will be the final finish for this floor (it will be sealed after construction). Also visible are the wirsbo or pex tubes for the radiant heat coming up out of the slab. On the picture that shows the slab & foundation, you can see the difference in color - the slab is pigmented a darker gray color.

Radiant Floor Tubing

2007-02-14T15:22:00.000-08:00

Guess the subs got their wires crossed, because when I went to the site Friday, the rebar was installed for the slab, including pink board and vapor barrier. But when I went over Monday, the rebar was out and the plumber was there putting in the tubing for the radiant heat, which apparently needs to go UNDER the rebar.

Getting Your Footing

2007-01-24T08:03:00.000-08:00

Today we finally have construction progress. The footings are in and the beginnings of two homes are finally in sight. You might be looking at these pictures and thinking lawn art or junk yard, but those rectangles are the base of the foundation for 2 soon-to-be-built Green townhomes in Seattle. Even though it's January, I had specified high post-industrial recycled content cement (using Fly Ash, a waste byproduct of coal fired electric plants). The subs reduced the quantity of fly ash to better suit the cooler outdoor temperatures, resulting in a faster cure time (but a somewhat less "green" footing).

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