LEED Platinum !
Monday, March 16, 2009

Uses 73% Less Energy Than Other Houses!

Interview on WOSU Radio - Click Here (3:57 minutes)

Presentation at the Green Energy Ohio Solar Workshop on March 28, 2009 - Click Here (11:53 minutes)

Jetson design website featuring this home

  • The first Platinum-certified residential dwelling in the State of Ohio!

  • The residence at 258 N. 21st Street, in the North of Broad neighborhood of the King Lincoln District of Columbus, Ohio was awarded LEED Platinum certification by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) for achievement in green home building.

  • The home was built by a collaboration consisting of non-profits, government, corporate and educational entities.

Below is a partial list of the donors/builders/consultants

A full list will follow

Kitchen with sustainable, green cabinets by Green Leaf Cabinetry topped with locally made beautiful concrete counter tops by Oberfield's Inc. (614)551-0129). The beautiful interior of the entire home was designed by Cynthia Grauduss who is an not only a fantastic designer but also an expert in sustainable, green interior deisgn. Grauduss Architecture and Design ( 614.561.7226) - A must contact for sustainable interior design.

Master bath: Recycled ceramic content floor tile, 1.1 gallon low flush toilet in all the bathrooms (Curnayn Sales 440-846-1280), natural lighting and ventilation.

Bedroom: Extra from another large project, the Shaw carpet (Rite Rug 778-4155) has no V.O.C.'s and will be taken back and made into carpet when it needs replaced.






Front landscaping with native Ohio drought resistant plants.






Urban Oasis. Beautiful native Ohio wetland plants that love water and that are drought resistant fill the rain garden.


Green Features

Site – Sustainable site, public transportation, services within ½ mile, shopping, parks etc., walkable.

Water

  • Low flow Gerber 1.1 gallon/flush pressure assisted, high volume toilets by Gerber (Curnayn Sales 440-846-1280).
  • Low flow faucet fixtures
  • Rain garden and landscaping – protect the watershed, pollutants Designed for typical Central Ohio year rain events, not long soakers
  • Downspouts to rain garden overflow to dry cistern
  • Overflow from cistern to street
  • Drought resistant plants
  • Low amount of turf.
  • The turf is a low mow mix requiring two cuttings per year and no watering.

    Indoor Air Quality
  • All sealants and glues low to no V.O.C. (Franklin International, a Columbus, Ohio company, 1-800-877-4583)
  • Hard surfaces: Donated blemished Maple hardwood flooring ( Sheoga, an Ohio Company 1-800-834-1180), “Green” recycled content ceramic tiles for bathroom floors and shower surround
  • Panasonic fans with timer control in bathrooms to keep moisture out of the home
  • Tight enclosure to keep unwanted air infiltration from happening – air movement causes water and heat movement. “Make it tight, ventilate it right”.
  • Fan cycler installed on fresh air intake to provide for the correct air change per hour to avoid a “sick” house.
  • No or low V.O.C. paints Geen, no off gassing cabinets
  • No V.O.C. off gassing counter tops
  • Two inches of foam underneath slab to keep the slab warm and water from condensing and wicking into the basement
  • Radon tight sump pump well All ductwork will be sealed 1” of foam on the outside of the walls to prevent condensation on the interior of wall cavity.
  • Two drain tiles systems used to drain foundation water. One on the outside and one on the inside. Both were covered with filter fabric to keep them from silting up. Both drain tiles themselves had filter fabric wrapped around them. Hancor, an Ohio company

    Materials
  • Concrete counter tops (Oberfields)
  • Metal roof with at least a 60 year life, is made from recycled steel and manufactured by a local company Dimensional Metals.
  • Home waws as PVC free as possible.
  • PVC free ABS drain waste vent system, Hancor, an Ohio company
  • Polyethylene drainage pipe, Hancor.
  • Cementous siding
  • Metal, durable, and very recyclable metal roof
  • Hardwood flooring
  • Materials used in the kitchen cabinets. All cabinets were made from formaldehyde-fee wood that was Forest Stewardship Council certified. The doors were made from scraps from the cabinet manufacturing operation. Green Leaf Cabinetry.
  • Advanced Framing
  • House built on a 24” module to avoid waste
  • Roof sloop built to a 24” module so that there was hardly any OSB (oriented strand board) waste.
  • Two stud corners
  • Floor joists at 24” module
  • 2 x 6 studs at 24” O. C.– use only as much wood as a 2 x 4 wall framed at 16” O.C.
  • Only a single top plate
  • No solid headers over windows in gable end walls
  • Stacking framing – (see trusses to basement in stairwell)
  • One edge of each window falls on the 24” module.
  • No double cripple stud under window to catch the edge of the rough sill
  • Drywall clips used instead of wood blocking
  • Composition beams used instead of solid lumber
  • Water management system for keeping the house warm used from the Building Science Corporation out of Massachusetts.
  • Walls flashed correctly from the eaves to the foundation
  • House wrap used and flashed correctly
  • Windows flashed correctly – see blog
  • Behind porch slabs – the walls were flashed with a rubber membrane to overlap the concrete foundation waterproofing.
  • Metal drip edge at the bottom of the siding to kick out the water that gets behind the siding
  • Siding has an air gap between and the 1” foam to not trap water behind the siding and allow gravity to pull it down the wall and kick out away from the house via the drip edge
  • Back dams behind on all window rough sills to kick water to the outside when the windows leak and all windows will leak at some time.
  • Less then 2.4 pounds waste from the building. Almost all of the materials in the dumpster outside will be recycled.
  • PEX PVC free plumbing system, and Manablock distribution system, (Curnayn Sales 440-846-1280)
  • Recyling of construction waste.
  • Locally manufactured shower enclosures, Swan Freedom, a Columbus, Ohio company.

    Energy
  • House uses 72 percent less energy than other houses.
  • Triple pane Gilkey Windows from Cincinnati
  • Northtowne Heating and Cooling: Ductwork and Bryant 97% efficient furnace.
  • 2 x 6 walls framed with advanced framing techniques, Contract Lumber Inc.
  • 97 percent efficient furnace
  • The SER of the air conditioner was also bumped up because of the high efficiency of the furnace
  • 2” of sprayed in soybean based foam in each wall cavity to stop air leaks and thus heat movement.
  • 3-1/2 “ of dense pack cellulose insulation in addition to the 2" of sprayed in foam in the walls.
  • House sealed very tight.
  • 1” foam on the outside of the building to warm the walls.
  • Continuous foam insulation from the bottom of the interior slab, the band board (which also seals) and to the bottom of the ceiling of the basement.
  • Two Kilowatts of solar photovoltaic panels that will be grid tied (Third Sun Solar and Wind)
  • Apricus solar thermal system ( Tom Reiker 614-563-2857) provides up to 70% of the domestic hot water needs.
  • LED can lights
  • Fluorescent lighting throughout the house.
  • Renewable energy consulting from Green Energy Ohio.

Landscaping/Site

  • Innovative landscaping plan with drought resistant plants coupled with capturing all of the rainwater on site to make a perfect urban oasis that uses no water in its maintenance by the Columbus Chapter of the American Institute of Architects, contact Matt Leasure (614)-224-6601
  • Selection of all of the plant materials that were chosen specifically for this site to be drought resistant, native to Ohio and that will thrive at this site. Vinnie Tremante 614-224-4473.
Sunday, May 5, 2008



The landscaping in the front of the house is finished. We have native Ohio plants including tall prairie grasses. The landscape plants are also drought tolerant.








The kitchen island was installed along with the vanities for the bathrooms. There are no pictures of the vanities due to the small space in which to take a photograph.
April 20, 2008

With some beautiful weather last week, the house is beginning to be wrapped up.











Left and above left: The solid maple flooring ready to be sanded.










The recycled content tile in the master bathroom. The shower surround will be also be tiled.










The newly rebuilt stonewall ready for landscaping this week.





The approach to the driveway with the porus pavers that are seeded with grass seed which is ready to grow.

April, 13,2008

The house is starting to get it's interior flooring and cabinetry installed.


Below: Shaw carpet squares installed in the upstairs. One noticeable feature was the absence of the "new carpet smell" which is the result of the toxic organic volatile organic compounds that off-gas from all other brands of carpets.











Below: The native maple hardwood flooring that has just begun to be installed.














Left: "Green" cherry kitchen cabinets supplied by Greenleaf Cabinetry that were installed by Dave Miller, Chad Boyd, and Roger Beck



Below: A series of picture taken of the same hallway/closet during the build.



















February 4 - 16, 2008


The 97% efficiency furnace has been installed.











This is the door hardware for the house on top of the carpet that will be on the stairways and in the bedrooms. This is Shaw carpet that is non-toxic to humans and is made from carpet and can be made back into carpet once the life of the carpet has been reached.






Here is a messy job of reworking the insulation in the rim joist area of the house located in the basement.










Here is a shaky shot (due to a long aperature opening time) of the mess created in reworking the insulation.






This is like the picture below but is taken with a tripod to avoid the "jiggle" when one enlarges the picture. This was taken with a longer aperature time like the picture in the previous post but this one will look good when englarged.
January 28 - February 3, 2008

The interior has it's first coat of paint and the trim was installed throughout the house.




Looking at the stairway, basement and bathroom doors.




View from the kitchen to the front of the house.









View from the kitchen to the front door.






Interior of the front bedroom.
January 14-January 27, 2008

The energy performance of the house continues to be outstanding. The only heat source in the house is a little kerosene heater that is still being kept at it's lowest possible setting. With some very cold outside air temperatures such as five degrees, the house temperature will be 65 degrees F. If the outside air temperature goes to above twenty degrees, the house will be 69-70 F degrees.

Construction is moving forward with organization and planning to finish the home. Landscaping stone has been selected and ordered, the paint has been ordered, and the trim is scheduled to be delivered this week.

Judy Doll (right) talks to The Ohio State University students who are in charge of O.S.U.'s effort to build a solar decathlon home to be place on the national mall. These students toured the house to gain any information that will help them in their efforts.

Their concept seems really outstanding.

Go Bucks!


Interior of basement with finished drywall.








Our living room with the only heater that is heating the house.









Thermometer reading 68 degrees with an outside temperature of twelve degrees Fahrenheit and some windows cracked upstairs.
Sunday, January 13, 2008

  • Thanks to Edwards/Mooney and Moses, the house has been extremely well insulated. This company is extremely knowledgeable, does top quality work and knows about green, high performance building.
  • Our insulation was "soy-based" with a cellulose (ground up newspaper) cap.
  • The drywall will start to be finished.
  • The landscaping should start this week.
  • With just a small heater in the house the house stays warm. One of our volunteers will be happy to know that our thermometer (visible in the picture) does go past forty degrees and was sixty degrees in the house today when the outside air temperature was forty degrees.

The house has the drywall hung.









Same shot as above but with just the insulation and the ceiling drywall.







Looking from the master bedroom towards the front of the house.










Something to be careful of. When the drywall scrappers came to the house, they were going to put the drywall into this truck and take it to the landfill. Lucky we were on site and were able to catch them before they did that. We had them put the scrap into our dumpster so it can be reclaimed.




Great pains were taken to seal and insulate all cracks. This is around the front door.







All of the electrical boxes were sealed.








All of the ceiling penetrations were also sealed. This is the foam that has "oozed" out of the perimeter of the box.








A snowy Saturday when we came out from working on the house to take this picture. Within forty-five minutes from when the snow started, all of the streets had become very, very slippery. Later, some had said this these were the biggest snow flakes they had ever remembered seeing. In the picture are a mentor, adult volulnteer, teacher, and a Home B.A.S.E. student from 2007.

November 11 - 17, 2007

  • The plumbing inspection passed this week.
  • We will go for our heating, ventilation, and air conditioning inspection this week.
  • That inspection should pass and we will call in for our framing inspection.
  • Insulation should happen the Monday after Thanksgiving.
  • The city attorney stopped by on Saturday to take a tour of our house.


    Our front porch railing is all but done. We tore out the awful back porch steps and will have new ones this week and also railings for that too.

    Our house sits up really high.


    The sidewalk has it's forms done and inspected and is ready to be put in this coming week. Our downspout connectors are now fully connected and will run under the sidewalk.


    It may not be a big deal for some, but our house is now hooked up to the grid. Our sump pump is no longer connected to a house 75 feet away with an extension cord which is constantly being cut. This had required constant monitoring every time it rained.

    We now have operable outlets on every floor which means we can connect to our own house for our tools and most importantly, our radio.

The landscaping can go forward at any time.

October 21 - November 11, 2007
We have passed our electrical inspection and the plumbing and heating inspections just have one small item each before they pass. This week, those issues will get taken care of and we can go for a structural inspection.

The landscapers have started and the house is ready for the inspections to pass so we can start to insulate and then drywall.

GREEN GREEN GREEN
As part of our green build, we have been using our lumber in a very efficient manner. We have followed the Building Science Corporation advanced framing techniques. Below shows what is typically done in residential construction.

To put in an outlet for the refrigerator, our electrician put in a massive amount of wood to hold up a receptacle box.
See the picture below to see how could have done the same task with less wood and less time.

Here is our fix. Besides wasting less wood, we now have more room in the wall for insulation.
September 9 - October 20, 2007
As we almost come to a point where we will be no longer be doing anything with sixteen penny nails, 2 x 6 lumber and using our saws, we want to say thank you to Contract Lumber for supporting ten years of high school students working to end poverty housing in America.
http://www.contractlumber.com/



There has been a lot of interest in our house and we have given several tours.
  • The Ohio Solar Tour with Green Energy Ohio.
  • Associates of the American Instituted of Architects (AIA, Columbus chapter).
  • Building Industries Association (B.I.A.) of Columbus.
  • Sustainable Worthington
    We have a beautiful urban city street in Columbus, Ohio where we build as this view looking south shows.








    This is a view looking north.








    Our rough electrical work is now finished with the plumbing to finished the week of October 21.

    This is a view of our kitchen.






    Interior of downstairs bathroom.










    Our ground to the reinforcing bar was cut off at some time so we had to dig down, chip away the footer so the electricians could tie into the steel to make the correct ground. This inspection passed.






    Close up of the mechanical ground clamp to the piece of reinforcing bar in the footer. e would not have had to t






    Nice early morning view of our house in the fall.
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