As some of you have probably read in my last article about the Texas Green Building Summit, Phil Crone, Director of Green Building Programs for the HBA of Dallas announced the ALL NEW GBT-EH certification program at the show.

This is exiting news for homeowners and remodelers alike, since it is one of the first green building certification programs for existing homes in the nation. Since I’m a member of the board of Green Built Texas, I can share some insights into the details of the program – please note that the certification components are not finalized yet, so this is just a simple overview of the program. The new program will be referred to as Green Built Texas for Existing Homes (GBT-EH), and will combine the construction knowledge of remodeler members of the Home Builders Association of Greater Dallas and the National Association of the Remodeling Industry (NARI) with industry professionals, such as home energy raters, who can provide quality control and third party verification. A Stringent third-party verification will ensure that consumers’ homes have achieved the requirements of the GBT-EH protocol. Here’s how it works: A third party Texas HERO certified energy rater will perform an "In-Test", establishing the baseline for the rating – which means energy efficiency is "measured" in the existing structure before any work is performed. Based on this intial "audit" the energy rater or your trusted and certified green building contractor  will make recommendations on how to improve the energy efficiency, water efficiency and indoor air quality of your home. After the work is performed, an "Out-Test" is performed by the energy rater. The results of these tests are measured and scored as a HERS Index. The GBT-EH certifications will be awarded based on the improvement of the initial HERS index – and will most likely be scored as follows:

• BRONZE Rating: 20% improvement in HERS Index
• SILVER Rating: 30% improvement in HERS Index
• GOLD Rating: 40% improvement in HERS Index

In addition to that, a home can receive "Merit Badges" based on Indoor Air quality and Water Efficiency improvements. As I said before, I’m super excited about this program as this gives us another tool in verifying good green building practices and the resulting better energy efficiency of our existing homes stock in this country. Remember…. Anybody can say they can do it…. But can they back up their work with numbers and a certification?

BTW – you can also find this article on the website of the Dallas Green Building Alliance.

Written by:

Marc Kleinmann
EGC Custom Homes
http://DallasGreenBuilding.com
m.kleinmann@EGCDallas.com 
  

Green building is booming. Energy Star homes and LEED-certified building projects are gaining a greater foothold in communities across the country.

But the movement might stall before it truly gets off the ground unless developers, elected officials and the surety industry can find some common ground.

The problem lies with performance bonds. These are essential risk-mitigation tools that are a part of most building projects nationwide. In short, these bonds guarantee that a contractor completes the job as specified by the contract and all applicable code.

Surety bonds protect project owners and taxpayer dollars in the unlikely event that a contractor defaults, does shoddy work or somehow fails to live up to its duties. Before they issue a performance bond, surety underwriters scour a contractor’s financial standing, background and their likelihood of success.  They also closely examine the prospective contract, looking for specific, tangible goals the contractor is obliged to meet. And that’s where the green building issue is becoming a major sticking point. 

Hitting green building requirements isn’t an easy task. National certifying organizations like the U.S. Green Building Council have to verify that a building has achieved documented levels of efficiency and other green building milestones. 

But that puts surety companies in an untenable position. What happens, for example, if the contractor reduces the building’s carbon dioxide emissions by 24 percent but the contract mandates 25 percent?  

Surety companies have no interest in being on the hook financially in a case like that. Instead, most sureties refuse to bond a contractor when a contract demands specific energy efficiencies or requires an outside party to certify progress.  “It’s not always the party that has to post the bond that’s responsible for that element of LEED certification,” Bob Duke, director of underwriting and assistant counsel for the District-based Surety and Fidelity Association, told the Washington Business Journal. “Maybe the party posting the bond doesn’t have control of the total obligation.”  

Clarity may be coming in the next few months. Officials in Washington, D.C., are working toward a solution to the issue. The District of Columbia enacted a strict Green Building regulation in 2006 for some private and public building projects. Unsurprisingly, the new regulations call for a performance bond that provides guarantees for green efficiencies and standards. Surety officials are less than pleased with the legislation, which takes effect in 2012. A group of stakeholders from the surety and building industries and the D.C. political scene are currently working on an updated interpretation that provides greater protection for those all parties.  

The rest of the country is watching, and waiting, to see how the issue gets resolved. The future of green building could hinge on the developments.

This article was written as a guest post by Chris Birk with SuretyBonds.com

Last week’s post on "Thermal Bridging" kicked off a series of articles that I have wanted to share for a long time. These articles cover issues, techniques and solutions related to how we build exterior walls and the impact of some of those decisions. Today’s article is about one of the solutions to minimize "Thermal Bridging" through Advanced Framing Techniques. What we know today as "Advanced Framing Techniques", was originally developed in the 1960’s as Optimum-value engineering (OVE) framing techniques under a Housing and Urban Development (HUD) initiative to cut the cost of houses by omitting unnecessary lumber. The approaches did not get widely adopted at the time. However, with the passage of time, many of the original OVE techniques have been incorporated in what we today refer to as "advanced framing". Advanced Framing includes OVE framing techniques such as increasing joist, stud, and rafter spacing to 24 in.; placing doors and windows on stud layout; and using stacked framing for direct load transfer. Application of advanced framing not only saves on lumber and labor costs, but also supports better insulation detailing and reduces the occurrence of drywall cracking. The image below illustrates some of the advanced framing techniques. Advanced framing, as the name implies, means using framing lumber intelligently in wood framing by: 1. use of common material dimensions (24-inch grid) as a basis for design to maximize material use and minimize waste and 2. efficient load transfer to reduce unnecessary framing members from the home. As you can see in the illustration above, some of the techniques used include stack framing – allowing for the use of single top plates, elimination of wood beams/headers in non-load bearing walls, and two-stud corners. Framing around openings in exterior walls limited to those framing members needed for vertical load transfer or horizontal load resistance. Looking at this from a broader view – what does this do for our exterior wall assembly and my house in general? Well… besides cutting back on material waste and material usage – which increases resource efficiency, one of the main goals of green building – incorporating these techniques allows us to install more insulation in exterior walls. In simple terms: Advanced framing actually replaces lumber with insulation material and maximizes the wall that’s insulated, which improves the whole-wall thermal resistance or R-value. So let’s look at a comparison of R-values in a standard wall vs a wall constructed with advanced framing: A standard wall assembly using R-13 batt insulation will have an effective R-value of 11.1. An "advanced" wall assembly will have an effective R-value of 14.6 or 30% higher than the traditional wall. If you’re a homeowner, you’re probably reading this going: "How does this affect my wallet?" – I have some simple stats for you. Fully incorporating advanced framing techniques may result in:

• Materials cost savings of about $500 or $1000 (for a 1,200- and 2,400-square-foot house, respectively)
• Labor cost savings of between 3% and 5%
• Annual heating and cooling cost savings of up to 5%.

(Source & detailed calculation: http://www.energysavers.gov ) So if you are currently in the market shopping for a home, ask if the home you’re considering was built using advanced framing techniques or with other systems like SIPs or ICFs – which I will cover in future articles. If you are in the process of building a new home or undertaking a major renovation, ask your builder to incorporate these techniques. You will end up with a better home. Links to other articles in this series: Thermal Bridging… and how it affects a wall assembly – Part1 of 7 Sources: http://www.buildingscience.com http://www.toolbase.org http://resourcecenter.pnl.gov http://www.energysavers.gov

What is thermal bridging and why is it important in the homes we build? The importance lies in the different materials we use to build our wall systems, how much of these materials we use and what conductivity these materials have. We all know that exterior walls have (or should have insulation, and it’s purpose is to slow down movement of heat through our walls.

Most of you know about the R-value of insulation materials – this R-value rates the materials’ resistance to heat-transfer – So the higher the R-value, the lower the heat-transfer. The illustration above best shows how the different materials in the walls affect heat transfer. We also know that most of our wall assemblies in residential construction are built with wood studs and wood sheathing on the exterior. Soft woods have almost 3 times the conductivity rate than fiberglass insulation, so heat transfers much quicker through the parts of the wall assembly that are made out of wood, essentially bypassing the insulation. This process is called "thermal bridging". This results in a lower overall R-value of your wall assembly. Most people mistakenly think that because the insulate their wall with R-19 fiberglass insulation, they have an R-19 wall, when in reality their wall has a much lower R-value. What does that mean from a practical standpoint? Well, let’s put it in the simplest way possible: The more wood studs you have in your wall assembly, the lower the R-value of your wall. How can we solve this and make our wall assembly more energy efficient? Obviously, by using less wood in our walls to allow for less thermal bridging and more insulation in the assembly, but how exactly can we achieve this? There are several ways…. we can use systems like SIP’s, ICF’s or use advanced framing techniques. I will post follow up articles on all of these solutions in the coming days. Sources: BuildingGreen.com , BuildingAmerica.gov , eeba.org IMAGE CREDITS: Illustration by Julia Jandrisits

EGC’s commitment to client satisfaction extends far beyond the completion of construction. We want to ensure that you enjoy your new residence for years to come. Post-construction services include:

Client education

Detailed walk-through and client education on their new residence

Warranty

1 year for workmanship, 2 years for all mechanical installations and 10 years for major structural components. All manufacturer warranties prevail.

Warranty Management System

A warranty management system provided by HomeWorx. This includes online access to your client home binder. It includes all major construction documents, plans, material selection schedules and warranty booklets. So if you need to know what color paint was used in the kids bathroom 2 years from now, you can look it up –either online or in the binder we provide you approx. 1 month after your project has been completed.

EGC utilizes the best subcontractors and craftsmen in the area and we employ the best information technology available to the construction industry today. This ensures the highest standards of quality control, cost control and communication with you, our client.

EGC utilizes the best subcontractors and craftsmen in the area and we employ the best information technology available to the construction industry today. This ensures the highest standards of quality control, cost control and communication with you, our client.

Construction cost control

Weekly billing statement outlining current budget, cost to complete and the percentage complete on your project Detailed list of line-item budgets and current contracts Suggestions on value-engineering specific line items

Contract control and detailed approval process

EGC has detailed construction agreements with all of our trades. These agreements outline all aspects of construction and ensure all trades perform to EGC’s standards of construction.

Critical path scheduling and online project management

All clients receive a critical path schedule, which charts the progress of construction on a daily and weekly basis. Critical path scheduling helps project managers, trades and suppliers to properly schedule material orders and labor allocation in order to meet your construction schedule. All EGC clients have access to our online project management solution where plans and selection schedules are stored and meeting minutes and critical communication is logged. This ensures open communication between all parties involved in the construction process.

Client communication

Site meetings with client, project manager and superintendent are scheduled on weekly basis outlining completed work and work scheduled for the upcoming week. All meetings are logged online for future reference E-mail communication between all involved parties is suggested

Onsite project control

EGC assigns a project manager and lead carpenter to each job. Project managers visit the job sites twice weekly. The lead carpenter is at the jobsite the majority of the duration of the project. The lead carpenter is responsible for filing daily reports with the project manager to ensure the construction management team is up-to-date on all activities at the job site.

Quality control

EGC provides the highest level of quality specified for your home. Our project managers and filed personnel continually monitor the quality of work-in-place to ensure workmanship meets our standards.

Risk management and insurance

EGC carries all the proper insurance certificates and verifies that all our trades maintain proper insurance.

So I just got out of interesting meeting with a potential client and the discussion came up about tankless hot water heaters and are they always the best solution to any given situation? Simple answer is NO! There never is "a" best solution to any given situation.

Water heater replacement just like anything in energy efficient construction and building should be looked at as a whole systems approach. Let’s say you have an old tank heater that needs to get replaced, here are the important things to consider:

1. Is it electric or gas?
2. If it is electric, is there a gas line nearby and will it be easy to install a vent pipe?
3. Where is is located? Is it more than 10 feet away from the source and does it serve sources that are located in different parts of the house?
4. If it is far from the source, can it be relocated to get it closer?
5. Are the sources spread out all over the house? (kitchen on one end, master bath on the other and guest bath over the garage….)

Answer those questions for yourself and you can come up with a good solution:

1. If it is gas, stick with gas and install a tankless gas heater
2. If your answer to question 2 is yes and yes, make the switch and install a gas heater
3. If your answer is yes, consider decentralizing your water heating system and install multiple smaller heaters to reduce your pipe runs from the heater to the source
4. If your current water heater location is pulling water from one end of the house to the other, consider moving the location of the water heater as close to the source as you can.
5. If your sources are spread out, you might be best served with 3-4 smaller electric heaters that can be installed under cabinets or in small closets. This is of course if your electrical service is adequate.

Just like anything else in a green building or remodeling project, you have to look at the whole picture – especially when it comes to the electric vs gas debate.. and btw – do not listen to your plumbers opinion, because it will always be gas. If you are remodeling your entire house, replacing plumbing, upgrading your electrical service and have the luxury of deciding exactly where your water heaters are going to be located, electric water heaters have some benefits:

1. Less expensive in initial purchase price
2. No gas lines to run
3. No exhaust venting and addtl wall/roof penetrations

Now the bad:

1. The good ones draw quite a bit of power – anywhere from 80-120 Amps – this means if you have 3 of them you need a quite sizable electrical service which can get costly if you’re not already upgrading your service anyway
2. Flow-rate – even the best electrical tankless hot water heaters have an inferior flow-rate to their gas counterparts which means you have to be very careful and thoughtful during the planning phase.

So when it comes time to replace your old water heater, you have to consider much more than just the actual piece of equipment. And that’s where we come in. EGC specializes in building energy efficient, comfortable and healthy homes. Your path to energy efficiency can start with replacing your water heater, but you have to do it right.

We are huge advocates of decentralized systems – gas or electric – because to us, the most efficient system is the one that wastes the least amount of water and has the least amount of heat loss from heater to source.  How many gallons of cold water do you run down the drain each morning before your water gets hot ??

Performance Testing in existing homes!

Why performance testing should be mandatory

There’s a big debate in the green building industry about performance testing – should it be mandatory for new and existing construction and how much good will it do?

”

As reported in the American Statesman on June 10, 2009 Austin just released the results of the first 310 homes that received energy audits under the new ordinance. The ordinance requires sellers to get energy audits of their homes and disclose the results to potential buyers. Austin Energy compiled these numbers from the first wave of audits:

86% of homes had ducts that leaked more than 10% – the rate considered acceptable for energy efficiency

The average amount of air leakage was 22% – WOW! This is the average of all homes tested – 1/4 of energy lost in leaking ducts.

The average loss in hard $$$$ is $260.00 a year per home. This is $260.00 of wasted electricity per home per year.

807,840 Total annual kilowatt-hours of electricity wasted by these houses — enough to power 67 average-size homes for a year

1 million Pounds of carbon dioxide emitted annually to produce the wasted electricity

$500 Average cost to seal ducts, after Austin Energy rebates, with a $120 average annual savings

$661 Average cost to add 6 inches of attic insulation, after rebates, with an average annual savings of $90

Now that’s some hard facts. How can anybody argue against performance testing?

Dallas does not have an ordinance like this – yet! But it would be in the interest of all consumers to know how efficient (or not) their house is before they buy it. If you are in the market for a new home in Dallas and would like to get it evaluated for energy efficiency before you buy, just give us a call at 214.550.5076 or email us to info@EGCDallas.com.

Everyone that has ever worked in a home building or construction related business knows how difficult it is to properly manage field personnel and trade contractor crews. Keeping efficiency high is crucial for a small company like ours while constant communication is a must. Managing do-do lists, site meetings, punch-lists and several revisions of construction documents for several crews and trade contractors can be a monstrous task

As a small company specializing in energy efficient green building and construction, EGC has always focused on the use of technology that can be implemented in a cost efficient manner, but most importantly – will be used by the whole team involved during the construction process. As featured in this months article in Remodeling Magazine we use a combination of affordable yet effective technology that enables us to manage all of our projects in a efficient, environmentally friendly way. TSheets is an incredible app running on the iPhone that enables our lead carpenters to properly log time for their entire crews, completely with cost code integration. Site meetings, punch-lists and schedules are updated through Outpost, an app that updates and synchronizes with our project management solution – Basecamp. Daily reports for each project as well as meeting minutes are filed through Outpost along with pictures snapped with the iphones’ camera. These pictures are also uploaded to our internal Flickr site for a complete visual project documentation. This process ensures nearly perfect information tracking. But most importantly, it ensures that EGCs green building projects are managed with the care and detail that our clients expect and deserve.

There’s a big debate in the green building industry about performance testing – should it be mandatory for new and existing construction and how much good will it do? As reported in the American Statesman on June 10, 2009 Austin just released the results of the first 310 homes that received energy audits under the new ordinance. The ordinance requires sellers to get energy audits of their homes and disclose the results to potential buyers. Austin Energy compiled these numbers from the first wave of audits:

86% of homes had ducts that leaked more than 10% – the rate considered acceptable for energy efficiency

The average amount of air leakage was 22% – WOW! This is the average of all homes tested – 1/4 of energy lost in leaking ducts.

The average loss in hard $$$$ is $260.00 a year per home. This is $260.00 of wasted electricity per home per year.

807,840 Total annual kilowatt-hours of electricity wasted by these houses — enough to power 67 average-size homes for a year

1 million Pounds of carbon dioxide emitted annually to produce the wasted electricity

$500 Average cost to seal ducts, after Austin Energy rebates, with a $120 average annual savings

$661 Average cost to add 6 inches of attic insulation, after rebates, with an average annual savings of $90

Now that’s some hard facts. How can anybody argue against performance testing?

Dallas does not have an ordinance like this – yet! But it would be in the interest of all consumers to know how efficient (or not) their house is before they buy it. If you are in the market for a new home in Dallas and would like to get it evaluated for energy efficiency before you buy, just give us a call at 214.550.5076 or email us to info@EGCDallas.com.