Climate Friendly | Human Friendly Custom Homes |
Climate Friendly | Human Friendly Custom Homes |
Better building is good for your family, our planet, and your investment.
Climate change is forcing us to be more aware of the weaknesses of conventional building. Water, wind, fire, and flood events are getting more frequent and larger, creating opportunities for water (and fire!) intrusion into homes through poorly designed or built construction, and challenging even houses built well to withstand larger weather events than conventional building materials are meant to withstand.
In addition, the more we can recycle and reuse materials in construction, the better off the project and the planet are. We love to design with reclaimed materials as part of our palette. We believe that patina is beautiful and adds to the character and nature of a home. For example, the rainscreen siding on the project on our homepage was constructed out of used hardwood shipping pallets - some 20 feet long! - that were salvaged from another commercial construction project. They fundamentally changed the aesthetic of the home, adding unique character and style - and yet were fabricated out of materials destined for the landfill.
Many of the materials going into same-as-usual-type of homes are not thoughtfully or consciously sourced, adding to the oversized natural resource footprint of the construction industry. Lumber sourced from sustainable Forest Stewardship Council certified suppliers is a leading way to reduce the impact of construction on climate change, and we are zealous in what wood we buy, who we buy it from, and where it comes from. The same applies to hundreds of other products used in building a home - we are the builders that ask “who made this? Where was it made and by whom? Are those craftsmen paid a fair, liveable wage?” We apply the same standards to the craftsmen and tradespeople that we employ, as we believe that construction is an honorable profession that should employ and compensate our trades with wages that can readily support their families.
Sadly, climate scientists have recognized that the construction industry plays a outsize role in contributing to our global greenhouse gas emission problem. Simply put, making a typical house burns a lot of fossil fuels. The challenge in building better houses that minimize emissions starts with a careful inventory of the most offending materials and practices, and one-by-one adjusting and adopting new, lower carbon footprint materials and methods. As an industry, this is an undoubtedly heavy lift. But on an individual home scale, this is highly achievable. For example, one of the worst materials from a climate science point of view is concrete, which requires a tremendous amount of fossil-fuel-derived heating in the production of cement and limestone. While there are better concretes being developed worldwide that, for example, use a natural process to create the necessary limestone ingredients (similar to the process of making coral reefs!), there are ‘better’ concrete solutions available now, such as concrete into which surplus carbon dioxide is injected during production (thereby capturing and sequestering it for the life of the home). This is an example of sourcing better materials that are more thoughtfully produced, lowering the carbon footprint of a project and leaving a lighter environmental footprint on our community (and planet!).
Another great example of more careful product selection is in the installation of a heating and cooling system, and a recent shift towards installing heat pumps rather than conventional air conditioning systems. Heat pumps use a fraction of the electricity of conventional HVAC systems, and serve as both a source of cooling AND heating, making your overall environmental footprint much lighter. In addition, with the newfound federal government focus on these systems, there are significant tax rebates available to offset the modestly higher installation costs of heat pumps, making them more affordable to both install and operate. The use of better, more carbon-friendly products, materials, and installation methods are central to our mission to make our homes as sustainable and forward-looking as possible, so our clients can sleep more soundly knowing that their home was built with future generations - and the planet they will inhabit - in mind.
Everything starts with great design. Full stop. We love designing with our go-to experienced architect partners to create a beautiful, well-thought-out, sustainable and resilient home from start to finish. We also of course enjoy working with outside architects on designing resilient sustainable healthy homes, and work alongside them throughout the design process to integrate better materials and features into their designs.
Keeping some parts of the natural world OUT of our homes (water, humid air, mold, insects) while letting in other parts of nature (natural light, fresh dry air, clean water) is one of the great challenges in building. Unfortunately, far too many conventionally designed and built homes don’t do a remotely adequate job in accomplishing this. Sick building syndrome, toxic mold and mycotoxins, chemically treated water, and a host of other very real public health issues are far more common inside houses across America than people realize. Part of the reason for that is many of the issues hide inside of cavity walls, out of sight, until someone starts feeling unwell. Part of the reason is that exposure to these types of health threats take many years to show symptoms, and they often vary greatly from one person to another. Our homes are designed and built with these realities in mind, and we intentionally choose and use materials and products that will protect you and your family from the risks of the outside world getting inside. These include minimizing exterior cavity walls; using alternative framing materials and methods that are both stronger and more resilient to storms while also preventing moisture intrusion - and that minimize harm to the structure and indoor air quality if moisture does find it’s way inside; designing and installing air filtration systems that dehumidify and constantly replace stale, humid indoor air with filtered, dry fresh air; installing water filtration systems that remove harmful sanitizing chemicals and other pollutants from drinking and bathing water throughout the house, while recycling and reclaiming as much gray water as possible for irrigation; and installing systems to keep the home a safe place in the event of a loss of power, water, or heating & cooling.
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