Pervious concrete is rare in our area, but is growing in popularity. It is simply concrete that allows water to move through the material into a storage area under the pavement. The storage area is typically a gravel bed. By capturing stormwater (rain) and allowing it to seep into the ground, groundwater is recharged, pollutants are filtered, and erosion is reduced.
This pavement approach can be used to reduce the need for retention ponds, swales, and other stormwater management devices. A pervious concrete mixture contains few fines (sand and small aggregates) allowing “holes” in the material that water flows through into the storage area. Typically the voids represent 15% – 25% of the total assembly. It does require annual cleaning to avoid the voids from being filled with debris.
Pervious paving can be made of concrete, pavers, or asphalt. In our area, pervious paving is more expensive than traditional types of pavement. However, if you also calculate the stormwater measures it is more competitive.
This time of year we always add a blanket to our bed to stay warm at night. It is cold! In order to have a more comfortable home and improve your energy-efficiency, you should add a blanket to your home as well. The code minimum insulation allowed in new construction is R-49. As you can see in the next picture, the bottom of the truss is exposed (3 1/2″ of insulation) minimum installed in this home. This is fairly typical. It means this home has R-19 max, but probably R-13 insulation. Certainly another blanket would help with comfort issues in this house.
In the below picture you can see additional insulation has been added in some places. Perhaps they are adding as they have time and money – not sure. The duct work that is located above the insulation could also hurt comfort and energy-efficiency. This duct work is sending conditioned air through a duct is in an unconditioned space. There is a minimum amount of insulation around the ducts. These two combined issues could lead to moisture in the duct, perhaps contributing to mold in addition to the comfort and energy issues a typical home experiences. Further there is an attic fan in the eave. Using an attic fan sucks air out of the attic pushing it outside. This is done in the summer to cool the attic, but where does the make-up air come from to replace what is being sucked out? Usually through the gaps and cracks in the home’s thermal envelope further hurting comfort and energy-efficiency. It sucks conditioned air out of your home and sends it outside, only cooling the attic a few degrees on a good day.
A properly insulated attic has all the ducts inside the thermal envelope. It also stops air movement from conditioned spaces to unconditioned spaces. R-49 is the minimum level of insulation. As you can see in the below picture the insulation has been moved to the underside of the roof sheathing and the ducts are inside the thermal envelope. This is the best possible solution.
This time of year we always add a blanket to our bed to stay warm at night. It is cold! In order to have a more comfortable home and improve your energy-efficiency, you should add a blanket to your home as well. The code minimum insulation allowed in new construction is R-49. As you can see in the next picture, the bottom of the truss is exposed (3 1/2″ of insulation) minimum installed in this home. This is fairly typical. It means this home has R-19 max, but probably R-13 insulation. Certainly another blanket would help with comfort issues in this house.
In the below picture you can see additional insulation has been added in some places. Perhaps they are adding as they have time and money – not sure. The duct work that is located above the insulation could also hurt comfort and energy-efficiency. This duct work is sending conditioned air through a duct is in an unconditioned space. There is a minimum amount of insulation around the ducts. These two combined issues could lead to moisture in the duct, perhaps contributing to mold in addition to the comfort and energy issues a typical home experiences. Further there is an attic fan in the eave. Using an attic fan sucks air out of the attic pushing it outside. This is done in the summer to cool the attic, but where does the make-up air come from to replace what is being sucked out? Usually through the gaps and cracks in the home’s thermal envelope further hurting comfort and energy-efficiency. It sucks conditioned air out of your home and sends it outside, only cooling the attic a few degrees on a good day.
A properly insulated attic has all the ducts inside the thermal envelope. It also stops air movement from conditioned spaces to unconditioned spaces. R-49 is the minimum level of insulation. As you can see in the below picture the insulation has been moved to the underside of the roof sheathing and the ducts are inside the thermal envelope. This is the best possible solution.
Formaldehyde: A gas used widely in production of adhesives, plastics, preservatives, and fabric treatments and commonly emitted by indoor materials that are made with its compounds. It is highly irritating if inhaled and is now listed as a probable human carcinogen.
Some products that you might expect to contain formaldehyde in your home include paper towels, shampoo, deodorant, lipstick, baby wipes, toothpaste, body wash, and nail polish. It can also be found in building products including pressed wood produces (cabinets for instance), plywood, resins (used in wall paper), glues, latex paint, insulation, and carpet.
Exposure to high levels of Formaldehyde may cause asthma attacks, nausea, watery eyes, difficulty breathing, headaches, and respiratory irritation.
Formaldehyde, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, has been shown to cause cancer in animals.
The work continues at the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank in Verona even with the cold weather. We have gone from old farm-house to no building to finally a new office taking shape. In the rear you can now see where the warehouse addition will take shape as demolition has started.
Inside the building office spaces are starting to take shape.
In the rear, demolition has started and the footings have been poured.
The 4 C’s: You have to be able to effectively convey the information from design to construction in a Clear, Concise, Correct, and Complete method. Air Infiltration: The uncontrolled inward air leakage through cracks and holes in the building envelope and around windows and doors of a building caused by the pressure effects of wind and/or the effect of differences in the indoor and outdoor air density.
Biophilic Design: premise that we can learn from nature to create better buildings and build better buildings by connecting to nature
Blower Door Test: used to determine total air leakage of a home’s thermal envelope.
Building Automation System: technology that can be used to control the heating and cooling systems in a building. It can also be used to control lights on a room by room basis or a fixture by fixture basis. It can also be used to monitor security systems and even entertainment systems.
Cohousing: type of development where residents collaborate together on the design of their own neighborhood
Composting: practice of mixing organic waste that can biodegrade quickly to create a planting medium called compost
Conservation: act of preserving, guarding, or protecting the resources we have available on this planet
Construction Waste: materials at a job site that cannot be easily used on that site
Elf: battery assisted, solar charged bike will go 1.5 hours on a charge depending on total weight on a charge and allows you to apply pedal power to extend your ride
Embodied Energy: total amount of energy required to produce a product
Geothermal Heat Pump: heating and cooling system that transfers heat to and from the ground through a loop to condition the air inside of your home or business.
High Efficiency Water Heater: High efficiency water heating can save you a considerable amount of energy each day. There are several systems used to efficiently heat water for usage inside a building. The most common is either an on-demand water heater or a heat pump water heater.
Indoor Environmental Quality: the air that you breathe, the type of light, the sounds, and the comfort you feel.
Infrared (thermographic) camera: allows you to see radiation or temperature differential on a surface making it visible light.
Integrated Design: Integrated design builds a team to walk the project from concept through construction
Life Cycle Analysis: system of reviewing the entire history of a product to account for the total impact on the environment
Off-the-grid: An off-the-grid system operates without reliance on a public utility.
Permeability: measure of the diffusion of water vapor through a material
Rainwater Harvesting: collection of water for reuse before it reaches the aquifer
Renewable Energy Certificates (RECs): environmental attributes of your green power that are sold separately from the electrons that makes up the electricity.
Recycled Content: process that takes a waste material and converts it to a new product, thus reducing the consumption of raw materials, potentially reducing energy usage, and diverts materials from a landfill
R-Value: measure of the reduction of heat transfer across a defined path
Solar Reflectance Index: measure of the constructed surface’s ability to stay cool in the sun by reflecting solar radiation and emitting thermal radiation
Stack Effect: movement of air into and out of buildings, driven by air pressure, temperature differential, and moisture
Stormwater: water that comes from precipitation (rain, snow, sleet…) and does not soak into the ground
Sustainability: Development that meets the needs of present generations without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs.
Vegetated Roof: partially or completely covered roof with vegetation over a waterproof membrane
Water Conservation: takes into account activities to manage fresh water resources, protect the water environment, and to meet current and future demand for fresh water.
Zero Energy Ready Home: This program, once called Challenge Home, focuses on conservation strategies to reduce energy load and prepping the home for solar PV panels.
