karina description

Beautifully crafted, thoughtfully designed, all new home in Madison Valley. Two blocks to neighborhood stores & restaurants, including Cafe Flora & Essential Baking Company. Around the corner from the Arboretum and minutes to downtown and 520. Oriented to the south, this sensibly sized home is filled with natural light.Wrap around back deck opens to south patio. Main floor bedroom, bathroom off master, wool carpeting upstairs, custom maple cabinets, 9' and vaulted ceilings, walk-in closets, ceiling fans, upstairs washer/dryer, alley access with off street parking. Attention to detail throughout the house.

Green Features
• 4 star Built Green/Energy Star/Third party verified (by the O’Brien Company)
• A compact, well designed home is more energy efficient. A major impact from building homes is the extraction, processing, transportation and maintenance of building materials and the long-term energy use.
• Exceeded Energy Star home requirements – Energy Star homes are at least 15% more energy efficient than homes built to Washington state energy codes
• Increased insulation effectiveness with BIBS (Blown-In-Blanket-Insulation) in the walls – Blown-In System fills all the voids around electrical wiring and plumbing pipes providing more effective insulation and improved sound control
• Energy Star appliances
• Non-ducted natural gas stove heating system. Use of ceiling fans. Improves air quality and energy efficiency - Supplementary convection heaters & thermostats in other rooms
• Blower door rating exceeding Built Green targets – house is built tight and fresh air comes in where designed to come in through the window vents, not through the crawl, walls or attic.
• Energy efficient compact fluorescent light fixtures in at least 50% of sockets
• Lighting dimmers for better light control and to save energy
• Lighting timers and compact fluorescent used for exterior lights to save energy
• Maximum use of engineered building products – minimal use of old-growth wood
• Low VOC paint on all major surfaces for better indoor air quality
• Used formaldehyde-free fiberglass insulation for improved air quality
• Up to R-49 EcoBatts in the vaulted ceilings (code is R-38)
• Large front porch and south facing, wrap-around back porch with usable room for outdoor living
• Centrally located water heater to save energy
• Light-colored interior finishes and skylights for natural lighting
• 100% wool carpeting installed by tacking - no glue for better indoor air quality
• Brought in 20 yards of Cedar Grove Compost to amended the soil
• Installed materials with longer life cycles – fiber-cement siding, porcelain tile, 50-year roofing

House Features
• Cable ready and Cat5 wiring in every bedroom, living room and kitchen
• 800 sqft extra deep crawl space with concrete slab for dry storage
• Chroma quartz countertops – highly heat, stain and scratch resistant needing little maintenance
• Custom maple cabinets featuring “soft close” hardware, pullout pantries, recycling center pullout
• First floor bedroom and full bath allows for one story living – or used as home office or guest suite
• Large walk-in closets in every bedroom provides ample storage
• FSC Brazilian Tigerwood floors, 100% wool carpet, porcelain tile
• Bottom up/Top down blinds maximize privacy, light and options
• 2nd floor laundry, attic space, ceiling fans, skylights

For more photos and info click here.

the karina

built green - insulation

Many of the points we received for Built Green are for items not seen now that the house is finished. One of the big things that makes this house energy efficient and comfortable is the extra insulation we used as well as the air sealing. We used BIBS (Blown-In-Blanket-System) which is much more effective than push-in batt insulation in the walls and provides for a higher level of insulation (R23). It is far superior to batt in the walls because it fills in all around the electrical wiring and plumbing pipes. "Tests show that a mere 4% void area from a poorly installed batt causes a 50% increase in heat loss. The Blow-In-Blanket® System eliminates voids and does not settle." It also provides better sound control. Looking at this picture you can see how Neil used some advanced framing techniques. Simple things like insulated headers and ladder framing at interior to exterior wall intersections, increases the insulation area of the wall. The blocking to the right of the window is for the convection heater and there is insulation behind it. Also if you look closely you will see caulking along the plates and wood intersections. This seals the wall cavity from air leaks from the exterior to the interior of the house and is one reason we did so well on our blower door test.

We used scissor trusses for the roof structure and because of this had extra depth to increase the roof insulation up to R-49. Here we used EcoBatts. Since the cavities were not filled with mechanical items like the walls, it was fairly straight forward to use Batts. We had Chris of the O'Brien Company out to inspect before we put the gypsum wallboard.

built green - blower door test

We have been building the house to a 4 star Built Green level. Built Green is our local Master Builders Association, green building program. Building to this level exceeds current building and energy codes and to qualify at this level we needed to use a 3rd party to verify our points. Today, Chris of O'Brien & Company came to verify a bunch of our items and do the blower door test. This tests the air tightness of the house and can help locate any air leaks coming. The house is depressurized with a fan in the door and a rating is taken. We had taken steps prior to this, to seal the house as best we could. Mainly Neil and crew went around and caulked along the exterior plates, wall intersections and sealed the electrical outlets, but I think it was his tight framing and care throughout the building process. We not only met the lowest Built Green rating but surpassed that by half as much. Basically we aced this test. What that means is that we have more control on how fresh air enters the building. We have fresh air vents in the windows of the living room, dining room and bedrooms. What we don't want is air being pulled in by the ventilation fans from the attic space, walls or crawl space.