Blog
Winter was tough – the sound of housewrap slapping in the frigid winds was a bit unnerving, but little by little we became aware of some of the consequences of our Deep Energy Retrofit.
Since the bulk of efficiency improvements had been made (in the form of the exterior spray foam curtain wall & new windows and doors), we were pleased to find that the house heated more quickly and kept its heat longer, meaning that the furnace ran less often. By spending some money up front and laboring so hard on the project, we had aimed to cut our energy bills, be more comfortable, and have better indoor air quality. It was clear that our energy bills were dropping dramatically, even though I’d decided to boost the temperature in the house to fulfill our “more comfortable” goal. But even though I raised the thermostat from 68°F to 70°F, our gas bills plummeted by nearly 70%.
We also found that the humidity levels in the house stabilized at a very comfortable 50%. Usually our humidity levels would drop into the teens during cold winter months, making the cold seem even colder. In the summer, humidity levels would head into the 70%+ range, making the heat seem hotter. Since we’d finally blocked all of those cracks and gaps in the house with spray foam and new windows and doors, humidity couldn’t escape the house in the winter, and couldn’t enter the house in the summer. This means that we’re more comfortable year-round while running the HVAC much less.
An UltimateAir RecoupAerator being installed
Still, that indoor air quality issue needed attention. With a drafty house, you’re replacing the air due to the many leaks in your home (albeit inefficiently). With all of those leaks sealed up, we were trapping indoor air contaminants and excess humidity, which could easily become a health hazard. We needed a solution, and we turned to UltimateAir and their RecoupAerator Energy Recovery Ventilator.
An Energy Recovery Ventilator (ERV) constantly cycles the air in your house, bringing fresh air in from outside and exhausting stale air from inside out. While it does this, it traps the energy (heating or cooling energy) from the outgoing air and deposits that energy into the incoming, fresh air stream. The RecoupAerator can recover 95% of the energy that would normally be lost through your old cracks and gaps. Plus, the RecoupAerator is the most energy efficient in its own operation of any ERV on the market.
With our stated goals of energy efficiency, lower energy consumption, comfort, and better indoor air quality met, we had another aspiration for our 70-year-old house. We wanted to upgrade the aesthetics. The exterior retrofit gave us that opportunity, since we needed to re-roof, re-side, replace windows, doors, gutters, and more.
Jeff installing siding - see the EcoStar roofing with the offset installation for a "cottage" look
The EcoStar faux slate recycled roof looks great – so many people ask us about our “slate” roof, not realizing that it’s a recycled rubber product. The Pro Via Doors and Windows gave us the opportunity not only to add super-efficiency to the openings in our building envelope, but also add pizzazz.
Pro Via Door's Signet Entry door in Cherry . . . see the Inspirations Art Glass insert . . .
We incorporated Pro Via’s Inspirations Art Glass series into the Signet front door, and then chose complementary designs in the casement windows of the new bays. We also ran that color theme to the small upper windows in the super-insulated addition and the addition’s door. The Signet entry door with Inspirations Art Glass made one neighbor stop in her tracks – “Oh, my! That’s gorgeous!” Matt, the contractor, remarked that he could see how it was “all coming together” when the front door was installed.
The color & design on the flanking casement windows of the bays -- they complement the Inspirations Art Glass on the Signet entry door
With spring arriving, I was finally able to get on to the siding. We would rest a lot easier once the house was sided and painted. For siding, we chose LP Building Products’ SmartSide Trim & Siding. SmartSide is an engineered wood product, meaning that it’s made from small diameter, rapidly regenerating trees. The trees are “stranded” and then laid into mats which are infused with Zinc Borate (environmentally friendly treatment against rot, decay, & bugs) and marine-grade resins before they’re subjected to extreme pressure and heat. The siding is then given a resin-infused overlay and priming.
The result is a product with a 50 year warranty that looks and acts like real wood – as an alternative to fiber-cement board (which I’ve installed a lot of over the years), SmartSide is lighter, stronger, and comes in longer, 16’ lengths. It cuts with standard woodworking tools and doesn’t create the kind of dangerous silica-dust that fiber-cement siding does. I found a set of siding gauges that allowed me to install the siding on the project alone – usually I would need an extra hand to hold up the other end of each 16’ piece. Instead, the Gecko Gauges clamped to the course below and then allowed me to gently set the piece for the next course before using a pneumatic nail gun to nail the piece in place.
That's me, using Gecko Gauges and a pneumatic nailer to install LP SmartSide solo . . . note the cedar relief on the lap siding
In about five weeks of my “spare time,” I was able to side the whole house. Sherri handled all of the painting, working right behind me to caulk & paint all of the SmartSide trim & siding. With the Sherwin-Williams Duration exterior paint we used, and the superior paint-holding power that SmartSide has, we don’t expect to have to re-paint this house for a long time.
With the fascia boards in place, we were able to get the gutters installed. Here was another opportunity to work on the overall traditional look of this old Cape Cod. We thought that the “cottage-style” faux-slate roof and cedar relief siding would be well complemented by half-round copper gutters, but the expense was too much to consider.
Above: The GutterSupply.com gutters being installed on the rear of the house
Below: The finished trio - EcoStar roof, LP SmartSide siding, and GutterSupply faux copper gutter
A quick look on www.guttersupply.com revealed that they had an aluminum half-round gutter that was painted to look just like slightly aged copper at a fraction of the price of the real copper half-rounds. GutterSupply.com also carries all of the brackets, downspouts, fasteners, and adhesives for the job, and they very expertly crated everything for shipping so that it arrived with no damage whatsoever. A local crew installed them for us, and the result is beautiful.
Jeff bends copper sheet into standing-seam panels for the Pro Via bay window roofs
Last on our list of aesthetic improvements were the bay window roofs. I got several quotes on having the metal roofs done in steel and copper – sticker shock puts it mildly. I decided that it was my chance to learn a new skill. With a downloaded .pdf file on how to bend standing seam roof panels on a metal brake, I borrowed Stalwart Construction’s brake, bought $300 worth of sheet copper at a roofing supply house, and set about roofing the bays in standing-seam copper. A little nerve-wracking working with expensive materials, but with a bit of patience, I got it all done.
As summer approached and the days warmed, we were finally able to put the back deck in order again and stand back to take a deep breath. While the interior of the house still had a long way to go, at least now the exterior was all buttoned up. Our 1940’s house now had a 21st century shell. With the aesthetic improvements, we knew we’d have little exterior maintenance to do for the rest of our lives. We’d also brought the house up to its “curb-appeal” potential with the EcoStar faux-slate roof, Pro Via Inspirations Art Glass Windows and Signet door, LP SmartSide Trim & Siding, and GutterSupply.com faux-copper half-round gutters. Not to mention a bang-up job on those standing-seam bay copper roofs.
Above: The finished exterior on our Deep Energy Retrofit - note how the SmartSide, EcoStar, GutterSupply.com gutters, & copper work together
Below: The Wilson Family and our Deep Energy Retrofitted House
Come back next time as we embark on the interior finishes in the super-insulated addition, and as we plan out the interior retrofit of the basement. As always, keep an eye on our HD video series, and come back often for updates at the Greened House effect.
Stalwart Construction finished on Friday. When Monday arrived, things seemed pretty quiet around the house. Except for that exposed housewrap blowing in the wind. My task was pretty clear: Get the curtain wall on the house before the winds of winter began to blow in earnest.
What’s a curtain wall? In our case it’s a wall built onto the existing exterior surface of the house (walls & roof). I attached 2”x3” studs, on edge, right over the old siding. I screwed these through the old siding & sheathing, directly into the old studs underneath using 4” screws. These studs ran from the top of the foundation to the eaves. We had removed the aluminum siding that had covered the original redwood, but had decided to leave the redwood in place for a few reasons. First, the paint on the surface likely contained lead. Removing & dumping it would be hazardous. The spray foam would contain the lead paint, sealing it off from the elements. Second, the siding would keep the 2x3 studs from being in contact with the wood sheathing across its entire surface. Essentially, the relief of the lap siding held the stud out off of the surface so that the spray foam could expand behind each stud in most places, creating a thermal break. Finally, leaving the siding meant less overall waste off the site, so the siding was left in place.
Jeff applies FoamItGreen spray foam into the exterior curtain wall cavities (above & below).
After the 2x3 studs were attached, I applied the FoamItGreen spray foam insulation into the cavities, getting 2” – 2 ½” coverage. This gives us an extra R-14 to R-17 insulation value on top of the R-15 we already had in place, for an R-30 average.
With the spray foam in, I sheathed with LP OSB exterior sheathing and applied housewrap. Since we were “bumping out” the entire exterior of the house by about four inches, we were able to install new-construction windows from Pro Via. These triple-pane, gas-filled models will be a vast improvement over the old single-pane windows.
Eventually I’ll be installing LP SmartSide trim and lap siding, but I felt lucky just to get the house sealed up with house-wrap and the new windows before the first snow flew.
The year ended with some chilly days closing things down outside. Third Sun Solar came by to officially commission our 4kW solar array on December 30th, so we rang in the New Year with renewable energy. We still had a long way to go, but this winter would be the most comfortable we’d ever had in this house. Come back soon as we add an Ultimate Air Energy Recovery Ventilator, side with LP’s SmartSide engineered wood siding, install Guttersupply.com’s faux copper half-round gutters, and make lots of other improvements as we finish up the exterior at the Greened House effect.
The Friday before, Matt, one of the Stalwart Construction owners, said “Well, I guess all we have left is to install the bay windows and finish off the ridge cap on the roof, and we’re all done here.” I was instantly depressed.
For eight weeks the house had been a daily circus, with guys hanging off the roof, scaling ladders, and making all kinds of construction-related noise. I’d grown accustomed to having the Stalwart crew around – they’re all great guys, and they gave me the feeling that things were going to work out; that everything was going to be fine in the end. We were going to miss Matt, Travis, Rem, Patrick, & Jeff – the help, the noise, & their company. Heck, I realized that I was even going to miss Will’s “random singing events.” To be fair, I wasn’t going to miss one more round of Meatloaf’s “I Would Do Anything for Love,” but generally, I mean. Maybe it was just the impending loneliness talking.
Above: Matt, Travis, and I talk about the impending bay window install . . .
Below: Patrick walks across the frame . . . those are big holes in my house . . .
On a bright, crisp morning, the crew gathered for the last big task of installing the beautiful Pro Via bay windows. I’d gone back and forth about replacing these. I figured that they’d be pretty complicated to measure correctly, and that would pose an issue for Pro Via’s manufacturing. Still, these bay windows were some of the worst offenders in the house – they were cracked, rotted, and leaky, and if we weren’t going to replace them now, they’d never get replaced. So Pro Via had measured the windows themselves, and I had made scale drawings of the openings, figuring in things like the width of the interior wall, the thickness of the front brick “veneer,” and adding a little wiggle-room, just in case.
Above: The beautiful, and heavy, Pro Via bay window ready for installation . . .
Below: Hey! It fits!
I shouldn’t have worried. With the old, rotted, bay windows in a pile on the front lawn, I quickly insulated the frame with FoamItGreen spray foam insulation, air-sealing & adding about R-20 to the support framework. Then, with a few shims in place, the Stalwart Crew heaved-ho, and lifted the brand new, heavy Pro Via bay windows into place. They fit perfectly, and Rem went right to work getting them plumbed & level, and making sure they were securely fastened to the house. I came back through later and filled the gaps around the edges with plenty of spray foam, making sure we were really sealing up everything. I dreaded having to eventually figure out the exterior trim, but I pushed that out of my mind. That was my job, and it would probably have to wait for spring, since I had lots of other, more pressing, tasks before me.
Above: Rem & I hold on while the new bay window is slid into place . . .
Below: Nice work, everybody . . .
Not only were the new Pro Via bays a big efficiency upgrade, but they were an enormous aesthetic upgrade, too. We’d chosen art glass from Pro Via’s Inspirations Art Glass line for the side casements on the bays. It’s a simple design, but it complements the Inspirations Art Glass oval in the Pro Via Signet front entry door we’d chosen. Just another little detail, expertly executed by Pro Via, that worked to help make this old house become remarkable.
Above: Patrick installs EcoStar faux-slate ridge cap
At the same time, Patrick was finishing the last few details on the EcoStar faux-slate roof. He was very careful to make sure that the EcoStar ridge-tiles would stay put where they met the white WeatherBond TPO roof in the back. Once Patrick left, Stalwart Construction had finished their work on the Greened House effect.
Wasting no time, the guys from Third-Sun solar arrived to begin the installation of our photovoltaic solar array. First, they laid out the pattern for the stand-offs. These are the vertical elements that hold the frames for the panels off the roof. For our 4kW array, they needed to use 21 stand-offs, and this presented a minor problem. Each of the stand-offs would use two carriage bolts to connect it through the roofing & sheathing, and into the rafter below. This meant that each stand-off would put two small holes in my beautiful, water-tight, WeatherBond roof. It would be my responsibility as the homeowner to have a roofer seal each stand-off against the elements, but we’d basically spent all of our home equity money getting to this point in the process. I’d have to do this job myself.
Lucky for me, WeatherBond keeps an excellent video library on the installation of their products. They sent me “witches hats” which were used for roof perforations of any kind – like plumbing vents. I had plenty of TPO primer, adhesive, seam-sealer, and water-stop on hand from the roof install. While Third-Sun installed the stand-offs, I studied the install manual & on-line videos at WeatherBond, and they had me installing the witches hats like a pro in no time. That afternoon, after Third-Sun left, I installed all 21 witches’ hats, and we were ready for the frames and solar panels in the morning.
Above: Frames are attached to the now sealed stand-offs . . .
Below: Loading panels to the roof . . .
The panel install was quick. First, they installed the horizontal frame pieces to the stand-offs. Then they bolted the panels to the frames, wiring each one to the next as they went. Our system ended up with 18 panels which had to be spaced on the frames so that they didn’t cover the bathroom skylight or the main plumbing vent.
Above: The solar panels go into place . . .
Below: Wiring the solar panels together . . .
With the panels installed, they promised that an engineer would come by in the next few weeks to install the inverter, which would be the brains of our grid-intertied system. We’d have to wait to start harvesting electricity, but at least the panels were up where they belonged.
As the dust settled and October came to a close, I saw my “to-do” list grow considerably. First up, I’d be on the actual exterior “curtain wall” installation on the main house, which needed to be done before the snow flew.
Come back soon for more – see me install the exterior studs, FoamItGreen spray-foam insulation, LP OSB sheathing, and house-wrap . . .
When the guys started arriving for work in the morning wearing winter hats and gloves, I had to reassure myself that things were really on track. Yes, the nights were cold enough for frost now. Yes, my coffee cup steamed a bit more when I stepped outside. Yes, the days were becoming alarmingly short . . . but we’re making progress, right? We’ll have a full roof by the time it snows . . . right?
Once the work began each day, though, it was easy to push all of that out of my mind. That’s one of the benefits of having way too much to do – you simply don’t have time to sit and contemplate your navel. Or obsess about the impending winter.
Pro Via Arrives!
This Monday, the beginning of the seventh week of our Deep Energy Retrofit, began at a run. Not ten minutes after the Stalwart crew arrived and hit the roof, the Pro Via van arrived with Conrad at the helm to install our new doors. Conrad brought his Dad along to help, and they didn’t waste a minute getting started. They installed the three new doors on the addition in short order, before moving on to the front entry door after lunch.
Above: Jeff & Conrad confer on the new entry door sill . . .
Below: Conrad installs the new Pro Via Signet entry door.
I wasn’t prepared for the change in the front of the house that the new door would make. It’s absolutely stunning. The door we chose is from Pro Via’s new Signet line of insulated fiberglass doors. You honestly can’t tell that the cherry-finish isn’t real cherry wood, it’s so convincing. We also decided to include an oval stained-glass window in the middle of the door from Pro Via’s Inspirations Art Glass line. The blue & green hues of the Inspirations Art Glass are a perfect complement to the rich cherry color of the wood. When Conrad finished with the Signet front entry door, Matt from Stalwart, who had been working on the EcoStar roof, stood back and commented that he could begin to see how it was all going to come together.
It's all coming together - the new Pro Via entry door and the EcoStar roof . . .
All of that beauty in an extremely energy efficient package – not only is the insulated fiberglass door super tight, but the triple-pane, krypton-gas filled glass is also second-to-none. The changes this door makes are positive, all the way around.
Above: Roof work continues as Stalwart installs more EcoStar faux slate tile . . .
Below: Donuts -- Vital Sustenance or the Food of the Gods? You decide . . .
While Conrad & his Dad were installing the new doors, Stalwart construction was hard at work continuing the EcoStar roofing install. They were making great progress, and hit the ridge by the end of the week. Every course of EcoStar tiles made me feel a little better about living beneath that roof, and not a day went by that someone didn’t stop and ask about our “slate” roof. I always had to tell them that it’s not real slate, but actually an 80% recycled rubber “faux” slate, which is much lighter, more resilient to hail damage, and more fire resistant. That, and it installs with roofing nails and a pneumatic nailer – much easier than traditional slate.
Above: Up on the Roof with the EcoStar install . . .
Below: Out with the old . . .
My work consisted of a laundry list of tasks. First, I prepped the bay windows for next week’s removal and replacement. I was glad to be taking off the old, rotted trim, and hoped that the new windows, so carefully measured by Pro Via, would fit well. With an old house, you can never tell until you actually get down to the installation.
Above: Jeff installs FoamItGreen spray foam insulation to the interior of the garage
Below: Exterior curtain wall installation begins with stud installation . . .
I also took the time to apply the FoamItGreen spray foam to the interior of the garage/workshop. The plan for FoamItGreen in the addition is to spray 2 ½” – 3” on the back side of the exterior sheathing, and then cover the spray foam with R-13 fiberglass batt insulation, giving us, roughly, an R-30 air-sealed wall.
Then I launched into the actual curtain-wall retrofit on the big, west side of the house. This is another of my “do-it-yourself” projects. I’ll be applying the exterior studs, spraying the FoamItGreen spray foam insulation, installing the OSB sheathing and house-wrap on my own, with help from my videographer-wife, Sherri. It seemed like it would be another journey of a million steps within our Deep Energy Retrofit saga, and I was taking, once again, the first few steps.
Keep an eye here for updates, and check back often. We’ll see you next time here on the Greened House effect!
It may be an overused comparison, but major home renovation actually is a bit like child-birth, insofar as you really don’t remember the pain after the fact. Until Sherri pulled out some old photos, I’d forgotten about our big Halloween party from many years ago. The old pictures showed us preparing food on plywood countertops, bare light fixtures dangling from the ceiling, and the walls behind us stripped to the exterior sheathing – no plaster or insulation left after the big demolition of our kitchen in advance of a major overhaul. At that point we also had two very young daughters, too, which compounded the issues of living in a construction zone. Yet, there we were, throwing a big party in the mess. The most surprising thing about those old pics? We were actually smiling in the middle of the mayhem.
Our Deep Energy Retrofit was a little different, since we were sticking to the exterior of the house, but our nervousness about the impending winter weather constantly prodded us on. Nobody wants to get caught half-dressed when the gales of November come early. So it was with great relief that our sixth week started with Travis and Rem getting to work on the rear dormer roofing. Since we’d raised the pitch of the rear roof up to a shallow, 1:12 pitch, we would not be able to use shingles back there. We’d need a membrane roof to make sure it started and stayed water tight.
Above: Rem preps for the WeatherBond Weld-Free TPO installation . . .
Below: WeatherBond Weld-Free TPO roll on the ground . . .
Normally this would be a black rubber roof, but we wanted something more durable, since we would be installing our solar panels there. We didn’t want the roof failing before the solar panels had to be replaced in 30 years or so (our PV system is warranted for 20 years, but will likely last longer before out put falls dramatically).
Above: Travis rolls out the WeatherBond Weld-Free TPO
Below: Rem works (and lives) on the edge . . .
We decided to go with a more robust roofing, so we chose WeatherBond Weld-Free TPO. This roofing is multi-layered – it’s black underneath but white on top, and sandwiches in a mesh reinforcement, making it much thicker than traditional rubber roofing. This type of membrane roofing usually requires a commercial installer with a roof welder to seal the seams, but WeatherBond Weld-Free TPO doesn’t require a welder, using a system of seam- and edge-tapes with adhesives and sealants instead. This meant that any residential roofer who followed the directions properly could install the roofing without any special, expensive tools.
Above: Travis seals the seams with tape . . .
Below: . . . and white seam-sealant.
Travis and Rem cleaned the surface and laid out the WeatherBond system. They remarked often at how easy the WeatherBond Weld-Free TPO was to work with, compared with standard black rubber roofing. It didn’t wrinkle or bunch up, and didn’t shrink the way black rubber roofing can in time. The resulting surface was very sturdy and puncture resistant, which would be important as the solar installers started their work.
We also liked the white surface for our installation. This would help to keep the roof surface cool in summer months, when high heat can reduce the efficiency of solar panels. Keeping the surface cooler meant that the panels wouldn’t heat up as much, and the panels would continue to produce more power.
Above: Patrick installs drip edge on front roof . . .
Patrick and Matt kept at it on the front roof, installing the EcoStar tiles up there. We were glad to see all of the roofing go up, and we felt like the worst of our water woes were over.
By Friday, Stalwart Construction moved on to installing our Pro Via Windows in the addition. Installing windows is tricky, and needs to be done correctly to make sure water stays out, generally speaking. Should water get in, however, it needs to be able to drain away, so close attention is needed to make sure all of the pieces of membrane-tape overlap correctly and that caulk is used in the right places.
Above: Jeff waits for a window . . . note the FoamItGreen spray-foam insulation in the new wall cavities. This 2 1/2" of foam will be backed up by R-13 fiberglass batt for an R-30, air-sealed wall.
Below: Installing a window in the addition . . .
The Stalwart Construction crew was meticulous, following the rules to a T. They were able to install all of the addition windows that one day, and even installed the kitchen window on the main house. These high-quality Pro Via windows were a key ingredient in our recipe for Deep Energy Efficiency. Since we were building out the exterior walls by about 4”, we were able to replace the old windows with “new construction” windows instead of replacement windows, giving us full control over sealing our building envelope where the windows meet the house.
Above: Jeff & Rem apply the membrane tape to the kitchen window sill . . .
Below: The kitchen window opening . . . note the bats hanging from the ceiling, marking another Halloween where we experience the joys of home renovation.
We were happy to see the window installation – just another step toward being “dried-in” before winter started. On Monday, I knew that Conrad would be coming from Pro Via to install the new front entry door and the doors on the addition. As the week ended, I was reminded of how close we were to our yearly Halloween party, a tradition that has held on since the year we remodeled the kitchen. I realized that our guests would once again be able to experience a Wilson remodeling project up-close, and I was looking forward to telling everyone about the process of our Deep Energy Retrofit.
Check out our videos at www.youtube.com/greenedhouseeffect.com or here on our site in HD!
