The Greened House Effect

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 21^st 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.