Riverwest
Homes
Pragmatic Construction hase built two of
the
first LEED Platinum homes in the state of Wisconsin, pushing
the envelope on energy efficiency, reclaimed materials,
durability and healthy-building. With the Riverwest Homes, we have
pushed it to the limit..
Discussion of Salient Design
Features and Technologies of the Riverwest Homes
>LEED
Platinum certification
LEED (Leadership in Energy-Efficient Design) is a
rating system designed by the USGBC (US Green Building Council) to
promote the design and construction of Green-Built homes. We
anticipate LEED Platinum rating, the highest possible. While
Pragmatic designs ALL of its homes to the utmost Green standards, we
have decided to enroll the Riverwest homes in the LEED for homes pilot
program for three reasons:
1. To support the sustainability
initiative
2. To get impartial third-party validation that the Riverwest homes are
designed and built to the highest levels of sustainability
3. To provide future resale benefit to our homebuyers.
-As the LEED for homes rating is quite
new, there is little substantive data regarding resale value, but there
is extensive info on the older commercial building certifications.
Commercial Rental Rates and Resale Values
According to a CoStar study,
LEED buildings command rent premiums of $11.24 per square foot versus
their non-LEED peers and have 3.8 percent greater occupancy. Rental
rates in ENERGY STAR buildings represent a $2.38 per square foot
premium versus comparable non-ENERGY STAR buildings and have 3.6
percent greater occupancy. And, in a trend that could signal greater
attention from institutional investors, ENERGY STAR buildings are
selling for an average of $61 per square foot more than their peers,
and LEED buildings command a remarkable $171 more per square foot.
Source
Rental Premium: $11.24/sq.ft.
Occupancy: 3.8% Higher
Resale Value: $171/sq.ft. Higher
>Passive
solar heating
This is the single most important Green design feature a home can have
in our climate. It is the most cost-effective means to heat your
home- that is, for free. Passive solar design, simply is about
capturing the solar energy of the winter sun in interior thermal mass,
allowing it to distribute heat to the home. Overhangs (soffits,
trellises, awnings, etc.) are carefully sized and angled to block
out summer sun to prevent the home from overheating. Both
of the Riverwest homes are optimized for winter solar gain, and on
sunny days 85% of the heating will be provided gratis, compliments of
our local star.
>Passive
cooling
This is another critical Green design element- the method by which
mechanical cooling can be reduced, or eliminated. Both homes
have
convective cooling designs
(stack-effect) that allow the hot air
to rise to the upper portions of the homes, then be vented out through
upper windows and/or an operable skylight as cooler air enters the home
from below. Key to this Green building strategy is the physical
location of the home. The building site is one mile from Lake
Michigan and is positioned at 43 degrees north.
This means the majority of cooling-season evenings receive cooler
lake-effect temps and most afternoons receive significant off-lake
breezes- both necessary for convective cooling to be effective.
Passive Solar Design and Passive Cooling Design contribute to a
building's Passive Survivability.
>Right-Sizing
Pragmatic has carefully designed the Riverwest homes to buck the
"bigger is better" trend in favor of a sustainable and energy-efficient
"right-sized" design. We have studied many designs and toured
countless homes with the goal of an approximately 1,200 sf home that
does not sacrifice storage, comfort or privacy. To attain
this we have eliminated useless hallways and optimized all of our room
layouts and built-in storage. We have effectively
reset homes to mid-20th century
sizes while incorporating the best of 21st century design and
performance.
Department of Housing and Urban
Development: Average household size in the United States has
dropped steadily from 3.67 members in 1940 to 2.62 in 2002. The average
size of new houses increased from about 1,100 ft2 (100 m2) in the 1940s
and 1950s to 2,340 ft2 in 2002. Factoring together the family size and
house size statistics, we find that in 1950 houses were built with
about 290 square feet per family member, whereas in 2003 houses
provided 893 square feet per family member (NAHB 2003) -- a factor
of 3 increase.
>SIP wall construction and
Sprayfoam roof insulation
SIPs (Structrual Insulated Panels) are engineered walls consisting of
expanded polystyrene insulation laminated between OSB (oriented-strand
board). They form a super-insulated wall, with almost no
air-infiltration or thermal bridging. This means the home is
30-50% more energy-efficient than traditional wall construction.
The SIPs at the Riverwest homes are 8 1/4" thick, giving us a
calculated R-value of 31.
Both homes have also received sprayfoam insulation at the roof to R45.
Open-cell sprayfoam provides a perfect insulation layer that will
not settle over time and prevents all air and moisture
infiltration from the interior to the exterior space. This
keeps conditioned air (hot or cold) in the home and eliminates
ice-damming. Added benefit- dust and pollen can not penetrate
sprayfoam.
>Triple-Pane
windows
We have selected the best windows we could find for the Riverwest
homes- Milgard's true triple pane windows. These windows have
three panes of glass and fiberglass frames. They are virtually
indestructible, will never require painting and outperform wood
frames windows for insulation values. Good frames are important, but
the glass itself is the key. These windows have three panes
of glass and sealed-argon voids that make the window 30-40% more
efficient than double-paned windows (and 95% more efficient than
single-paned). Pragmatic has also
carefully optimized the
U-values and
SHGC
(Solar Heat Gain Coefficient) values to maximize winter solar gain on
the south side of the homes, and to keep out unwanted heat (and cold)
on the other faces of the home.
>Steel
Roofing (East Home)
The East home has been roofed with standing seam steel roofing, an
incredibly durable roofing material with the highest possible insurance
rating for a roof surface. This steel roof looks sharp, keeps its
color for decades, requires next to no maintenance and is entirely
recyclable at the end of its lifespan (100+ years). Many people
ask us if a steel roof is noisy in the rain- the answer is
NO!
With 12" of sprayed insulation on the underside of the roof, it
is
not only not noisier than an asphalt shingled roof- it is significantly
quieter. Between the SIP walls, triple-pane glass and spray-foam
we worry that the occupants may find themselves excessively detached
from the natural world- or at least from its sounds.
>Eco-Shake
Roofing (West Home)
The West home has been roofed with Eco-Shake, a simulated
cedar-shake
roof material made entirely of recycled products. Pragmatic has
done several homes with this product, and they look awesome.
Never fear errant 4th of July bottle rockets again.
- 50 year transferable warranty
- Class A fire rating (UL® 790)
- Class 4 impact rating (UL® 2218)
- Freeze thaw resistant
- Passes 110 mph Wind Driven Rain Testing
- No maintenance
- Color solid throughout (no chipping, peeling, scratching)
- UV protected
- 100% recycled material
>Reclaimed
hardwood flooring
The west home has received reclaimed hardwood floors from local
deconstructions. There is no greener flooring material available,
and a properly-installed and refinished reclaimed floor has more
character and durability than many of the modern flooring products.
>Reclaimed
doors
The west home has received solid-core doors.
>Insulated
slab-on-grade construction
We probably
get the most questions about this aspect of our homes.
Why did we decide not to
have basements? There are several
key reasons we designed OUT the basement in favor of frost-walls and a
well-insulated slab- we will address two of them here:
1. Passive Solar Heating Strategy-
to maximize solar gain in heating months we need to have a large
quantity of thermal mass in the first floor to absorb solar energy.
Nothing beats concrete for this. To support a concrete
floor above a basement makes
construction complicated and expensive. The best way to do this
is with super-insulated slab-on-grade construction.
2. The Elimination of Water and
Foundation Problems- just about all problems in modern homes are
the result of water and Earth forces. Foundations crack and heave
with frost and Earth-pressures, basements flood, vermin enter and
occupy below-grade areas, mold embraces dark wet environments and
spreads to the rest of the home, sump-pumps fail (or suck loads of
power to fight nature), difficult to insulate areas waste energy, the
list goes on and on. The solution- get rid of the basement- it
may be psychologically difficult, but it is a paradigm shift that all
sustainability authorities agree makes sense.
Storage- we
recognize that although a Green lifestyle usually entails
embracing simplicity and using/having less- people truck around a lot
of stuff. We have designed in storage spaces in the garages and
in the interiors of the homes to accommodate this stuff. These
spaces, in conjunction with smart furnishings (under-bed storage units,
closet organizers, etc.) will provide plenty of storage for all
but the most serious collectors.
But where do I put my Packer Shrine? In the Master Bedroom,
where it belongs.
>Stained
concrete flooring
The first floor of both Riverwest homes are stained concrete.
There are many benefits to concrete floors, and they have been
embraced widely in modern design. A shortlist of benefits:
- Thermal mass for storage of solar heat energy from passive
solar design
- Clean, elegant look
- incredibly durable
- Well-insulated- 2" of sub-slab insulation keeps the floor
warm or cool with the interior air of the home
- High fly-ash content (40%) reuses a waste product of local
electrical
power generation
- Optimized radiant heat transfer (East home): even transfer
of heat from the embedded radiant coils
- Great for indoor air quality- easy to clean and can not
harbor allergens.
>No/Low-VOC
paints and
finishes
Pragmatic Construction is very concerned with air- not only
air-infiltration and air-changes, but also indoor air quality. To
attain high interior air quality, we use only No/Low-VOC paints and
finishes wherever possible, and use products such as
AFM Safeseal to seal any building material with
the potential to off-gas toxins. VOCs are volatile organic
compounds that come off solids and liquids, many of which have short
and/or long-term health effects. VOC levels are 10x higher
indoors than outdoors, and have been getting nastier year by year.
Our goal is to introduce as few as possible to our homes.
>Water
Conservation: Dual-flush toilets, Low-flow fixtures, Pervious Paving,
Rainbarrels and Shared rain-garden
While Milwaukee is one of the most water-rich places on Earth (almost 4
quadrillion gallons in Lake Michigan) there is no reason not to
practice conservation. Towns just to the West are in water
crisis. To ensure minimal water usage we have designed in
low-flow fixtures and dual-flush toilets (.8 gallon button for #1 and
1.6 gallon button for #2). The average American flushes 5 times a
day. At 1.6 gallons that is 8 gal/day, or almost 3,000 gallons
per year. At least half the flushes are #1, so savings of at
least 1,500 gallons over a conventional hi-efficiency toilet.
Add to that low-flow fixtures and water usage is minimized.
Rainbarrel water collection from rooftop runoff (clean run-off, unlike
that from asphalt-shingle roofs) can be used for watering plants, with
a shared rain-garden taking up any rainbarrel overflow. This, in
conjunction with our pervious paving driveways means that just about
all water that falls on the site is retained on the site- next to
nothing goes to the city storm sewers. If enough people designed
this way, we would not need monstrosities like the
Deep
Tunnel.
>Offstreet
parking for 2 cars (1 garage, 1 drive)
