As you can see we now have a roof over our heads as well as windows! Things feel like they are moving very fast now, everyday there is something new that is immediately obvious. I'm going to show a few of the advanced building techniques the "green" and "energy star" builders use that may be a little different than average construction.
If you click on this image and view it full size. You will notice there is caulk everywhere! On the wall at the floor on the 2x4's beside the window, everywhere. This will help "seal" the house so it looses less heating and air. And of course to be 'green' it is an environmentally safer caulk that uses fewer caustic chemicals.
If you look at the corner in this picture, you may notice one of the 2x4's appears to be turned funny. This is done by design. By doing this, when they install the insulation they can tuck a full thickness sheet of insulation all the way into the corner. This will also help insulate the house better
In this picture, it looks like one of the walls of my house have been attached to a ladder. While this looks a little odd, this is again done to allow the insulators to be able to place a full thickness sheet of insulation behind the ladder. One more thing that will be a little different in my house since it will be a 'green' and 'energy star certified' home is there will be no plumbing in the exterior walls. This is done so the insulation can be installed with it's full thickness and not sandwiched behind any pipes (causing a bit of a decrease in the insulation ability to insulate). All these steps may seem small or petty by themselves, but when you begin to add up all these little things you end up with a more energy efficient home and lower heating and cooling bills.One last detail I almost forgot. Even in the headers around the house you can see instead of using OSB in between the boards, he uses real insulation. Again, by itself there's probably not any difference; but combined with many other of the things he does it adds up to a noticeable difference.
So you can see building a "green" home doesn't mean we are using manure, red clay and hay; but just better building techniques that may cost a little more in the short term, but long term will save us money.
So come down and see us sometime on Lot 21. And if you have questions about building a green home, give Chris a call. I'm sure he'd be happy to talk to you.
