Let’s say I frame a Green addition off the back of a house that’s 18′ wide. Now I take out the existing wall of the house and install a beam to support the second floor or the roof of a one story home. Now the new addition is Green and the existing house that is not Green AND is opened up to the new addition. What do you do with the existing house?
You have a Green addition but and old house tying into to it that’s all one open room now.
What happens when you do an Add-A-Level that’s Green and you open up the front Foyer to the Add-A-Level that’s Green and the whole first floor is existing that’s now open to the Green second floor?
Are you supposed to gut the rest of the house?
I went to a Green Building Seminar and all the guy was talking about was new work. I asked him at the end of the seminar these questions and he really didn’t want to talk to me. So I said to him that Green Building is basically just good for new work?
I’m trying to learn about it, but I do a lot of additions and opening up the existing house into the new additions is all a part of this.
So half the house is old and the other half is Green and all open and connected to each other.
Is the new Green addition still 100% Green once it’s opened up to the existing house?
Replies
Joe, seems to me that your problem with the lecturer has more to do with your question than him. Why insist on a dichotomy?
100% Green??? That I've gotta see to believe. Recycled cardboard box living, maybe.
Surely you know that there are going to be shades of "green". More so and less so. Certainly so within the "green" building community. My house for instance: concrete and steel, decidedly ungreen ; but it needs no active heating or cooling system, very green. "Green"?
Eye of the beholder... Unless you're looking for marketing hype (in which case, go for it) it doesn't much matter. A "green" developer here tried to convince me to build in her regulated subdivision. Green enough for her.
I toured an American Lung Assoc touted development here awhile back. Indoor air systems I know something about. Never did get an answer to my ACH (air changes/hour) question. Only what a healthy house it was- also incredibly expensive. Hype, and a lot of non-allergenic material.
PAHS Designer/Builder- Bury it!
This is a post I made in another forum.
How "Green" is the new "Green" addition once you introduce everything from the existing house to it?I'm not saying, don't build the additions Green, I'm just saying that your introducing everything from the old to the new Green addition. You're building then green addition with a new hvac unit for example. You open the wall up into the existing house with a 30 year hvac unit. Now your combining the new air with the old. How good is the new now?Do you rip apart all the old duct work and change replace the old hvac unit and duct work with new?What if the client asks these same questions?
Joe Carola
Joe,
If the client asks these questions, all you can do is make it as green as they want. Green is very new to me but I'm learning and am scheduled to attend a seminar later this month. My opinion is if they only want the addition green then that is better than not being green at all. And then if/when their budget allows then they may start converting the original structure.
My 2 cents,John
J.R. Lazaro Builders, Inc.
Indianapolis, In.
Our HBA is sponsoring a four hour green certification training this month and we have a number of green remodelers coming so we'll be addressing this very issue.
Basically any addition that is green enhances the sustainability of the home it is attached to. You do not need to gut the entire house to make it unified green but there are two things that you do need to do.
First is a Manual J calculation of the heating and cooling loads of the addition as combined with the existing house. In many cases (but not all) acheiving a meaningful manual J may require a comprehensive energy audit of the existing home. The intent is to make the new AC unit be a proper fit for the home as a whole rather than just sized for the addition as if it were a free standing building.
the second key element per the NAHB green standard is that you write a home owners manual that helps the occupants understand the green design objectives of the blended green addition and existing home and gives them tools to use to prioritize the maintenance of their home going forward.
Beyond that you just need to hit a minimum score on Site design (using /planting trees to shade the house and addition from hot summer sun or to allow solar gain for heating in winter, resource efficiency and durability, energy efficiency, water conservation, indoor air quality, home owner education and global impact (ozone depletion, VOC's, child labor, embodied energy content and life cycle analysis) All this last is the basic stuff of all the green building guidelines for new or old construction. NARI is coming out with a green remodeling program and the NAHB National Green Building Standard has a green remodeling specific section due out at the IBS on February 15th 2008. The NAHB Green Building Guidelines are adequate for green remodeling assessment as currently written and that is what we will be addressing on October 25th here in NC.
the bottom line is until you score your addition using a scoring tool such as LEED-H or NAHB Green Building Guidelines or any of the 200 other green building guidelines competing in the country you are at the risk of some tree hugger calling you a green washer and some product salesman selling you stuff that costs too much for the benefit it provides.
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."