When approached by Mark Lammert and Mark Kalk, to design a new sustainable home for them in Historic Lafayette Square (the first GREEN home of its kind in Lafayette Square !) we were excited and eager to rise to the challenge.
In St. Louis, Lafayette Square is a well known Historic community, rich with Victorians, Italianates, Federals & Federal Adamesques, and other similar sister styles. Because of its strong history, and richness of style, we saw Lafayette Square and its trademark gorgeous architecture as a community to pay homage to in regard to designing a new home.
The property purchased for this challenge is located at the corner of Doleman and Hickory, a total of four lots. The lot Frontage faces East (toward Doleman).
Using the client’s preliminary sketches and thoughts, we closely collaborated on the home and arrived at several sustainable ideas as follows:

The Passive
Free light, free heat : the side yard, and longitudinal property side faces South. We have located the more public spaces on the South side of the home, offering a great deal of light and (in the winter) heat – via several windows and doors. These windows and doors will also open out onto a courtyard and grotto-like garden at the first level.
At the southwest corner of the home, we located a 250 square foot conservatory that will house a garden and seating area, for year round outdoor relaxation, (and free heat via “insolation” in the colder months). The roof of this “greenhouse” structure will be glass. This element will generate heat year round that can be released into the home by leaving open a pair of French doors that lead from the Great Room, or the heat can be released back outside through operable venting roof panels.

The Water Runoff
Behind the mansard style “false front” roof, we provided the traditional Lafayette Square flat roof – but have brought it modern day appeal with a live roof. Accessible by a large skylight scuttle, this roof will be used as yet another garden, growing several native plants and grasses, and allowing space for a recycled rubber tire paver patio. Rainwater will collect on and be used by these plants, reducing the amount of water runoff sent into the city storm sewers.
The mansard roof structure will provide 300 square foot of storage for gardening tools and patio furniture during the cold season.

The Construction
For this home, we will take the prefab approach. The foundation walls will be prefabricated, Hi-stress concrete wall panels that have an inherent “R” value of 12½, and a wall cavity that allows for around 20-25 more. (30-35 total “R”), and are provided by Superior walls ( www.superiorwallspcs.com ) This product allows for the foundation to be set and ready for the first floor system in one day.
The exterior walls will be constructed in panels offsite in controlled conditions as well. They will then be craned in place (with exterior walls already having plywood sheathing). This will save approximately 40% of the time necessary to build on site.
The guts and skin of the wall will consist of recycled drywall over 6 mil poly-vapor barrier on the inside face, and an R-22 dry blown cellulose insulation in the stud cavity. The exterior skin of the stud wall will consist of ½” plywood sheathing with fiber mesh building wrap, and a 1” layer of rigid foam insulation. The exterior skin of this home is masonry, but not just any masonry……the Stone is mined and milled in Indiana (230 miles away) and the brick is manufactured at the LEED approved Sioux City brick plant in Sioux City, IA.
Sage Homebuilders is scheduled to start construction on this home in the Spring of 2009.

So let’s face it, the world is still choc full of skeptics about green. Heck the guy that introduced me to blogging, and suggested I start this blog is a skeptic – and he invites an excellent point: Not everyone is a tree-huggin planet savin’ modern day hippie. Show me the money - that’s where everyone will board the train.

So let’s get to the meat and potatoes that everyone is concerned with :

How can we all take on simple green actions that will help alleviate all of our economy-pillaged pockets ? Here’s a list for homeowners (especially old homes) to consider, based on my beautiful historic home, built in 1936, solid masonry (3 brick wythes) 2 stories, 2200 square feet, 3 bedroom, 2 bathrooms & a full basement.

From top to bottom (of the house) here’s what we did (or could do additionally) :

1. Attic: make sure you have decent insulation (at a minimum) in the attic. We have vermiculite, which is almost useless at 72 years old. Codes usually require in the range of an R30. We have a furnace in our attic, and vents on either end – close those vents with insulated panels, and seal them tight (unless your HVAC is not direct vent like mine).
2. Attic Access panel: I have a pull down ladder that leaked horribly. Weatherstrip that opening, and lay an old blanket over the opening before you close it up.
3. You know that room you never use, so you close it off? Yeah, open the door on that, or thoroughly insulate the perimeter of the door. Heat is inherently drawn to cooler places, so a door with leakage around the perimeter plays a role in energy use via making that thermostat come on and crank up the furnace, or AC condenser. The bigger the leak, the more the energy. So why not just find a use for that room? Lack of circulation causes dust to settle and not collect in your furnace filter.
4. Usin’ that oven? After your done baking, leave it cracked open. Free direct heat – and keep your little kids away from it – you should be watchin’ them kids anyway !
5. Floor & wall registers: go through and pop all of those off. Seal the perimeter of the duct scoops and flanges with weatherstrip, foam tape, or caulk. This will keep a wee bit more of the forced air out of the wall cavity, and in the room it was meant for. Chances are good in a house as old as mine (or anything pre-2006) the ductwork was not sealed at the joints, so it is a safe bet that the wall cavity is getting its fair share.
6. Is the underside of your bathtub exposed to the basement? Shove a mess of batt insulation into the cast of the tub, and then wrap the bottom with batt insulation (there’s more than one way to attach it).
7. Exterior window and door trim (this is for the overachievers): Carefully remove all of the trim at these windows and doors. You’ll soon be introduced to massive leaks you might not have thought of. Fill the big ones with expanding foam, the small ones with an exterior grade caulk. You might even entertain caulking the back of the trim before you put it back in place.
8. Inspect all of your doors and windows (the operable sashes) and replace all of the weatherstripping that is leaking. Inspecting this is as easy as holding your hand around the perimeter of each sash. I went the extra mile on my double hung windows when I painted them I fastened the top sash in place and caulked the exterior perimeter before I painted the finish coat on (I never used the top sash since they only work half the time anyway).
9. Outlets & switches on exterior walls: remove all of the coverplates, and infill with caulk or fire rated insulation (mineral wool). This will cut air leakage.
10. Storm Windows. This is a big ticket item, if you can’t afford them, there are several window film wraps on the market (but how green is it to take it off and replace it every year?). I installed 27 storm windows on my home (I did the labor) and they cost me $1300.00 total.
11. Do you have ductwork exposed in the basement? Tape the joints on exposed duct runs, or, a brush on mastic is commonly used in green certified homes as a good means to seal those joints (perhaps better than tape). If you can afford it, wrap the ductwork with insulation as well.
12. Do you have a forced air HVAC system? Set the fan to “on” so that it runs all the time. This will help keep the temperature in your home balanced, and will allow less dust and particles to settle. The process of “convection” is the heat transfer process that occurs when a warm fluid rises, displacing cold fluid, which then falls (air is actually a fluid medium). I also like to leave the mechanical room door open in the basement (when the basement is not in use), it is adjacent to the stair to the first floor, and has a fair amount of heat that then thermosiphens up to the first floor. We set our thermostat at 68 degrees, and it is comfortable.
13. Basement windows (in the winter) : if these are in an unfinished part of the basement, wrap them with insulation. Your foundation wall should be deep enough for you to tuck a snug batt of insulation or a snug fit piece of rigid insulation that has to be tapped into place, but could be stored away in the summer.
14. Joist spaces. Where the joists end at the foundation wall, run batt or rigid board insulation in the joist space. A lot of it. I ran mine against the wall, and continuous then in the joist space 18” out from the wall.

Alright. Quit readin’ this blog entry – print off this list – and get to work.

In today’s world, we are riddled with information about saving the planet. This new wave of heightened eco-awareness has led to an overwhelming number of people, companies, ideas, and otherwise to flood our homes, work, life, and media touting themselves and their products as “GREEN”. In an attempt to “weed-out” some of the nonsense, we at this Green Critique blog will seek to educate consumers who plan to “GREEN-UP” their lives, whether in their existing home, a new home or addition, or a new commercial structure - or just life in general.  If their is a product, or thought that you would like to discuss, please feel free to let us know!

We are dedicated to providing posts in regard to quality GREEN design, construction practice, and understanding for life - using real world practices, and reviews of products found in today’s construction world. Please check back soon for posts on just about anything GREEN in the design and construction industries - and everyday life !