This past year our house was an award winner for energy conservation and design from SIPA (the national organization for the Structurally Insulated Panel Industry). As a result of this honor an author of several home books by the name of Sheri Koones contacted us in consideration for our house to be featured in her newest book about pre-fab homes. Our house isn’t traditionally what most people invision when they say pre-fabricated homes, but because the walls of our house were constructed of SIPs in a factory our house is consider a pre-fab.

Late last week I received my second call from Sheri Koones letting me know that our house had indeed been selected to be featured in her latest book. I will be provideing her a couple of different images of the house for publication. One of the images that was requested was that of the house being constructed of the SIPs panels while the second is a finshed exterior shot. Since the current leafless surroundings of the house are less attractive than some of the shots taken this past summer when we had full foliage, I’ve decided to include one of those images instead.

So what does this type of recognition mean. My hope is that 20 or 30 years from now some of the awards and recognition mean that our house is valued at more than if we would have built something a little more traditional, and a lot less energy efficient. I would imagine the energy efficiency part will prove to be true, but as far as the recognition paying dividends, we’ll just have to wait and see.

The boxes go into place.

The walnut top goes on.

The boxes get a coat of paint and the top gets a layer of poly.

The shelves are installed.

The doors go on and the cabinet is complete.

And now…

…the door to our bedroom…

..finally closes!
In our bedroom there is a small closet space that was designed to feature a nice built-in cabinet. This was something we had originally decided would not be a part of our initial design, build project, so in the interim period we would place our old dresser in the space. Unfortunately the dresser proved to be about 1/2″ to deep to fit into the space and allow the bedroom door (which is on a track) to slide shut. So for the past 10 months or so we have not been able to really use the space, and maybe more importantly, we have not been able to seal ourselves off for even a few minutes from the madness of two small children. This alone was enough to prompt me to finally take some action and build these cabinets.

I knew we had a few pieces of walnut plywood that we had saved from the design of our upstairs fire place, so with that in mind, along a quick dicussion on how me might best use the space, I came up with a design. We would divide the space up into three even cabinets. The two outside boxed would be open shelves while the inside box would be slightly recessed to account for doors that would be flush with the surface of the other cabinets. Although I am pretty comfortable working on most projects, the idea of building my own cabinets was a bit daunting. After some close study as to the method applied by our cabinetmaker (Eastvold Custom) I set to work building the frames.

I decided to use MDF to construct the boxes which turned out to be fairly easy to do. I then laid out a template and drilled holes in the boxes along the sides that would be used to hold pins for shelves. We slid the three boxes into place and they fit fairly well. I cut the walnut plywood down and we used it to create a nice countertop for the cabinets. Stacy painted the cabinets white and put a coat of poly on the plywood which really made the entire thing look good.

The one thing that remained to be done was to figure out the doors for the center cabinet. We had a couple extra pieces of walnut plywood around, and had decided that it was a nice connection to the rest of the piece to use those to create the doors. The challenge was that the pieces we had either were not big enough to cover the entire space, or the grains didn’t align so that we could do two doors from one sheet. Stacy came up with the idea that we do two doors. One with a horizontal grain on the top and one with a vertical grain on the bottom that was slightly larger. This solution for the doors turned out to be a nice one.

To finish off the pieces I decided to drill holes in each of the doors to serve as handles. The circles were dual purpose as they tied to the sub-theme of our homes design, while at the same time created an out-of-the-way handle that didn’t interfere with the sliding door like traditional hardware may have done.

After a couple of coats of poly on the doors I was feeling really good about the way the entire cabinet was looking. I was also  pretty proud that we were able to do the entire thing for under a $100’s worth of new material and some leftover pieces of wood.

 
Determining Site location for the panels.

This device helps to measure solar viability during peak hours.

The Kill-A-Watt device helps measure phantom consumption in your home.

With the rising costs of energy putting the pinch on many people’s disposable income, the idea of adding a supplementary energy source (that isn’t tied to the world economy) is very intriguing. This is something that we had originally thought about when our project began but based on some initial research appeared to be financially restricting so we decided against it at the time. Looking back at it, this one of he decisions I wished I would have researched more closely before writing it off. Then this past summer while doing a story on the Eco-Experience at the State fair I met Rebecca Lundberg Owner and President from Powerfully Green. They were featuring a few of the products and services they offer on the Eco-house design and I struck up a short conversation with them about what they offer.

What struck me as most intriguing about Powerfully Green was their consultative approach to solar energy installation. Instead of giving me the typical answers about rising energy costs or guilting me with some environmental responsibility statement they offered solutions to home energy consumption as key. Telling me that one of the services that they do is a site inspection and home energy audit to both assess the viability of solar as an option, but additionally to help the home owners to find ways to reduce their home energy needs. This was something I had not heard of before from the various solar installers I had talked to in the past, so I made arrangements to have an audit done for our house.

Solar site survey
Rebecca and Dan from powerfully green showed up in the later afternoon about a week ago to do the energy audit of our house. This was obviously somewhat different than the one we had done for our EnergyStar rating as it was based on our current needs and consumptions and our potential to off-set those with a solar supplement.

We started by making a trip to the roof of our house where Rebecca and Dan where they did an audit of our site. They started by measuring out the surface area of the roof and all the potential objects (vents etc.) that would be obstacles to work around. Then using a couple of different tools they determined the ideal direction for placement (straight south), and measured the solar potential of the roof during the prime between 9am and 3pm. From there we determined where the system would need to come down off the roof and into the electrical connection to provide service. In our case because we face directly south and have almost no obstructions making or house the ideal setting for both a solar water heating system as well as a photovoltaic solar energy system. After doing the solar site assessment we made our move inside to review a few of our latest energy bills and talk about proper system sizing.

Selling us knowledge
What you would normally except at this time was to get a hard sell on the size and type of system that you need, but instead what we got was quite the opposite. Instead of telling us we needed a system that would completely take us off of commercial energy dependence Rebecca and Dan advised us on ways that we could actually reduce our overall need. Using a little devise called a “Kill-a-Watt Meter” we made a trek through our house identifying devices that were carrying phantom loads. These are devices such as most cable or satellite box receivers that appear to be off to you and I, but are actually continually pulling energy into them at al times. The most surprising was our coffee maker which was taking a good 20 watts and hour when off and unbelievable 900+ watts and hour when it was on— and apparently this is quite common as Rebecca new right where to go to show us the main culprits. From there they shared with us a couple of simple tricks to manage your energy waste through the use of simple things like connecting your devices to power strips and turning the entire strip off when not needed. The Average Minnesotan uses about 815 kwh a month. By just implementing a few of these simple techniques you could easily cut that amount in half and potentially even more if you were really diligent about it. This type of awareness helped them reduce their home energy needs from about 600kwh a month to roughly 200kwh meaning a significant reduction in the size of their system and cost of their month bill to the energy company.

Sizing the system
At our house we use slightly less than the monthly average of 815 kWh a month at about 750 kWh a month. this meant that on an average day we used about 25 kWh. Every kWh per day is equal to 5 200 watt solar panels. However Rebecca recommended against installing a system that met 100% of your need. In part because it was easy to reduce your consumption but additionally because as energy becomes more of an issue more and more of your home appliances will become better at energy conservation. This means that in a few years your system would quickly become over sized for your homes needs, and you would have over invested in the technology. Instead she encouraged us to first try and reduce our use through simple conservation methods and then determine what would be a cost effective system to help supplement our energy needs.

Offering up solutions to both supplement my energy needs with a solar energy systems but more importantly to advise us on ways we could actually reduce our demand, lowering the size and cost of the system we would require by decreasing our over-all energy needs. This type genuine interest in helping me to reduce my energy consumption in an effort to decrease my costs and decrease my carbon footprint was proof to me that Powerfully Green were in this for all the right reasons and that I could trust their advisement. I don’t have plans to put in a system right now but maybe in a few years we’ll make an invest in one, for now we are working at trimming our energy needs on a daily basis.

If you’re interested in a site survey like the one we had you can contact powerfully green via their website and for a small fee they will come out and conduct an entire home audit along with generating a report of their findings for you to reference to.

The great thing about a house with lot of glass, is that there are always incredible views, your interior and exterior spaces seem to blend seamlessly. The bad thing about a house with a lot of glass, everyone else has that same view, except they’re looking in. Largely this isn’t an issue for use with our blinds and the natural surroundings blocking most of the sight lines into our house. However, our front door seems to be the one exception. The clear view doors provide us little privacy from the frequent passerby and seem to attract the hands and faces of the neighborhood kids like moths to a light. Because the door way is positioned in main artery of our house there never any quick Saturday morning strolls to the kitchen, in any thing less than your full days attire and your best styled hair, without the risk of showing more than you wish to share of yourself to your neighbors—not that this is something that has even happened to me. With that said it has become clear that if wanted to give ourselves a little more privacy we need to do something with our front door.

We love the natural light that the two big panes of glass bring into the center of our house but we need a way to give ourselves a little more privacy. The solution was to apply a thin layer of frosted film over the windows of the doors, but  this would then keep up us from seeing out the front door as well. Our solution was a simple one. We cut the thin film to the proper size of the window holding it down from the top of the top so that it was 5′ from the floor. We then added a second strip to each window about two inches above the first that went up the rest of the way to the top of the window. This gave us a 2 inch swath across the center of the window that provided us a view out to the street, while preventing any potential passerby from an unobstructed view inside. Not only was this a highly functional solution but it has a really nice aesthetic appeal as well—problem solved, and it only cost about $14.

The film went on easily using soapy water and a squeegee.

Most importantly, the views inside the house at night are now blocked.

The exterior of the house fits well with the natural surroundings of the lot.
photo courtesy of Jeff Gallo.

The interior of the house has an open floor plan, giving it a greater sense of size.
photo courtesy of Jeff Gallo.

This rendering of the site shows the integration of the landscaping and structure.
Although there seems to be a growing rise of green friendly modern homes going up across the country, few can claim to be as remarkable as the the Twin Cities own 5ive house. The project is the brainchild of Jeff and Salena Gallo, who after taking a tour of one modern modular home, set themselves out on a course to building what would become Minnesota’s first LEED certified platinum home.

The Gallo’s were not your typical couple entering into the process of building their first new home. They began with the decision to build something modern and environmentally friendly well before it had become all the rage. In 2005 the LEED for home program was just in its infancy stage, but the Gallo’s signed on to be pioneers in the program. They made a conscious effort to look for an architectural partner who shared their same set of values and vision, while being mindful of their budget when designing their new home. After a long thorough process, they settled on Minneapolis Based architectural firm Shelter Architecture. The project and the partnership would prove to be a fruitful one for both parties.

Green from start to finish.
Jeff and Selena had purchased a lot on Minneapolis’ west side that was occupied by a home in disrepair. The lot was cleared of the old structure, but Jeff and Salena made sure that everything that could be saved or recycled, was (about 60% of the old structure was recycled). They then began to break ground on what would come to be known as the 5ive house. The Project would include a variety of alternative materials and building practices both inside and out, all geared toward a green friendly building. Like many green projects, the 5ive house had a focus on making sure the building envelope was as energy efficient as possible. This included pre-cast Thermomass® walls with an R-31 rating, and Energy Star windows and doors. Additionally, they made the exterior elements of he house work for them as well. This included a landscaping plan that was for prairie restoration, a 93% permeable site and rainwater harvesting and irrigation systems.

On the inside of the house the green theme continued. Highly efficiency faucets and toilets, that use a fraction of the water of most household fixtures. A 97% efficient hot water heater was put in, and Jeff and Salena were conscious to select Energy Star Appliances and lighting fixtures. Even cosmetic elements such as countertops, paint, window treatments and even plumbing were selected for their No or low-VOC (Volatile organic compound) ratings, helping to ensure that the homes indoor air quality lived up to the houses environmentally healthy image.

As Minnesota’s first LEED certified residential project and a winner of the Minnesota RAVE award 2008, the 5ive house has also become an incredible resource for other people, including home owners and architects, looking to do the same on their projects. Just another way that this house has had an impact on our future environment.

By the numbers
R-31 insulated walls
R-60 roof
75% drought tolerant landscaping
93% permeable landscape Over 40% construction waste recycled
Over 60% of of land clearing waste recycled
16 SEER (Seasonal Energy Efficiency Ratio) cooling
9 AFUE (Annual Fuel Utilization Efficiency) heating

In recent years, fans of modern home design have been looking for ways to get the style and character often associated with an architecturally designed modern home, which can run in upwards of $400 per sq ft. on a more value engineered budget. The result has been an ever growing trend of modern modular pre-fabricated homes, designed by architectural firms.

One of the pioneers of modern modular Pre-fab housing has been Twin Cities based FlatPak. Founded by Charlie Lazor (one of the founders of Blu Dot furniture) who named the company after the term used to describe knock down self-assembled furniture, that can be shipped flat in a box. However, the The Flat pack system is really an intricate and customizable system using a standard modular 8ft wide wall system, which can be clad in variety of materials from wood, to metal to glass panels. The standardized wall system allows home owners to leverage the economies of scale (about 20-30% less expensive than a traditional architect designed home), while the interchangeable nature of the materials, exterior panels, offers them the freedom to create a uniquely styled home, often times only seen in custom designed homes.

Recognized as one of the pioneers of Modern Modular housing, FlatPak homes have received recognition from the design community in the form of magazine, TV and extensive blog coverage. However, this July a FlatPak demo house reached one of its highest honors to date, as a featured longterm installation at the Minneapolis Walker Art Center’s Sculpture Garden. The 576 sq. ft. structure had been used as a display in several other design demo applications over the past few years, but in those cases it was displayed inside, so the structure received some slight modifications (including a real roof) to make it water tight and weather ready, for its latest appearance at the Walker. The FlatPak in the garden is the first long term architectural design installation since the Walker featured the Idea House II in the summer of 1947 as an exhibition of modern living. This time the structure will be used to house works of art, host information for visitors, along with a variety of activities and special events throughout the year.

But the installation of this project at the Walker, is not an end state for FlatPak. With a list of growing projects around the country and potential interest on a global scale, don’t be surprised if you see one of these wonderful, modern, modular homes in a neighborhood near you some day.

This corner shot shows the variety of substrates that can be applied to the FlatPak exterior to give it a unique look.

The FlatPak house sits in the Walker Art Center’s sculpture Garden and will be used as a visitor center of sorts.

Even the interior of the FlatPak house features a nice mixture and variety of wall panels, from composite wood, to frosted glass, giving the interior a warm, yet modern feel.

The ChairChair, a Blu Dot classic adorns the interior space.

Rendering of the latest FlatPak project, being built in Golden Valley Minnesota.