Se Habla Green - Leading Custom Home Architects Green Design Tips

(I-Newswire) September 7, 2009 - ——- 9-4-2009, Rand Soellner Architects, Cashiers, NC, USA www.randarch.com

(C)Copyright 2009 Rand Soellner, All Rights Reserved Worldwide. “Se Habla Green” coined by Rand Soellner 9-2-2009, as part of Rand Soellner Architect’s Green Design Initiative (GDI). You are granted a license to link to and copy this press release in its entirety for informational purposes.

Rand Soellner Architects are Green Home Architects and are also custom home architects. They happen to be one of the few Energy Star Partners (see DOE/EPA) specializing in the design of custom homes. They also create commercial projects. While discussing the Energy Star recommendations with the DOE representatives when they were accepted into the program several years ago, they noticed that there was no Green Design checklist saying to “do this” or “do that” in one place. There were loose, unrelated comments from a variety of sources. It took much effort to find everything that the DOE/EPA recommended. This press release is the first in a series, as there is too much information to cover and the resulting green home architects checklist(s) will be ultimately quite long.

These green home architects had to create their own comprehensive list(s). They built their list of Energy Star recommendations, along with those from their research and experience into their specifications. This press release is Rand Soellner Architects sharing of some of their copyrighted green design techniques and green design checklists with you. These luxury home architects hope that this will help organize the green architecture movement, which is part of Sustainable Architecture. These home designers are providing a Green Design Green Home Architects checklist(s), something that they have never seen documented.

Much of these dream home architects Green Design findings are the result of hard core trial and error and observations of what works and what doesn’t, in the world of custom home design and green construction of new homes, luxury home design and other projects. These green home architects specifications and design practices exceed Energy Star recommendations and current IRC (International Residential Code) code books and all USA county-adopted codes, to their knowledge.

Some of these green home architects procedures are not even mentioned by code books or the DOE/EPA, as theseresidential architects have developed them over the course of decades of design and construction experience and common sense. As custom home architects, they act as luxury residential architects all over the USA and for projects abroad, so they have contact with a variety of Authorities Having Jurisdiction.

It is not surprising to these green home architects that their Green Design practices at Rand Soellner Architect “out-Green” those of most enforcement entities and even Energy Star itself, as Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB is a member of the AIA (American Institute of Architects) which has a mission to improve the energy efficiency and “greeness” of the homes and buildings architects design and promote energy efficient architecture and reduce the carbon footprint homes and buildings leave on our planet. These green home architects want to exceed current requirements, to be on the Green Design vanguard of improving energy efficiency, healthy home design and aesthetics.

These custom home architects are offering you what they thought they were going to find when they joined the EPA/DOE Energy Star program: a nice checklist(s). This is Not all-inclusive, but at least it will help start your Green Home Design project. Consider it Part 1.

RSI+GDI (Rand Soellner Architect + Green Design Initiative www.randarch.com) Checklist #1 for Custom Home Architects and Green Home Architects:
Administrative & Healthy Home Requirements:
________ 1.10 UNDERSTAND OPTIONAL COSTS. Recognize that many Energy Efficient architects choices are options and that some of these may cost you more money.
________ 1.35 CLEAN UP. Provide 2 dumpsters. One for recycled construction materials, the other for landfill trash. You should be able to recycle about half of the debris that normally goes to the dump.
________ 1.80 HEALTHY HOME DESIGN. This is a trademarked process invented by green home architects Rand Soellner Architect, created to make homes under construction healthier. There is not enough space in this one article to include all of it. Here are some items:
________ 1.81 Food Trash Disposal. Do not eat food within the home under construction if at all possible; morsels end up in the built home and in the ductwork, where bacteria grows. If you can’t stop this from happening, have one large plastic trash barrel in the home with a plastic bag in it and have the jobsite foreman place this into the trash dumpster daily.
________ 1.82 Ductwork. Do not use absorbent surfaces in duct Interiors. Use metal or non-combustible plastic or foil, that are anti-bacterial. Wrap the Exterior of ducts with insulation. Angle ductwork so that there are no low points to gather moisture. Clean ductwork interiors after installation and before owner move-in.
________ 1.84 Sealants, Air Tightness. Control where fresh air enters your home. This should be accomplished through your HVAC system and your choice to open and close windows, rather than infiltration (uncontrolled gaps where air spills into and out of your home, which can be costly when you pay to heat, cool and filter your air). This is a large section and there is not space to do this justice here, sorry.
________ 1.85 Use Non-Toxic Materials. No formaldehyde, only carpets with “green tags” with no toxic off-gasing containing alcohols and other damaging substances. The less carpet the better; it is almost impossible to keep clean, especially with pets.
________ 1.86 Window Treatments. No looped cords as draw strings for blinds; babies have been strangled by these in the past.
________ 1.87 Paint. No lead. Ventilate spaces being painted.
________ 1.88 Use Less Paper. There is a lot of paper in home construction. For instance, normal gypsum board (also called “drywall”) has a paper skin. There are paperless drywalls. Paper absorbs moisture and grows mold and mildew (that’s a “green” you don’t want!), also bugs eat paper and it would be better not to feed creepy-crawlies in your house.
________ 1.89 Professional Cleaning. Most contractors are not equipped nor have patience for expert cleaning. There are companies that do this. You need it. Get rid of all of the construction sawdust and debris down to a damp mopping before you move in. Every surface (including top of ceiling fan blades) need to be cleaned before you expose your family to your new custom home.
________ 1.810 Irrigation & Gutters & Downspouts. Do not allow irrigation spray to contact your home or drip next to foundations or basement walls. Water spray on structures is a major source of “sick buildings,” per Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB. www.randarch.com
________ 1.811 Wall Finishes. Do Not install impervious plastic wall finishes on the Interior side of Exterior walls, like vinyl wall covering. You will have mold and mildew.

More next time…
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Contact Information:
Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB
Website: www.randarch.com
E-mail: randsoellner@earthlink.net
Phone: 828-743-6010

About Rand Soellner Architect:
Leading custom home architect, green home architects, luxury home architects, log home architects, timber frame home architects, post and beam home architects, mountain home architects, creating custom homes in Cashiers, NC, Atlanta, Seabeck Bay, Northern Illinois, Virginia, West Virginia, Tennessee, Washington, Texas, Colorado, Canada, Middle East, Maine, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Okalahoma and elsewhere in suburbia or on the side of mountain or by a still lake.

Company Contact Information
Rand Soellner Architect
Rand Soellner, AIA/NCARB
P.O. Box 907
Cashiers, NC
28717
Phone : 828-743-6010