|
Going for the Green
A non-traditional home creates traditional comfort &
security
By Earl Stresak
(Article reprinted from “Both Sides of the Bridge” (May-June 2007 Issue), photos
by Michelle Jordan)
Chris Jordan had not really considered building his new home using so-called
"green," energy efficient materials when he and his wife, Michelle, first began
nosing around the home show market in 2005. But, things just began to evolve
over time. “We just wanted to see what was out there,” he said. He also didn't
know that a couple of unusual building materials that use a tough and energy
efficient type of styrofoam in walls and floors would be the answer to his
concerns for his family's comfort and safety.
Naturally there was that excitement factor of possibly getting serious about
building that bigger and better place for the growing needs of a family that
included two children, household pets, and the usual accumulated years of stuff
- but the Jordans had more serious considerations. Jordan's wife and daughter
suffered from severe allergies. In particular, their daughter's suffering during
the yearly invasion of the Ozarks' microscopic army of tree and grass pollen was
heartbreaking to witness. It went far beyond the passing irritation of sniffles
and watery eyes. “We tried everything,” Jordan said. “Air filters, allergy
shots, you name it, we tried it.”
The Jordans visited a couple of home shows. Building options were numerous
and he wanted to give everything careful consideration. Jordan also worried
about another intangible problem. He had friends who were builders and he didn't
want to risk those friendships. What if a dispute came up during the often long
and drawn out building process? What then? He thought hard about it, then
decided to take some advice he had heard, “If you have a friend who is a
builder, and you want to keep him as a friend, don't hire him to build your
house.” It seemed prudent business advice.
 There
were other serious building considerations Jordan thought about. Severe weather
is as perennial to Southwest Missouri as is the spring pollen count. High winds,
severe thunder storms, and tornados are real life possibilities in the beauty of
the Ozarks. Jordan wanted a home with sound structural integrity that could
weather those forces, keep his family safe, and give him peace of mind. Other
considerations on his list were heating and cooling costs.
ENTER ICF & LITE-DECK
At the first home show, Jordan ran across a different looking, light weight
little entity called the Insulating Concrete Form (ICF), hollow foam building
blocks that can be stacked into the shape of an exterior walls. The styrofoam
feeling material, (actually a material called expanded polystyrene,) look
somewhat like a kid’s light-weight Lego set. The look and feel of the ICF can be
deceiving. Once set into the shape of a wall, they are reinforced with steel
rebar and filled with concrete.
Seeing them at the home show, he did not pay them much mind but they came up
again at his place of business. Jordan owns and operates Luigi's Pizza
restaurants and had heard about ICF there." A guy who works for me told me that
his parents had built an ICF house in Herman, Missouri. He kept saying to me -
you have to look into this." Jordan did just that and found Mark Bennett of
Koinonia Builders in Branson, Missouri, a builder who uses ICF in his home
construction projects.
Bennett has built homes at Stonebridge using ICF for basements and likes the
building material for a number reasons. Learning about the structural integrity
and insulating benefits of the ICF, Jordan decided to build "a stick built home"
(wooden) with an ICF basement. After some detailed research and planning
meetings with Bennett, Jordan decided to also build the walls of the new home
with ICF.
 “At
the time we were talking about an R-60 insulation factor),” Jordan said. That
was an attractive benefit to Jordan and made sense. Bennett then spoke to him
about another material called Lite Deck®. Like ICF and using expanded
polystyrene, Lite-Deck is used between floors instead of traditional wood
structures. According to one supplier, Lite-Deck is "the solid concrete
alternative for conventional floor and deck applications. It is a lightweight,
stay-place form, made of site-cast, or pre-cast concrete that utilizes 18 gauge
steel framing studs every 12 inches.” According to the supplier, Lite-Deck is
recognized by FEMA to be an effective “envelope of protection against deadly
winds when used in combination with reinforced concrete or masonry to construct
a safe room.”
Armed with more positive information about the benefits of layering the
styrofoam material and concrete, Jordan decided to change his initial plans, and
use Lite-Deck between floors, instead of traditional wood. “Essentially the
floors are 18 inch poured concrete floors with a styrofoam system underneath to
support them,” Jordan said. “The exterior walls have two inches of styrofoam,
six inches of concrete, two inches of styrofoam and then layer of brick.”
COMPARTMENTALIZED CONSTRUCTION
After building with ICF, the finished result is somewhat like that used in ship
construction where individual sections of a big boat are stand alone,
self-sealing units. Where as on a ship, the main concern is the ability to
isolate duty sections from a spreading fire or sea water intake, the same
principle works to maintain climate control in the Jordan’s ICF and Lite-Deck
built home.
“So, there is no energy bleed between floors, and sound transfer between
floor - there is none,” Jordan said. “The only sound that comes through from
floor to floor is in the stairwells. My wife is upstairs walking around above us
and you don't hear a sound.” Jordan said while showing the highlights of his ICF
constructed home. “I have a son who is a 6'3", 230 pound football player.
(Branson Pirate defensive end, Byrce Jordan). He can be running around up there
and you don't hear a thing.”
 Jordan
taps on a wall and makes a measuring gesture with his hands to make a point of
the home's solid structure. "It's this far from being a commercial building," he
said. Jordan also said the two and a half inches of styrofoam used on his walls
prevents the brick exterior from transferring heat to the inner layer of
concrete, then transferring that heat into his home. Heat transfer can be a
problem in a brick home, much like how a brick oven retains heat for baking.
Without the insulating styrofoam layer between the brick and concrete,
condensation might also build up in the walls as it with wood. The styrofoam
layer prevents that problem.
Jordan used a simple and effective analogy to illustrate the effectiveness of
the ICF styrofoam layers in his home. It is like a big styrofoam cooler. He
compares it to coolers he uses at his restaurants. "On my outdoor walk-in
refrigerators I have four inch foam walls with galvanized aluminum on the
outside. There is no concrete and that holds 38 degree temperature in 100 degree
heat."
“Most homes use an outside air exchange system - drawing air from the outside
that then gets cooled or heated." Jordan said. "This is a closed system.” That
has helped alleviate the family allergy problem.
WIND & WEATHER PROTECTION
 Jordan
said his home is rated against 200 mph winds. The compartmentalized construction
used in building with ICF block gives each room it own structural integrity. “If
a tornado were to hit, they say we would be safe in any of the rooms,” Jordan
said. “It would be loud and crazy, and we would need to move away from the
windows. We would probably loose the roof of the house but everything else would
stay in one piece.”
“We did choose not to pour concrete on the lid of the house,” he said. The
area between the roof and attic is insulated with cellulose, but energy loss
there is not significant. “Heat always rises,” said Jordan, “In a traditional
two or three story house when all you have are dry wall, floor joists, and
flooring, heat is going to bleed through the flooring. That is not the case
here.” During the winter when the temperature was 20 degrees outside, the house
remained at 60 degrees inside without any heat on. There is an air conditioner
that covers each of the homes three levels. “Once you get the house cool, it
stays cool,” Jordan said. “Once it's warm, it stays warm.”
Temperature stability had an added attraction during construction. “Mark told
us we didn't need to put in high dollar windows,” Jordan said. “I thought
putting in higher cost windows would help with insulation. Mark talked me out of
it and we put in a normal grade of window.” The builder also suggested placing
UV lighting inside the home's HVAC system to kill mold and microbials and help
with dust reduction instead of constantly re-circulating those substances
throughout the house. A large UV bulb inside the system needs to be changed once
a year.
 “If
you go to the home show every year there are a lot of people talking about using
the green concept to build there home,” Jordan said. “There are other ways to go
about it. I'm one of those people who when I get on a kick, go all the way. Once
we decided not to build the traditional way, I decided to step it up and go all
the way. What I didn't want to do is spend a little bit of money, then later
realize that for just little more I could have gotten a much better house.”
Does Jordan have any regrets, now that his family is in their new “green”
home? “Honestly, I wish I would have done this earlier,” Jordan said,
referencing his daughter's battles with allergies which has led to some asthma
attacks. “We lived in an older home, and I can't say with certainty it is
because of the house that she developed those issues. It was an older home that
had a lot dust and you don't know if there is moisture and mold in the walls and
things like that - but from the day we moved in here she has not had any
problems. It was that cause and effect difference. Here we are in the midst of
allergy season, and instead of our home being a breeding ground for pollen and
other things moving in an out of it - now this is a safe haven for both my wife
and my daughter.”
Forgetting all the technical issues for a moment, Jordan sums up his family's
sentiments. “Apart from everything else, it's just great to be in a new house.”
The Special Touches of Million Dollar Homes At Reasonable,
Affordable Prices
Talk to us about Your New Home!
|
