Welcome to Our Blog

We are all moved in and awaiting the final paperwork to learn our home's official rating under the LEED for Homes system. If you are just finding your way to our blog, we hope you'll scroll back to the beginning to learn about our process and the features that help make our home green.

As Viewed from Above

Courtesy of Google Maps

Homeowner Manuals

Operations and Maintenance Binders

 

Building an energy-efficient and otherwise green home is all well and good, but to realize the benefits of your investment over the long run, proper operation and maintenance of the home's major systems are critical. Among the prerequisites for LEED for Homes is that the project team provide the homeowner with a binder of all user guides and manuals as well as general information about sustainable home decisions, the LEED features in this house, and all LEED for Homes paperwork. Not only is this better than the typical "drawer-full-of random-manuals" buyers of new homes usually get stuck with, it is also helpful as a tool for future owners of our LEED for Homes project. 

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Landscaping & Pest Management

24" rock border around perimeter of home

 

Among the steps we took to implement a green pest management system was not planting any shrubs or trees within two feet of the home's slab. Keeping what is more or less an air barrier between the habitats of insects and other pests and our building envelope helps make it more difficult and less inviting for those outsiders to venture inside.

Landscaping

Rock, decomposed granite, and turf

 

Native and drought-tolerant plant species

 

 Vegetable garden

 

There are a number of strategies for sustainability that manifest themselves through landscape design. For example, by minimizing the percentage of your lot that is covered in conventional turf, you should reduce your water consumption, provided that your irrigation system is well-designed. By minimizing impervious paving (such as concrete driveways, patios, or paths) you assist with both flood prevention - since water gets held in your beds and lawn rather than washing into a storm drain - and reduction of the heat island effect.

 

LEED for Homes (and common sense) prohibits the introduction of invasive plant species onto the site. It also encourages native and drought tolerant vegetation through points for the number of plants installed that meet those criteria.

 

There aren't any LEED for Homes points available directly for our raised vegetable and herb garden, but they do afford us the opportunity for some bragging rights. :)

Public Awareness

Our sign - six square feet, per spec!

 

 One of the biggest challenges for LEED for Homes has been getting the word out. Commercial property owners have embraced LEED. The federal government and many state and local governments have mandated LEED certification for certain project types. School districts love LEED, and the new(ish) LEED for Healthcare rating system has also begun to be widely adopted by hospitals and clinics. But residential projects - both single family and multifamily - have been behind the curve. So in addition to homeowner awareness and education, LEED for Homes encourages public education and awareness through certain points available. This sign outside our home (along with this blog) help us let our neighbors and other passersby that our home is unconventionally and sustainably built.