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Building a Light Green LEED House in Houston, TX
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July 2009

 

Building a Light Green House in Houston - Meeting the Architect #green #architect

Today we met with Kathleen Reardon, on the advice of Michael Strong our builder (see previous post). They worked together on Houston's first LEED certified home, and you can see more info on that on both their sites (www.rdarc.com and www.greenhausbuilders.com). We had sent her our list of needs/wants/wishes and our little mock up of a floor plan to start the conversation.

 It was a great meeting - we mostly discussed our goals in general terms, and she described the process and showed us some of her current projects. During the conversation the house took one step forward, in becoming a reality, in my mind. While there is still some trepidation in doing something so huge, a certain excitement is also beginning to take shape.

 One of the elements of our process is that Irene and I have different tastes and priorities - not very different, and definitely reconcilable, but if we were each to do this without consulting the other, the houses that would result would be quite distinct. What I liked best about what Kathleen said was that her goal would be to work with this and design a house that made us both happy and that was uniquely ours, as a couple and as a family. She also had clear enthusiasm for designing for kids, and we want to make the house great for the little ones - it will probably be the house that they think of as their childhood home.

 The next step is a formal proposal from the architect!

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(Housekeeping: why the '#' in the title of the post? I am using Posterous for this blog - if you haven't heard of it, check it out as it is a fantastically convenient way to blog - and when you email the blog entry to Posterous, it takes the title and automatically tweets it. So the hashmarks are for Twitter, where folks can scan for tweets that have these to mark posts on particular topics.)
 
 
 
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Filed under  //  architect   planning  
Posted by Oliver Bogler 
 

Houston Light Green House - meeting the builder & house plan mock up by us

Yesterday we met with Michael Strong, President of GreenHaus builders here in Houston. He was one of the teachers in the Green House course at the Glasscock School of Rice U, which I took last fall. We are very interested in building with him.

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We established a good rapport with Michael - part of the reason is that he and I share German heritage. If you have traveled in Europe you know that the way houses are built there and here is quite different. Broadly speaking, house building is a more expensive and long-winded process in Germany, but the houses are built with more substance and to last longer. As a German in the US, this raises concerns about the permanence of one's investment. With Michael I have no doubt that he understands - he has family in Germany, and travels there regularly, also professionally. So he knows where I am coming from. 

Planning, planning, planning
Yesterday we talked broadly about needs, wants and wishes, and discussed some of the parameters and cost considerations. For example: we want a generator for hurricanes. So, wiring that can accept an external generator is on the 'needs' list. What type of generator we add is still debatable. While one that can run the a/c would be great, it may be more cost-effective to have one that can run the key appliances. Another example is the roof. We want good insulation, and metal would be great. Lasts long, low maintenance and so quite green. But, apparently new shingles get close to the insulation, if not the longevity. 

The next step is to visit with an architect to make plans, and then to develop a "first draft" of the house with a cost-estimate, which incorporates the 'needs'. Depending on where we are, we can then add wants and wishes. To get the ball rolling, we mocked up a rough house plan, cobbled together from house plans found on the internet or in magazines, and fit to our lot (you can see the survey underneath). While quite amateurish, we are pretty visual and it really helps to draw things out, and then run around the house with a measuring tape to compare the size of what you live in now, with what is on the paper.

Next week - meet with an architect!

Plan

Filed under  //  builder   planning  
Posted by Oliver Bogler 
 

Building a Light Green House in Houston - Taking the Plunge

We are seriously considering building a house, and a light green one at that.

Why build?

We have lived in Houston for about 5 years, in our '50s 1900 sq ft scrape-off, and it is time to make a change. The kids are growing bigger. The house is deteriorating, with cracks in the walls and ceiling in almost every room, and in the tiled floors. What insulation there is, is compromised by ill fitting doors and windows. An extension without a serious overhaul of the foundation makes no sense, and since our neighborhood is undergoing transition to new, larger houses, even a well done renovation would probably not be reflected in the long term value. 

Trading up is impractical at the moment - the housing market here is not plummeting, but it is very slow. Our house would most likely go to a builder, but they are not buying and building on spec. With a large stock of houses, people coming into the market are not likely to build. More seriously yet, we are not very fond of what is on the market around us, and yet like our neighborhood. There are three kinds of houses available: 1) houses like ours - no thanks; 2) McMansions which are typically 4,500+ sq ft, lack features we want - see below - and have some we do not want - wet bars, jacuzzis, closets you could live in etc.; 3) houses from the 80s that are more solid, more in the 3,000 sq ft range and close to what we want, but also lack more open floor plans you see in new construction, and which we would like.

So, building seems like it might be a good option. At least worth exploring very seriously.

Why light green?

First, what is light green? I learned this from the course on Green building that I took last Fall (Green Houses – Glasscock School of Rice University - http://gscs.rice.edu/NccCourseView.asp?Mode=View&clCourseID=588&clSessionID=1630&SnID=2&csCategory=58&csFrom=&csTo=&csKeyWord=&csSortBy=3&clPageNumber=1)  - there are many shades of green. The darkest shade would be fully LEED certified, which itself exists in several shades, and puts you firmly in the range of higher-end custom homes. In the Houston market this means paying north of $200/sq ft, and probably close to $250/sq ft. Lighter shades of green can be achieved by using a more standard house and modifying it with green attributes - better insulation, greener products in its construction and building approaches and things like solar water heaters. This can be achieved more in the range of $150/sq ft. This is where we are. Another green aspect - not too much house. We are shooting for around 3,200 sq ft - already pretty big for 4 people, by any standard. Hence, light green.

So why do anything green? Easy. It will save money on utilities. And it will enhance the value of the house, as more and more people consider these things important. It also feels right.

Tomorrow we are meeting with a builder. We are getting the first numbers in from potential lenders. We'll be updating our progress here, with info, photos and video. If you want to come along for the ride - why not subscribe to the RSS on this site?

Filed under  //  planning  
Posted by Oliver Bogler