House Planning Ideas

How To Choose A House Plan - Part 8 of 10

If you're not yet giving much thought to how much energy your new house is going to use, and how much it's going to waste, then it's time you started. It should be one of your top priorities - if for no other reason than your own pocketbook.

Energy used for heating and cooling homes is going to continue to get more expensive and as we've seen recently, world politics can quickly and dramatically affect your access to cheap energy.

I'll get to the part about house plans in a minute, but first...

A Little History

This isn't the first energy crunch we've had. In the 1970's - when I was a college student studying Environmental Design - world events conspired to create an American energy crisis. It was an interesting time to study Architecture, because the buildings we designed were required to respond to the environment - to use natural energy sources as much as possible.

The homes we created used technology and inventive design to give them form - we designed solar homes, earth-sheltered homes, thermal-mass homes, and other types in a wide variety of shapes and sizes. They collected heat from the sun and the ground and held it inside as long as possible. They blocked excessive solar radiation with deep overhangs and shading devices, and they were very carefully oriented to the angle of the sun and prevailing winds.

Sure they looked a little weird (some were downright ugly) but we designed homes that stayed warm in the winter and cool in the summer and used almost no energy at all.

A Little More History

But then in the 1980s energy got cheap again, and everybody forgot about low-energy homes (see I told you - just a little more history).

Where We Are Now

Fast-forward to the twenty-first century and suddenly energy is on the front page again. And again homes are responding to pressure to reduce energy usage, but in a curiously different way - through envelope and mechanical technologies.

Envelope Technology

The "envelope" of your home is its wrapper - the roof, walls, windows, and foundation. It's what keeps the outside out. There was a time when heat flowed rather freely through the envelope; windows were single-pane thickness and walls and roofs had little or no insulation.

Today, wall and roof assemblies can be very high-tech. New types of insulation, sheathing, and siding slow heat flow to a crawl. Infiltration barriers (Tyvek, Typar for example) stop excessive water vapor migration and seal the outside more tightly than ever. Houses can be sealed so tightly in fact, the trapped moisture can accelerate mold growth (that's a subject for another time).

Windows and doors have also gone light-years beyond the old wood-framed putty-glazed sashes of the early twentieth century. Windows today are offered with multiple panes of glass sealed together to create an insulating layer within; often that "airspace" is filled with inert Argon gas - which has a higher resistance to heat transmission than air.

The framing of the windows is far better sealed, and the installation methods are much improved. Even plain old glass isn't what it used to be - now it's coated with a microscopic layer that allows sunlight in, but block Ultraviolet rays and keeps heat from escaping.

Other high-tech wall technologies include ICFs (Insulated Concrete Forms), and SIPs (Structural Insulated Panels).

Mechanical Technology

The other area of big change is mechanical technology, including groundwater-source heating and cooling systems, active solar collection panels, and on-demand water heaters.

Furnaces, heat pumps, heat exchanges, boilers, and air conditioners are more efficient that ever and work hard to squeeze every BTU of energy out of the fuels they use. And sophisticated computer control systems manage the distribution of heat throughout the house.

Back To House Plans!

Envelope technology and mechanical technology are two good ways to make any house plan more energy efficient. High-technology energy management systems can be added to any house plan, and most plans can be easily modified to include the latest in envelope technology. Some house plan sites even sell versions of their plans with ICF wall detailing already included.

Take advantage of high-tech energy-saving technologies wherever you can. With increasing energy costs, more sophisticated systems will be paid for with savings in fuel usage.

But envelope and mechanical technologies aren't the only way to create a more energy-efficient home. "Back in the day" we did it with old-fashioned good design - by paying attention to solar orientation, window quantity and location, and house shape and size. An Architect or a qualified Residential Designer can help you choose and/or modify a house plan to better fit your concerns with energy usage.

So choose carefully - a good looking house isn't necessarily an energy-efficient one.

Richard L. Taylor, AIA is a published author and recognized expert in Residential Architecture. He is President of Richard Taylor Architects, a 5-person firm in Historic Dublin, Ohio. Residential Architect Luxury Home Plans

LED Lights

Tips on Buying and Using LED Light Bulbs
by: Joseph Reis

http://oceansidebuilding.blogspot.com/

Green is good, and right now, energy efficient lighting is all the rage. With the looming phase-out of old-fashioned incandescent light bulbs in many developed countries, people are faced with choosing between a handful energy efficient forms of lighting – compact fluorescents (CFL) and light emitting diodes (LED). This article will help you make good decisions when buying residential LED light bulbs.

CFLs are good for now, but…

You have likely already adopted energy efficient compact fluorescents (CFL) as part of your effort to reduce your carbon footprint. While CFLs are energy efficient, they have drawbacks such as mercury and relatively short lifespan. Also, CFLs are not available in sizes that replace track light bulbs, such as MR16 and GU10. It is unlikely that CFLs will be available in these sizes.

CFLs have made giant inroads over the last couple of years. The low cost and high energy efficiency of CFLs have made them favorites with people replacing incandescent lights. According to the Energy Information Administration, a government agency, 9% of a household’s energy costs are related to lighting. People are genuinely concerned with lowering their energy consumption, and lighting is one of the easiest things a person can improve on. With worldwide support from mass-market retailers, governments, and citizens, energy efficient lighting is seeing a new dawn. While CFLs provide a good combination of efficiency and cost, there is an even better option on the horizon – LED light bulbs.

Introducing the next generation of ultra energy efficient light bulbs – LEDs

LED light bulbs are semiconductors, just like the chips in your computer. These semiconductors emit energy in the form of photons of light. LEDs have come a very long way since they were invented in the 1960s. You have seen LED lamps for decades in the form of indicator lights on electronic products. Now, these LED lamps light bulbs have evolved to the point produce enough light for household and commercial applications. LEDs are extremely energy efficient, and have lifetimes ranging from 50,000 hours to 100,000 hours. LED light bulbs are the perfect complement to your collection energy efficient lighting products.

Tips for Buying LEDs

There are several varieties of residential LED light bulbs on the market. Presently, LEDs best replace track lighting and flood lights, both of which take advantage of the directional nature of LED light. Below are some tips for buying LED light bulbs.

• The Basics

You want to find an LED bulb that produces a healthy amount of light, but at the lowest possible power consumption. A good metric that equalizes your search is “lumens per watt”. To derive this figure, simply divide the bulb’s number of watts into the number of lumens. Right now, a good LED bulb should have at least 40 lumens per watt, but preferably more.

The question is often asked about comparisons between normal light bulbs and LEDs. Here are some examples to guide you:

5-watt, 3 high power CREE LED, MR16 ~ 25-watt MR16 Halogen
5-watt, 3 high power CREE LED, E27 spot ~ 30-watt E27 spot Halogen
6-watt, 165 traditional LEDs, PAR38, ~ 50-watt PAR38 incandescent

• Lifetime of Bulb

Many manufacturers of LED bulbs claim lifetimes of 50,000 hours to 100,000 hours. The lifetime of an LED lamp is generally considered to be the point where the light output has declined to 70% of it’s initial output, measured in lumens. So, a 300 lumen LED bulb with a lifespan of 50,000 hours will have 210 lumens at the end of it’s lifetime. However, the lifetime of a bulb does not mean it is unusable, only that it’s light output has degraded to a certain point. The LED bulb may continue to be useful for several thousand hours past it’s stated lifetime. Unlike old-fashioned light bulbs, it is extremely rare for an LED light to simply burn out. Rather, it will gradually fade over time.

• Color

As a general rule, you should use warmer light indoors, and whiter light outdoors. A color temperature of 2500-4000 Kelvin works great indoors. You should use a bulb with a color temperature of 5000-7000 Kelvin outdoors, as the whiter light allows your eyes to see better at night.

White light in the 5000-7000 Kelvin range is also excellent for display cases, boutiques, artwork, or other settings where you need excellent color rendition.

• Type of LED lamp

LED light bulbs use one or more tiny semiconductor lamps to produce very focused light. Contrast this with normal light bulbs that generate light in all directions. LED lamps are currently available in two forms: traditional LEDs (typically 5mm), which are smaller, and high power LEDs. Light bulbs using traditional LEDs require a large number of LED lamps to produce sufficient light, whereas high power LED bulbs use one or more lamps to generate light.

In general, the more LEDs, the better the light dispersion. Always get LED bulbs with more than one LED. You will find that single LED bulbs produce a very conspicuous outline, similar to a halo. Unless you enjoy halos across your walls, it’s better to buy light bulbs with multiple LEDs.

Here are some common track light and flood light bulb types, and suggestions for the LED arrangements:

For track bulbs such as MR-type and GU-type, try to get bulbs with 3 high power LED lamps (preferably using CREE or Nichia lamps). Avoid buying track bulbs using an array of traditional LED lamps, as these are not as effective as high power lamps.

For flood light bulbs, such as PAR-type, you can find reasonably priced traditional LED arrangements. High-power LED flood lights produce good light, but are also very expensive. In my experience, a PAR bulb using 120 or more traditional LED lamps works just as good, at a fraction of the price.

• Cost and energy savings

LED bulbs have a higher upfront cost, but they pay for themselves several times over their lifetime. Because LEDs have lower power consumption and a very long lifetime, they are very energy efficient. Let’s take an example of a $45, 5-watt, 50,000 hour MR16 LED bulb. Let’s assume a constant electricity cost of $0.10 per kilowatt hour, and a 0.61 electrical grid CO2 output factor. Compared with a similar $8, 25-watt halogen MR16 bulb, the LED will save $255 and reduce carbon emissions by 1,345 pounds. Not bad for a light bulb.

As energy costs continue to rise, the cost savings and carbon reduction from using LEDs will become far more pronounced.

Buyer beware – LEDs cannot replace general illumination bulbs (yet)

Right now, there are plenty of options for LED light bulbs. And that’s a bit of a problem. Several sellers of LED bulbs claim their bulbs are powerful enough to replace general illumination bulbs such as incandescent and CFL. This is simply untrue. Many of these “replacement” bulbs cost nearly $100 and use over 10 watts of power. You are much better off using a $3.00, 10-watt CFL for now. However, keep an eye out for LED general illumination bulbs over the next few years, as they will become very competitive with normal light bulbs.

Start today with LEDs

As LED technology rapidly advances, you will see them replace all other forms of light bulbs, including CFLs. If you have track lights or flood lights, you can begin incorporating LED light bulbs right away. Remember, now is the time to take steps to save energy and money. Your wallet and the planet will both thank you.



About The Author

Joseph Reis is co-founder of Lumoform and TheBestLEDs.com, based in Salt Lake City, Utah. Lumoform is the premier manufacturer of LED light bulbs. For more information, please visit http://lumoform.com and http://thebestleds.com http://houseinspection.blogspot.com/

Window Problems

Do You Make These Window Replacement Mistakes ?
by: Sarah Peters


Whether it's a misguided baseball, or storm damage, sooner or later most homeowners will have to deal with window replacement, a chore that is not high on any handyman's list of things they want to do with their spare time.

This could involve storm window replacement, replacement of window screens, or installing an entire replacement window. No matter the reason for the work, you really need to take a few things into account before heading for the building supply store.

The first consideration is the age of your home. Older houses, particularly farm-style or country houses, tend to have very old types of windows, consisting of wooden sashes and hardware that is no longer made. If you wish to keep the antique look intact, you might have to search out a supplier of obsolete or out-of-date locks and fastenings to complete your work.

Most modern houses lean towards convenience, and window replacement for them is fairly simple, involving a building industry standard sized window that is easy to acquire. These are also the type of windows that have such features as sliding multiple panes that save you the bother of storm window replacement.

They do, however, have screen panels for summer, but screen window replacements for modern windows are also easy to obtain, and pop right into the sliding tracks.

If you're considering window replacement for energy efficiency, it is unlikely you will get exactly the same dimension windows that you have now, unless they are custom made. In that case, it would be wise to seek the advice of experts at your building supply store, or hire a professional to make sure you get the most out of your remodeling dollars.

About The Author


Sarah Peters works at home, and spends most of her free time on various home improvement tasks. Over a few years, she had all her house windows replaced. In this series of articles, she shares her experience and advice.

sarah_article@yahoo.com

Replacing Home Windows

Replacement Windows Horror Story With Fairytale Ending
by: Reynold Washburn



I cannot think of a home improvement project I hate more than buying replacement windows. If I can take care of a home repair project with my hammer and cordless drill, so much the better. But window installation is a difficult task that requires the intercession of professionals. The professionals, though, often make the work harder than it should be. Here is a replacement windows horror story, and how I turned it into a fairytale.

It began in 2000, when my wife and I were renovating a 100 year-old house near Washington D.C. The house was in bad disrepair and almost every of its 25-30 windows needed to be replaced. Because of the high costs that we faced, my wife and I called at least 5 windows companies to come over and give us an estimate. Remember, we were pretty much home improvement naifs at that point.

One salesman for a large, local window company visited, along with the protege he was training. It took several trips for him to move all of his sales aids into our house: a sample window, lightbulbs, light meters, literature, etc.

After one hour, he was still demonstrating how window coatings could help reduce our energy consumption. We did not need to be convinced of this. We knew the basics of replacement windows. All we wanted was an estimate on our windows. Despite our polite throat-clearings, the salesman plowed on ahead into the second hour.

By the third hour, he finally gave us an estimate. It was outrageous. We began to shoo him out. "Wait," he said, "let me check with my sales manager and see if I can give you a special deal." The window salesman got on the cell phone and called his manager, who graciously agreed to cut a special deal. Miraculously, the price dripped 30 percent. However, we would have to sign on the dotted line by 5pm today.

Hour three turned into hour four, and we were hungry and anxious to get back to the floor sander that we were renting by the hour. The salesman would not take the hint. Finally, we said, "Okay, we don't want your windows. Go away. Leave. Now." It took several statements like that for the guy to finally leave. We had just wasted four hours of our lives, $45 worth of floor sander rental time, and our patience on this window company guy.

What did we learn from this? Plenty. First, the customer is in control. Especially when you are hosting the sales call in your house. You can control the length, nature, and tone of every single aspect of the replacement window salescall--but gather up your strength and do it, and certainly don't ask the saleman for permission. Second, since you are gathering estimates from many window companies, you do not have time for these 4 hour salescalls. One hour is the max. Third, because much of this terrible salescall was devoted to cross-selling us on other products such as gutters and siding, make it clear from the start that you are interested only in windows. Not only will that reduce the salescall's time, you are asserting your rights to the saleman and taking the reins. It is important to show early on that you are in charge, not the salesman.

For more great advice on dealing with window companies, visit http://www.replacementwindows123.com


About The Author

Reynold Washburn has 7 years of experience in DIY home renovation, much of it centered on the trials and tribulations of window installation. Read other articles by Reynold Washburn at http://www.replacementwindows123.com/.