G reen building – also known as environmentally friendly construction – can be a tough concept to get your head around.
It means many things.
Jennifer Buchanan / The Herald
It means respecting ecology, striving for maximum energy efficiency, buying from Earth-friendly suppliers, and choosing recyclable materials that are low in toxic chemicals and high in recycled content.
It’s all that and then some, in a world where few contractors and manufacturers have much experience with alternative materials or green concepts.
Still, it was a challenge Doris Olivers and her husband, Clair, were ready to face when they decided to remodel and expand their Rucker Hill home in Everett last winter.
“It’s a funny old house,” Doris Olivers said of their 1910 foursquare-style abode, which had been remodeled and expanded at least twice before they bought it four years ago.
Ready to make changes of their own, the couple commissioned a 600-square-foot addition with a large bedroom and bathroom, and a south-facing passive solar greenhouse room. In the process, they upgraded their kitchen and living room floors to bamboo to tie the backside addition and existing house together.
There is a definite theme to the new addition – beautiful, open, airy and bright – perfect for a home built with the environment and indoor air quality in mind.
“We designed it to get this beautiful light,” Doris Olivers said, gazing up at the skylights, spilling daylight into the new addition’s bedroom.
Some green elements of the project are easy to see.
Hardiplank siding, recycled plastic decking, a sheet metal roof, bamboo flooring, an on-demand water heater the size of a briefcase, tile made with recycled content, and salvaged fixtures and doors.
Most of their environmentally sound choices, however, are far less obvious.
The couple’s Everett-based builder – Leon Van Rossen of Van Rossen Construction – used formaldehyde-free insulation and many nontoxic caulk and sealant products.
Instead of using the typical gravel under the foundation, contractors used recycled glass cullet for fill. In the foundation, there’s recycled content known as fly ash.
Doris Olivers, who did most of the painting, used low-VOC (volatile organic chemicals) paints that promise to release fewer odors, fumes and potentially hazardous chemicals into the air.
“I didn’t want to live in a toxic home,” Doris Olivers said.
One of Doris Olivers’ favorite features is the greenhouse, which was designed to heat up quickly so it can pass warmth to adjacent rooms and cut back on heating costs.
“The winter sun lights this up nicely,” Doris Olivers said, adding that five large barrels of water – which will soon be concealed with benches – also help retain the greenhouse heat into the evening for continued warmth.
But Doris Olivers says the bathroom is her pride and joy with a Japanese soaking tub for two surrounded by a tile design she helped create.
Though the tub is large, the couple won’t be wasting much water. First of all, they don’t fill it to the brim. Second, the water is warmed by one of two on-demand tankless water heaters in the house.
Instead of using a constantly low level of heat and energy to warm a large tank, small on-demand water heaters deliver a high-intensity burst of energy to warm water only as it’s needed.
The Oliverses admitted that their choices complicated the project.
While Van Rossen was happy to meet their needs, he didn’t instantly know where to get materials. Sometimes the wrong materials arrived and had to be sent back.
“We challenged them a lot,” Doris Olivers said of the work crews. “It wasn’t always easy, but he (Van Rossen) was willing to do it.”
Van Rossen, who has been building mostly commercial projects for 30 years, said that this project was the most unusual of his career.
No one had ever asked him about environmentally friendly building practices.
Because some of the materials can cost more up front and aren’t as easily available, he hadn’t give them much thought either.
“I have to go with the best buy I can get,” said Van Rossen, who enjoyed learning about the all the alternative options. He hopes desire among consumers will flower as alternative materials become more popular and, he hopes, cheaper.
George Ostrow of Velocipede Architects in Seattle, who designed the Oliverses’ project, said it’s a misconception that green building materials always cost more.
Often they are no more expensive than standard materials, and frequently they are cheaper or equal to the cost of typical upgrades.
“There’s this perception that green costs more and it really depends on what you’re comparing it to,” Ostrow said. “It depends on where you put your priorities. You can give up your granite countertops and have a solar heating system.”
Doris Olivers believes any extra cost and effort are worth it. She only wishes they could have done more. Some green products were either too expensive or not available in time.
Still, it’s a home she and her husband are proud of in terms of style and ecological accountability.
Though the project is not certified by the Master Builders Association’s growing Built Green program, it meets many of the green criteria.
What’s most important to Doris Olivers, however, is that they invested in the future of green building.
If more consumers demand green products builders and manufacturers will have to respond, and eventually price differences could melt away.
“I wanted to take an old home responsibly into the future,” Doris Olivers said, adding that she’s pleased with the results. “It’s fantastic. It’s a really, really neat project.”
Reporter Sarah Jackson: 425-339-3037 or sjackson@heraldnet.com.
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