energy efficient

Higgins Lake

Testing the energy efficiency of Tom Barber’s latest remodel, Jeremy Truog of Sustain-able Environmental Services, Traverse City, looked a bit like he was setting up a Hal-loween display.

Temporarily installing a red blower door inside the frame of the front door, he was depressurizing the 3,333-square foot house to determine the natural air exchanges per

hour. In order to make a comparison, he performed one test with ductwork sealed and one test with ductwork unsealed.

He said he planned to plug some numbers – such as size and volume of the home – into the test-ing computer to determine the airtightness of the Higgins Lake house by way of how much heat was escaping and then report the results to Barber. Truog said he would also send the results to his provider to be registered with the Environmental Protection Agency.

The blower door test was necessary to certify the pale yellow home for an Energy Star rating – whether it’s “green.” (Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy that promotes saving money and protecting the environment through energy efficient products and practices.)

“This’ll score pretty good,” Truog said when the test was done at the end of March.Barber, of Barber Construction, Inc., Roscommon, said he believes the home, owned by Bob

Hoffman, a downstate business owner, will be one of the few in Roscommon County with both an Energy Star designation and Green Build rating (which ranges from bronze to silver to gold).

Green Built Michigan is a not-for-profit partnership between home builders, industry supports and sponsors committed to the construction of sustainable, superior-quality homes. According to its web site, www.greenbuiltmichigan.org, Green Built Michigan is the officially endorsed green

building program of the Michigan Associa-tion of Home Builders and the only affiliated program in the state of Michigan for the Na-tional Association of Home Builders Green Program.

Turns out, a cou-ple of weeks after the test, the Higgins Lake home received both an Energy Star rating and a “silver” Green Build designation.

Barber said he had taken a two-day course last year, “Green Build for Building Profes-sionals” through the National Association of Home Builders, to learn about the com-ponents of building “green.”

“It’s not simple,” Barber said. “It takes a little effort.”

Energy efficiency is the key to all green built homes. Reduced energy use reduces monthly expenses as well as pollution levels. Green built homes are designed to use fewer material resources and to reduce construction waste. The selection of building materials is also important; indoor air quality is improved by incorporating ma-terials with low chem-ical contents.

According to the greenbuiltmichigan.org web site, a green

tures oak floors (oak is renew-able) and cellulose insulation (recycled newspapers), and the location of windows allows for plenty of natural lighting. It has two high-efficiency fur-naces and recyclable vinyl sid-ing.

Barber said that with the details of the exterior, “it re-ally doesn’t look like a vinyl sided house,” he said.

The three-bedroom ranch-style home is unusual, he said, in that it is on a wide lot, not typical for lake homes. It sits on 127 feet of lake shore. The plans were revised seven or eight times, taking into ac-count Hoffman’s price range and the features he wanted. Most of main rooms are fac-ing Higgins Lake, except for the bonus room and laundry room.

“You don’t find too many of these,” Barber said.

The garage doors and win-dows are insulated; the attic has blown cellulose and the walls have sprayed cellulose. The vinyl siding has its own foam. Exterior gutters and drain tiles divert rainwater so it doesn’t flow toward the lake, and the double-pane windows are filled with argon.

“Glass is always the weak link,” Barber said, adding the low-E glass is now the stan-dard.

“The perfect energy house would have no windows,” Truog said.

But then, Barber said, “you’d be burning lights all the time.”

One main feature of the en-ergy efficiency of the Higgins Lake home – besides the Ener-gy Star kitchen appliances and furnaces – are the Ultra CSV

crawl space vents, designed by Houghton Lake resident Rich-ard Betz.

“I use those exclusively on all my projects,” Barber said, adding the crawl space is one of the biggest sources of ener-gy leaks. “They’re just a good vent because they do seal.”

Bruce Frost, a faculty member in Central Michigan University’s Department of Engineering and Technology said he is one of 16 people in Michigan who perform Ener-gy Star testing. He has praise for the energy efficiency of the home.

“It’s a pretty phenomenal house, actually,” Frost said, considering the sprawling na-ture of the layout. “It is very tough to get a house in the 60’s.”

He said a home may be pret-ty to look at, but, “we seldom have a way of gauging what’s going on inside the walls.” On the rating scale of 0 to 100 (the lower the better), the Higgins Lake house scored a 73.

Frost, who was headed for a National Association of Home Builders conference – including members of the Governor’s Office and legis-lators – in Traverse City after he spoke with the Resorter by phone, said Barber is a “great leader at the state level.” He said Michigan is a leader in building green.

“Michigan’s doing a better job getting the word out,” he said. “This is one of the best houses I’ve looked at this year. Tom’s a great builder.”

“It’s a showcase,” Barber said, tickled the home received its Energy Star rating. “It’s a nice place. We’re proud of it.”

Story and photos by Cheryl Holladay

6 • HOUGHTON LAKE RESORTER • THURSDAY, APRIL 16, 2009 SPRING HOME IMPROVEMENT

house is safer, healthier, more energy efficient and environmentally friendly. Such a house is built to prevent moisture, mold and radon, and provide en-ergy efficiency through proper insulation and im-proved window technology. It also promotes the use of regional products to reduce transportation pollu-tion.

Barber, who is vice-president of the Michigan Association of Home Builders, said that most build-ers who do quality work were already incorporating many green techniques into their construction. Mak-ing a house “green” isn’t just about heating a home with solar panels, he said, it encompasses “the house as a whole.”

“It’s the little things you can do to make the house better,” he said.

Building green can include the following: Using the sun and the building site to the best advantage for natural heating, cooling and day-lighting; landscap-ing with native drought-resistant plants and water-efficient practices; building quality, durable homes; reducing and recycling construction and demolition waste; insulating durable, salvaged, recycled and sustainably harvested materials; and using energy-efficient and water-saving appliances, fixtures and technologies.

For example, Barber said, the Hoffman home, designed by Tom Marsh of Intelligent Design, fea-

‘green’house

HIGHly RATEDJeremy Truog of Sustainable Environmental Services, Traverse City, runs a blower door test on the Higgins lake home. The energy efficiency of the ranch-style house impressed tester Bruce Frost, on the faculty of CMU’s Department of Engineering and Technology and a national expert on green building. “This is one of the best houses I’ve looked at this year,” he said. It received an Energy Star rating and a “silver” Green Built Michigan rating.

ENERGY EFFICIENT ELEMENTSFacing natural elements on Higgins Lake, the Barber Construction-remodel features ele-ments of its own: Cellulose insulation, two high-efficiency furnaces, recyclable vinyl sid-ing with its own foam, and double-pane win-dows filled with argon.

NATURAl KITCHEN(Above) Some of the reasons the home received such a good rating may be found in the kitchen. Barber said it has Energy Star rated appliances, low-energy fluorescent lighting and natural materials such as the oak floor, granite countertops and maple cabinets.

GREEN RATED(left) The view from this Higgins lake home takes in more than 100 feet of lake shore. The 3,333 square-foot home was almost completely rebuilt by Barber Construction, Inc., and designed by Tom Marsh of Intelligent Design, llC. yellow on the outside, it’s all “green” on the inside.

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