There has been a significant amount of work / progress on the house the last couple weeks, so much so I have not had much time to spend on the blog. Almost all the ruff carpentry, plumbing, electrical, ventilation and roofing is complete. They are getting ready this week to put in insulation and then the dry wall will go up starting the week of 3/24.
There are a bunch of unique and green items on our roof and a good green element that is not. The front third of the roof is pitched running perpendicular to the front. Under the pitch will be an attic that we can use for storage. The green element that was eliminated from the roof was on this part. The best green option for roofing is a metal roof as it lasts super long and if it had to be ripped off, it could be recycled. When our bids came in, we asked that this be priced separately so we could see how much it would cost. As it was $12,000 more than a standard roof, it was quickly eliminated. We simply went with a shingled roof that is rated for 30 years, but expected to last 22. Either way sounds long enough for me.
The middle part of the roof is not as wide, as we have a courtyard off the first floor, so this is where we have positioned our thermal solar panels. The air conditioning units will be positioned behind the panels to provide them shade so they do not get too hot when they run in the summer heat.
The real green feature of our roof is that we have a green roof. This will cover almost half the roof, or about 500 sq feet, with hardy, low maintenance plants. We have decided to go with a solution called the Green Grid (http://www.greengridroofs.com/greenroofs.htm), which will be about a 100+, 2'x2' planter boxes that have 4" of soil mixture in them. Each module will house several sedum plants that are expected to grow 12"-18" high and are expected to blossom at different times so that there will be flowering throughout the summer.
The basic idea of a green roof is to 1) protect the roofing material from all the direct sun, 2) provide some insulation in the winter and a cooling effect in the summer, and 3) help our city manage all the rain run-off after a storm as rain will get captured on our roof. The city is so grateful on this third point that they have set up grants for anyone who is installing a green roof. We have applied and are hoping to hear soon if we will receive the grant. It would be a welcome experience to have cash flowing into our house project from a source other than our bank account. In addition to the run off, the city is looking to use green roofs to reduce the urban heat island effect, which is basically all the solar rays hitting buildings, concrete and other non-green materials radiating solar heat. See the City of Chicago site for more information - http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalContentItemAction.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1699208358.1205676818@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadediiegmmlcefecelldffhdfhg.0&contentOID=536912014&contenTypeName=COC_EDITORIAL&topChannelName=Dept&blockName=Environment%2FUrban+Heat+Island+Mitigation%2FI+Want+To&context=dept&channelId=0&programId=0&entityName=Environment&deptMainCategoryOID=-536887205.
Under the green roof is a white PVC material that is expected to be super durable. The white also will better reflect sun light instead of absorbing all the solar heat. At the house last week while walking through with Nate on one of his inspections, Todd was giving Nate crap about how such a green architect could use so many oil based products on the roof. I think his response was something to do with all roofing is not very earth friendly, so you should just use very long lasting products where you can.
We will have access to the roof, but are expected to use it only for maintenance. The views from the roof consist of the busy street to the north; a great, old church to the east; and through some trees to the south we can see the Sears Tower downtown. As we are about 6 miles from downtown, we will not see much once the trees start to get their leaves.
There are a bunch of unique and green items on our roof and a good green element that is not. The front third of the roof is pitched running perpendicular to the front. Under the pitch will be an attic that we can use for storage. The green element that was eliminated from the roof was on this part. The best green option for roofing is a metal roof as it lasts super long and if it had to be ripped off, it could be recycled. When our bids came in, we asked that this be priced separately so we could see how much it would cost. As it was $12,000 more than a standard roof, it was quickly eliminated. We simply went with a shingled roof that is rated for 30 years, but expected to last 22. Either way sounds long enough for me.
The middle part of the roof is not as wide, as we have a courtyard off the first floor, so this is where we have positioned our thermal solar panels. The air conditioning units will be positioned behind the panels to provide them shade so they do not get too hot when they run in the summer heat.
The real green feature of our roof is that we have a green roof. This will cover almost half the roof, or about 500 sq feet, with hardy, low maintenance plants. We have decided to go with a solution called the Green Grid (http://www.greengridroofs.com/greenroofs.htm), which will be about a 100+, 2'x2' planter boxes that have 4" of soil mixture in them. Each module will house several sedum plants that are expected to grow 12"-18" high and are expected to blossom at different times so that there will be flowering throughout the summer.
The basic idea of a green roof is to 1) protect the roofing material from all the direct sun, 2) provide some insulation in the winter and a cooling effect in the summer, and 3) help our city manage all the rain run-off after a storm as rain will get captured on our roof. The city is so grateful on this third point that they have set up grants for anyone who is installing a green roof. We have applied and are hoping to hear soon if we will receive the grant. It would be a welcome experience to have cash flowing into our house project from a source other than our bank account. In addition to the run off, the city is looking to use green roofs to reduce the urban heat island effect, which is basically all the solar rays hitting buildings, concrete and other non-green materials radiating solar heat. See the City of Chicago site for more information - http://egov.cityofchicago.org/city/webportal/portalContentItemAction.do?BV_SessionID=@@@@1699208358.1205676818@@@@&BV_EngineID=cccdadediiegmmlcefecelldffhdfhg.0&contentOID=536912014&contenTypeName=COC_EDITORIAL&topChannelName=Dept&blockName=Environment%2FUrban+Heat+Island+Mitigation%2FI+Want+To&context=dept&channelId=0&programId=0&entityName=Environment&deptMainCategoryOID=-536887205.
Under the green roof is a white PVC material that is expected to be super durable. The white also will better reflect sun light instead of absorbing all the solar heat. At the house last week while walking through with Nate on one of his inspections, Todd was giving Nate crap about how such a green architect could use so many oil based products on the roof. I think his response was something to do with all roofing is not very earth friendly, so you should just use very long lasting products where you can.
We will have access to the roof, but are expected to use it only for maintenance. The views from the roof consist of the busy street to the north; a great, old church to the east; and through some trees to the south we can see the Sears Tower downtown. As we are about 6 miles from downtown, we will not see much once the trees start to get their leaves.
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