The Finished 3.0 Project
The ABC Green Home 3.0 in Fullerton, Calif. is now a completed project. Habitat for Humanity of Orange County put on the finishing touches and wrapped up construction in late winter 2017.
The Eichler-inspired design by Danielian Associates now has a finished exterior coated in La Habra Stucco and Allura siding. Topped by an Eagle Roofing cool roof design that radiates back some of the sun’s energy, the home is accented by Summers Murphy landscape design irrigated by Toro, which in turn is highlighted by Unique LED’s exterior accent lighting in the evening and at night.
As you pass the Salsbury mailbox and enter through the bright and cheery Plastpro entry door, you get a beautiful view of the hardwood floor in the entry way, living room, and stairway thanks to Armstrong flooring, which is perfectly quiet thanks to the unseen MP Global underlayment. The brilliance of the wood is shown off by the ample light provided by Milgard windows that brightens the entire room via window placement throughout the high ceilings of the main room as well as through the LaCantina bi-fold door.
Moving into the eat-in kitchen with Crossville flooring, stocked with energy-efficient Whirlpool appliances built into RSI Cabinetry with Moen faucets accompanying the sink by Amerisink and an Air-King vent above the stove, the space become much more cozy with a lower ceiling but ample room for even the most accomplished chef.
The multi-generational suite located on the first floor, as well as the rest of the house, will be designed for the model home phase by DES-SYN Interior Design and staging partner Elite Staging who brought together many companies dedicated to health and wellness who were willing to donate their time and materials to demonstrate how a home can not only be efficient but healthy from the Stego moisture barrier below the foundation to the very fabric of the pillows and curtains. The idea with the first-floor, multi-generational suite is to tell the story of a Vietnam-era veteran nurse who now lives with her family to help care for her new grandchild, a baby girl who has a nursery near her parents in the master suite on the floor above.
A deck built off of the second floor, complete with planter space that could be used for an edible garden – enhancing the green theme – allows space for an outdoor living area replete with a Quartz-ACO deck drain, opening up a world of decorating possibility. The Emser Tile design in the master bath is chic and on-trend in a herringbone design. The Niagara toilets and Moen faucets are aided by the Rinnai and ACT, Inc. water heating systems working in sync to conserve our most valuable resource without sacrificing practicality.
What goes unseen is the innovative technology that went into the walls themselves that is integral to the efficiency of the ABC Green Home 3.0. The attic insulation in the flat and rafter portions are both rated R-49 and the exterior wall insulations are R-23+R5/R-23. The interior garage walls were also rated R-23. Obviously, the tighter the building envelope, the less heat-transference one way or the other, which leads to less heating or cooling which then means less energy expended. Energy efficiency starts in the insulation of walls and attics and in this case is aided by the design. 24-inch-on-center Roseburg Lumber framing supplied by partner Reliable Lumber, allowing for more Owens Corning blown fiberglass insulation underneath the roof deck and in the walls, combined with Owens Corning one-inch think rigid foam sandwiched between DuPont Tyvek membrane underneath the siding, creating a nine-inch thick wall. But the PV is what “zero’s out” the home.
Thanks to funding from SoCalGas and Southern California Edison and title services by First American Title and all the partners mentioned above, the vision of an affordable, buildable, certified (and now healthy) green home has come to fruition. And now, on to the next.
Genevieve Smith is the Editor at Peninsula Publishing. She may be reached at gen@penpubinc.com.