Fresh Air Introduction - Fresh air introduction is simply bringing outdoor air into a building. Indoor Air Quality(IAQ) is always worse than outdoor air quality. Many IAQ experts point to indoor air as the reason behind many illnesses including allergies, asthma, and lung cancer. Indoor air is always more polluted than oudoor air because contaminants are concentrated in the small volume of a building. Carbon dioxide and humidity can build to unhealthy levels but the real culprits are VOCs and other toxic off-gases. These come from not only the building materials but all the things we bring into our homes; furniture, electronics, plastics, and paper. Fresh air introduction is better than filtration because you can't filter cleaner than the outside air.
Passive Solar Construction - A correctly designed passive solar building can reduce heating costs and corresponding emissions by 60-90%. Passive Solar design is simply stretching the building's length from East to West and putting most of the windows on the South side. The low winter sun stays on the southern horizon and heats your home for free. Overhangs shade the sun when it begins to take a higher angle in the Summer. Proper design is crucial for good performance. Unfortunately, most designers, builders, and architects are not educated in passive solar and the result is alot of designs that are underheated or overheated. Springtime homes is an expert in the many details of passive solar construction.
Structural Insulated Panels - Of the many things that can save you money on utility bills, SIPS is the most important in new construction. It has been proven by the best building scientists in the country that properly installed Structural Insulated Panels(SIPS) always outperform traditional stud and stick framing. They are much more airtight, have better, continuous insulation, and they are stonger and quieter than stick built wall assemblies. They are affordable, readily available, and can speed the time to "dry in" the framing stage of construction. Springtime Homes insists on SIPS for all above grade walls of new construction.
Air Tight Envelopes - If you could narrow down the most important thing to build healthy and energy efficient, eliminating air infiltration is it. Heating and cooling is the biggest energy requirement in buildings. So while a very efficient system makes sense, you can have a much bigger impact by not allowing all the conditioned air to escape through the many unseen cracks that occur in construction. Uncontrolled air movement in our humid climate is also an invitation for mold development. Air infiltration is easily measured with the diagnostic tool known as the blower door test. The air infiltration rate given by this test is the single most important number when it comes to knowing how well a builder did at making a home energy efficient and resistant to mold. Springtime Homes has built the tightest home ever tested by third party energy rater Southern Energy Concepts proving we are the best at this very important fundamental of Building Science.
Continuous Insulation - Insulation is the second most important factor when building energy efficient and mold free. Have you ever seen a house under construction in the framing stage? Imagine the 1000s of studs that make up the skeleton. Everywhere there is a stud, there is no insulation. The insulation is broken up in these typical houses in those thousands of places which drops the insulation value dramatically. Continuous insulation (unbroken in any way) should be strived for. To Springtime Homes this means building with pre-cast concrete panels and SIPS in new construction and using foam sheathing whenevever possible in remodels.
ERV with Dedicated Ducts - Enthalpy or Energy Recovery Ventilators are what provide fresh air introduction making the air inside a home healthy. They are very affordable because they are simply a fan that brings in outdoor air and exhausts indoor air. They recapture much of the energy spent to heat or cool the indoor air. Few builders install these devices and fewer still put them on dedicated ducts.
Dedicated ducts means keeping the ERV ducts seperate from the HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) ducts. Keeping ducts seperate is what most Building Scientists and Indoor Air Quality experts recommend for the simple reason of being able to control the fresh air. Each bedroom and living area can have its own 24/7 supply of fresh air from the ERV regardless of what the HVAC system is doing. Springtime Homes is one of the only builders in this area to insist on ERVs and we strongly recommend dedicated ducts.
Geothermal(Ground-Source)Heat Pumps (GHPs)
Here in WNC live in a "Mixed Humid Climate". This means we need to heat as much as we cool with the added need of dehumidification. Heat pumps are a great fit for our climate because they do all three things with the same equipment. Since heating and cooling is the largest energy requirement in buildings, it makes since to put in the most efficient systems that we can afford. Research has proven that Geothermal Heat Pumps are the most efficient systems available for heating, cooling and dehumidification. Yes, they are more expensive up front, but they are cheaper from the first day of moving in when one looks at monthly costs. GHPs will add a few dollars more to your mortgage payments but they will save you tens of dollars every month by reduced utility costs. Springtime homes is Asheville's first installer of a refrigerant based (most efficient type) GHP.
Pumpless Solar Hot Water
This method of heating water uses the laws of nature to circulate fluids instead of man made parts. Springtime Homes is the first builder of this type of solar water system on new construction in our area. Water Heating is the second biggest energy requirement in most homes. Solar water can save you 60%-80% of water heating costs. Most solar collectors are put up on the roof where they will eventually have to be taken off to re-roof. Most collectors that were installed in the 70's were never put back up due to this extra cost and complication. Perhaps the bigger problem is that roof mounted collectors require pumps, controllers, and electrical wiring. These things add to the cost, complication, failure rate, and maintenance. If the site allows it, put the collector on the ground with the storage tank above it and none of this extra complication is needed because heat rises just fine on its own. The builder and possibly designer need to be involved with this type of system from the beginning to insure structural and locational requirement are met.
Passive Solar Construction - A correctly designed passive solar building can reduce heating costs and corresponding emissions by 60-90%. Passive Solar design is simply stretching the building's length from East to West and putting most of the windows on the South side. The low winter sun stays on the southern horizon and heats your home for free. Overhangs shade the sun when it begins to take a higher angle in the Summer. Proper design is crucial for good performance. Unfortunately, most designers, builders, and architects are not educated in passive solar and the result is alot of designs that are underheated or overheated. Springtime homes is an expert in the many details of passive solar construction.
Structural Insulated Panels - Of the many things that can save you money on utility bills, SIPS is the most important in new construction. It has been proven by the best building scientists in the country that properly installed Structural Insulated Panels(SIPS) always outperform traditional stud and stick framing. They are much more airtight, have better, continuous insulation, and they are stonger and quieter than stick built wall assemblies. They are affordable, readily available, and can speed the time to "dry in" the framing stage of construction. Springtime Homes insists on SIPS for all above grade walls of new construction.
Air Tight Envelopes - If you could narrow down the most important thing to build healthy and energy efficient, eliminating air infiltration is it. Heating and cooling is the biggest energy requirement in buildings. So while a very efficient system makes sense, you can have a much bigger impact by not allowing all the conditioned air to escape through the many unseen cracks that occur in construction. Uncontrolled air movement in our humid climate is also an invitation for mold development. Air infiltration is easily measured with the diagnostic tool known as the blower door test. The air infiltration rate given by this test is the single most important number when it comes to knowing how well a builder did at making a home energy efficient and resistant to mold. Springtime Homes has built the tightest home ever tested by third party energy rater Southern Energy Concepts proving we are the best at this very important fundamental of Building Science.
Continuous Insulation - Insulation is the second most important factor when building energy efficient and mold free. Have you ever seen a house under construction in the framing stage? Imagine the 1000s of studs that make up the skeleton. Everywhere there is a stud, there is no insulation. The insulation is broken up in these typical houses in those thousands of places which drops the insulation value dramatically. Continuous insulation (unbroken in any way) should be strived for. To Springtime Homes this means building with pre-cast concrete panels and SIPS in new construction and using foam sheathing whenevever possible in remodels.
ERV with Dedicated Ducts - Enthalpy or Energy Recovery Ventilators are what provide fresh air introduction making the air inside a home healthy. They are very affordable because they are simply a fan that brings in outdoor air and exhausts indoor air. They recapture much of the energy spent to heat or cool the indoor air. Few builders install these devices and fewer still put them on dedicated ducts.
Dedicated ducts means keeping the ERV ducts seperate from the HVAC (Heating Ventilation and Air Conditioning) ducts. Keeping ducts seperate is what most Building Scientists and Indoor Air Quality experts recommend for the simple reason of being able to control the fresh air. Each bedroom and living area can have its own 24/7 supply of fresh air from the ERV regardless of what the HVAC system is doing. Springtime Homes is one of the only builders in this area to insist on ERVs and we strongly recommend dedicated ducts.
Geothermal(Ground-Source)Heat Pumps (GHPs)
Here in WNC live in a "Mixed Humid Climate". This means we need to heat as much as we cool with the added need of dehumidification. Heat pumps are a great fit for our climate because they do all three things with the same equipment. Since heating and cooling is the largest energy requirement in buildings, it makes since to put in the most efficient systems that we can afford. Research has proven that Geothermal Heat Pumps are the most efficient systems available for heating, cooling and dehumidification. Yes, they are more expensive up front, but they are cheaper from the first day of moving in when one looks at monthly costs. GHPs will add a few dollars more to your mortgage payments but they will save you tens of dollars every month by reduced utility costs. Springtime homes is Asheville's first installer of a refrigerant based (most efficient type) GHP.
Pumpless Solar Hot Water
This method of heating water uses the laws of nature to circulate fluids instead of man made parts. Springtime Homes is the first builder of this type of solar water system on new construction in our area. Water Heating is the second biggest energy requirement in most homes. Solar water can save you 60%-80% of water heating costs. Most solar collectors are put up on the roof where they will eventually have to be taken off to re-roof. Most collectors that were installed in the 70's were never put back up due to this extra cost and complication. Perhaps the bigger problem is that roof mounted collectors require pumps, controllers, and electrical wiring. These things add to the cost, complication, failure rate, and maintenance. If the site allows it, put the collector on the ground with the storage tank above it and none of this extra complication is needed because heat rises just fine on its own. The builder and possibly designer need to be involved with this type of system from the beginning to insure structural and locational requirement are met.
