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Add Green to Your Home — and Your Pocketbook — by Remodeling

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Green buildingThe rapid growth of green building means that new home owners can take advantage of the lower operating and maintenance costs that come with these energy- and resource-efficient homes.

But for the 120 million existing homes in the United States, remodeling is the only way for home owners to incorporate green practices. NAHB Remodelers offers the following suggestions to home owners who want to increase their home’s efficiency, decrease costs and take advantage of the other benefits that green offers.

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A Sacred Place – LSC Featured in Carolina Home and Garden

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BY KATE O’CONNOR
Designed by architect Maury Hurt to occupy the footprint of an existing A-frame, this serene lakeside home maximizes its location and boasts many vernacular exterior finishes including stone, cedar shake and pebble dash stucco. Green built and Energy Star efficient, the home earned regional and national awards for the builder, Living Stone Construction, and a state-level award for the interior designers, Allard & Roberts.

Designed by architect Maury Hurt to occupy the footprint of an existing A-frame, this serene lakeside home maximizes its location and boasts many vernacular exterior finishes including stone, cedar shake and pebble dash stucco. Green built and Energy Star efficient, the home earned regional and national awards for the builder, Living Stone Construction, and a state-level award for the interior designers, Allard & Roberts.

Photography by David Dietrich

Adiscreet sign at the front entrance reads “Sanctuary.” Fair enough. You’ve navigated some narrow country roads and come down a steep driveway to get here. The cedar shake and stone house is tucked into a wooded lot, perched on the hillside beside Lake Lure. A mountain retreat — a lake house…it makes sense. But then you walk through the stone portal and enter the great room. Before you, a massive arched wall of windows captures a stunning view: the vast sky, the distant, craggy face of a mountain and the sparkling waters of the lake.

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Tips on Green Design for Your Home: An Interview with Sean Sullivan of Living Stone Construction, Inc

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Published July 14th in NorthCarolinaHome
Living Stone is a Green builder of fine custom, and semi-custom, homes. We offer turn-key services to bring complete value to the client and make the building process enjoyable. Much like sustainability in building, our “Living Stone Difference” process is sustainable. When you work with us, we can help you find land, design your home, build your home (or renovation), prescribe finishes, provide financing, and deliver a home warranty.

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Are green home buyers happy home buyers?

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A new survey shows that they are. 

It’s National Designation Month, when the National Association of Home Builders shine the spotlight on those industry professionals who go the extra mile by seeking the education and training they need to attain professional designations that signify their specialized knowledge.

It’s especially important with green ─ high-performance ─ building. More and more consumers are looking for homes designed to save energy and water and that incorporate locally sourced materials. Choosing a builder or remodeler who holds the NAHB Certified Green Professional (CGP) or Master Certified Green Professional designations is one way to find someone with the latest knowledge of these high-performance practices.

These industry professionals have studied the interplay between energy efficiency and indoor air quality, understand the principles of environmentally sensitive lot design and are trained to help their buyers make decisions to result in a home that is green as they want it to be.

Many of these professionals also turn to certification programs such as the ENERGY STAR and whole-house certification programs such as those based on the ICC National Green Building Standard (NGBS), a nationally accredited rating system that forms the foundation of their training.

The result: Measurable customer satisfaction.

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Energy Efficiency Testimonial

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kitchen

“The energy efficiency of the house has made it very comfortable through some very extreme weather and our energy bills have been remarkably low. I cannot believe how well we did on energy costs every month. The energy star rating of the home has really paid off. Truly, I haven’t had energy costs this low in 20 years.” Gary Holstein 

Every home we build is Energy Star Certified.  Why?

With ENERGY STAR, you know you are making the right decision—for your wallet, for your family, and for the environment—bringing these important benefits:

Lower Utility Bills

By using less energy for heating, cooling, and water heating, ENERGY STAR certified homes deliver approximately 20% savings on annual utility bills. Over the 7 to 8 years that a typical family lives in a home, you can save thousands of dollars in maintenance cost.

Enhanced Performance

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Managing Moisture in Your Home

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Managing moisture in and around your home is one of the most important things you can do to ensure its longevity, make it comfortable to live in, and prevent damage to its contents.

The National Association of Home Builders’ MyHome Press has published a handbook for home owners, “Home Maintenance Made Easy,” and the excerpt below contains helpful advice on how to control your home’s moisture.

BathroomHigh Performance Home Benefits

New high performance homes incorporate the latest building science principles to control temperature and humidity, maintain indoor air quality and increase energy efficiency. Although your home may not include all of the latest air-sealing, ventilation, and moisture-management technology, you will be more comfortable in your home and it will last longer it you do everything possible to manage moisture. This includes replacing filters, controlling humidity, and—when outside air is cool and dry—allowing fresh air into your home.

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Easy Ways To Green Your Home

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Exterior Screened- In PorchGreen building, where new homes are built using materials that conserve energy and environmental resources, is one of the fastest-growing segments of the home building industry today.  But for the owners of the millions of existing homes in the United States, remodeling is the only way to incorporate green. 

NAHB Remodelers offers the following suggestions to home owners who want to increase their home’s efficiency, decrease costs, and take advantage of the other benefits that green offers: 

1. Install maximum insulation.

Forty percent of the energy consumed in a typical house goes to heating and cooling. Adding insulation is an easy way to increase efficiency. Insulation is rated by its ability to resist heat flow, known as “R-value.” The higher the R-value, the more effectively the insulation resists heat flow. Adding insulation will help save energy costs, increase comfort by better controlling temperature, and improve indoor air quality by eliminating gaps through which dirt, dust, and other impurities can enter.

 2. Install high-efficiency windows.

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Improve Your Home’s Energy Efficiency with Technology

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Today’s home owners and buyers are looking for ways to incorporate home technologies that increase the long-term value of their house but also provide convenience, safety and comfort. Energy management is a highly-desired feature in both newly-built and existing homes, along with multi-zone heating, ventilation and air-conditioning (HVAC) systems and lighting controls. Not only are these features easy-to-use, but they also provide energy-efficiency.  

 

By incorporating the following technologies, home owners can save money on their utility bills:

 

  • Automated HVAC systems can maintain a more energy-efficient temperature while the home owners are away at work, but switch to a more comfortable temperature prior to their arrival home.  Zones can also be created to heat or cool only the areas most used by the occupants, keeping other areas, such as guest bedrooms, shut down until they are needed. They also can combat the problem of heat rising, keeping upper floors cooler in the summer without freezing the lower floors in a home. According to Energy Star, a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy, programmable thermostats can save consumers about $180 per year in energy costs. 

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Black Mountain Builder Builds Green Utilizing Foam Insulation

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Living Stone Construction understand the importance of using “spray foam” to insulate every home we build for many reasons, the most important being the energy efficiency    Spray foam insulation offers numerous benefits that traditional cellulose or fiberglass insulation fail to provide. Here are a few of the reasons why this kind of insulation is an ideal, energy-efficient alternative to its counterparts.


tradtional-insulation-vs-spray-foam


Foam Insulation Asheville


  • Spray foam insulation fills gaps
  • Spray foam insulation expands up to 100 times its volume when it is applied to surfaces, filling gaps that might otherwise cause air leakage. Meanwhile, cellulose and fiberglass can be loosely packed, which can result in drafty spots or stuffy areas in a building.
  • Spray foam insulation is healthier
  •  Spray foam insulation is eco-friendly and helps keep allergens and pollutants outside of homes and businesses.
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Green Building Outlet Strong- Asheville Builder

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The U.S. green building market continues to accelerate, according to McGraw-Hill Construction’s 2013 Dodge Construction Green Outlook report. The value of green building has seen growth from $10 billion in 2005 to $78 billion in 2011. In 2012, the total market — non-residential and residential — is expected to be worth $85 billion, and by 2013, overall new green building is projected to rise to between $98 billion and $106 billion. By 2016, this number is expected to reach $204 billion to $248 billion.

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Superior Walls: Instant Gratification

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Superior walls are efficient because they are pre-manufactured and pre-engineered. Install time is a fraction of a typical foundation. Also, they are pre-studded on the inside so they are ready to be finished out whenever. They are energy efficient because they are insulated panels.  This foundation was set in 3 hours, using Superior Walls.

Superior WallsSuperior Walls

 

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