When to try and when to fly
I live in 1300 sq ft 2 story home built in 1908 in NW PA. We did some renovation in 2008 but mainly focused on inside finish and trim. I’m very focused on energy efficiency and green living. My thought was to go forward and apply know green renovation techniques to this house ( insulation, air sealing, better mechanicals, etc.) However, I’m afraid that this work is pushing beyond what this home’s value is. I really believe in what Martin said about the greenest homes are the ones that already exists. But at some point putting money into a home that will never support the financial investment is not feasible. Also if we decide to move, we have at least 10 years left here, I feel like I’d be in the same situation with a new to me home. So when does it make sense to build new?
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Interesting... I just made this point in Martin's podcast:
"The idea that the greenest house is the one is never built and we should fix old homes first may not be always true.
If I want to have a 1ACH40, HERS40 house from a 1970s house (worse if older) it would be so extremely expensive to retrofit by the time you deal with foundation, drainage, structural, moisture, HVAC, electrical and so many other issues, that it would be easier to tear down and start from scratch. This is happening in many cities across the country, at least in my neck of the woods in TX"
We started renovating a 1957 rambler in 2009 we hope to finish this coming summer. And by 'finish' I do not mean landscaping or interiors.
This is a cautionary tale- we are an excellent bad example- take heed.
That is not to say 'don't do it', rather it is to say, think and plan very carefully.
1) Do not 'piece-meal' it. make your decisions all at once, whatever they are and live with them. Changes get extremely painful and expensive very quickly. We ended up 'backing-in' to a PassiveHause design (technically EnerPHit), and I don't know that we would do it again. Martin Holladay has recent article with some pretty impressive analysis about 'right-sizing' your efforts.
2) Don't do it yourself unless you've got 8 years and don't mind living in a construction zone and neglecting your family, not to mention any other personal interests you might have, like sleep.
3) Work with an architect who is aware of GBA and uses it as a resource regularly, and who has a good portfolio of similar projects. When you start shopping around for architects, every trunk slammer handyman within a hundred miles will tell you they build 'green'. You maybe already are aware, but this whole area is a 'razors edge' proposition- as you employ these practices, the risk increase dramatically- faulty understanding of principals can get you into very difficult and very expensive problems very quickly. I routinely talk to people who warn me about making my house 'too tight' because of all the horror stories about people ruining their houses because they didn't know what they were doing. On another thread the great contributors on GBA are getting me straightened out on a misconception that I developed regarding exterior applied insulation. I've been at this 8 years, and I read a lot, and I think I know a lot, and it just happened to me. Do NOT assume that you know anything.
4) Work with an architect who has a good working relationship with _several_ builders. Hiring a builder who does not want or know how to follow an architects design is a catastrophe waiting to happen. Also, you want to pay your architect as little as possible to teach your builder what they need to know.
5) Do your homework- this might be optional- at some point we all have to trust someone, it's just a matter of what you consider to be due diligence. By nature, I really want to understand this stuff and to double check design recommendations. Also the architect is going to give you choices- I really think it pays to have alternative perspectives. For instance, if we were starting over, I'd think more seriously about an assembly suggested by our architect early on- dense-packed cellulose blown into cavities between I joists fasted to on the studs on the outside of the house, covered with a special mesh. I wouldn't be dealing with all this foam-board silliness right now, and it's greener. The only downside is you need it thicker, but so what?
One last comment: when considering 'value', we very quickly slid into very arbitrary valuations. It's hard to look strictly at dollars, and if you try to, you won't do any of this. But 'value' to us also included creating a beautiful 'legacy' house that we love and can stay in indefinitely. Depending on the your metrics, the dollar value of that lies somewhere between $0 and $1,000,000,000.
Good luck!
To Armando Cobo,
If we want to avoid catastrophic climate change, it isn't necessary to fix up our older homes. Nor is it necessary to build new homes. We just need to burn less fossil fuel -- and there are lots of ways to do that.
If you can cost-effectively fix up your existing house, and you can afford to do the work, by all means, do it.
But riding a bicycle to work might have a bigger impact.
-- Martin Holladay
To Armando Reyes,
The decision on whether to live in your existing house, or to build a new one, is almost never made based on green principles. It is based on a host of factors: location, school district, size of your family, and size of your bank account.
If you want to build a new house, and you can afford to do so, my guess is that my opinion on the matter is irrelevant.
-- Martin Holladay