Building on Information

The foundation of construction is the flow of information.   From the information about massing and dimensions on the plans, to the specification of the components, and the installation instructions for a specific material.  The functional information which ensures that the building will meet the code, that it will resist gravity, and perhaps even resist the test of time.

There is also another flow of information concerning the trades behind each of these elements. Ideally these are interwoven and flowed together in a sequencing which builds upon the previous work.  It calls on another layer of goods and materials which must have been coordinated to be on-site in order to avoid wasted contractor time, or countless trips to Home Depot.

An overlay on these interwoven databites is the perspective of a continuously updated budget, timeline, and as-built plans.   And finally, there is the dimensionality of serendipity, or cultivating tacit knowledge interchanges from all levels of “experts” to support a cross-fertilizing of information to arrive at even better solutions.

Until I stepped into the shoes of a G.C. on my current job, I never understood how many flows of information are involved.  I recently studied I.T. and social networking, and am convinced that the plethora of new computer systems are only complexifying issues.  Mind you – I firmly believe that we need to some software solutions, only it seems many of the current ones are developed from the perspective of one trade. 

And we are back to this concept of interoperability, integration, modularization.  It is dependent on all of the flows of information acting in concert.  As more pieces of info are shared, the commonalities are discovered, the logical sequences, the reduncies  identified. 

So how does the I.T. solution look for construction?   It would need to be server based for access by cell phones of the crew;  flexible an parametric to keep up with changes,  modifiably and lockable to prevent changes to final decisions on details.  The information would need to be linked both to design, at the front end, and accounting all throughout.

I’m constantly amazed by the ability for contractors to handle “fires” by accessing their vast network of connections.   I’m even more impressed by those have the tools and technique to harvest knowledge from this web of information in order to pro-actively “manage” the project, seek out opportunities, and have the ability to act upgrade the process.   Am looking forward to meeting some of these folks. 

One Man’s Treasure…

I have always been a great resourcer of building material treasures. Somewhat because I’m cheap, but mostly because I like the adventure of it all – and really like the whole idea of extending the life of a perfectly usable item. And - the 120 yr old beams recycled into the timber framing for my garage have character beyond any purchased truss package. But how to fit this into “standard” construction practice.

Certainly, it is much easier for a contractor to just order material from the local supply yard, and have it delivered, ready to use. No wonder that many prefer the “green” materials which comes out of the box, staking their claim on lots of recycled content.
But what about incorporating salvaged concrete roof tiles, lumber, bathtubs, doors, wood floor… Is this purely the realm of do-it-yourselfers, or can this be mainstreamed?

From my recent experience, I would offer a few thoughts… Choose the right contractor, one who will continue willingly to incorporate salvage items even when you, the homeowner, is not there to push them into it. Second, talk with this contractor and the appropriate subs, to get an idea of the specs they require. For example, check with the plumber for his/her input on faucet (brands, what hardware is to be included), number of wholes in the sink, mount (top/ undercounter), etc.

Most of all, the homeowner needs to be willing to be the treasure hunter. Finding salvage requires time. Time to find the items, time to transport, time to clean them up and make them construction ready. On my job, our homeowner contribution was in pulling nails from used boards, cleaning off roof tile, lots of time on Craigslist and time retrieving items. It is not always cheaper, but may make sense for other reasons.

It can be done, and can offer an opportunity for a homeowner to contribute to the final outcome, possibly save a bit of money, and be more involved. And remember, if it doesn’t fit – it can always go back on Craigslist…

Investing in Our Future

Sometimes days speed by, filled with nothing but busy work. It’s like paying on an interest-only loan.; Perpetual activity but no measurable progress. I wonder if the current stimulus money is a bit like that. Paving over roads, which will just need to be paved over again. What if the money were used instead for supporting light rail, alternative energy technology, or grid distribution systems? More than just providing current jobs, this would be an investment in our future.

How does this fit in our interactive green building perspective? It seems to me that the stimulus approach to reinvigorating the residential construction industry is missing an opportunity to make progress, make investments into buildings for our future.

For example, the weatherization program funding has been vastly increased under the stimulus plan. A handful of contractors are keeping busy helping improve low income homes. But what about all the contractors and homeowners in the middle income, who could also benefit from the resulting lower energy bills? Investing funds in training for this group would expand the outreach of this program, improve the “stock” of building professionals, and perhaps influence the overall quality of construction.

The leveraging power of the stimulus funds could equally be used to promote more durable solutions in the capitol investments projects which are on the books. Bridge building, road construction, transportation terminals. Could the funds be tied to sustainability benchmarks, service life minimums?

As always, when I am busy berating the ills of government or others, the pointing finger hooks back toward me. What am I doing to invest in the future?Can I make sure that at least some part of my daily tasks are working toward permanent solutions. Maybe it is getting a tree planted, for a future generation to enjoy the shade. Or being more attentive to providing ventilation to my solar panels, so they last longer.  Or designing a house for possible split apartments, creating more solutions for future housing.

Personally, I supported the concept of a “Green Corps,” much like the YCC of the 30’s.  An investment in our youth, our planet and our future. 

Thanks for Thinking

That was my theme on our jobsite. Thanks, Dallin, for setting the 7 ft garage door header at 8 ft, for easier future remodel. Thanks, Fransisco, for thinking about how air travels and off-setting the joints of the foam from the corner joint of the sheathing – to create a better barrier for air and water penetration.

On the other hand, offsetting the bay window roof out of line with the angles of the bay wall created havoc for installing the crown molding - requiring the addition of a spacer.  More work, more cost.  Contractors are full of stories of wall framing which is out of square, impacting the sheetrock, the floor, tilework. Or the plumber who rips big holes in the insulation or put pipe junction in very awkward spaces. Or the HVAC crew who place vents with no regard to the follow-up crew of flooring, or placement of furniture.

Modular thinking. We need a bit more of that. Thinking of the function of the material being installed, and the relationship of that material to other materials. The classic case is the installation of a tub on an exterior wall, where the insulation is often omitted because of sequencing. Would it be so hard for the plumber to include this service as part of the install?

This modular, or team thinking, will inevitably involve some shifting of jobs from one trade to another, or an overlapping of scheduling in order to mesh the projects. Accounting practices need to also be adjusted, to allow for some of the shifting of funds among trades. There have also been experimentations with contractual arrangements, whereby a trade is not paid in full until the subsequent trade assesses any corrections or repairs to the work they are building upon. This might get into some legal hassles, but it could serve as a good potential deterrent.

Like the IKEA assembly of furniture, do we need to do a bit more thinking about how our own part fits with the next piece?

Modular Green

One of my favorite newsletters comes from the Building Science Corporation. It features the new “Insights,” expounding on yet one more aspect of homebuilding with inimitable wit and rasor-sharp commentary on the sorry state of current residential construction. Ah, we lament, why are there not more Dr. Joe’s and Dr. John’s out there?

In one spirited debate with Joe Lstiburek, he assured me that he could build as tight and energy efficient a house with traditional wood framing as anyone could with ICFs, SIPs or other. To which I wholeheartedly agreed, but he doesn’t live in my home town and isn’t building all the homes across the nation. Building good thermal envelopes is so darn complicated and mired in potential “mold” mines. So how do we educate the masses?

Or do we? What if we took another tack, and developed building materials which can deliver the promised performance with the existing level of trades? What if we looked at the requirements of green building, specifically energy efficiency, and more precisely the thermal envelope, and developed products which are “modular.” That is to say that they delivery all we want in the exterior wall – i.e., structural strength adaptable to any situation (ie high wind, earthquake, etc), continuous insulation, not subject to moisture problems, airtight, noise resistant, bug resistant, no off-gassing, recycled material …. What if we asked for all that in one product, and required that all these performance specs be inherent in the system, i.e. NOT dependent on install.

Of course, one great system comes to mind, ICFs. It is an "all-in-one" material. This concept of ‘modular’ material would help guarantee the delivery of performance. It would reduce the potential for error, because the number of installation steps would be reduced, and the number of trades involved would be simplified. This approach might also simplify current problems of scheduling and sequencing. The materials could then be further engineered for ease of install, for improved interface and connections with other materials.

Fewer sku’s, fewer connections, and more reliable delivery of performance. Where else might this lead? Sheetrock replaced lathe & plaster. Marmoleum’s new “Click” flooring combines the cork underlayment with the top linoleum. Can modular roof be designed with snap-together trusses, insulation, sheathing, and waterproofing?

Any ideas? Thanks for thinking.

IKEA Construction

Levittown, Sears Catalog homes, pods. Every few years, there is an attempt to standardize the residential construction process. Always touted as the path of the future… but here we are, still mostly building homes one stick at a time.

Not all waves were driven by the same motivation. Sears Catalog sold over 70,000 houses in the early 1900s, bringing “modern” conveniences like central heating and plumbing to do-it-yourself builders. The Levittown communities, on the other hand, were the first mass-produced housing in the USA, developed on Long Island in response to a need for post-war housing. Adapted from a system of building military buildings, this system based on uniform and interchangeable parts was also fast, efficient and affordable. While these communities were often seen as monotonous in design and neighborhood culture, the homes have proven to be very adaptable and easily modified to meet homeowners needs.

The ongoing version of standardization is manufactured homes. Geared toward the low-cost market, these homes still suffer from negative connotations of mobile homes, not always deserved. Built in a controlled factory environment, they may well benefit from higher precision of materials and installation.

Can this factory approach serve as an incubator for the recent interest in panelization and modular components? The communist government in Eastern Europe perfected this method, with modular assemblies of bathroom/ kitchens containing all the plumbing and central HVAC. These were placed by crane into concrete highrise assemblies. It was a good idea, except for the lousy concrete work.

The governing equation in housing is Q(uality) x S(cope) = C(ost) x T(ime) 1. Can modern US manufactured housing companies learn from Levittown, from the communist builders? Maybe we identify which parts are suitable to mass-production, for example, the exterior shell and a “utility core.” Other parts might be best built on-site. Will this allow us to reduce the time, and maybe cost from waste and transfer of individual component parts, in order to allow for an increase in quality?

And what about the issue of "sameness"? A quick glance at new townhouses will confirm that we are quickly barreling towards uniformity in design already. So that might be o.k., as long as the structure of the house allows for the homeowner's adaptive re-use.

This is the new “edge” of the home design and construction. Stay tuned - today we just asked the questions to introduce the theme. Next week, we’ll look at the implications this may have on energy efficiency. And then....

For more reading: Kieran, S., J. Timberlake.2004. Refabricating Architecture: How Manufacturing Methodologies Are Poised to Transform Building Construction, McGraw Hill, New York.

Sour Milk

It was my fault. I opened the refrigerator door more often than my mom does when she is by herself. The temperature changes on the gallon of milk on the door make it spoil before we could use it all.  Just how many times did we open the fridg door?   Is the sour milk a measure of wasted energy?

I started thinking about daily habits.  Could I accumulate all the food next to the fridg and open the door just once?  Did hand washing each plate separately make sense, or was the dishwasher more efficient?  What about trips to the store? How many trips does it take to Home Depot to finish a project?    

Garrison Keillor’s column in our Sunday paper, was uncharacteristically despondent, as he identified the US as a “great nation immobilized by navel-gazers and poseurs”  and “self-centered, short-sighted people, intent on comfort, averse to sacrifice.  We know this.  Knowing it does not empower us to change.” His mood was in response to the oil disaster in the gulf, and lest you start pointing fingers, Garrison is quick to curve those back around to point at ourselves -  the owners of companies, the voters, we the people of the elected government.

Can we change?  If we can, it will start with a paradigm shift in our thinking about our own microcosm and our own concentric rings of influence. If you are mad about a child abuse you read in the paper, rather than march in a protest rally,  reach out to children in your neighborhood.  If you are frustrated with litter, then make it a practice every day to pick up a section of street which you walk along.  You may find, as I once did, that it inspires the neighbors to do the same.

And if you are concerned about the oil spill -  take a look at your own spigot.  How much of the energy you use is wasted, with its related carbon footprint impacting the environment much as the oil leaking into the Gulf.  For about $25, you can buy a Kill-a-Watt Power meter to measure actual consumption of appliances and to discover phantom loads.   EPA has a Household Emissions Calculator , Energy Star offers Home Energy Yardstick and even Microsoft offer the Hohm site to help you compare yourself to the Jones’.  Wow – imagine neighborhoods where the one-upmanship was based on energy reduction, vs. power toys parked in the driveway.

There is no point in blaming the dairy or the fridg manufacturer for our sour milk.  It is time we evolved our conscious to have an awareness and acceptance of our own realities.  These are the first step of the  AA and Weightwatchers plans.   What’s our plan?  

Other Tools:

The Government of Canada has organized them all onto one great webpage.

Squidoo offers a full comparison of carbon footprint calculators, to help monitor your own activities.

P.S.  For those who have been stymied by comment posting restrictions, we now have freedom of speech  -  the problem has been fixed.   Thanks for your patience. 

Green Foam

The classification of building materials as “green” has become far more sophisticated than the early days, in which only strawbale and rocks were considered organic.  We now consider the entire life cycle of the product, and look at the content with a microscope.   This is certainly a good step, but still not at the final solution in which we factor in the intended use of the product.

Take insulation, for example.  There was a lot of hype about insulation made from recycled blue jeans, or from cellulose byproducts, as being most natural and therefore preferable.   On the flip side, foams made from petroleum byproducts got a lot of flack – because they come from – petroleum. Gee - but doesn't byproduct mean it would be in the waste stream had this foam application not been invented?  Oddly, soy based foam is touted as super green, as if this foam were farmed in the soyfields of Ohio.   In truth, soy replaces only about 15% of the petroleum base for the spray foam. 

The final step in evaluating an insulation is the ability to … well..  insulate. Energy Star Raters follows a system of rating insulation based on the installation of the product. To attain a rating of "Grade I", wall insulation shall be enclosed on all six sides, and shall be in substantial contact with the sheathing material on at least one side  (interior or exterior) of the cavity.  Of course, as we learned from our AirForce Blog (5/28),  insulation is only effective if there are limited air leaks.  So the Grade I enclosed on all six sides means NO AIR LEAKS.

Then there is the question of Long- Term Thermal Resitance (LTTR).   Will R-values stay consistent to the values at time of installation, or will it degrade over time, due to settling, oxidization, humidity, or unstable chemical content.   It’s not like you can just reach into a wall cavity and exchange it once it has worn out… For example polyurethane is blown with heavy gases such as hydrochlorofluorocarbons (HFCs), which diffuses out of the foam over time and reduces the effective R-value of the product.  However, the EPS foam used in ICFs and SIPS products contain no trapped CFCs and HFCs, and twenty year testing has shown no shrinkage or reduction in insulation values.   GreenSpec continues to list SIPs and ICF products in their directory, because the system-related energy-performance benefits counteract the negatives associated with the chemical constituents.

Blogs discussions about EPS foam crop up from time to time, one recently moderating by Alex Wilson at www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/.  One post notes the irony of using petrochemical materials to save petrochemical materials.  However, that is exactly the point.  I would much rather use my petrochemicals now to make durable insulation material in order to avoid the future need to consume it as fuel. As to the discussion of the HBCD, the European concern has to do with bio-accumulation, but not about contact.  It is mostly as a result of the more easily separated beads of low density foam used in fruit packing, but certainly the ICF industry can address this issue through construction site practice.  HBCD is a fire retardant, and is currently accepted as being one of the least harmful and is thus used in many products.    Code prevents us from building without fire retardants.

I would urge builders to keep their eye on the key green goal of saving energy, and choose products which can provide the highest insulation value for a durability and long-term performance of 100 years.  Now that would be a great, green, legacy.

Building for Boomers

Mid-century. Much like the architecture of this vintage, the people of this era have distinctive characteristics and lifestyles. Over 76 million in America alone, these “Baby Boomers,”  or mid-centurians, hope to remain active through their 2^nd and 3^rd careers.  They prefer to stay in their own homes, and keep involved in cultural and social aspects of their community.

The implications for the construction industry are significant. These are not Del Webb retirement community folks.  Retirement communities are more likely to be infill projects, near transportation, university or neighborhood retail centers.  Small homes or townhouses blended into mixed generation or co-housing developments.  City governments could support this trend for urban revitalization projects.

Space design needs to consider adaptive re-use. Retirement homes are decreasing in footprint, but the trend is toward larger informal entertainment spaces and improved audio/ visual capabilities. In my own remodel project, the dining room can be converted to an office, and the powder room has an access to the public space, separate from the private quarters of the master bedroom/ bathroom.

Boomers are also planning to age in place.  Remodels need to include provisions for single level access and universal design, with wider hallways, bracing in the walls for handrails.  Wide showers, and radiant heat on the floor.  On my main floor, I pre-plumbed and vented for a stack washer & dryer in the master bathroom.  The basement is ready to be split into a separate apartment, for renters, live-in kids, or caretakers. 

But above all, remodels or new construction must be built well.  No leaks, no air drafts, no failures due to bad construction.   We may be mid-centurians now – but hope to live for many more years.  The last thing we want to do is paint, repair, fix. Especially the exterior building materials should be durable and require little maintenance.  AND – we want clean indoor air, and energy efficient houses as insurance against an increasingly polluted world and rising oil prices. 

Boomers have always expected the best. Can the industry deliver?