I apologize for the quality of this picture, I will have better shots of the finished front in the next few weeks. Here you can see the front porch flagstones just after they were laid down. You can somewhat see the front door, which is mahogany with double glaze glass (again, good insulative properties), and a beautiful pewter detail between the two glazings.

GBI and Insulation

In the area of insulation we made another GBI-oriented choice. Just as we sealed the crawlspace, we chose to seal the attic via spray-in foam insulation. This seals the area as well as providing extremely high R-value insulation. For the walls we chose packed cellulose insulation. This brought the cost down versus doing spray-foam everywhere, but also has very high R-value insulation. In addition, it uses recycled materials (often newspapers) that are treated to repel insects and provide fire retardation. A mesh is hung from the walls and the treated cellulose shred is packed in behind the mesh. This type of insulation also has a very high sound-dampening affect, making the house nice and quiet inside. In order to seal the rest of the house, all gaps were sealed on the walls before the cellulose insulation was installed.

Siding and Stone Facade

This past month has been mostly siding, the last few bits of roofing, applying stone facade to foundation, porch, and chimney, and the rough electric/plumbing/HVAC. Here you see some pictures from a couple weeks ago where nearly all the siding has been put on. We chose Hardiplank siding for durability and ease of maintenance. The stone facade is actually brick that is fashioned to look like stone. The type we chose has the coloration throughout the brick so that it can be chipped to size like real stone. We also chose the optional "spotters", which are the larger, rounder stones. The spotters break up the rectangular ledgestone pattern just enough to give a natural flow to the overall look. These stone-like bricks are very durable and economical for foundation coverage.

Windows Installed

Throughout the construction process so far, we have had quite a few rain delays. The week before last, all the windows were put in, then rain delayed the start of the siding work. This past week, boxing and siding has been started. This picture shows the windows just after they were installed. These windows represent another one of our GBI choices. They are low-e, double-paned, and gas-filled which gives them very high efficiency ratings.

Rough framing is almost complete

Now that the rough framing is nearly complete, we will be moving on to some new GBI decisions. We are currently getting quotes for sealing the attic, just as we sealed the crawlspace. This has all the same benefits of sealing the crawlspace, but it has additional benefits. First, you no longer need attic vents or fans. Another benefit has to do with removing a limitation normally imposed by building green. Green building frowns on the use of "can" lights (also called recessed lighting) because it creates a gap from the attic into your conditioned space. If your attic was not sealed, you would be creating a bridge from outside air to your inside conditioned air. Thus, if you seal your attic, you no longer need to worry about that, and you can utilize recessed lighting without harm to your home's energy efficiency.