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Going Green From The Outside In...or Inside Out **Updated November 2010
Part of any remodeling project involves choices and currently that includes products which are considered "green". As an interior designer it is just as important to consider the outside and the inside of a home especially when it comes to sustainable design. For this home, home decorating was about going green and it happened outdoors too. This contemporary home was built in 1978 well before the living green and going green evolution. The products used on and in this home have performed past thirty years and though they were great in their day many have passed their useful life span by either design or neglectful maintenance.
Over the past four years many of these items have been replaced with more energy efficient, sustainable or green building choices. Lots of research went into locating the most cost effective, energy efficient, well designed, and visually appealing solutions. Every item had to perform and look good. Green was a top consideration for selecting new products. Some worked and some didn't.
Here is a before picture which does include a new garage door and energy efficient outdoor lighting. Note the bubble skylight roof system.
| Out with the old... Old metal framed double pane (leaky) sliding glass doors were replaced with new energy efficient double and triple-pane Low-E glass argon gas filled clad sliding doors by Pella.
Badly warped wood windows that you could hear the outside through, were replaced with energy efficient aluminium clad wood windows from Eagle Windows.
A double layer acrylic bubble skylight roof was replaced by energy efficient Velux Skylights.
Dried out heavy 40 year thick asphalt shingles were replaced with a Energy Star rated, fully recyclable, LEED certified, maintenance free solution of standing seam metal (a very green roof, in silver) by Firestone Building Products. Properly installed metal roofs outlast conventional roof systems by years. Metal roofs have been around for hundreds of years, in fact a relative with a home built in 1812 is on 100+ years with the home’s second metal roof! 
Numerous inside features and appliances were and will be changed. Latest Green Upgrades: Replaced poorly maintained cedar siding, riddled with carpenter bee and woodpecker holes with CertainTeed Fiber Cement Siding. This siding has a 50 year warranty, contains more than 30% post-industrial material, and offers superior durability and weather resistance to the extreme weather conditions here in Northeast Ohio.
This same cedar siding was replaced in a different location with Firestone Metal Products UnaClad factory painted wall panel system. Besides having the same green benefits as the metal roofing the really spectacular part was that I was able to design the shape, size and pattern of the wall panel system to meet my visual specifications.
Special Note: the old cedar siding was repurposed to a different homeowner for use on a chicken coop - it did not go into a landfill!
The Live Roof. This short roof on the floating walkway (it is a hallway connecting four separate buildings) was the perfect location to install a truly green roof. Firestone 60 mil reinforced EPDM rubber roofing is installed under numerous garden roof trays filled with different species of sedum which once the warm weather hits with be lush with colors of green to contrast with the “Lisa” Blue siding. Yes these are live plants. Yes, they will winter just fine. No, I will not need to weed. The only maintenance is a little fertilizer come spring.
 
Here are the new pictures everyone has been asking for...and yes the sedum held up fabulous in the snow and is in bloom! 
Look at how much it has filled in and it is only June! By september is will be creeping over the edge of the trays.  Fall 2010 Update: Well, they didn't stay looking this way. Problem is too much slope calls for a different type of soil mixture - one which holds in moisture and of course they only make one type. The typical soil mix allows water to run through and does not hold moisture. The green roof trays require a "flat" or significantly lower slope roof to work well. In this application most of the plants died. So, the trays will be replaced. Verdict: failure.
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Interior Design Factory, Ltd. 29399 Shaker Blvd. Pepper Pike, OH 44124 Phone: 216.255.4143 Fax: 216.765.8065 |