Wednesday, October 21, 2009
Tuesday, October 20, 2009
The Results Are In...
WINDOWS APPROVED!
Today, we won unanimous approval for our Optiwin (fixed upper and offset lower tilt and turn sash) windows from the Landmark Commission! It is nice to know that we have a very thoughtful group of Board members running Landmarks for NYC at this time. David White and I presented the window drawings as well as described the Passive House standard. The Board seemed to be very excited about the idea. One of the members said that he especially liked that one of the first Passive Houses would be in a Landmark district because it spoke to preservation and sustainability working together. The Board stated that because we were going to such great lengths to match the outward appearance of the windows, they felt the different operation was of little consequence. We donated one of the Passive House books to Landmarks to be passed around among the staff and feel that we have made a great victory today in raising awareness about Passive House. Hopefully with this decision the next Passive House in a Landmark district will be able to gain approvals at the staff level or have a similarly fast Landmark Board process.
Moving forward, we are going to start working with Stephan Tanner to have the Optiwin windows customized for the exact window openings and will hopefully be ordering them by the beginning of next week. We expect the windows to arrive in February, if everything goes well. This is later than we wanted the windows, but today, I am not complaining. Thanks to those who helped us with our presentation and to Laura Briggs (fellow Passive House Consultant) who showed up to advocate for the project.
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
More Demolition = More Space
This past week, we were able to remove more of the existing walls on the 3rd floor at the request of the client. We knew there had been a fire in the home many years ago, but after removing the walls, we discovered the extent of the damage. The party walls were entirely blackened and remnants of old wall covering were completely scorched and left hanging. Whoever did the previous renovation chose to build partition walls 8" in front of the brick wall We assume this was done to cover up rather than remediate the smoke and fire damage. Removing these additional walls provides a great opportunity for us to seal the party wall with 'Sto Guard' and will increase the room sizes by up to 8" in width.
The carpenters were framing the bathrooms this past week, which has sparked the task of determining the best way and place to run necessary duct work without compromising any fixture locations. This is where the choice of a good HVAC contractor comes in. Bids are starting to come in for this work and a company should be hired this coming week.Next up is the spraying of the exterior walls with 3" of spray foam to give us the R-21 we need to insulate the house.
Thursday, October 1, 2009
Progress Update
Here's what is happening this week at Passive House Brooklyn...
The carpentry focus is on the much needed repairs of the structural joists. After the demolition was completed, multiple damaged areas were uncovered. In some cases only an inch of an 8" beam remained. In another case, the header at the 3rd floor stair opening had split in two and dropped 2". Haphazard repairs to this had been made over the years but nothing that would have kept it from continuing towards failure.
With the walls opened up, airsealing is another primary focus. It is important to do this before the rough framing and plumbing/electrical roughing is underway for ease of access and to prevent construction delays. To seal the many small voids in the brickwork, we are painting on a product called 'Sto Guard'. 'Sto Guard' is a very thick liquid that coats the bricks and provides an air barrier between the neighbors homes and our project.
Both the plumbers and electricians are continuing to clean out out-of-date and not-to-code pipes, wires and boxes to prepare the space for their new work.
The masons are working in the cellar to break up and dig out the old concrete slab. They will bury perforated pipes below a new slab that will address the water that forces it's way up from the ground due to the high water table in Brooklyn. These lines connect to a tank and pump to send any collected storm water out into the city sewer lines.
The carpentry focus is on the much needed repairs of the structural joists. After the demolition was completed, multiple damaged areas were uncovered. In some cases only an inch of an 8" beam remained. In another case, the header at the 3rd floor stair opening had split in two and dropped 2". Haphazard repairs to this had been made over the years but nothing that would have kept it from continuing towards failure.
With the walls opened up, airsealing is another primary focus. It is important to do this before the rough framing and plumbing/electrical roughing is underway for ease of access and to prevent construction delays. To seal the many small voids in the brickwork, we are painting on a product called 'Sto Guard'. 'Sto Guard' is a very thick liquid that coats the bricks and provides an air barrier between the neighbors homes and our project.
Both the plumbers and electricians are continuing to clean out out-of-date and not-to-code pipes, wires and boxes to prepare the space for their new work.
The masons are working in the cellar to break up and dig out the old concrete slab. They will bury perforated pipes below a new slab that will address the water that forces it's way up from the ground due to the high water table in Brooklyn. These lines connect to a tank and pump to send any collected storm water out into the city sewer lines.
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Community Board Approval!
We met with the Community Board Landmark Review Committee last week to show them our solution for the window replacement (Optiwin in the front with fixed upper sashes and tilt and turn lower and the Thermotech rear casement windows). They voted 9 to 2 in favor of allowing us to proceed to the Landmark Board (the city-wide Board with jurisdiction) with our design . We now have our Landmark Board presentation date set for Oct. 20th (right after the Passive House Conference http://www.passivehouse.us/phiusConference2009/phiusConference2009/Registration_2009.html). Hopefully, we will have some sympathetic ears on the board, but I have already heard that their initial review of our windows is causing a stir.
Another exciting item that came out of the Community Board meeting was (after they voted on approving our design) a Board member made a motion to ask Landmark Preservation to look into the Passive House standards and adjust their charter to accept and work with the standards. This was unanimously approved. It might not hold much traction with the Landmark Board, but it was heartening to see that after just a short description of Passive House and what we were trying to achieve, we won over the community to our cause. We also have a mayor who appears very sympathetic to the sustainable movement and hopefully could weigh in on the case, if necessary in the end.
Another exciting item that came out of the Community Board meeting was (after they voted on approving our design) a Board member made a motion to ask Landmark Preservation to look into the Passive House standards and adjust their charter to accept and work with the standards. This was unanimously approved. It might not hold much traction with the Landmark Board, but it was heartening to see that after just a short description of Passive House and what we were trying to achieve, we won over the community to our cause. We also have a mayor who appears very sympathetic to the sustainable movement and hopefully could weigh in on the case, if necessary in the end.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Modular Passive House Construction Video
This video showing the construction of a modular Passive House in Europe was just sent to me and is, I think, worthy of a view. If nothing else, it will make you envious about how quickly they were able to build the home.
Passive House in a Landmark District
Our project is located in Park Slope in a Landmark Preservation District. That means that any changes we make to the outside of the building that can be seen from any public street needs to gain approval from Landmark Preservation. While I am a strong proponent of Landmark Preservation in general terms, I feel that sometimes the individual rules are pushed too far and border on historical realism which should be something left to the theme parks.
We have recently run into some of these rules regarding window replacements. In order for our project to be a Passive House, we have to have a very, very good U-value performance (U-value is the inverse of R-value), a high SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient; varies in different climates and zones), and an airtight frame assembly. There are currently only two manufacturers of windows on this continent that just barely meet those requirements - Serious Windows (http://www.seriouswindows.com/), and Thermotech Windows (http://www.thermotechwindows.com/). The problem is that both of these window makers make Fiberglass windows, because it is extremely difficult to make wood windows that have low enough U-Values to meet Passive House...which brings us back to Landmark Preservation. According to Landmarks, the windows must be the same material, operation, finish, glazing size, frame size, and division as the original windows. Therefore when we submitted to Landmark Preservation our super-insulated, triple pane, painted fiberglass windows as casements (with a foax bar in the middle to simulate double-hung windows) we were rejected at the staff level. We now have to do the full Community Board and Landmark Preservation Board meetings which is a multi-month process.
We have now changed the design with Optiwin Windows for the front and the Thermotech windows for the back. The Optiwin windows are being made and shipped directly from Germany and we are having to have the frames custom made to have a fixed upper sash and a tilt and turn lower sash that is staggered back to look like double-hung from the street. While the final bid for these windows is not in yet, the cost of the shipping itself is staggering. These are the only wood windows though that we could use to hopefully satisfy Landmarks as well as Passive House Standards. Luckily, we have a client who is deeply committed to the project and is willing to steer between these unfortunately conflicting requirements.
For me, this brings up a larger issue that we have to face very quickly as a society. Does it make sense for us to take a window in time and freeze it (as is the case of Landmark Preservation) at the expense of our ecosystem? I hope that the political pressure will build soon to make clear that our environment takes precedence over most other concerns. What will a beautiful street matter if there are no people able to live in it? It is my belief though, and I think this project when completed will help prove the point, that aesthetic considerations do not have to be sacrificed for environmental ones. Sustainable design has no one style, and I look forward to the day when we will no longer need to make the distinction between 'Sustainable' design and design itself.
We have recently run into some of these rules regarding window replacements. In order for our project to be a Passive House, we have to have a very, very good U-value performance (U-value is the inverse of R-value), a high SHGC (Solar Heat Gain Coefficient; varies in different climates and zones), and an airtight frame assembly. There are currently only two manufacturers of windows on this continent that just barely meet those requirements - Serious Windows (http://www.seriouswindows.com/), and Thermotech Windows (http://www.thermotechwindows.com/). The problem is that both of these window makers make Fiberglass windows, because it is extremely difficult to make wood windows that have low enough U-Values to meet Passive House...which brings us back to Landmark Preservation. According to Landmarks, the windows must be the same material, operation, finish, glazing size, frame size, and division as the original windows. Therefore when we submitted to Landmark Preservation our super-insulated, triple pane, painted fiberglass windows as casements (with a foax bar in the middle to simulate double-hung windows) we were rejected at the staff level. We now have to do the full Community Board and Landmark Preservation Board meetings which is a multi-month process.
We have now changed the design with Optiwin Windows for the front and the Thermotech windows for the back. The Optiwin windows are being made and shipped directly from Germany and we are having to have the frames custom made to have a fixed upper sash and a tilt and turn lower sash that is staggered back to look like double-hung from the street. While the final bid for these windows is not in yet, the cost of the shipping itself is staggering. These are the only wood windows though that we could use to hopefully satisfy Landmarks as well as Passive House Standards. Luckily, we have a client who is deeply committed to the project and is willing to steer between these unfortunately conflicting requirements.
For me, this brings up a larger issue that we have to face very quickly as a society. Does it make sense for us to take a window in time and freeze it (as is the case of Landmark Preservation) at the expense of our ecosystem? I hope that the political pressure will build soon to make clear that our environment takes precedence over most other concerns. What will a beautiful street matter if there are no people able to live in it? It is my belief though, and I think this project when completed will help prove the point, that aesthetic considerations do not have to be sacrificed for environmental ones. Sustainable design has no one style, and I look forward to the day when we will no longer need to make the distinction between 'Sustainable' design and design itself.
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