Subject: Energy Efficiency, Water Management and Indoor Air Quality Specifications

Overview of Specifications:

This set of specifications will exceed all requirements of the International Energy Conservation Code exceeding the code requirements by 39 percent, meets the current and 2006 proposed standards of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency "Energy Star" program and meets the City of Austin Green Building Program requirements for a Three Star Green home.

The following specifications are designed to function as a total house system. Homes must be designed and built as systems if we hope to maximize the benefits we as consumers expect them to deliver? Why do we make such a forceful statement? All components of a home interact with each other and the local environment to form a single holistic system. Homes are not just a group of stand alone parts that can be selected ala carte as many believed in the past. (www.homeenergy.org)

Our failure to fully understand how the house system worked has lead to most of the grand failures we have experienced in new home construction over the last two decades. Mold, poor comfort in various areas of the home, high utility bills, rot, high maintenance costs, and many more problems are now understood to mean the results of incorrect system designs. In addition, this research has lead us to new ways to improve the performance of our homes far beyond what was ever believed possible. This view of homes has been fully researched over the last twenty years by our national laboratories, prestigious universities around the world and leading home builders and is now a fully accepted concept incorporating an understanding of the physics of heat, air and moisture interactions in the house system. The performance criteria for a high performance home are that it be healthy for the family with good indoor air quality, efficient to operate, durable with low maintenance, and comfortable to live in.

1. Windows account for about one half of all of the heat flow into and out of our homes in Texas! One major factor in this fact is the heat contained in the actual sunlight itself.
2. Low E (E=emittance) windows were invented about 15 years ago (thank NASA) and use an invisible coating of metal oxides one molecule thick to block the incoming heat from our Texas sun while allowing excellent visible light transmission.
3. They also reflect heat back into the home when it tries to leave during the winter months reducing the potential for condensation on the glass and improving your comfort.
4. Low E windows can reduce the air conditioning tonnage a home requires to cool it (5 tons down to 3.5 tons U.S. DOE) and provide a very fast payback to the owner! (www.efficientwindows.org)
5. They also block up to 80% of the UV light that causes fading of fabrics, wood and other fine furnishings.
6. A thermal break in the frame allows our windows to provide performance nearly that of much more expensive wood or vinyl framed windows without the added costs and maintenance issues.
7. Overhangs, gutters and downspouts will be incorporated where possible as they greatly reduce the opportunity for water problems, and lower utility costs.

1. Insulation is a small part of the cost of a home (1%-2%), but it is responsible for much of the comfort and low utility costs we expect from a new home.
2. The stud bays will be blown full of either spray in place foam (e.g. Demilec) or dry applied cellulose (e.g. Green Guard) blown in behind netting. These two products leave no gaps, voids, compressed areas and are dense enough to greatly slow or in the case of foam stop the intrusion of outside air which robs insulation of its effectiveness. (www.ci.austin.tx.us/greenbuilder),
3. Spray in place foam like Demilec provides unsurpassed comfort, efficiency, quiet, air sealing and provides no food for mold.
4. Spray in place cellulose fills all areas of the wall cavity, deadens sound many times better than fiberglass batts, and permanently resist mold and fire because it’s treated with Borates which are no more toxic to mammals than table salt!
5. Why not use fiberglass batts you ask. Building science research at Oak Ridge National Laboratory of the U.S. Department of Energy (US DOE) has consistently shown that batts perform well below their laboratory ratings due to the big impact of small gaps, compression and other installation issues. Most batt installations deliver one half of their rated R value or less! They are also lacking in density and so suffer from air movement and convection loops through them that further reduces family comfort while driving utility bills up!
6. One fourth of exterior walls is wood framing with a very low R value of 3.5! Adding Dow Styrofoam over the exterior of the wall actually doubles the temperature protection and energy efficiency of this 25% of your walls by 100%!
7. In addition, Styrofoam allows water vapor to dry through it to both the outside and to the inside as the seasons change.
8. Anderson Custom Homes will also air seal the foam in place by taping the seams thus providing excellent protection against the intrusion of our highly humid outside air into the home and a primary barrier against water intrusion into the walls.
9. Insulation without a functioning air barrier is useless! All air infiltration sites will be sealed including behind the tubs, floors above garages, attic knee walls, chases, and fireplaces.

1. Anderson Custom Homes will sheath all attics with foil faced "radiant barrier" sheathing. Radiant barriers (again thank NASA) stop the entry of the sun’s heat more effectively than any other method we now have making power attic fans and other bad technologies a thing of the past. (www.fsec.ucf.edu – Consumer Corner)
2. All attics will have continuous ridge and soffit vent systems, the most effective and efficient way to keep air moving through your attic.
3. The floor of the attic is insulated to R-30 with stabilized cellulose insulation!
4. The attic access hatch will be insulated.

1. Windows will be installed in accordance with the specifications of both the manufacturers and the Building America program of the U. S DOE, architects and builders across the country.
2. The Building America program (www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/building_america/) is a public/private partnership between involving the nations leading builders, the U.S. DOE, and building scientists and has developed these state of the art flashing methods. These specifications are the most comprehensive set of installation details to achieve water tight windows and doors and walls currently available.
3. The sill will be installed sloping slightly to the outside or will have a "back dam" to stop any water that should ever intrude from running toward the inside. Instead it will be directed toward the outside and over the drainage plane. (www.eeba.org – Water Management Guide)
4. The installations will include a sill pan flashing at the bottom of each opening extending from the inside of the opening through to the outside and over the exterior drainage plane in a shingle fashion.
5. The window is then caulked and installed and process will proceed with quality adhesive flashing membrane sealing the flanges on the sides and head (top) to the drainage plane.
6. The flange flashings are now integrated into the drainage plane of the home to form a continuous, sealed water barrier on the outside of your new home. Most builders just nail the windows up on the sheathing with a little cheap caulk and are surprised when they are told the windows leaked and there is damage!
7. Where a roof meets a wall or other vertical penetration, the roofing felt will be turned up the wall by six inches, not cut off at the bottom of the wall as is normally done. The metal step flashings will then be installed over the roofing felt creating a double barrier that water finds almost impossible to penetrate.
8. The valleys of the roof will have a layer of metal flashing installed first, and then #30 roofing felt will be layered creating a strong reinforced and water tight double seal at this critical and common leak site. All components are installed shingle fashion.
9. Roof clips will be used to reinforce the radiant barrier roof sheathing for added structural strength.
10. As a guard against water and air penetration all bottom plates will be sealed with a capillary break material to separate concrete from wood.
11. Under the foam insulation on your walls there will be a "drainage plane" a layer of asphalt impregnated building felt or a house wrap (your choice) installed "shingle fashion" (meaning each flashing component is installed such that the top flashing overlaps the lower one, like shingles on a roof, never the other way which often happens) to provide a secondary layer of protection against wind driven rain and leaks that can cause so much damage to our homes. If a house wrap is chosen, it will be installed using only capped fasteners, not thin staples that pull through and all seams will be taped with contractors tape to create an unbroken effective air and water barrier. This method of installation is now the manufacturer specified method though most builders skip these essential details that protect your investment. The use of sealed water drainage planes greatly reduces the potential for water intrusion, mold, wood rot and decay in walls protecting and adding value to your home.

Energy Star approved A/C and Heating equipment combined with tightly sealed and tested air distribution ducts make the system efficient and healthy. Testing by Texas utilities has shown that the average new Texas air conditioner looses 30% of the cold air through leaks before reaching the rooms! This costs us billions of dollars each year and reduces the efficiency of your air conditioner turning your 12 SEER into a 6 SEER. The leaks often draw in very hot, dirty, and polluted attic air causing health problems, high bills and a lack of comfort, too. (www.fsec.ucf.edu)

1. Air conditioning ducts will be sealed to achieve less than 40 cubic feet per minute (CFM) per 1,000 square feet of home floor area using non toxic water based latex mastic which seals ducts for decades according to US DOE tests, not old fashioned duct tape that fails after a few years.
2. The air flow from and into each grille will be measured and must be within 10% +/- of the design rate to ensure comfort in all rooms.
3. Healthy homes must breathe, so your new home will be ventilated to meet the American Society of Heating, Refrigeration, and Air-conditioning Engineers standard 62.2. Fresh outside air will be brought into your home through the air conditioner to pre cool/heat it and filter it, too. A four/six inch duct will be installed from the return air plenum to the outside soffit or gable end. The termination will be covered with a screened and hooded fixture. A balancing damper will be installed at the plenum take off for adjusting volume. An Air Cycler will control the ventilation schedule. (www.eere.energy.gov/buildings/building_america/ - Building America Program, Hot and Humid Climates)
4. All exhaust fans (kitchen, bathroom) will be vented to the outside, not into the attic.
5. The A/C units will be sized not by guess or a rule of thumb from decades past, but by the Air Conditioning Contractors of America Manual J methodology, the industry and building code recognized authority. While many folks believe that bigger is always better, we know this is not true of air conditioners. Oversized a/c’s do a worse job of removing humidity, filtering air and lead to higher bills.
6. An option that is well worth the money is to include additional dehumidification to your home. High humidity supports the growth of mold, dust mites, and in general, poor indoor air quality and discomfort. If you select this option, a Research Products April-Aire 1700 to give your family 24/7 relief from our oppressively high humidity levels for top shelf comfort and improved family health!
7. The a/c will have a one inch thick pleated media filter. These filters deliver six times better filtration than fiberglass filters and three times better filtration than washable, permanent filters and allow better air flow through the unit, too.
8. Combustion appliances will be sealed combustion for carbon monoxide safety!
9. Every start collar will have a balancing damper installed.
10. Every bedroom can have either a return duct or a designed bypass such as a RAP by Tamarack Technologies (www.tamtech.com - RAP) installed to allow for full air flow even with the doors closed.
11. The bathroom exhaust fans could employ a switch with a humidistat inside or it so that high humidity air will be exhausted from the house without any attention from the owners.

1. All recessed light fixtures will be rated for both air tight construction and approved for full insulation contact (AT/IC). Unsealed recessed lights have been proven to be big holes in the ceiling that allow large quantities of hot, humid, dirty attic air into your home.
2. The wood framing will be treated with Borates to make them inedible by termites, carpenter ants and other wood boring insects. Borates are environmentally friendly and are no more toxic to mammals than table salt. Formosan termites are now within 100 miles of Austin. They live above ground so traditional termite soil treatments are useless. They eat eight times more than our native termites and can live in the attic, or walls! Think of this as comparing our native sugar ants to fire ants and you get the picture of the damage these termites will cause in coming years.
3. All chases, shafts, pipe penetrations will be air sealed using rigid foam.
4. The exterior walls behind all stairs, tubs and all kneewalls will have an air barrier of Thermo-ply installed.

Through sound research over the last twenty years building science has developed these comprehensive construction specifications for hot and humid climates. Our goal is to produce a unique product. Your home can be a healthy, efficient, durable, low maintenance home that is also affordable to own and operate and very comfortable, too. Home construction has been greatly improved by applied building science. Anderson Custom Homes is proud to be a leader in restoring the quality and pride in home construction. Visit the websites referenced and you’ll see that a systems approach does deliver quality that exceeds your expectations. Look closely and you too will see the attention to detail in your new Anderson Home.

(512) 506-8849
info@achaustin.com