By Southface Staff
The Southface Homebuilding School teaches the essentials that give individuals the knowledge to make competent building decisions with confidence. For over a decade this unique Homebuilding School has attracted men and women from across the country interested in contracting or building their own energy efficient house. People who have never picked up a hammer, as well as seasoned builders, young people anticipating their first home and senior citizens considering their retirement home all arrive at Southface to share in an incredible learning experience.
One couple has taken their knowledge and combined it with other sustainable building programs to build their retirement home. Tom and Kathy Carstens, longtime friends of Southface, attended the Southface Home Building School and spent countless hours in the Southface library researching how to build an environmentally sound home.
When they decided to build their retirement home in Applegate, Oregon, they wanted a home that built off their ideas of sustainability and energy efficiency. Looking to build the best home possible, Tom and Kathy decided to team up with the Earth Advantage Program.
The Earth Advantage Program, a green building program in the Pacific Northwest, is similar to the Southeast’s EarthCraft House™ Program. Tom and Kathy found that the goals of the Earth Advantage Program fit well with their desire to build an environmentally sound home.
In late summer of 2004 after developing a 12-page packet that outlined the principles for the design and construction of their new home, Tom and Kathy hired Dorris Construction to build their home. Their plans incorporated a number of environmentally sound, energy efficient, durable and healthier indoor-air measures and systems, such as:
- Insulated concrete forms for the walls
- Structural insulated panels for the roof
- Ground source heat pump
- All ductwork inside the heated space of the house
- Heat recovery ventilator
- Solar hot water system
- Solar electric panels to generate electricity
- Extended roof eaves to reduce solar heat gain
- Energy efficient windows
- Madrone hardwood and tile floors
- Non-VOC paints
- 80% recycled jobsite waste
Because the house was designed as a system, it works as such with very little maintenance. For all the work that Tom and Kathy put into their home, they were recently awarded the Earth Advantage Platinum Certification, the highest level of certification for the Earth Advantage program. In fact, the Earth Advantage staff was so impressed with the work that was done by Tom and Kathy and their builder, Dorris Construction, that they submitted the house for the 2007 Energy Value Housing Award.
Southface congratulates the Carstens on a job well done and is proud of the role we were able to play on their path to sustainability.
