LOFT owes something to the popularity of urban warehouse conversions. A wide open floor plan, very few doors, and dramatic two story spaces capture the bright, open feel of the loft condo. The movement of air, light and people is unrestricted by pesky walls and other seperations. The combination of all this uniterrupted space and the high ceilings give this model a feeling of always being slightly larger than its actual physical size.
However, unlike the majority of loft conversions, or their new construction copy cats, LOFT is an incredibly tight, efficient, single family home. The two story layout provides some degree of privacy for your messy bedroom, and the placement of the core (bathroom, laundry, mechanicals) provides enough seperation for a growing family. It is loft living without the fee's, without the questionable air quality, without the high utility bills and without the walkup.
Loft Model Overview
LOFT, like all of our homes, is built to the highest standards of energy efficiency and health. The model consists of two bedrooms and one bathroom, only one of which features a door (guess which one).
SUSTAINABLE TECHNOLOGY
CFL lighting, condensing dryers, low-flo fixtures, energy star appliances and many other innovative technologies combine to make your home sustainable.
CONSUMPTION MONITOR
Energy monitoring is a key component of sustainable living. We include a system that will give you feedback on your energy use and help you adjust behaviors for more savings.
Solar Thermal
We include a solar thermal system to provide most of the hot water for your home. This system uses the sun to heat the water instead of costly fossil fuels. Shower happier.
ADJUSTABLE SIZE
This model is flexible in size and can be adjusted to fit a wide number of lots. Just remember, in green building, more is less.
LEED PLATINUM OR HIGHER
We aim for only the highest building standards. The most recognizable is LEED for Homes Platinum. Our goal is to build every home to this standard or better.
Customizable Facade
Choose from a variety of facades with customizable colors and other potential additions of awesomeness. It's your home, decide how it looks.
Certifications
LEED for Homes
LEED or Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (if you aren't into that whole brevity thing) is a government certification program designed to promote green building practices. As one of the only fully third-party verified programs, we feel it is a great way for home-buyers to assure that the product they are buying is the real deal. The certification covers 8 categories including Innovation and Design Process, Location and Linkages, Sustainable Sites,
Water Efficiency, Energy and Atmosphere, Materials and Resources, Awareness and Education and Indoor Environmental Quality. Unlike many building certifications which let a builder pick and choose, LEED requires performance in all of these categories. Or goal is to excel in all of them and attain the highest level of LEED certification for all of our projects . . . LEED Platinum.
Find out more at the USGBC's web site.
Energy Star
Energy Star certification is actually tied pretty closely to LEED, but it focuses solely on the energy proformance of the home. To recieve an Energy Star rating a home must perform at least 15% better than the average code built home. Since we aim to perform at least 50% better, this rating is almost a given.
Find out more at the official Energy Star site
Passive House
The German Passive House (Passiv Haus) standard is just beginning to gain traction in the United States. Developed 10 or so years ago, this standard focuses mainly on building performance in terms of energy efficiency. That means that this standard has very stringent requirements for eliminating air leakage, boosting insulation levels and reducing thermal bridging. The program is extremely intensive and should allow us to reduce our energy usage by as much as 90%.
Find out more at the Passive House Institute of the US.
Full Specs in Every Postgreen Home
These specifications are subject to change depending on conditions in the field. We have included all the non-variable items in this list.
Passive Energy
Solar Thermal Hot Water - The sun heats your water for free
Air-tight construction - Keep your cash from leaking thru the cracks in your home
Triple Pane Windows - These blow those double panes out of their jambs
Min R-30 Walls - Keep that cold out
Min R-50 Roof - Keep that heat in
Solar Exterior Window Shades - Block 70% of summer heat for free
Solatube Skylight - Light your bathroom with the sun, not your wallet
Active Energy
High Efficiency Air-to-Air Heat Pump - Near geothermal efficiency at a fraction of the cost
95% Efficient ERV - Bring fresh air in at same temp/humidity as indoor air
Induction Cooktop - Boil water in 90 seconds with 2x efficiency of gas
Energy Star Appliances - Boring, but we have to mention it
High Efficiency Condencing Washer/Dryer - Clean clothes without the hole in your roof
100% CFL Lighting - Who likes tiny electric bills? You, that’s who.
Ceiling Fans - Keeps you cool at a fraction of the cost of A/C
Water
Low Flow Showerhead - Use less water cleaning your filthy self
Low Flow Faucets - Turning them off is up to you
Dual Flush Toilets - Water use determined by “situation”
Rainwater Collection - Water your garden with water from your roof
Indoor Air Quality
Low-VOC Flooring - Cool floors. Less poison.
Low-VOC cabinets - Pappajohn loves your lungs
Low-VOC Paints and Finishes - Gives your home a crisp, new, non-toxic smell
MERV-10 Air Filter - Filter your air 24/7/365
Mechanical Ventilator - Replace your stale air with fresh automatically
Certs & Teammates
ISA Designed - Mad architectural skills with the hardware to back it up
Bryan Hanes Landscaping - Most backyards aren’t designed by a pro and it shows
LEED for Homes - Sustainability with credibility
Passive House - Insulation inspired by German engineering
Awesomeness - Yes, we have lots of that built in
