Lindal Home is First in State to Receive National Green Certification
Open House on July 18 will showcase the beauty and benefits of building green.
SEATTLE, WASHINGTON, July 8, 2009 — A custom Lindal Cedar Home in Seattle is the first home in Washington state to be certified under the new National Green Building Standard™ developed by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) non-profit research center and the first national green building program to meet the rigorous standards set by ANSI (American National Standards Institute). The southeast Seattle home will be open to the public July 18, along with the point-by-point checklist showing how the project met the standards.
Lindal has anticipated and embraced the new standard, which took effect in February, to give builders across the country a consistent, verifiable third-party rating system to achieve green certification for their homes. It also gives homeowners such as Lindal’s Seattle client Wendy Jans a clear, flexible set of guidelines that serve as a practical primer for “building green” easily and affordably.
Like a growing number of Americans, Jans wanted an environmentally friendly new home but wasn’t sure how to create it on her own. For green expertise and custom design, she chose Lindal Cedar Homes, the world’s largest maker of cedar homes, and worked closely with Lindal dealer Tom Schuch to design her 2,400-square-foot home. Schuch also guided the home through the permit process, helped Jans find a contractor with strong credentials in green building, and located a certified third-party verifier required for the green certification process. “I never would have been able to do this without Tom,” Jans said. “From the minute I walked through the door, he listened and helped me throughout the process. He was passionate about helping with the green certification.”
“Lindal has embraced building green for years,” Tom Schuch said. “We take a holistic approach that incorporates green thinking from the site design and home design to the selection of building products, finish materials and systems. This gives our clients lots of green options and makes it easy to achieve certification in the areas that matter most to them and add value to their home.”
Building—and Certifying—Many Shades of Green
Jans had several personal priorities for her new green home: high energy efficiency, healthy indoor air quality, and extensive use of sustainable or recycled materials. “The more I learned about building green, the more excited I got,” she said. “There are lots of ways to get the green certification; the program is really flexible.”
Jans chose MC Construction for its expertise in green building. Because It was just as important to her to deconstruct her old home properly as it was to build her new Lindal green home, the builders partnered with Olympia Salvage to tear down, re-use and recycle every item in the old home before starting work on her new Lindal home.
Jans’s custom Lindal home is sited and designed to take advantage of passive solar and bathe the interior in natural light. Lindal’s post-and beam construction allows for open, light-filled spaces with Low E Argon windows for energy efficiency. The home is designed, plumbed and wired in anticipation of a future solar hot water system and solar panels on the metal roof.
Because Lindal’s building materials are manufactured within 500 miles of the home’s site, Jans received “green” points for using regional materials that minimize the environmental impact of shipping. The home’s insulation is made of cellulose, which increases energy efficiency without the use of fiberglass or formaldehyde. In-floor radiant heat avoids a forced-air system, which tends to move dust and pollutants through ductwork. Bamboo and cork flooring wins points for use of sustainable materials and avoids the air-quality issues of carpet. Zero-VOC paint was used throughout the interior. Decking and bathroom countertops are made of recycled materials. Dual-flush toilets save water with every use. All appliances and most of the home’s light fixtures are ENERGY STAR®-rated for energy efficiency.
In addition to meeting the National Green Building Standard™, the Jans home is also certified by the government-backed ENERGY STAR® Homes program and by Built Green®, a non-profit program of the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties.
Verifiers: A Valuable Member of the Green Team
In order for homeowners to have the most choice and achieve the highest levels of green certification, it’s important to bring a third-party verifier into the project early on. “It’s ideal to meet during the design phase and brainstorm about how you want to hit the goals,” said Pam Worner of Green Dog Enterprises, who verified the Jans home under all three certification programs. “This gives you the flexibility to focus on the things that really matter to you in a way that is doable and affordable. Green certification begins at a level that’s within reach of the average project and homeowner.
“Increasingly,” Worner said, “homeowners and builders are seeking partners who understand how to make green building happen. Lindal’s establishing a reputation for being one of these partners. They’re experienced and excited about playing an active role in helping their clients plan, build and certify green homes.”
Lindal Showcases National Green Building Standard™ Across North America
In addition to Lindal’s custom green homes, all of the designs in Lindal’s wide collection of home styles are available in green specifications, utilizing Smart Framing that make it easier to achieve certification. And Lindal is the first company to demonstrate the new National Green Building Standard™ across North America with its Green Coast-to-Coast initiative. The program will result in at least one demonstration home in every state and province in North America. Most independent Lindal dealers are designated Certified Green Professionals by the NAHB; like Tom Schuch, many are already working with participating clients in the United States and Canada.
“It’s exciting to have a checklist of what truly makes a home green that is approved by ANSI (American National Standards Institute), which sets the standards for the homebuilding industry nationwide,” Schuch said. “Many of the items on the list are simply smart things to do when you build a quality home.”
For the address and hours of the Jans Open House on July 18, contact Tom Schuch at 206-725-7111.
Lindal Cedar Homes is headquartered in Seattle, Washington, with manufacturing facilities in Burlington, Washington, and Surrey, British Columbia. The Lindal Experience is provided by a network of independent Lindal dealers, located throughout the United States, Canada, and in several international locations. For more information of Lindal homes, products and dealers, visit www.Lindal.com.
