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Our full-service design/build team starts with talking about your project and developing trust in our "meet and greet" meeting. Here we'll share ideas on we begin to make your dream a reality!
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LATEST NEWS
Check out our blog to stay up-to-date on helpful tips and useful information.
How Solar Power Achieves Net Zero Construction in Vermont
For the obvious reason, solar power plays a big part in home energy efficiency. It’s the component that allows most homes within Vermont to become energy independent and achieve annual net-zero energy consumption. Just how important is solar in achieving net-zero construction in Vermont? And what are the big differences you’ll find between solar-powered, high-performance homes in Vermont, and the…
Heat Recovery Ventilation Facts For High Performance Homes In Vermont
When it comes to energy efficiency in Vermont, it’s important to design net zero homes to have heat recovery ventilation systems built into them. But what exactly is a heat recovery ventilation system, and what does it do? In short, a heat recovery ventilator, or HRV, warms incoming fresh air with heat from outgoing stale air in…
What You Should Know About Solar Payback for a High Performance Home
Installing a solar system has both short-term and long-term benefits. Right away, you can feel warm (literally) and fuzzy (figuratively) about reducing your “carbon footprint.”. Plus, over time the system will gradually pay for itself out of your energy savings, AND as a bonus, once paid for, it can start making money for you. …
The Construction of a High Performance Home: Week 3
Weather is a fickle thing. One minute it’s snowing, and the next minute it’s snowing again. Then, just like that, it starts snowing again. This week, we received over eighteen inches of snow, which buried our hopes and production expectations for the week. Nevertheless, when I left the site Friday afternoon, the concrete was being…
Ask the Experts: Energy Consevation
Question: I want to do what I can to conserve energy and also to become a more responsible consumer of resources in terms of our home and family. Where can a person begin if they have limited resources but a real desire to live more prudently in relation to renewable resources? Answer: Energy conservation is…
The 5 Crucial Design Elements for Net Zero Homes in Vermont
To some, net-zero may sound like something from the realm of science fiction. It’s not. A net zero home is one that has the potential to create as much energy as it consumes. And in fact, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal, such homes may become mainstream in time. Why mainstream? Solar panels,…
Affordable Zero Energy Homes:Intersection of Exterior Wall & Rafter
As we continue with our discussion about (affordable zero energy homes) and High Performance Construction Methods, our subject for today’s blog will focus on a very important connection point where double-stud exterior walls intersect with the roof system. Here is where a lot of energy treatments must be installed correctly. Unfortunately, the temptation for many builders…
Site-Built Approach to Roof Ventilation
Dense-packed rafter bays need rigid vents. The roof slopes in the ProHOME are dense-packed with 20 in. of cellulose. To provide adequate roof ventilation there is a ¾-in.-high air channel in each rafter bay directly under the roof sheathing. Dense-pack cellulose and cheap Styrofoam vent baffles don’t mix, so we use 7/16-in. OSB to…
Is Geothermal Right For My Home?
Geothermal heat systems are the most energy efficient, environmentally clean and cost effective space conditioning systems available today declared the EPA in the 1970’s. And it’s still true. Conventional residential and light commercial heating and cooling systems are generally fossil fuel and electricity based. As energy prices fluctuate the demand for Geothermal systems is on…
Downsizing for Seniors: Zero Energy Home Construction in Vermont
ou’ve decided that it’s time to downsize and to do it in Vermont, so now you’re searching for a builder who specializes in high performance / zero energy home construction. Well, two out of three “ain’t bad” as they say. Some prefer to use the word “rightsize” rather than “downsize,” but we don’t get hung…