Luxury Home Quarterly

There's a short article on Benchmark and our work on Sanibel in a great new magazine, Luzury Home Quarterly. Go to:

http://www.luxuryhomequarterly.com/lhqmarapr1/pages/86.php
http://www.luxuryhomequarterly.com/lhqmarapr1/pages/88.php

to read this. Also, check out the magazine, it's a beautiful edition.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Leaking by design

Leaky Attic?

We can spend a lot of money on technology that improves efficiency and gets to showcase some cool toys. But nothing beats just having good design.

Do you have a house where the insulation is laying against the ceiling drywall and there’s a big old attic above where your ductwork lives? There’s probably a bunch of recessed lights and other things penetrating the ceiling drywall and anyone who’s had the fun of crawling around in a Florida attic knows that the insulation doesn’t really seal all that well like it should.

Most air ducts leak, some a little, some a lot. When you have leaky ducts in the attic described above, guess what the air leaking out of the ducts does? As the air is being drawn out by the air handler and some leaked into the attic, a negative pressure field builds up in the house. A negative pressure field draws attic air not just into interior framing but also down exterior walls, adding humidity as it goes. It also picks up contaminants. There’s also humid air coming from every conceivable opening your house, be it doors and windows, mysterious holes in the slab, etc. The end result, besides inefficient AC, is discomfort, mold, and all the problems that eventually come with damp building components.

Is there an easy fix? I say yes. Just change the attic from an unconditioned space to a conditioned space by installing an open cell or closed cell foam insulation system to the underside of the roof deck and making the attic “unvented”. This puts the air distribution system within the conditioned space and reducing the major adverse effects of system leakage. This also improves the durability of the AC equipment and ductwork and adds to the efficiency.

Give us a call if you need more information.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

Sanibel Land Use Plan

The Sanibel Comprehensive Land Use Plan is a groundbreaking document. The City of Sanibel has been successful in preserving its unique character and beauty thanks to our “founding fathers and mothers” and the plan they developed back in the 1970’s and have improved upon since then. We’ve been given the plan some scrutiny and we’ve realized that portions of it actually discourage certain beneficial activities. These portions of the code, especially in a “unified cluster development”, can be roadblocks to concepts and technologies that can have great benefit to our island and the conservation of it’s resources:

New Section 126-855: While the intention of the CLUP is to limit development on building sites on Sanibel, the definition of “developed area” is limited to portions of the property that is covered by impermeable structures as well as “used” by permeable areas (i.e. walkways, permeable driveways, etc.) In fact the vast majority of areas on most parcels is subject to construction activity to accommodate vegetation relocations, landscaping arrangements, water retention and drainage systems.

Cisterns, for example, are part of a mechanical system that conserves water, for potable or non-potable uses, and enhances the drainage and water retention function of the property. Their coverage area should not be calculated as part of the developed coverage anymore than a perimeter swale or water retention area would be. The size of cisterns can be as simple as a rain barrel or a tank that may be 50 to200 square feet or larger. Also, many cistern systems can have a sub-surface installation similar to a septic tank or chambered septic drainfield. Before the installation of sewer through most of Sanibel, these domestic waste system enjoyed exclusion from developed coverage calculations.

Ground mounted solar thermal heaters for pool or domestic water or photovoltaic arrays have the obvious benefit of reducing electrical demand and reducing the “carbon footprint”. In cases where these products can not be mounted on a roof plane, it seems counterproductive to conservation principals and counter to the mission of the CLUP to count the areas covered by these devices as either impermeable or developed areas.

Likewise, in many cases a solar thermal or photovoltaic system that is mounted on a roof plane may be considered above the maximum building height. These devices are appliances and should be given the same exception as other appliances, such as fireplace chimneys, are. Again, these situations appear to counterproductive to conservation principals and counter to the mission of the CLUP.

The intention of this new amendment is to encourage the use of resource saving technologies and systems, the present interpretation application of these uses in fact discourages their use and penalizes the user.

Amendment to Section 86-112 Setbacks (b) and Amendment to Sec 86-134 Single Family Dwellings: Roof overhangs should not be considered as part of the building setback for the obvious reason that larger overhangs greatly add to the sustainability and efficiency of a building, Sanibel City Building being a prime example. Conversely, smaller overhangs add to a buildings exposure to the degrading effects of rain and sunlight. Also, the installation of solar thermal and photovoltaic devices can require large roof surfaces because they generally work best on unshaded and properly orientated surfaces.

The present system of counting the overhang as part of the structure discourages the use of larger and more protective overhangs.

There are no access, life safety or fire code standards that are jeopardized by exempting roof overhangs from setback and building requirements.

In a unified cluster development, exempting roof overhangs from building setbacks and building separations provides for the creation of more open and “green” space to the project.

Amendment to Section 126-854 Recycling and Trash Disposal Facilities: This exemption has already been passed for the resort housing district. Unified Residential Cluster Developments should receive the same consideration. Centralizing the storage and collection of trash and recyclables is a more efficient means of collection, decreases vehicular traffic, and can minimize neighborhood trash contamination from careless human activities and animal disruptions.

Amendment to Sec 126-976: Good planning with the intention of creating the most efficient and best use of properties through the aggregation of two or more ecological zones make this amendment necessary. Present regulations can encumber the conservation process, encourage the use of planning strategies that have greater negative impact on a subject property, and penalize development strategies that attempt to conserve the natural resources of the property.

Amendment to Sec 126-077: Part of the mission of the CLUP is to effectively create and preserve habitat on Sanibel for plant, bird and animal life. The expansion or creation of such habitat, all as approved by the Natural resources Dept and Planning Commission should be encouraged and given a priority.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

East meets West

When I lived in rural Maine in the 70’s, land use planners were considered to be “communists”. Mainers, like most of us, don’t like being told what to do. Unlike in the now gone Soviet Union, most of us have come to realize the benefits of good planning.

The City of Sanibel was formed in 1975, about the same time the “commies” were conspiring to deprive Mainers of the use of their land. Sanibel residents fought back against not "commies" but lax county development standards to protect Sanibel from overdevelopment and a potential rapid unsustainable population growth by establishing the Sanibel Comprehensive Land Use Plan in 1974. This was done to help maintain a balance between development and preservation of the island's ecology. On a national level, this was a major initiative and a progressive step in land use planning. Now, in 2010, there is little doubt that Sanibel is a better place because of the CLUP.

There was another place in the US going through similar changes, Boulder, CO. If you thought there were “commies” in running amuck in the woods of Maine, you obviously hadn’t been to Boulder. In 1978, Boulder adopted its own land use plan (BCCP). This was developed "to respond to the widely accepted principle that the myriad of future land use decisions affecting the county’s lands should be made in a coordinated and responsible manner." It implemented such things as channeling growth to the municipalities, protecting agricultural lands, and the preservation of the environmental and natural resources being a high priority in making land use decisions. Sounds like Sanibel to me.

So Sanibel had a sister community out west. Sanibel is a special and great place to live and visit, as is Boulder. Now thirty years later or so, Boulder has changed and adjusted to the times, Sanibel not so much.

Unless you’ve been living in a cave or one of those people who think we all will be after the government has its way, most realize the importance of implementing sustainable and efficient planning and technologies into our homes and communities to lessen our dependence on foreign resources and generally make where we live a better place. Call it “green” or whatever, we all know what it is in concept.

In November 2008, Boulder implemented a mandatory “Green Building and Green Points Program”. This requires all commercial and residential construction to conform to increased energy efficiency standards. All buildings must follow a “Green Building and Green Points” program. You can view the required document at:
http://www.bouldercolorado.gov/files/PDS/green_points/902.pdf .

Essentially, this requires all homes and building to meet certain HERS ratings, based on size, and to attain a certain number of points from a variety of site development, building technology and design areas. The scoring template Boulder uses is reminiscent of a simplified Leeds program, Florida Green Building Coalition standards and others (there are many). Most of the scoring items “make sense” and many of the possible points are things that Sanibel already mandates such things as the use of native vegetation, irrigation standards, recycling, etc.

Is this the time for Sanibel and other local communities to become leaders and raise the bar? I believe so.

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.

What's a RESNET?

RESNET

What’s a RESNET? You’ll probably be hearing more about it in the years to come, or not. Or not because RESNET is an organization that nationally oversees the development and administration of residential energy analysis software that provides your home with a HERS rating (“home energy rating system”). Actually, it’s a HERS rating you’ll either be hearing about or you’re already familiar with it.
RESNET’s (Residential Energy Services Network) mission is to ensure the success of the building energy performance certification industry, set the standards of quality, and increase the opportunity for ownership of high performance buildings. RESNET is a 501-C-3 non profit organization.
A HERS Index of 100 represents the energy use of the "American Standard Building", or an average home, and an Index of 0 means that a proposed building uses no net purchased energy (a Zero Energy Building). You’ve probably heard the term Energy Star, developed by the Department of Energy. Presently an Energy Star home has to meet a HERS rating of 75. Although the HERS rating is not perfect, it can be used to measure the energy impact of specific changes to a given home. For example, if a solar water or upgraded AC equipment is added, the energy savings can be quantified.
Find a rater and have one done on your home today!

Jeff Good
Benchmark General Contractors, Inc.