This project has been years in the making, beginning with inspiring conversations with the owners, who were looking to do a project meaningful to them by embodying their environmental goals in a fun and healthy house for the young family. Budget was a major driver, which led us to rule out building a new home in favor of renovating an existing one.
The house the owners found was a perfect retrofit opportunity: just down the street from their existing house, it had fallen into disrepair inside and out, making a gut renovation a good idea. Aside from retrofitting the original house, there is a small addition to provide a basement play area and an expanded first floor with better connections to the back yard.
Beyond creating a home for the family, the owners want the project to be a learning opportunity for others. As an embodiment of our Decarbonization Retrofit Flowchart, the work will encompass all aspects of the home’s performance. While this project addresses all aspects of the decarbonization at once, most of these steps can be done incrementally when it makes sense for service life of systems/surfaces and cash flow, on other houses.
Check back for updates as we move through construction!