Being green. I know Kermit the Frog says it isn’t easy being green but McSpadden makes it look pretty easy. And pretty is a good word to bring up – green house building does not take away from the beauty and elegance in a home. Not by a long shot!

The lake-front custom home that McSpadden is building on the nature preserve home site – the one with the natatorium! – has several green building features. I asked the project manager Travis Peeler to go over a few of them with me. If you know anything about green building then a few of the usual green suspects emerged of course: solar panels, low VOC paint, and LED light bulbs. And I plan to go into more detail about these in a later blog. 

Really interesting to me was the green insulation. First: some basics. There are a number of ways you insulate your house. And more than one thing that makes a product green. For example: Insulating your home so that your energy bills are lower is one way to be green. Insulation materials that are recycled or made from natural components is another.

A few products that are incorporated into this home:

Quad-Lock – Insulated Concrete Form used here in the foundation www.quad-lock.com

Some of the benefits to homeowners: you have more consistent indoor temperatures; it is perfect for in-floor radiant heating; it deadens sound transmission; it creates an environment for minimized air infiltration - fewer allergens, improved indoor air quality. If you haven’t heard of this product it is really worth your time to look into.

Sucraseal – Spray Foam Insulation used in walls and attic space www.sucraseal.com

Now I’ve seen this stuff. They spray it then it grows and expands. But then it is easy just to slice off so you can put up your drywall. Easy and efficient from the builder perspective. And for the home owner it is even better! It is made from high renewable content, it contains no ozone and it is fire resistant. In fact, the fire resistance is actually built into the foam itself!

But wait! That’s not all! Other green products being used in this McSpadden custom home are the Owens Corning Ecotouch and the Advantech ZIP System.

So you see – at McSpadden we think it is easy being green.