|
Hovnanian Demo Home Aims for High Energy Performance
A partnership with the U.S. Department of Energy and its Building America program is helping K. Hovnanian Homes develop a new standard of quality and refine the systems and processes that will help the national home building company produce energy-efficient, environmentally sensitive, affordable housing on a production basis.
The company plans a ribbon-cutting event at its latest demonstration home — the prototype for the K. Hovnanian High Performance Home — on April 16 at its Eagles Pointe development in the suburban Washington, D.C. community of Woodbridge, Va.
The partnership with Building America and the home performance consulting firm IBACOS started yielding fruit almost immediately as the company began to apply lessons it had learned from its first demonstration home in 2003, said Christopher Payne, the K. Hovnanian Homes Landover Group purchasing manager.
At that time, “the market was continuing to rise,” and it was hard to get the attention of consumers by offering energy-efficient upgrades, Payne said. But the company did change the way it handled air sealing and basic framing techniques to improve its homes based on that experience, he said.
Now, preferences are beginning to change, and when K. Hovnanian ratchets up its home production, it will have a decidedly energy-efficient bent. The four Building America prototype homes now underway are expected to achieve energy savings of about 40% over traditional construction and the processes developed will allow the company to meet program goals and to begin producing “energy-efficient, environmentally sensitive, affordable housing on a production basis,” Payne said.
The Building America home in Woodbridge incorporates many alternative products that are being tested for durability, quality, performance and cost.
“We were able to use the demonstration home to identify new products for testing and evaluation. Before we incorporate any new product offerings to our homes, whether as a standard feature or option, we research and evaluate each one to ensure we have a quality product — one that is durable and cost-effective and, most importantly, that adds value for our customer,” Payne said.
For instance, the Woodbridge home features a synthetic, recycled-content slate roof, which is expected to be more durable than traditional asphalt shingles.
The home was built with structural insulated sheathing panels. “We were interested in testing the structural insulated sheathing because it combines a structural sheathing, an insulation layer and a weather-resistant membrane in one package. It is a unique product that has real potential,” Payne said.
The High Performance Homes feature many advanced, scalable solutions, products and construction design — including advanced framing techniques, high efficiency heating and cooling systems and equipment, Energy Star appliances and significant changes in insulation.
The homes combine traditional fiberglass batt insulation with closed-cell spray foam in key areas where air leakage and thermal performance is most likely to be a problem. Using that combination also has kept the costs down compared with using spray foam throughout the entire house.
“Targeting the problem areas where two-pound, closed-cell foam insulation — which is an air- and moisture-impervious product — makes the biggest impact helping improve indoor air quality, thermal performance and HVAC performance,” said Payne. “For instance, all the joist bands on the first and second floor get an inch of foam plus R-11 fiberglass batt insulation.”
“The foam is R-5.6 per inch, so those areas end up with an insulation value of R-16.6, and the foam seals and prevents air infiltration,” he said. “A similar combination is applied to the floor system of rooms over unconditioned space, behind tubs and showers on outside walls, and to cantilevered floor systems, like fireplaces and bay windows,” he said.
The High Performance Home program “is really taking our products to the next level,” Payne said. And the new demonstration home “exemplifies the direction housing must move in to continue the American dream of homeownership, demonstrating the best in American ingenuity with improved design, reduced consumption and improved energy conservation.”
For more information, e-mail Calli Schmidt at NAHB, or call her at 800-368-5242 x8132.
|
