2011 Parade of Homes

Are you ready to save $25,000 building your new home? We have 2 different homes, 2 different lots, and 2 different price ranges -- ready to go, both with $25,000 in Parade of Homes savings and ready to occupy after the Parade of Homes in June 2011.

If you are ready for your dream ranch, with an open floor plan, great room, 2 fireplaces and room for everyone, see Lot 35 Rivers Turn. There are 4 bedrooms, views to die for, and a garage that you just won't believe -- room for 6 cars, or all your toys! Quit paying storage fees for your boat or hobbies and buy this home. Entertain in the open great room and kitchen, enjoy holiday dinners in a semi-formal dining room that is still comfortable for your weekday dinner. A 1/2 acre lot with a private back yard leads you to the Yahara River conservancy -- and no back yard neighbors! Notice 3 sets of patio doors that connect you to that back yard. Views from every part of the house -- even across the street there are no homes.

Front view of 35 Rivers Turn

Rear view of 35 Rivers Turn

Looking for an open 2-story plan at a modest budget? Then Lot 66 Rivers Turn is for you. We have options to build with 3 or 4 bedrooms, and it has an exposed basement for future finishing. On the main level, find a REAL mudroom with room for all your stuff, a home office, and living room with a fireplace that is open to the kitchen and dining area. Windows make the difference -- take in views of the conservancy from your large living room and master bedrooms. Notice the large 10 foot patio door off the dining area. And again, a 3 car garage with extra depth to store the fun things every family has!

Front view of 66 Rivers Turn

Rear View of 66 Rivers Turn

With Degnan Design Builders, the differences are in the details and in the design. Our homes are tested to prove their energy efficiency using Home Performance with ENERGY STAR and the Focus on Energy New Homes Program. What were your heating bills this winter? In my own home, the most expensive month this year is $133, including our heat, hot water and a gas dryer used for 5 family members in a 2800 square foot home. Thanks to the Intelligent Wall construction methods, we can produce the same results for you.

For more information, you can call Abe at 846-5963, or Ted & Tammy Krez at Lakewood Realty.

Ban on multiple shower heads?

The Department of Energy is considering a ban on multiple shower heads as reported by the NAHB. Good or bad? Most of you know us as proponents of wise energy use and Green Building techniques, but it concerns me from a standpoint of personal liberty as well.

In fact, there are several reasons why I actually think multiple shower heads can be more efficient than the alternatives. I encourage you to consider:

A nice shower with a body spray system can often take the place of a large, water-guzzling whirlpool tub. You can enjoy your body spray shower every time you use it, and you can use it for as short or as long as you wish.

By eliminating a whirlpool, you can save on the square footage of your home. Not only do you not need a $1500 - $5000 whirlpool, you can save between 20 and 60 square feet of floor space by not needing to oversize your bathroom further.

While some shower systems can use as much as 10 gallons or more per minute, this is rare. And,you have the opportunity to still get a refreshing shower with as little as 4 or 5 gallons per minute with greater bursts of water when needed. Or, switch on the single shower head for average use of 2 gallons, and then go to full blast when you rinse your body.

In almost any case, a 10 minute shower is going to use less water than a 70 gallon fill-up of your whirlpool. And in any case, water conservation and energy conservation is up to you. Choose to live your life responsibly. Enjoy it, but why waste it?

I hope that if we all make wise decisions, and bit by bit take personal responsibility, we can avoid misguided, overreaching mandates by the government that intrude into our daily lives.

Your thoughts are always welcome!

Condensation on Windows - What's the deal?

A friend of mine has a 1950's house in which cheap replacement inserts were installed. He asks,

"Hey Abe, I want to pick your brain a bit. We have vinyl double hung windows in our home now with storms on the outside. When the weather cools down, moisture and frost almost immediately appears...a few of the storms are cracked so we ended up removing them yesterday, and they appeared to be pretty snugly installed, somuch that I broke a couple of the windows during this process since they were cracked already.

I'm not sure if the brand of windows matters, but do believe they aren't very high quality. Not sure if purchasing new storms would help? Any ideas or suggestions for a cost effective solution would be greatly appreciated."

The cause & solution depends: Is the frost on the storm window or on the interior window? Frost will almost always appear on the storm window and it usually indicates that the interior window is working OK! That's because it is keeping the heat in the house and the storm window is the cold surface.

However, it can occasionally indicate a different problem which is leakage of humid air from the house outside. This is sometimes from the replacement windows themselves, and other times due to the fact that they are an "insert" and there is leakage around them. It is hard to say.

I generally recommend leaving the storm windows in place. If the frost is inside the house, that is a different problem for us to talk about. That is probably a problem with humidity levels inside the home, or, having window coverings left down too long, or, in the mild fall weather, a VERY inefficient window.

You can also have a Home Performance with ENERGY STAR test completed to help determine other sources of air leakage and heat loss, and that testing will evaluate the potential energy savings from window replacement as well.

THE REVEAL! 2009 Green Built Home Makeover

THE REVEAL!

On November 6, the 2009 Green Built Home Makeover turned the keys back over to Terry and Tammy Moss. The family had not seen the inside of their house since the Sept. 25th kickoff. They are excited about their new home, its new look, comfort, and the energy efficiency savings. They have AnneMarie Design to thank for the tasteful décor of the home. The boys’ bedrooms were decorated with new beds and storage pieces from American TV. The entire house was painted and new lighting fixtures and fans installed.



Little Terrell couldn't wait for the "Reveal" to see his new home.
He just had to take a sneak peak.



Abe Degnan of Degnan Design Builders coordinated the project by lining up volunteers and scheduling the crews so the work could be completed in 5 week’s time. It was challenging but particularly important to keep the work flow moving along and overseeing quality control, and that we met the projected deadline for the family to return to their home.

Volunteers, family, and friends gathered at the "Reveal" Open House held on November 6 to see the changes that were made and share the Moss family's excitement.





Tammy Moss, Abe Degnan and
AnneMarie Dresen in Tammy's new living room at the "Reveal"


New beds and storage pieces

Merry Christmas to the Moss family from the Madison Area Builders Association, Project Managers Abe Degnan and AnneMarie Dresen, product and material donors, and all the volunteers who worked on the project.

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See a complete list of this year's 2009 Green Built Home Makeover donors. Click here.

www.DegnanDesignBuilders.com

2009 Green Built Home Makeover

THE KICKOFF !

A South side Madison family is thankful for the best early Christmas gift ever this year!



2009 Green Built Home Makeover kicks off!

Terry and Tammy Moss, with their four boys ages 18 months to 12 years, were chosen for the 2009 Green Built Home Makeover project—now in its third year. Degnan Design Builders with 40+ member volunteers from the Madison Area Builders Association went to work remodeling and upgrading the inside and exterior of this home with energy efficient materials, products, and practices following a September 25, 2009 kickoff. The Moss family was chosen for the Green Built Home Makeover by the Madison Area Builders Association because of their need, their efforts to help themselves, and the ability to significantly transform the home. The family had previously replaced windows and doors and added a garage and driveway. They were trying to do what they could. Terry Moss says that the improvements by the Green Built Home Makeover volunteers will help them financially and to get ahead.


Siding in need of repair ................Work in progress

The Moss' home was built during the post World War 2 era. Homes of that era were small and some were built on a concrete slab. Such is the case with this 800 square foot home. GDS Associates began the Project with Home Performance with ENERGY STAR™ testing to determine the location of air leaks, moisture problems and overall energy inefficiencies. The report allowed Project Managers, Abe Degnan of Degnan Design Builders, Inc. and AnneMarie Dresen of AnneMarie Design LLC to determine what improvements would make the most difference. Without a basement, the floors are very cold, even—with carpeting. Volunteers from Sierra Concepts dug down about two feet around the foundation and installed insulation to warm the floors by preventing heat loss through the slab. New siding was added after 1” thick foam sheathing was installed, to prevent thermal bridging through wall studs and provide additional insulation and air sealing. This, along with R-38 Bio-based spray-foam insulation in the ceiling, provided the Moss family with a snug and quiet interior.


Tyler from Maly Ceramic Tile Company
volunteers for this year's project

A closet area that housed the old furnace, water heater and washer/dryer was completely remodeled. There were no heat ducts, so the furnace blew only into the living room and not to any of the bedrooms! As long as the kids can remember, they have woken in frigid bedrooms. Now, new ductwork from a new high efficiency Hybrid Heat Pump furnace and air conditioner installed by volunteers from Cardinal Heating and Brown Heating comfortably heats the entire house including the three bedrooms. Terry and Tammy will no longer have to turn on space heaters two hours before their kids go to bed to warm their rooms. For the first time since they have lived in this house, they will all wake up to warm rooms in the morning and dress in comfort.


Thanks to Closet Tailors for
the new closet systems

A tankless water heater and a water softener are now in a small portion of the hallway closet. The water heater provides a continuous supply of hot water for showers and laundry at a fraction of the cost of the old tank – it runs about 38% more efficiently than a tank heater and has no standby heat loss! A new ENERGY STAR stacked washer and dryer donated by American TV sits alongside a cabinet/counter system donated by Closet Tailors. The unit will give Tammy a place to fold clothes and needed storage space. Closet Tailors also installed a closet system in the master bedroom and shelving in other closets.

The bathroom was depressing with a low ceiling and visible mold around a rotting window and on bathtub walls. Volunteers completely gutted the bathroom to remove the damaged materials. Spray foam insulation in the bathroom walls will prevent condensation on cold surfaces, and a cement board substrate for the tile shower walls will never become moldy. A new tub from Renew It was installed along with new plumbing fixtures and an acrylic block window. An air-to-air exchanger provides ventilation for the bathroom and the rest of the home to remove excess humidity and provide fresh air. A colorful shower curtain and new light fixtures chosen by AnneMarie Design set off the new, bright look. Tammy just loves her new bathroom.


A colorful shower curtain
chosen by AnneMarie Design
brightens the new bathroom

In the kitchen, an ENERGY STAR refrigerator was installed, and a new over-the-range microwave has its vent run outside the house to remove steam and cooking odors. The range, cabinets and countertop were in good condition and reused. Tammy will totally enjoy making and serving scrumptious meals with her new energy efficient appliances for her family and guests and snacks for all the neighborhood kids who congregate at their house

Materials that could not be reused were taken by Royal Container Service to their recycling facility in Madison for sorting and recycling. Degnan Design Builders has always reused and recycled materials in their home remodeling projects. This practice will become the standard for all contractors in 2010 when a new Madison City Ordinance goes into effect. The Ordinance will require homeowners and contractors to reuse and recycle all construction materials for 1-, 2- and 3-family dwellings among other types of projects.

While this project was valued at about $50,000, the story is not necessarily about payback on energy efficiency alone. The improvements did result in air infiltration reduction of 24% and estimated energy savings of 15%. But the bottom line is that the home just didn’t work! The furnace and water heater needed replacement. The house is finally set up with proper distribution of heat, and the systems will improve indoor air quality by providing the proper amount of fresh air and preventing mold in the future. The home will be comfortable and safe since space heaters will no longer be used to supplement the bedrooms. When so many maintenance issues exist, it is important to go the extra mile and make the house work properly to be prepared for the next 50 years of its life. Now, that is green!

Watch for the "REVEAL" in our next post.

To see a list of this year's Green Built Home Makeover donors, click here.


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Pewaukee Lake House - Part 2: Insulation and Energy Efficiency

Material selection for the Pewaukee Lake House has been driven by several factors: energy efficiency & greenness, appearance, and authenticity. This has led us to several new suppliers and many new techniques! At the same time some of our standards have not varied: the house is well insulated, energy efficient and airtight thanks to foam sheathing, housewrap, and dense-pack cellulose insulation. I'll focus on energy efficiency systems in this article.

There is 2" foam insulation under the basement floors and also 2" foam on the exterior of the concrete walls. The concrete basement floors have radiant heat installed by Cardinal Heating and they are finished with an acid staining technique by Hottmann Concrete. On the inside finished walls there is another 1" layer of foam, then fiberglass batts. By encapsulating the concrete in these layers of insulation, not only do we have over an R-26 wall it also helps to use the concrete wall itself as thermal mass.

The main framed walls of the house also have foam and dense-pack cellulose insulation by Rainbow Insulators to achieve R-25 in most areas. This is an even-better version of the Intelligent Wall system that we use on new homes and additions. The standard system uses 2x4 walls with R-13 fiberglass insulation and 1.5" of foam to achieve a greater overall insulation value than standard 2x6 walls without any foam can. In this home we have used R-15 cellulose insulation, continuous OSB wall sheathing, 2" foam, and housewrap for a belt-and-suspenders approach to energy efficiency, moisture & air infiltration, as well as structural strength over-and-above what is required.

The home has had two Wisconsin ENERGY STAR Home inspections during the construction process and will have a final test after completion. These two inspections led us to complete additional quality-control, energy-saving, and air-sealing work as we found the spots that we had previously missed. As meticulous as we are, without the ENERGY STAR system we would still miss big opportunities for energy efficiency and comfort in our homes. The fact that we fix the problems during construction gives our clients the comfort of a home build right, and when we finish, we have testing numbers to prove our quality control and construction techniques work.

The complicated truss roof system has continuous venting but better yet it has been filled with as much as R-82 in cellulose insulation! Cellulose insulation is a particularly green product because of its insulating properties, its ability to help with air sealing, and its diversion of waste from landfills.

Careful detailing was required to fill the trusses and wall cavities. The ENERGY STAR blower door test, along with use of the thermal imaging camera, helped us to find a few voids in the complicated truss system. We also found a few unsealed connections of the walls and roof where the timber framed Great Room connects to the hand-framed walls and roof of the other parts of the house. We were able to locate these areas and fix them by having the insulators add insulation in truss voids and using expanding foam to seal complicated areas. The results of our work will be revealed in the next month or so when the homeowners have moved in, doors are adjusted, and final exterior details are completed.

I'll address the heating and cooling of the home in an upcoming post.

Pewaukee Lake House - Part 1: Overview

Many people ask about our current projects and it is time for me to talk about what we've been up to. We are building a custom home at Pewaukee Lake which is the largest and most detailed project we've ever completed.

The photos and subjects of discussion are neverending - I have a collection of 2000+ photos from the construction of the home so far.

The subjects are endless because every corner of this home is unique. It will be a Green Built Home and a Wisconsin ENERGY STAR Home. It is designed and built with details to look like it is already 100 years old. It has the most modern and efficient heating & cooling systems in it (geothermal, ground-source heat pumps, radiant floor heat). It has an indoor fitness center with a basketball court under the garage. There are PV solar (electric) and domestic hot water solar panels on the roof.

The point is: The home at once represents the image of a home that was created over time, but rather this one is being built with aging already built-in! It is at once a new home and also a "remodeled" home.

There are 5 separate elements to the design: the "storybook cottage", the "chapel", the "barn" garage, the "English Manor", and the "new timberframe." The challenge was to make these parts of the house into a cohesive whole, but to have the house represent a creation that was added to over time. It is as if these separate, smaller buildings were moved onto the site and connected together over time, in a slightly hodgepodge way as was often the pragmatic way of our forefathers.

In reality, this was all intentional, planned, and debated time and time again. Every square foot of space in the home was reviewed to make it functional, if not multi-functional. There are several examples. The "guest cottage" can be an in-law suite, or even an owners suite on the main level of the home should anyone ever suffer disability. The downstairs craft room doubles as a guest bedroom, and the adjacent childrens' bunk room is sound-proofed for their benefit while it can also serve as a mini recording studio. A formal sunroom was eliminated, but instead a sunny, private ingelnook will be created in the cooridor linking the "guest cottage" -- it yields an extra piece of privacy for guests and can again double as a sleeping area for additional guests. There is no dedicated home theatre room.

The clients were inspired by their trips to Europe - specifically the Cotswolds in England, but also trips to Italy. While the Italian Villa was considered, in the end the old English cotswold style won out, with a bit of storybook imagination added in.

All in all, the floor plan is about 1/3 smaller than the original schematics. This, in and of itself, will save the owners money and energy, and in turn makes this house greener than it might otherwise have been. Additionally, the house has R-80 attic insulation, R-25 or better in the walls, and has received two intermediate Wisconsin ENERGY STAR Homes inspections so far. The final results will come in after completion late this summer.

Future blogging will discuss:

• Material choices
• Geothermal heating & cooling
• Solar panels - PV & domestic hot water
• Radiant heat
• Creating a gymnasium under the garage
• Framing a curved roof
• Timber framed great room
• Wainscot details - using barnboards and creating perfect corners that Tom Silva would be proud of
• And more...

Please subscribe and stay tuned!

Degnan Design Builders Participates in "Green Built Home Makeover"

In 2007, the Madison Area Builders Association decided to embark on a philanthropic project that would educate the public about green remodeling and energy efficiency by remodeling a home -- the Green Built Home Makeover. With the help of Degnan Design Builders and dozens of volunteer companies and donors, two volunteer project managers began demolition on a home in Downtown Madison.

For 2008, this all-volunteer project was awarded A Cut Above The Rest Remodeling Award from the Wisconsin Builders Association Remodelers Council.



View the full article here.
NBC15 did 5 days of newscasts focusing on this project.














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Degnan on TV: Governor Doyle Visits Our Kitchen Remodeling

Governor Doyle recently visited one of Degnan Design Builders remodeling jobs. We were conducting a Home Performace with Energy Star post-test to evaluate our success in improving the energy efficiency of the home during a kitchen remodeling. The remodeling was a success, as was the energy improvement: We reduced the air infiltration into the house by over 20%!

Read about this "Open, Bright, Connected" kitchen remodeling project here.

View the news story courtesy of WKOW Channel 27 in Madison by clicking here or view the embeded video below.