Air and water vapor can enter a home by diffusing through building materials or by infiltration or air leaks. In many ways a house, due to wind pressures, act like the cabin of an airplane that experiences large pressure differences inside and outside the cabin. In the case of an airplane, a poorly sealed cabin would result in a very uncomfortable and cold ride for the passengers (not to mention there would be too little air to breath). And while a house does not deal with the effects of the upper atmosphere, it does experience pressure differences that draw air in and out of a building, similar to that of the pressure difference caused by the upper atmosphere on an airplane.

Most residential construction in the US does not utilize an air barrier under the foundation, and if an air barrier is installed, it is done in a piecemeal fashion. An air barrier below the foundation is necessary, as a surprising amount of air can be drawn into the building through the soils. This is a particular concern in Maine because of radon, a poisonous gas that can pollute the air infiltrating through the foundation.

When installing the air barrier under the foundation, it is important to remove any debris that might puncture the air barrier from below and then continue to protect the air barrier through the construction process (as it is made of plastic). There are other material options for air barriers, but plastic is moisture resistant, flexible and easy to install under the foundation. In addition, it is important to have a flexible material since the air barrier will be installed under the concrete slab, and then continue up the foundation and attach to the wall panels—unlike traditional construction that discontinues the air barrier under the foundation. We have also taken special care to ensure the continuity of the air barrier, including double caulk lines and tape at all joints.

Once the underslab insulation was installed we proceeded with installing the foundation formwork, another process that was rather simple and quick. For the foundation of the building we will be using a grade beam system, similar to a slab on grade.

To create the grade beam, we used prefabricated, insulated formwork called: insulated concrete forms (ICFs). While the system costs are comparable to an ordinary wood-framed formwork, the thermal performance is significantly greater.

ICFs are made of clipped together insulated panels, in which the concrete is poured. The plastic clip system that holds the panels together also supports the rebar, holding it securely in place during installation.

The benefits of the prefabricated, clip together sections are the reduced cost and improvement of energy efficiency with fast installation.

With the launch of our website we’re offering a line of homes that prove great design, comfort, unparalleled energy performance and reasonable cost can coexist. We’re not here to throw around now-meaningless terms like “green” or “sustainable” to describe what we do. Let’s accept it: every new building on earth has an environmental cost, either initially or over the long term (or both, generally). Here in the frigid north a building can be made to produce more energy than it uses through the application of renewable technologies, but only at an enormous cost. Net-zero is possible and certainly worthy, but it’s affordable only to a very few. G•O Logic is out to show the most sensible approach to reducing energy use in buildings is to push the envelope on performance and at the same time keep costs affordable to the average homebuyer.

We’re in trouble, folks. I just read “Heat” by George Monbiot. In spite of years of official ignorance of the problem, it turns out climate change was and is happening, and the outlook is so dire it’s almost too depressing to think about. But as Mr. Monbiot is a true optimist he spells out a necessary path to survival in the next 30 years: reduce carbon emissions by 90%, nothing less. What does this mean for energy use in buildings? Again, we’re in trouble. Buildings gobble up around half of all the primary energy  used in the world (way more than cars and trucks do), but since heating oil has been so cheap historically we haven’t been too compelled to do anything about horribly wasteful buildings. Monbiot cites the German Passive House concept as a reasonable, proven method to reduce energy used for space heating in buildings by 90%, the same as his target. The passive house idea is catching on the the U.S. and we at G•O Logic are designing and modeling our homes to meet that standard.

Specifically what can we do? Create buildings that use the very least amount of energy possible for the various needs we humans have: staying warm, bathing with hot water, and watching episodes of Lost on wide-screen t.v.’s. What we as designers and builders can do is build a building that does such a good job of keeping out the cold we need nothing but the most minimal amount of electricity or firewood or body-heat to keep it warm; specify the most efficient water-heating appliances coupled with a solar-thermal system to cover half the annual domestic hot water load; remove the t.v. room from the floor plan and specify furniture with built-in chess boards. Who said architecture can’t be manipulative?

But don’t these homes cost a lot to build? What level of energy efficiency are we talking about at what cost? In the next series of posts  we’ll look at the numbers to see if this plan is affordable and and the reduction in energy use achievable.