High Level Happy Hour: Lori and her eco house!

Today's high level happy hour is with my friend Lori (pictured below with her husband Chuck). 

I've known Lori for about 6 years and was very excited to learn more about their newest adventure- building their eco friendly dream home! Here's our chat: 

Q: What city do you presently live in? 

A: Argyle, Texas

Q: What was your lifestyle/home like in your former residence? 

A: Our previous home was the typical 2 story brick cookie cutter home you can find in most North Texas neighborhoods. It had 5 energy sucking bedrooms and was 3,400+ square feet. 

Q: How would you describe the type of home you recently built?

A: Eco-friendly with a mid-century modern twist

Q: What inspired you to build an eco-friendly home?

A: My husband (Chuck) and I had previously discussed putting solar panels up on our old home, but our HOA was not accommodating as is usually the case, so when an eco-friendly home was built in Lewisville, Texas and opened for tours in November 2009 we jumped at the chance to see it. From that day on we knew we wanted to build a home and include as many energy efficient and earth friendly aspects as we could afford. 

Q: When did you officially start the process of building an eco-friendly home?

A: We started the search for a lot in the summer of 2010. We were very particular because we wanted to have a north facing lot so it would be easy to orient the house with the back to the south (where the solar panels would be). We bought a lot in July of 2011, started meeting with our architect, William Peck, in August, picked our builder in November and the foundation was poured in mid-February 2012. 

Q: What were you looking for in a builder? 

A: An expertise in building with energy efficiency and eco-friendly materials. 

Q: Who did you end up using? 

A: Chris Miles of Green Craft Builders 

Q: What do you think is the most critical attribute when determining your builder? 

A: Good communication skills. We had never built a house before and we had a million questions. Our builder took the "there is no stupid question" approach very seriously. 

Q: Was there anything the surprised you about the process? 

A: How long it took to get some of the building permits! Argyle is a small town and they do not have a dedicated permitting department, so they had to send everything out to a 3rd party which caused a later start date than we would have liked. 

Q: What was the best part of your building process? 

A: Watching and participating in every step of the process and seeing it all come together as I had envisioned. 

Q: What was the most difficult part of your building process?

A: Finding earth friendly products that were also made in America, local if available. It took some digging, but they ARE out there. WE were determined to build not only eco-friendly, but made in the USA!

Q: What are some of the eco-friendly features you incorporated into your home? 

A: Polished aggregate flooring, non-formaldehyde building materials, high efficiency appliances including hot water heater and AC, low flow toilets, non VOC paint and stain, metal roofing, blown foam insulation, a 6 kilowatt solar system, a water capture tank and drought tolerant landscaping. 

Q: How did you plan for the future in your new home? 

A: We scaled down in size since we are empty nesters and we built it one story and handicapped accessible in case we need to care for a parent or use it for ourselves as we get older. 

Q: How efficient is your home now?

A: Our electric bill is about 1/4th what it was in our old house (admittedly this house is smaller) and as long as the water capture tank has water we save 2,000 gallons of water each time we water the lawn (we now have a whole new perspective on a good thunderstorm!)

Q: What is the most indispensable item in your home? 

A: Not sure I would call it an item, but I adore my polished aggregate flooring! It's eco-friendly, non allergenic, easy to clean, hides dirt and is not as cold as most people think!

Q: What's your biggest pet peeve regarding eco friendly homes or green living? 

A: My biggest pet peeve is that it's not more mainstream to build this way. People we meet that find out what we have done say "oh I'd never do that, it's too much work or too expensive or weird" or "I've never heard of that". If people would just do one or two of the things we've done they would be surprised at the difference it makes!

Q: What under-appreciated green item do you think everyone should own? 

A: Blown foam insulation, hands down. The house was being built during a Texas summer and after the insulation was blown, despite there being no A/C hooked up, the inside of the house was a good 15 degrees cooler than outside. I'm sure the workers were almost as excited about it as we were. 

Q: How did the price per square foot compare to a more traditionally built home?

A: It was definitely more costly upfront to be eco-friendly, but it's difficult to quanitfy. If comparing to a premium custom built home there's not much of a difference. If comparing to a home in a ready built development, like our previous home, there will be a significant difference. 

Q: Do you think that building an eco-friendly home was worth it? 

A: Absolutely! I would do it again. 

Q: Which came first, the chicken or the egg? 

A: Chicken!

Wanna learn more? Follow Chuck and Lori on their blog.

Thanks for sharing your adventures!
-DBC