Checklist - Your High Performance Home

A high performance home offers you a great deal of value in lifestyle ease, comfort, efficiencies, savings, and resale value.  Are you seeking touch-of-the-button or a flip-of-the-switch access to all of your technologically equipped features? Do you want to achieve greater energy efficiency and lower overall utility bills? Do you want to know the materials and products being specified are healthy for you and good for the environment? Knowing what you want to accomplish in making your home high performance is your starting point.  
1) The Basics for a High Performance Home
  • ​Plant Trees on the East-West Side for Summer Shade
  •  Caulk and seal all exterior gaps around openings in exterior walls. A 1 square inch hole will bring in 14 pints of water in a 2 week period, and moisture entrapment in the walls can become a problem.
  •  Consider having the attic sealed with insulation against the roof deck, to create a semi-conditioned space
  •  Install Water Heater Insulation and a Timer, if using a conventional water heating system, or use a solar water heating system, or a gas fired instant system
  •  Install a Programmable Thermostats
  •  Install Ceiling Fans and use them when occupying the room
  •  Install Energy Efficient LED light bulbs, low profile LED recessed can lights and use the gaskets that come with them
  •  Install insulating Gaskets behind all Wall Switch and Outlet Plates, if not using spray foam insulation 
  •  Include a Recycling Center in the Kitchen or Garage
  •  Install an Attic Tent over Attic Access, if attic is not insulated and sealed as a semi-conditioned space
  •  Water Efficient Faucets, Shower Heads and Toilets
  •  Unplug cell phone and other chargers, when not in use
  •  Use Healthy and Safe Cleaning Products, to protect indoor air quality
  •  Planting Deciduous Trees on East / West sides of a Home can Reduce Cooling Bills as much as 15 % – 30 %
  •  Install lighter color roof shingles and consider a radiant barrier on the roof deck
  •  An outside air barrier of house wrap, such as Tyvek or ZipWall are powerful energy efficiency tools. Tyvek is vapor permeable.
  •  Use an R-38 minimum insulation in the attic.
  •  Get house solar ready with conduit.​
2) Upgrading Your High Performance
  • Specify your insulation be installed to Grade 1. Insulation products of all types only work if it is encapsulated with no air movement. The whole key to effective insulation is in the installation. Request frequent training of sub’s to get the installation done right.
  •  #1 thing that destroys our buildings is water and moisture intrusion. Focus on water management. Energy efficiency and water management go hand in hand. Mold happens when the surfaces cannot dry out. Heat, air and moisture flow are one. Drain the materials well and let them dry. All action happens at the surface. Slope grading away from the house a minimum of 5% slope.
  •  Don’t under invest in managing daily moisture management, flashing is vitally important, if properly installed. Use good quality kickout and eave flashing materials, as well. Drainage is our friend and a house wrap is a good drainage plane. The walls need a drainage plane behind all wall finish materials. Use a drain wrap behind all cladding materials. Use a permeable housewrap on the outside of 1” ridged foam board insulation. Use vapor permeable vented rainscreens, 3/8” shingled and lapped. Housewrap must have a 6” lap. Add a drip cap over the windows for best practice. Caulk or foam the inside of the windows on all 4 sides.
  •  Proper Window installations are critical, especially at the corners, due to inadequate pan flashing. Protect the sill, by adding a wedge to slope it at least 6%and use flex-wrap with a j-roller to install it properly.
  •  Be sure to water test the building after the house wrap is installed, but before the exterior cladding goes on and insulation goes in to make sure it is water tight.
  •  Crawl spaces should be considered small Basements and should be sealed in this area, where we have a mixed humid climate. Install a capillary break with heavy gauge poly on the floor area with a slope and insulate the side walls. Install a bath fan in the space to help keep it dry or run a supply duct into the crawl with a back draft damper on it, to keep the crawl conditioned and aid in drying capacity. Need a dehumidifier installed, as well.
  •  Increasing insulation makes sense in our area. Consider this up front, it’s harder to add to it later on.
  •  Use Advanced framing techniques, 2” x 4” studs at 24” oc, with the right sheathing products, including 2 stud corners with drywall clips, for improved insulation in the corners. Wood has an R-value of 1 per inch and thermal bridging is a problem.
  •  Use ladder framing at inside corners and intersecting walls, provides racking bracing.
  •  Design for 2’ increments to increase material efficiency and allow window placing to fall in 2’ increments, as well.
  •  Consider adding a layer of 1” rigid foam board insulation, with joints taped, around the perimeter of the home, to prevent thermal bridging. Remember to add jamb extensions on windows and doors to accommodate the extra wall thickness.
  •  A roof stays cooler with a white roofing material, also called a cool roof. Don’t need a radiant barrier and insulation against the roof deck, choose one of the options. Either of these systems raises the temperature of the roofing material by about 5 percent.
  •  Have a HERS Rater perform Blower door and Duct Blaster tests, along with using a Thermal Camera to check for thermal bridging. Verify duct air flow to measure performance. A 30-35 HERS Rating should be the goal without solar.
  •  Tight construction with a Blower Door Test is good with 50 ACH @ 50 pascals. (ACH – air changes per hour).
  •  Install windows with Low-E glazing and argon gas filled, and install a drip cap over the windows. The Low-E glazing filters and reflects the summer sun back out and allows the sun to be absorbed and radiated in in the winter time. Solar Heat gain Co-efficient is .36 or 36% is okay on the south side, but not good on the west. Verify the SHGC on all windows before ordering. Triple glazing is more effective than using solar panels if trying to achieve Net-Zero. AC units can be smaller when using better windows.
  •  Make sure the HVAC Contractor and the Energy Rater meet with the Team to so everyone is on the same page when preparing calculations the for AC unit size and duct sizing.
  •  Use High Efficiency HVAC units with a high SEER rating, 13 is the minimum, 15 to 20 SEER is better, with variable speed fan motors (ECM -electronically commutated motors) and have all air handlers installed inside conditioned closets and all ducts located inside conditioned or semi-conditioned spaces. Use matched coils for proper dehumidification.
  •  Use a manual D Calculation for proper duct sizing.
  •  All Supply registers to be sealed to the sub-floor and drywall, and ideally an air return located in every room, where possible. Sheet metal ducts are better than flex ducts for air flow performance. Supply registers do not need to go next to exterior windows and doors due to the improved quality of the glazing units.
  •  LENNOX sells a heat pump system with a solar inverted built in, so you can connect it to solar.
  •  Dow solar shingles can be installed by a regular roofer, rather than a solar company. Tesla whole house battery is now or soon to be available.
  •  The IECC 2009 Energy Code was adopted in NC.
  •  There is a 35% tax credit in NC until the end of 2015.
  •  A home with Smart Technology, monitoring the mechanical controls of the home is increasingly more important.
  •  Walls must be air tight and vapor permeable, so they will dry.
  •  Have Crawl Spaces Sealed.
  •  Use Durable siding materials.
  •  Use the most efficient appliances you can afford.
  •  Add Skylights or Solar Tubes to improve daylighting.
  •  Install a Rainwater Harvesting System.
  •  Install Gas or Solar Hot Water System.
  •  Beware of combustion safety. Use high efficiency furnaces and direct-vent sealed combustion appliances. One appliance may back-draft another. 600 CFM going out, means 600 CFM coming in from somewhere and the easiest way is through a non-sealed chimney. The stack effect costs 30% of the winter heating bill.
  •  Know the permeability of your building materials. Concrete wicks huge amounts of moisture into the home through capillary flow. Brick is also very hydroscopic and holds huge amounts of water. Sun driven moisture moves from the outside to the inside of the wall in the summer, so restricting this flow of moisture is critical. It needs a capillary break, or it may cause efflorescence on the exterior and moisture issues on the interior, which changes the look of the finished product. 
  •  A Capillary break is through wall flashing with an insect screen and a 3/8” gap is an important number. Also include a capillary break between the footing and the foundation. Manage the moisture, then insulate the slab edge, or the entire slab. Be sure to include termite protection. Slab edge insulation is most important in this climate, using 2” R-10 rigid foam.
  •  Get water away from the building as quickly as possible with the grade sloped away and proper drainage installed. Pipe downspouts a minimum of 10’ away from the foundation. 
  •  Stop building Basements or use ICF’s (Insulated Concrete Forms), or spend more money on drainage, insulation and dehumidification. If using ICF’s, pre-planning is critical.
  •  Use ‘Energy Complete’ behind drywall as an air barrier gasket.
  •  Use paperless drywall – Denswall in Basements and wet rooms.
  •  Shingle the drainage plane down and out.
  •  Air seal behind all tubs, showers, soffit boxes and fireplaces. Air seal between the house and the garage with spray foam, if only using spray foam in one place, this is the pace to use it. Air sealing is very important. Use a Blower Door Test to verify tightness.
  •  Connect drywall to wall studs with caulk or ‘Energy Complete’ product. 
  •  Use high-temperature silicone around chimneys.
  •  Caulk the bottom plates of the exterior walls. Do not use expanding foam.
  •  Assemble your Construction Team – Integrated Design
  •  Educate your Financial Team: Lender, Appraiser, CPA on what you are building.
​3) Universal Design or Designing for Visitability
  • Provide a zero threshold into the home, or a ramp someone from the outside to the access the inside.
  • Provide at least one Bathroom on the main floor for accessibility.
  • Provide 3’ wide doors and 4’ wide Hallways on the main level.
  • Consider an accessible Kitchen for all users.
  • Consider lever handles on doors
  • Provide switches and outlets at accessible heights. 
​4) Achieving Good IAQ (Indoor Air Quality)
  • Eliminate pollutants by careful material selection, no VOC’s or formaldehyde
  • Use No VOC paints
  • Do not use vent-free fireplaces, use sealed combustion direct-vent with make-up air.
  • Install make-up air for dryers and range hoods, as well. Make-up air requirement is 600 CFM. 
  • Consider 60 CFM of continuous ventilation for tighter homes to improve indoor air quality, such as a small bath fan. Also, consider installing an ERV – energy recovery ventilator for this area. It pre-heats and pre-cools the air, is vapor permeable and moisture gets transferred out as dehumidification system. A VENMAR system is a quality product.
  • Ventilate with fresh air, free of pollutants. A ducted central dehumidification system is really important for this area. The cost is immediately recouped by reducing the size of the AC unit, and it installs in the air handler system.
  • Filtration of existing air to remove contaminants, through quality filters
  • Use source control technique via sub-slab ventilation through the roof to remove radon.
  • Separation of occupants from the pollutant source, such as a detached garage
  • Formaldehyde is chemical which can outgas from some cabinetry
  • VOC’s are volatile organic compounds –  are the chemicals which affect our ozone layer
  • Both of these are toxic to breathe and bad for the indoor air quality of a home
  • Cats require3 x more ventilation than people do. Indoor air quality is a concern in homes with cats, the house needs 45 CFM / cat.
  • Bamboo and Cork Flooring – Readily renewable
  • Marmoleum Flooring – a natural linoleum product made with flax seed and linseed oil, doesn’t outgas
  • Formaldehyde Free cabinets
  • Concrete Countertops
  • Furniture not sprayed with flame retardants
5) Basic Products To Consider:
  • Bamboo and Cork Flooring – Readily renewable
  • Marmoleum Flooring – a natural linoleum product made with flax seed and linseed oil, doesn’t out-gas and easy to maintain
  • No VOC Paints
  • Formaldehyde Free cabinets and closet systems
  • Concrete Countertops
  • Icynene or other spray foam insulation, in walls and roof deck
  • HVAC Units inside conditioned spaces
  • Pure Air cleaning systems on HVAC
  • Sealed Crawl Space
  • Sealed Attic Space
  • Recycled Products
  • Universal Design (accessibility for all ages and abilities)
  • Rainwater Harvesting
  • Radiant Flooring heating system
  • Photovoltaic Solar Panels or shingles
  • Solar Hot Water Panels
  • Water Efficient Plumbing Fixtures
  • Energy Star Rated Appliances

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