How is Energy Efficiency Measured?...

HOW IS ENERGY EFFICIENCY MEASURED?* If you’ve read my previous posts on the origin of Passive House, you’ll know it originated out of Europe and the Passive House standards were born of the Low Energy House standards. The chart below references European homes and is in kWh per square meters per year, but you can imagine use patterns are not extremely dissimilar in the U.S. On the other hand, since we are notoriously heavy energy consumers, the energy savings indicated would be that much more graphic! Energy efficiency ratings of cars are measured in miles per...

How Does a Passive House Work?...

*WHAT IS A PASSIVE HOUSE? The term “Passive House” (not to be confused with passive solar design, though there are overlapping principles) refers to a design and construction standard that aims to drastically reduce heating requirements in homes so that oversized conventional heating systems are no longer necessary. The homes maintain constant temperatures and do not rely on wasteful amounts of fossil fuels to continually heat and cool, therefore passive. HOW DOES A PASSIVE HOUSE WORK? The strategy of a Passive House is to reuse “free” heat...

Large 3D Architectural Tile...

Daniel Ogassian Tiles are just cool. They feature a standard collection but also offer prototype services and custom short runs. No doubt that would be spendy. The standard collection is fabulous. The concrete tiles are typically large, the smaller ones are in the 16″ dimension on up to 30″. The ceramic tiles are a bit smaller, under 10″ in may cases. What makes these tiles so unique is the 3D nature of the designs. They ‘feel’ very structural, very architectural. In some cases there is an austere, industrial, zen thing happening. In all cases...

No Leak Skylight...

Velux is rolling out a redesigned skylight product line this January with major upgrades: Advanced energy efficient glass Beefed up protection against water penetration No-Leak product warranty This last one is the ticket.  The product carries a 10 year skylight installation warranty, plus 20 years on glass, and 5 years on blinds and controls. Here’s what Velux says about the improvements to this line: Features include a third layer of water protection; advanced LoE3 glass for better energy efficiency, higher visible light transmittance, and  improved solar heat...

Our Own Passive House Consultant...

We received notice yesterday of news we’ve longed to hear… our  lead building designer, Tessa Smith, passed her grueling exams to achieve status as a Passive House consultant! Tessa is one of fewer than 300 certified Passive House Consultants in the United States. Tessa has been with The Artisans Group for 4 years; she’s been consistently producing award-winning remodel and new construction designs for us.  Her designs speak for themselves. Tessa has a deep background in sustainable design, and is very much a part of the new generation of designers that...

Recycled Glass Countertops...

Okay! Countertops are blossoming before us. Building green has been great in so many wholesome ways and has been the genesis of some very very cool products! May I introduce the extraordinary recycled glass countertops by ThinkGlass. ThinkGlass is aggressively pursuing a green standing in their manufacturing processes and end products; they have a nice pitch on their environmental position. Below is a piece off of their website which gives you an idea of what goes on behind the scenes at ThinkGlass. By the way, I recommend going to their site to look at all the images in...

Eco by Cosentino Green Countertops...

This is a nice product that  recently came out on the market; we just received samples for our showroom and are quite impressed with the high end look of this product and the fact that it is certified GreenGuard. A very nice green option! Here’s the scoop: Cosentino is the world’s largest manufacturer of quartz, they recently launched a new eco-friendly countertop called ECO by Cosentino. ECO contains 75% post-consumer and post-industrial recycled raw materials, as well as 25% natural elements. These countertops are made from salvaged mirrors, window and...

Deck Stain Options...

Late this summer a friend  decided to refinish her wood deck in the remaining days of sunshine. Once she completed the prep work of scraping and sanding, she was down to figuring out what type of stain to apply.  Naturally a trip to the local box store was the first maneuver, that was a good way to open conversation about ‘what’s out there’, but created more questions than answered. There is a difference between deck stain and deck sealer. The language manufacturers use varies slightly from one to the next potentially creating  confusion. Generally,...

Austria Passive House Update...

In an earlier blog post we mentioned the Austria House, which will be the party house for all things Austrian during the 2010 Winter Olympics. The house is designed and constructed to meet the rigorous Passive House standards.  At it’s essence, a passive  building will maintain a comfortable interior climate without an active heating and cooling system. Passive refers to the fact that the home will heat and cool itself. Our lead designer, Tessa Smith, visited the Austria House recently. Having gone through the Passive House training earlier this year, she knows...

Laminate Countertops and Surfaces...

Can you believe these are little snapshots of modern laminate? Though I work for The Artisans Group, I don’t typically work directly in our Design Center. Today as I was passing through, not unlike our dog on a visit to Petsmart, my eyes were roving over all the colors and textures while quickly cataloging little mental notes of “oh, yeah, THAT would be fun…” and “mm hmm, those are going on the wall behind my range…” and before I knew it I had a full remodel worked out in my mind, despite that I just had a full remodel less than a year ago. So many...