Deconstruction: Final Day

Well, it isn't pretty, but what remains of the cottage is very little. C-CAP spent the last few days taking apart the roof and wall sections that were on the ground before carting most all of the materials off site using a U-Haul truck. The photo here shows the last, and smallest, load of materials. While there are two valuable beams in the truck, most of the wood in here is destined to be chipped once it is de-nailed. SUNY-ESF has offered to provide this service, allowing the wood to be re-used on the site of the "hoop" house that C-CAP is building in the southside neighborhood in order to provide fresh veggies to a population that has little access to healthy food.

The dumpster is filled with asphalt shingles, fiberglass insulation, plastic materials, and some wood (most painted) that couldn't be recycled or re-used. The material in the cellar isn't that deep, and is mainly torn wood scrap and the soft particleboard that was used before plywood came along. It will be covered with the stone blocks that surround the foundation, and the pile of soil and stone that is adjacent to the hole. Then we'll just need a giant magnet to find all those nails.....:)

Once C-CAP has time to store all the material, they'll have a final tally for us on the deconstruction waste stream.

This is the third U-Haul truck, with the previous two loads being near full. Imagine if all of that material needed a dumpster....

Foreground: an old cistern that was used to collect rainwater from a spout running off the roof until the late 1970's. Background: The remaining foundation that will be knocked in, and then covered with the adjacent soil pile.

It was a long day, of dull work, but Mike, Brad and Izzy are still able to give me a smile! 

More Deconstruction Photos

The first set of shots were taken on Friday, with the last few taken earlier today. It's evident the guys worked over the weekend! They experimented with different strategies for removing the roof, and settled on the technique of cutting sections out at a time. That way, they could lower the sections to the ground where it is safer to do the work. Similarly, some of the exterior wall framing was knocked off the foundation intact where it will be taken apart. The final layer to be removed is the flooring, which requires the guys to work more carefully as they have to pry the boards from each other so they don't split the dry wood. While some workers remove the remaining material from the foundation, there are others on the ground sorting the wood and other debris so that it can be carted off-site for re-use, refurbishing (in the case of the floor), and recycling. A very small percentage of the material will require disposal.

The remaining porch and structure Friday a.m.

Taking off a roof section

The remaining structure looking toward the road, Friday afternoon.

No treasure found, but there were a lot of fruit boxes stored at one time under the porch that became enclosed

The view from the south, with the last wall coming down.
 In foreground, exterior wall framing still needs to be pulled apart

Pulling out the pine floorboards.

Just some of the sorted wood!

360 Degree Exterior photos

I realized when looking over my posts, that I didn't actually publish the finished exterior photos. The site work will commence after the cottage is gone, so the current elevations look a bit funny. I've started in what will be the driveway, on the southeast side of the lot....

The existing cottage is to the left of this photo. A 2-car garage. East view.  Entry in middle.

Walking west, downslope. There will be a retaining wall at this corner.

South side. Lots of windows, with solar shades below, to maximize solar gain in winter, minimize it in summer. Third floor will use shades to control sun.

West side. Will have porch on middle floor to provide sun control to lower level. Porch will have trellis to control sun. Upper level will use shades. Our main view is to the west, as our lot is long in this direction. 

North side. few windows. Small rectangular ones will be under cabinet in kitchen to provide natural counter light. Entry room north windows at left.

North side of garage.

Street view of east side of garage. The upper portion is unfinished, but the window was added to provide balance.

Deconstruction of Existing Cottage Underway!

A good deal of the former porch, north siding, and all of the windows, doors, and flooring are gone

Last week, Paul Fowler (a.k.a the builder) entered into an agreement with the Concerned Citizens Action Program (C-CAP) based in Syracuse's Southside to undertake the deconstruction of the 700 square foot cottage that is on the site (see earlier post). The workers are members of C-CAPs Green Collar Job Training Program, and for many, this project is their chance to hone skills that they can use to begin a new career in the nascent deconstruction market.

Deconstruction is important, because it reduces the amount of waste that ends up in a landfill. According to the United States Green Building Council, construction and demolition waste account for about 40% of the total solid waste stream in this country. The process can be slow, and challenging, as removal of materials needs to be done carefully in order to minimize damage to items that can be reused. Sorting of materials for recycling takes time too. On this job, the focus is on saving as many of the 2x4" and 2x6" boards, pine flooring, cedar siding and windows and doors as possible. Once they are done, the bulldozer doing the final site work will knock the block foundation into the cellar to fill the hole that will become part of the driveway.

The upper level, as seen through the former back door. 

It is C-CAPs first solo project, having worked previously with the Ithaca-based not for profit Finger Lakes Re-Use in order to gain experience. Like many re-use groups, C-CAP is currently setting up a warehouse where they will store materials, either for use in additional job training, or for sale to the general public. They hope to use this project as a launch pad for securing deconstruction work from the City of Syracuse.

I really want to thank Paul for giving work to this group, as it would have been much easier for him to hire a bulldozer and get two dumpsters to fill. It also would have been done in a day, rather than many. It was definitely a leap of faith (like the reclaimed flooring!) and I appreciate his willingness to try new methods with our project. I also want to thank Erich Kruger, a deconstruction consultant, for providing guidance on the project.

He's not putting the nails in, he's straightening one to pull it out. A tedious job....

A "sawsall" is a critical tool for the workers, seen here cutting a brace on the porch roof

Reclaimed Wood Flooring

We knew we wanted wood flooring in the house, in all the living areas but for the entry room, and bathrooms. It’s very resistant to wear and tear (if finished correctly), easily cleaned, and altogether offers a long life. By coincidence I learned of Habitat for Humanity’s stash of reclaimed hardwood in a warehouse in downtown Syracuse.

The lineage of our flooring is a little sketchy: from which of the 18 homes in Syracuse it came out of can’t be confirmed. Two years ago, SUNY Environmental School of Forestry was looking to construct a new dormitory, and the homes were to be removed to create the necessary space.  SUNY investigated the idea of de-constructing the dorms with the intent to salvage or recycle as much as possible. Unfortunately, their construction timeline and budget hadn’t factored in deconstruction.  So Habitat was given roughly two days per house to go in and take out as much as they could before the remaining structures were demolished. The age of the houses were 1850s-1950’s, and Habitat focused their efforts on the older homes with more period details.

Initial quantity, as delivered!

We missed getting the maple pile, but Greg Wright of Habitat let us take as much of the white oak as we could. We really liked the fact that the boards were weathered and included some long stock (up to 16ft) that’s no longer common today. We requested 1800 square foot of the material, and Paul Fowler (our builder) picked it up to bring it to the site. We paid $1.50 a square foot, with a promise of more if we needed some to finish the job. Our goal was to cover both the main (living, dining, kitchen) and upper (bedrooms, hallway) floors with this wood.

Putting the puzzle together took some time

Our initial impression of the pile was “that’s a lot of wood!” But by the time the flooring guys sorted through it, taking out the pieces with the broken tongues and grooves or pieces that were too ripped to use, we ended up with barely enough to do 700+ sf of the main level. We went back for more.  The next load containing a greater mixture of wood: white and red oak, with some maple mixed in.  This wood was also a more damaged, and after a few hours, the flooring guys announced they were uncomfortable working with it.  

Thankfully, Justin (as a belated mother’s day present, he joked) went in and sorted this pile, cutting out the bad pieces of wood to create shorter more usable lengths. He also came up with the solution for using the cut pieces that would no longer have the tongues on the end: screw and fill these ends so that they wouldn’t pop and creak (this avoided gluing the floor, which I was against because of the smell).  So in the end, we cobbled together enough flooring to finish the main floor and the upstairs kids bedrooms and hallway. We needed to resort to some new red oak flooring to do the master bedroom, because Habitat was out of flooring for us to use. In contrast to their work with the reclaimed material, the flooring installers had this room done in no time. I must admit, I have no idea where Paul rushed out to get it, but would guess that it was chosen for it’s price point rather than sustainable features given our overrun on this item.

Justin with Gorilla "wood" Glue adds oak plugs
to fill screw holes. At right, note the "X" marked
by installers to indicate where screws were needed.

The final phase will entail sanding and refinishing the floors with a water-based polyurethane tinted to help bring all the various wood types together.

Lessons Learned from Using Reclaimed Flooring

You save some trees….

Many of today’s woods are shipped from around the world and can come from unsustainable forestry practices. Purchasing FSC (Forest Stewardship Council certified wood) wood was an option, but it was more than three times as expensive as the reclaimed wood (albeit that’s without factoring in the extra installation costs we will incur with the reclaimed flooring).

You preserve a little bit of history…..

Aesthetically, it gives a patina and richness to our floor that you won’t get in a new floor. Additionally, historic flooring is likely to offer greater board length and width. Our 16-foot lengths are a unique feature.

You support local business/organizations…..

Most of the reclaimed material you will find is processed by a local business or organization (Habitat in our case).

You reduce transportation costs associated with the product…

And more importantly, the carbon footprint associated with the transportation and manufacturing of the product.

You will not get perfect pieces…..

Deconstruction is an evolving practice. The quality of your wood is dependant upon the skill of the people removing the pieces. Some of the deconstruction groups are now removing flooring in sheets.  Later, without the pressure of time, they separate the boards, which helps preserve the tongues and grooves that are essential to the integrity of the floor. 

The lifespan of your floors might be shorter than that of a new board…..

Because these boards have been sanded already at least once in their history, the amount of usable floor surface can be diminished.  Of course if you start with a 1” thick piece of barn board or some other such stock, you could get more wood than current flooring provides. In our view, it’s infinitely better to have the real hardwood that’s left in the used boards than to install laminated wood floors whose surface is less than ¼ inch and have one life (no sanding and refinishing).

You will not have a perfect surface…..

History has marked used wood flooring, with scratches, holes, stains and other blemishes. While sanding and refinishing will minimize many of these imperfections, you will never have the new floor look that is achieved with an out of the box product. We choose to view the imperfections as “character” and like the fact that no two of our floors will look alike.

Increased time and Labor…..

This is the biggie. Our installers would have finished installation in less than two days with new wood flooring, and another day (or two ½ days) would have been needed for sanding and finishing this flooring. Our project went over budget after the second day, because the labor necessary to sort the good floor pieces from the unusable ones, in addition to prepping boards that required cleaning (of the tongues) or cutting (of bad pieces), and then figuring out how to best fit them together, was much higher than anticipated. In fact, if it weren’t for the intervention of Justin, we might still be in a standoff over labor expectations and the related cost of such labor.

In the future, I will be able to post on the total cost of the floor, since we are still waiting to learn what the sanding and finishing price will be. 

Finished installation, ready for sanding and refinishing with low VOC polyurethane.

New red oak flooring in master bedroom, ready for sanding and finishing.

After the Memorial Day weekend, the sanding commenced. Above left, the contrast between the "new" wood and the old. Above right, the "first pass" results in a fairly uniform floor. 

Achieving Good Indoor Air Quality

Our specifications called for low VOC paint, coatings and sealants, as well as protecting our ductwork during the messy period of installation from dust and heavier particulate matter. Volatile Organic Compounds (VOCs) are carbon compounds that become a gas at normal room temperatures and they affect indoor air quality. In 2001, the U.S. EPA (Healthy Buildings, Healthy People: A Vision for the 21st Century) reported that indoor pollutants may be 2 to 5 times higher than outdoor levels. The World Health Organization conducted studies in Europe a few years later that found similar concerns. Illnesses from poor indoor air quality range from headaches and nausea, to asthma, allergic reactions, skin irritations and in extreme cases, illnesses caused by long term exposure to contaminants (such as cancers and neurological disorders).

VOCs aren't the only source of contamination: radon, mold, dirt, dust, tobacco smoke, candles, as well as house-hold cleaning agents, paint thinners, and pesticides can all degrade indoor air. Formaldehyde is a naturally occurring substance that is also of concern. Composite materials such as cabinets or counters can contain urea-formaldehyde resins. According to the LEED for Homes Reference Guide, “urea formaldehyde is a combination of urea and formaldehyde used in some glues and adhesives, particularly in composite wood product. At room temperature, urea formaldehyde emits formaldehyde, a toxic and possibly carcinogenic gas.” LEED Homes encourages homebuilders to use products with no added urea-formaldehyde. We didn't achieve this on our cabinets for kitchen and baths because of our budget, although ours (and many on the market) have minimum formaldehyde.

Today, ALL products on the market contain labeling that should prevent one from creating an unsafe indoor environment, including labels that dictate how to use and store certain noxious substances correctly (which is why precautionary labeling shouldn't be an optional read). As a practical first step, ask yourself if you actually need to purchase a product that contains hazardous substances. Beyond this, there are many products you can choose that go even further by formulating their products with ingredients that are better for our health and the environment.

LEED Homes actually stipulates allowable limits of VOCs for products, covering all manner of paints, coatings and sealants. For instance, for non-flat paint the VOC limit is 150 g/l. Clear wood finishes for the floor must meet a 350 g/L limit for varnish, and 550 g/L for lacquer, and so on. They also encourage people to seek out Green Label Plus or Floor Score Certified rug and flooring products.

Before the builder brought anything onto our site, his supplier sent me cut sheets of the various products that outline the attributes and component parts (or ingredients) of the item. I reviewed these for everything from the gypsum board to insulation. One helpful label to look for is whether or not the item is GREENGUARD certified.

“The GREENGUARD Environmental Institute (GEI) was founded in 2001 with the mission of improving human health and quality of life by enhancing indoor air quality and reducing people’s exposure to chemicals and other pollutants. In keeping with that mission, GEI certifies products and materials for low chemical emissions and provides a free resource for choosing healthier products and materials for indoor environments.”

Here are just a few examples of products that meet Greenguard/and or the VOC limit from our project:

• ·      ProForm All Purpose Joint Compound was used on the sheetrock, with just 2 g/L VOC as well as GREENGUARD certification.
• ·      Benjamin Moore's Natura No VOC paint has just been ordered to complete the walls. It is a new product for the company, and as such, hasn't been tested by GREENGUARD. It costs about $10 a gallon more than regular paint, but we don't need to prime, as just two coats are promised to yield a highly durable and washable finish. I should say that in order to promote this product to the builder, and the subcontractor they use for their painting, Benjamin Moore (through Purcell's Paints in East Syracuse) gave us 4 gallons for free. However, the change order to use this paint over the builder's standard product is still going to be $650!!!
• ·      Gold Bond XP Gypsum Board is Greenguard approved, as is the ToughRock from Georgia Pacific, a non-paper faced board that is used in all the bathroom "wet" locations because it won't hold moisture which can lead to mold.
• ·      Sport Kote is a water-based urethane wood finish that offers both a satin finish (VOC less than 300 g/l) and gloss finish (less than 260 g/l). As a single component formula, it can be used the next day, unlike some floor finishing products that have a pretty short shelf life. Additionally, it is very durable (as one would expect for a product used on gym floors), so it will be very resistant to wear and tear. The goal is, not to have to do this again for a very long time.

By the time the house is done, we'll be using quite a few GREENGUARD certified products that will garner us LEED points under the Materials and Resources category (Credit 2, for Environmentally Preferable Products).

Finally, to improve our indoor air quality further, we will be installing an AtmosAir filtration system (D100) within our furnace to filter all the conditioned air in the house. The maintenance cost on this filtration system is about $100 more each year vs. traditional filters (if using better than MERV 8 “standard” filters than the difference is less obviously) but it will create an indoor air quality that is superior and that will address some of our visitor's allergies to our dog. LEED recognizes this enhanced filtration with an additional point (MERV 8 is required, MERV 10 gets you an additional 1 point). Prior to turning on our fancy filter, we'll be using our HVAC with normal filtration at a minimum, and I will continue to vacuum out the ducts during my regular visit to the site to get the big stuff out that gets in there no matter how you cover the openings. Particularly now, as they are installing the wood flooring!

Insulating for Cold Climates: Creating the Best Envelope for the Budget

It is amazing the array of insulation that is available today. If you wish, you can lose yourself in the debates about the pros and cons of spray foam (of which there are many types), batt insulation, blown cellulose, blown fiberglass, hay bales, etc. Because we decided to minimize the amount of wood framing in the house by using 2x4 studs, 24" on centers (except for the main floor, because the local code enforcer made us use 16" off center at the last moment), our strategy was to utilize the highest R-value material in the interior walls, while using exterior rigid foam sheathing to create a continuous insulated air and vapor barrier on the exterior. By using the rigid foam sheathing, we could also eliminate any plywood or OSB sheathing. A review of the house's envelope ground up:

Sub-Slab Insulation: If you've ever walked across your basement floor and noticed it's cool temperature, or even damp, this probably indicated that it is "slab on grade" meaning that there's nothing between the poured concrete and whatever substrate (hopefully a good amount of "fines" to allow for water to percolate down) your basement/first floor has. Based on the good work of the Building Science Institute, I learned that uniformly their research on various homes in cold climates has shown that sub slab insulation that provides at least an R-5 should be installed (in warmer climates, you might actually enjoy that cool air, and circulate it through your house). Rigid foam, spray foam, foil faced foam wraps and even above slab sub-floor products all exist that allow you to achieve different degrees of insulation and at different costs.

We specified 2" of sub-slab foam, and the builder selected Greenguard's (TM) Extruded Polystryrene Insulated Board. My builder would like me to point out that this was NOT easy to install over the fine gravel substrate, nor was it easy to cut to accommodate plumbing and radon piping (yes, we are in a high risk radon zone). Additionally, I was dismayed to visit the site when the guys came to pour the concrete (remember: early January, nice and cold!) and they were all standing on one piece of board to stay warm by the heater, without any idea that perhaps they should distribute their weight more evenly so as not to crack it. They had no idea what they were standing on, or its purpose. Good oversight for installing whatever product is being used is pretty critical, if you don't want it to be compromised. Also, the gap between the sub-slab foam and superior wall was an issue I discovered last minute. We should have cut the foam to fill this, albeit a very labor intensive process. However, the 2" of closed cell foam applied to the interior foundation wall above the slab that filled this gap should mitigate the potential vapor/air/water transfer. More flexible sub slab foil barriers or spray foam would have been MUCH easier to install in this foundation situation where the studs are built in. Anyone using Superior Walls needs to consider this!!

2" Greenguard EXP Board, taped at seams. Note: gap between Superior Wall cavity (gravel in recessed area). This area was filled in with poured concrete for slab, and then we foamed the cavity with 2" of R7 closed cell foam.

Superior Walls:  As discussed earlier, these have the rigid foam embedded in the concrete, creating an R-12.5 wall. We then applied an additional 2" of closed cell spray (Demilec's HeatLok Soy 200) foam to the cavity and at the joists between the foundation wall and first floor decking. By some accounts, a house can lose up to 30% of its heat through a poorly insulated foundation wall and joist. Our minimum foundation wall R-value is a 26.

Timber Framed Walls:  Remember, we used 2x4" construction, 24" off center for the first (walk out/basement--SOUTH SIDE, rest is Superior) and third floor, with 16" off center for the main floor as code dictated. I searched a number of sites to see what the R-value of the 2x4 board is, and found that the agreed upon number is pretty much an R4. So, wherever there are studs in the house, the maximum R value for these areas due to the 2" of exterior rigid foam we used (see below) is an R-14. This is why some truly advanced framing systems go well beyond standard practices (where code allows), because for every stud, you decrease your overall wall R.

We used a number of products to exceed our goal R-value (conservatively, we are at 34, but this doesn't include the windows or studs, so our total wall R is less), as well as to ensure an air tight barrier. It was really hard for me to decide on the interior insulation, as I was concerned about it's impact on indoor air quality (VOCs, Formaldehyde's), the ozone layer (many foams use harmful blowing agents that are employed to keep the foam liquid so it can be sprayed on), as well as they impact the ability of future inhabitants to modify the house (batt insulation or sprayed cellulose is easily removed/moved, if one wishes to modify the envelope). Changing our envelope is something that future occupants of our home will think twice about, as the entire wall may need to be cut away. Use of spray foams also impacts the future salvage potential of our building materials (unless new technologies emerge for recycling this stuff). Ultimately, the following materials were selected:

1. 1" Dow SIS Rigid Sheathing: R 5.5 per inch. This was placed on the framing before the walls were raised (see above), an easier process than our second inch, which was put up after the windows were installed.

2. 1" Foamular 150 XPS, an Owens Corning Product: Kudos to Paul for discovering this product in the intervening weeks between ordering the Dow foam, and the next "layer." It has an R of 5 per inch, but has the added benefit of containing 20% recycled content! I figure if our house is going to be made out of a certain amount of petro-chemicals, that we ought to try and have some percentage be reclaimed material. Hopefully, there will be higher percentages of recycled content in future products of foam, so that we are not relying on a diminishing petroleum supply. I'm sure the neighbors were amused by the colorful display the exterior foams provided throughout their application.

Exterior Rigid Foam. First layer, Dow SIS product. Second layer, Owen Corning Foamular. When installed in layers like this, all seams are offset and taped (taping on both layers) to ensure that there are no gaps. Windows are foamed around frame to ensure continuous barrier.

3. On the interior of the cavity, we ultimately selected Demitlec's HeatLok Soy 200, which is a closed cell (rigid), spray-applied polyurethane foam insulation. The material is Greenguard Certified, and contains approximately 16% recycled content (plastics), 6% soy, and uses a non-ozone depleting blowing agent, HFC 245fa (at least it passes for the moment, this standard is constantly getting more stringent). I've posted the spec sheet. The "cured" R value of the product is listed as R7 per inch, and it also serves as our moisture/vapor barrier as well as our air barrier, eliminating the need for house wraps. This product is sprayed on the interior of our "exterior" rigid foams. HeatLok Soy 200 Spec Sheet

Finally, the Attic. We used pre-fabricated trusses to create the roofline of the house (with near optimal solar angle on the south side). We went with a standard 30-year asphalt roof, over OSB, with 1" of the HeatLok Soy 200 applied over the ceiling gypsum (the floor of the attic if you will), and beyond the top plate, and then 16 plus inches of cellulose. The 1" of the closed cell creates the air/vapor/moisture seal at this level while giving us an R7, while the remaining cellulose gives us nearly an R60 value. Once they put up the ceiling board, they sprayed in the 1" and then added the cellulose through an access door in the ceiling. I didn't get photos--too messy and dark! Maybe when they put the solar evacuated tube plumbing in I'll sneak up to get a look. The photo below shows the HeatLok spray foam being carried up from the wall cavity (top floor) over the top plate and filling the elbow of the truss.

While I'm certain there are imperfections to be found within the envelope, we tried. Material application/installation needs to be done properly, and having experienced contractors who have handled all materials in various applications is pretty key. We had many materials on-site, particularly the rigid foams, that were new applications for the installers. This caused the process to be slower in the beginning, and in the case of the sub-slab foam, less than ideally installed. However, we did pass our blower test just recently (more about this in the future), which means that we achieved our goal of a tight envelope.