Solar tour sheds light on green building designs
By Cherry Sokoloski
North Forty News
Those attending this year's Northern Colorado Solar Tour will have a wide
variety of projects to see.
The Oct. 6 tour features six homes in Fort Collins, including three renovations
and three that are new construction, as well as the Fort Collins Utilities
vehicle storage facility. The tour also extends to Loveland, where participants
can check out a commercial building, a residential hot-water retrofit and
a showcase home of new building and energy technologies, presented by Aspen
Homes of Colorado.
Wellington is also on the tour this year, with a look at the new Rice Elementary
School. While the rest of the tour is self-guided, there will be two guided
tours of Rice, one at 11 a.m. and the second at 1:30 p.m.
Sponsored by the Northern Colorado Renewable Energy Society, the tour begins
at 8:30 a.m. at the Fort Collins Senior Center with an hour-long green
building presentation. The self-guided tours run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Most buildings on the tour incorporate passive solar design, several use
photovoltaics and many integrate advanced and alternative construction
methods and materials. For example, a straw-bale home will be featured
for the first time. Two buildings on the tour have been certified by Leadership
in Energy and Environmental Design, a national rating standard of the U.S.
Green Building Council.
To participate in the tour, people may purchase a $5 guidebook with descriptions
of each site and maps to each location. They may be purchased at the Fort
Collins Senior Center from 8 to 10 a.m. on the morning of the tour, or
in advance at Café Ardour in Fort Collins or Mile Hi Solar in Loveland.
1960s renovation
One of the north Fort Collins featured homes is an elegant re-do of a
1960s home. Owned by Jerry and Kathy McIntosh, the home is located in a
park-like setting overlooking Long Pond, at 900 Gregory Road. A major goal
of the renovation project was to "bring the outside in," according to architect
Justin Larson of JCL Architecture. In the process, Larson succeeded in
combining craftsmanship, imagination and energy efficiency in this interesting
and comfortable home.
During the 10-month renovation process, the home was gutted, walls and
doorways were changed, and a 1,000-square-foot addition provided new living
space. The project succeeded in capturing and celebrating the site's best
features.
The need for a new heating system prompted the owners to consider remodeling
in the first place. They moved into the 1965 home in November 2000 and
proceeded to endure a winter in a cold house with minimal insulation and
an antiquated heating system.
Now, a radiant heating system in the floor, with its high-efficiency boiler,
keeps the home warm and comfortable. "It's always the right temperature,
and absolutely even," said Kathy McIntosh.
Structural insulated panels in the roof have brought insulation values
up to R-40 in the original structure and R-56 in the addition.
"I'm surprised and gratified that I don't have to use any air conditioning
in the summer, and it takes very little to heat the house in the winter,"
said Jerry McIntosh. "Before, it was cold all winter long and hot all summer
long."
While people on the Solar Tour will no doubt appreciate these energy efficiencies,
they can also enjoy some interesting design elements in the McIntosh home.
In the effort to bring the outside in, the architect created a sunroom
with movable glass walls. When the two glass walls are open, there's virtually
no distinction between indoors and out. The sunroom is adjacent to a patio
and a long, dock-like deck extending toward the lake.
Another element that connects the two environments is a water feature that
begins in the sunroom and continues outside. Also, the overhead beams visible
throughout the home's interior continue outside to form a trellis of wood
and steel over the deck.
While the original intent was to have a better heating system, the McIntoshes
gained a good bit more with their remodeling project. "The home lives very
comfortably," noted Kathy McIntosh, with its open floor plan replacing
the numerous small rooms of the original house. And, the couple can now
enjoy the beauty of their location, whether they're sitting with their
pooches in the sunroom or entertaining friends on the deck.
Other sites on the tour are as follows.
- Sovick Design/Builders, 111 N. Loomis, Fort Collins
- Boersch home, 1921 Sheely Drive, Fort Collins
- Krebs/Ray home, 3630 W. County Road 50, Fort Collins
- Jamestown Builders, 2275 Bellwether Lane, Fort Collins
- Merten Homes (straw-bale home), 215 Pascal, Fort Collins
- Fort Collins Utilities Garage, 700 Wood St., Fort Collins
- Krioussis home, 2126 Genoa Court, Loveland
- Aspen Homes, 4446 Hayler, Loveland
- Porter Industries, 5202 Granite St., Loveland
For more information about the Solar Tour, go to the web site www.ncres.org.
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