Historic Decisions

“You obviously restore the window and improve its weatherization,” says Landis. “To our surprise, we did blower-door tests afterward and discovered that these restored windows in combination with good quality storm windows installed on top, were about 90 percent as efficient as brand new Weather Shield windows installed in the newer sections of the house.”

In the final analysis, after the project was complete, Landis sat with the owners and asked them to summarize their satisfaction with the project. They were extremely happy with the results. Of their three “regrets” all related to factors beyond the control of the architect and the contractor. Water service needed to be replaced out to the street resulting in a $30,000 cost variance. A neighbor delayed the project with issues relating to an easement. And lastly, a number of problems with the cabinet manufacturer resulted in a long delay.

From Landis’ perspective the only regret was not being able to handle the design in-house. The process would have gone more smoothly, he says. “If we were to design this in-house, that would have helped dramatically.”

Fast Facts About this Project

• Location: Georgetown, Washington, D.C.
• Architect: Erik Hoffland, AIA
• General contractor: Landis Construction
• Total project cost: $1 million
• Square footage before: 2,200
• Square footage after: 3,200
• Project started: December 2007
• Project completed: Spring 2009

Specified Products

Concrete: Handyman high fly-ash content
Countertops: Virginia black granite, Vermont Danby Olympian White, Norwood Marble & Granite
Custom interior wood doors: Designer Doors, Inc.
Custom millwork: Dave Cahoun, St. Joseph’s Carpentry
Drywall compound: Proform brand
Drywall adhesive: Titebond solvent free drywall
Drywall: 100% recycled
Exhaust fans: Panasonic
Flooring: EcoTimber bamboo; Mountain Lumber Antique heart pine wood flooring
Hot water heater: Solene
HVAC: Carrier, BMC Installation
Insulation: Demilec Agribalance, Dow Frothpak, Nova spray foam
Lighting: Sea Gull, Cree LED lighting
Lumber: FSC lumber from Nature Neutral Supply and TW Perry’s
Masonry: Concreto Plus
Medicine cabinets: Nutone
Paint: American Pride, Benjamin Moore, Restoration Hardware
Plumbing fixtures: Kohler
Precast concrete widow sills: Dominion Precast, Inc.
Siding: Hardiplank
Skylights: Velux
Stairs: Eastern Stairs
Tile: Oceanside; Quemere International, Architectural Ceramics, Daltile
Tub: Porcher
Virginia black granite: Norwood Marble & Granite
Water piping: Aqautherm Fusiotherm
Window restoration: Historic Structures
Windows: Jeld Wen

Green Components of Project

Demolition, Excavation, and Site Work:

• Deconstruction
• Donation of salvageable materials
• Recycling of construction and demolition waste

Concrete and Block Foundations:

• Concrete with coal fly-ash content

Rough Framing

• Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certified dimensional lumber
• Borated-treated, FSC dimensional lumber
• FSC, formaldehyde-free plywood for subflooring
• FSC, formaldehyde-free oriented strand board for sheathing
• No-VOC adhesives
• Optimum value engineered framing techniques were employed to save wood and increase size of insulation cavities

Exterior Windows and Doors

• Historically correct windows and doors
• Restored original front façade windows re-weather-stripped for energy efficiency with high-end storm windows

Exterior Finish: Trim, Siding, Soffits

• Reinstallation of cement-board, Hardie-plank siding salvaged from side of neighbor’s addition

Roofing

• New, sun-reflective “cool roof”

Cabinets

• Cabinetry case: GreenTech Core with no added formaldehyde
• Case construction: All cabinets constructed with FSC wood products with no added formaldehyde
• Doors & drawer faces: FSC sustainable wood species; GreenTech Core
• Drawer box materials: Solid bamboo
• Finish: zero and/or extremely low VOC finish; zero formaldehyde; zero HAPS (Hazardous Air Pollutants); water based finish, stains and topcoats

Countertops

• Locally quarried granite — kitchen
• Salvaged granite — laundry

Appliances

• Energy Star appliances

Plumbing

• Fusiotherm piping was used rather than copper
• Highly water-efficient bath and kitchen faucets, toilets and showerheads
• Solar thermal hot water

HVAC