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Bungalow Goes Green

By Karina Timmel

MOSAIC Indoor Living ecos up this young family's home

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This 1910 bungalow, originally 800 square feet, was remodeled by MOSAIC Indoor Living using EarthCraft House certification guidelines to become a 2,000-square-foot dream home for a young couple and their growing family. The homeowners loved their neighborhood, and many other homes had been remodeled in the area, so they decided to build an addition instead of moving out of their cozy little bungalow.
Because MOSAIC Indoor Living is committed to green building wherever possible, the experts there suggested that the homeowners make this an EarthCraft House remodel. This idea was in line with the homeowners’ own ecofriendly philosophy—they felt that by incorporating green-building initiatives into the remodel, the big payoff in the long run wouldn’t just be savings, but an overall better quality of life and reduced environmental footprint.

A 2-story addition was planned, which included a new family room, dining area, open kitchen, laundry room, mudroom, master bedroom and bathroom suite. The large “family-friendly” kitchen was designed to be the hub of the home. Also, the addition connected the existing garage to the original small home. A new front porch and small, screened porch were added to the existing structure as well, tying the old and the new together in style and scale.

This home’s EarthCraft House certification means it was built using green-building standards to improve energy efficiency, indoor air quality and make use of sustainable, renewable products. The biggest improvement was installing a high-efficiency furnace system in the home. This unit, coupled with the Icynene insulation, provided the highest level of energy efficiency to the home’s systems. Before remodeling began, the home’s total air-volume exchange was once every 45 minutes. This showed that the home was losing valuable heated or cooled air. After remodeling was completed, the airvolume exchange increased to every 3 hours, which is on par with EarthCraft House standards. Other green initiatives used during construction included:

• Engineered flooring system made from recycled materials
• Framing system spaced to accommodate the maximum insulation in corners and headers
• Sealed crawl space with built-in dehumidifier and complete vapor barrier installed
• Tankless water heater
• Reclaimed pine wood floors
• Low-VOC (volatile organic compound) paint

The key challenge that MOSAIC Indoor Living faced with this project was to ensure the Craftsman-style charm remained while more than doubling the living space. To do this, the company’s interior designer developed pleasing finish selections that reinforced the Craftsman detailing. Finishes such as reclaimed pine wood floors, soapstone countertops, custom walnut end-grain butcher block and handmade tile are reminiscent of another era while fulfilling the client’s desire to use green products wherever possible.

By adding 1,200 square feet of conditioned space, the family is now enjoying their home with all the charm and character of the original bungalow while taking advantage of some green-building initiatives and allowing their growing family to stay in the neighborhood they love for years to come.

Project cost: Approximately $400,000

Team on the job: William Fadul, owner of MOSAIC Indoor Living; Catherine Trugman, interior designer; Charles Butler, project manager; and Dave Price, architect with Price Residential Design.

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