Residential Remodeling Meets Sustainability

When the Sumers decided to remodel their two-story Solana Beach home, they envisioned a healthier and more energy-efficient atmosphere for their family to grow in. One that creates its own water and energy supply to offset usage and thereby minimize their environmental impact. And one that demonstrates that remodeling in an environmentally-conscious way is feasible and greatly beneficial - it’s not just an option for new construction.

To approach the remodel in a holistic way, they decided to take the project through the LEED Certification process. Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design (LEED) is run by the US Green Building Council the arguably the most widely recognized third party green building certification program in the world. It comprises a system of prerequisites and credits in 8 categories - Innovation in Design, Sustainable Sites, Water Efficiency, Energy & Atmosphere, Materials & Resources, Indoor Environmental Quality, and Awareness & Education. The prerequisites must be met, and the more credits that are achieved the higher level of Certification is earned. They are striving to achieve the highest level - Platinum - and would be the first LEED Platinum single family home in Solana Beach.

To achieve this goal, the builders, Naylor Construction, brought together a LEED project team including a LEED Consultant, LEED Green Rater, a rainwater harvesting specialist, and engineers with various building expertise. The project team met monthly to facilitate the integration of prerequisites and credits throughout the entire construction process. Continuous communication between trades is a key component of the process, as it lends to increased efficiencies in design aspects as well as reduce construction time.

The Sumer home will require less energy for HVAC because of the increased insulation and superior windows and doors that allow for less heat transfer through the building envelope. Their lights and appliances are Energy Star rated and will be primarily supplied by the 9.53 kW solar photovoltaic system on the roof. Aside from energy conservation, a highly important objective for the Sumers is water conservation. For indoor water savings they chose low flow plumbing fixtures in all the bathrooms, and outdoors they chose primarily drought tolerant and native species for landscaping. To take further action in managing their water resources, they had a 2825 gallon cistern installed that collects rainwater from 100% of the 1452 square foot roof. The collected rainwater should be able to provide irrigation for the landscaping throughout the entire year. Other environmentally-conscious construction tactics included reuse of almost all the lumber that was torn down from the previous house, and prioritizing recycled, rapidly renewable, low emission, and FSC-certified building materials.

Naylor Construction recently completed construction of the home and the LEED process is underway. Stay updated on its certification status on the project blog - sumer-residence.blogspot.com - and there may also be an opportunity to visit it on this November’s San Diego Green Homes Tour!