Innovating an 1885 House: LEED Innovation & Design credits

The LEED for Homes Innovation & Design Process (ID) credit category rewards and encourages projects in three major areas:

ID 1: Integrated Project Planning encourages project planning and design to improve the coordination and integration of the various elements in a green home.

      ID 2: Durability Management Process applies simple quality assurance measures during design and construction that improve the home’s resilience to weather, pests, and other environmental issues.

      ID 3: Innovative or Regional Design creates an opportunity for projects to earn credit for implementing strategies or measures not addressed in the current LEED for Homes Rating System. Credits can be earned for innovative designs, exemplary performance, or regional best practices that can be shown to produce quantifiable environmental and human health benefits.

The category includes 3 prerequisites and 11 possible points. The prerequisites that apply to the Burns house and credits we chose to pursue are:

ID1.1 Preliminary Rating (prerequisite) – This entailed holding a preliminary meeting with the LEED for Homes Green Rater to go over the project and identify potential credits from the LEED checklist. The LEED Green Rater acts as both a LEED consultant and the project’s LEED inspector.  Our Green Rater is Sanyog Rathod of Sol Design + Consulting.  He definitely knows his stuff, and is very cooperative. I highly recommend him.

ID 1.2 Integrated Project Team (1point) – The idea here is that a well selected project team meets throughout the design and construction process to better achieve good design and implementation. Our project team included:

Sara Aschliman (me) of dwellbeing

Project Owner / General Contractor / Architect / LEED AP +Homes

Brent Niese  of dwellbeing

Architect / LEED AP + Homes

Jeff Gray of Jonle Heating &Cooling

HVAC / Geothermal designer

Chris Dwyer of Sol Design &Consulting

Energy Modeling / Building Technology Testing

ID 1.3 Professional Credentialed with Respect for LEED for Homes (1 point) – Building are certified, but professionals are accredited.  In this case both Brent and I have earned our LEED AP+Homes accreditation which means that we have LEED for Homes experience and have passed the required tests.  Participating on the project team earns us 1 point.

ID1.5 Building Orientation for Solar Design (1 point) – Design the home such that all of the following requirements are met:

a) The glazing area on the north- and south-facing walls of the building is at least 50% greater than the sum of the glazing area on the east- and west facing walls.

b) The east-west axis of the building is within 15 degrees of due east-west.

c) The roof has a minimum of 450 square feet of south-facing area that is oriented appropriately for solar applications.

d) At least 90% of the glazing on the south-facing wall is completely shaded (using shading, overhangs, etc.) at noon on June 21 and unshaded at noon on December 21.

Since houses in the 1800’s were built to take advantage of natural light, it not so coincidentally happens that the existing house sits within the 15 degrees of a due east-west and that there are nearly twice as many windows on the north and south sides of the house than the east and west.  The existing old growth deciduous trees on the perimeter of the site, provide the shade in the summer, yet allow the light to pass thru in the winter. Here's a pic of our south-facing wall in the winter showing 90% unshaded windows. In June we will see how much shade the trees provide. 

ID2.1 Durability Planning (prerequisite) – It is a LEED requirement to evaluate the home based on location and construction type, identify potential climate, topographic, and pest related risks, and develop strategies to combat these risks to create a more durable building.  Durability strategies that we identified in the Burns house include:

  

Exterior Moisture:

Seal all plumbing, electrical, and other penetrations of walls and floors, and seal joints.

Continuous drainage plane behind exterior wall cladding fully sealed at all penetrations

Raise paper covered gypsum board 1/2" above concrete slab

Fully flash all window and door openings

Installed system for diverting roof water from house (e.g. gutters of overhangs in dry climates)

No. 30 roof felt underlayment minimum

Reduced ice dams: No non-airtight recessed light fixtures in insulated flat ceilings; no non-airtight recessed fixtures in insulated cathedral ceilings.

Interior Mosture:

Nonpaper-faced backer board used in all tubs, showers, and spa areas.

Water-resistant flooring in the kitchen, bathroom, laundry rooms, and spa areas.

Water-resistant flooring within 3 feet of all exterior doors.

Drain and drain pan installed for any tank water heaters in or over living spaces

Drain and drain pan OR single-throw supply valve installed for any clothes washers in or over living spaces

Conventional clothes dryers exhausted directly to outdoors

Whole house ventilation and local kitchen and bathroom exhaust systems that comply with ASHRAE Std. 62.2

Use highly durable materials in wet areas

Heat Loss:

Exposed concrete slab edge insulated.

Install insulation per Thermal Bypass Checklist

All ductwork within conditioned space

Window: U-factor ≤ 0.40

Exterior doors to be weather sealed

Basement walls insulated

Pests:

Seal external cracks, joints, etc. with caulking and install pest-proof screens

Use solid concrete foundation walls or pest-proof masonry wall design

keep all wood 12" above grade

Radon:

Provide minimum 4" diameter PVC pipe to vent Radon gas from under slab to roof or exterior wall.

Provide junction box at roof end of pipe for future exhaust fan.

Use solid concrete floor

ID2.2 Durability Management (prerequisite) – supplemental to ID2.1, is it required that the builder inspect construction to ensure that the identified durability measures our implemented.

ID2.3 Third-Party Durability Management Verification (3 points) – As an added level of insurance, the Green Rater may inspect the project to verify the durability measures.

ID3.1 Innovation 1: Advanced Utility Tracking (1 point)  – To earn this credit we enrolled the Burns house in the USGBC’s Building Performance Partnership and gave it permission to track our utilities for their database.  This is a pilot credit which means that the USGBC is exploring the potential for adding it the rating system.

ID3.2 Innovation 2: Street Network Intersection Density (1 point) – This is also a pilot credit.  Similar to the Preferred Locations, Community Service & Transit, and Access to Open Space credits offered in the Locations and Linkages Category, like the name implies, Street Network Intersection Density rewards projects that are located in in areas with many street intersections as research shows that this can cut down on gas usage and therefore carbon emissions.

ID3.3 Innovation 3:  Exemplary Performance in Materials and Resources 2.2 Environmentally Preferable Products (1 point) – Because our project reuses much of the existing structure which is considered both recycled and local material, it earned more points than were available in the category. Therefore this exemplary performance earns credit in this innovation and design category.