Green home in many ways; Renovation earned rating by reusing materials, installing geothermal system and good insulation

ROBERT BEHRE, Architecture, The Post and Courier

FOLLY BEACH - The home nestled on the back of this island, next to the Folly River, might look at first glance like any other spacious beach house.

But the home is noteworthy because it's green - in both the literal and figurative sense.

The home, designed by architect Martin Cizler of Christopher Rose Architects and built by Rampart Construction, is the first in the Charleston area (and one of only four in the state so far) to achieve a gold rating by the National Association of Home Builders' green building program.

Cizler says the owners wanted their home to be environmentally friendly, and that shaped the decision not to raze the existing L-shaped house - even though it already had sprung some leaks, was smaller than its new owners preferred and wasn't exactly the prettiest thing to look at.

"It looked like two single-wide trailers stacked on top of themselves with pilings underneath," he says.

Eric Lutz of Rampart says the 4,500-square-foot home is essentially new. Its walls were bumped out in many cases, and a lot of porch area was added to shade the house and add outdoor living space. "Most people wouldn't know it's a renovation because it looks like the brand new house," he says.

The first green step was reusing as much of its walls, foundation, interior doors and other material as possible and to try to choose new materials that didn't need to be shipped far.

The second green step was adding a geothermal heating and air conditioning system, which requires less energy to operate, and to add point-of-use water heaters as well as solar panels that supplement the hot water supply.

The third green step was to insulate it well, including closed cell foam in the attic and recycled denim in the interior walls.

Cizler says the new design included oversized overhangs - about 40 inches - to help shield the house from the sun. Also, there's a porch that wraps around most of the first floor, adding outdoor living area while also shading the house.

The house doesn't include photo voltaic solar panels - ones that generate electricity and not just hot water - because the payback wasn't considered fast enough, Lutz says. Also, the rainwater wasn't caught and reused because most of the property already drains into a pond that is used for irrigation.

The fourth green step was using paints, stains and adhesives with either low or zero volatile organic compounds - a step that improves indoor air quality.

One sign of the intense and increasing interest in sustainable building is the growing number of agencies that certify a building's environmental bona fides. The U.S. Green Building Council has its LEED ratings, while the Green Building Initiative oversees Green Globes.

Now the National Association of Home Builders has its own accreditation system - one designed to focus solely on residential work and to be flexible and easy for home builders to use, says Kevin Morrow, who works with the green home program.

"It's really been designed to make it easy for the builders to navigate," he says.

"We knew if homes were going to be built greener, we needed to make the process simpler to make them certified."

Morrow says the most important of the six requirements is to teach the homeowner how to work all the new systems. "A builder can build a super-efficient home with all the bells and whistles, but if it's not being used properly than you're not getting the benefit of the those efficiencies," he says.

Robert Behre may be reached at 937-5771 or by fax at 937-5579. His e-mail

address is rbehre@postandcourier.com, and his mailing address is 134 Columbus St., Charleston, SC 29403.

ON THE WEB: To see a photo gallery of the 4,500 square foot "green" home, go to postandcourier.com/galleries.