We attempted to jump start the Build it Green Philly marketing efforts by participating in the 2008 Greenfest Philly event that was held on September 7th at 2nd & South Streets.For our first foray into the street festival type atmosphere – it wasn’t half bad. Obviously, our intent was not to sell any of our Energy Star designed homes on the spot – but rather to raise awareness of our company and its mission to build certified green homes in the city. I would guess that maybe 50% of the vendors present were selling “green” products, from healthy cleaning materials to organic clothing and food and drinks made from responsible and sustainable practices.I was pleasantly surprised to see several of our vendors displaying various green & sustainable products that we have used or plan to use in our Green Homes.
Our main focus was to display some samples of our Energy Star Homes which have multiple floor plans and finish packages as well as a few exteriors to choose from which when combined give you a fully customizable new home.Best of all it is designed to fit on virtually any lot in the city. This streamlined process gives buyers the ability to have their green dream home under construction in as little as 2 to 3 months.
Interest was high at our booth, with a steady stream of visitors reading about our projects and asking relevant questions about our building practices. We ended the day with several leads from property managers, investors and realtors and plan to follow up with all of them. All in all, I’d say it was a successful event for Build it Green Philly and will probably participate again next year. Click here to check of the rest of our pictures from the festival.
An Energy Star home doesn’t mean that it is new. Our latest project starts as a 60’s something townhouse in the Queen Village area of Philadelphia. The house is three stories with 8″ concrete block exterior walls that are not insulated, a flat roof that is rotting because there is no ventilation and parquet floors that really need be updated. We started with removing all the finishes including the out of style flooring, mildew laden roof insulation and warped drywall. But, stopping there and installing new finishes would only be ” Putting lipstick on a pig.” We needed to make the pig a thoroughbred so, we laid out a plan to retro-fit the structure and shot for an Energy Star Rated House.
Most new houses are built with 2 x 4 or 2 x 6 wood stud exterior walls which leaves a void to fill with insulation but, the void in a CMU (cementitiuos masonry units) block’s void is internal. So, to get the usual R-value you need to install 2 x 4 studs on the interior and lose interior volume. That didn’t sit well with our client who had already counted every inch for the custom kitchen and built-ins. Our solution, is to use 1 5/8″ metal studs installed at a minimum of 3/8″ from the existing CMU walls that will allow two inches of spray polyurethene foam insulation behind the drywall that will give us a R value of 13 on the walls and save 306 cubic feet of interior space. Not only do we save space but, with the 3/8″ gap behind the stud we a able to make the walls straighter with our laser levels and the closed cell spray insulation also acts as an air barrier. Combining the air tight insulated shell plan with high efficiency air conditioning, heating and appliances has set us on the road to a rehabbed house that will be 22% more efficient than houses built to local code requirements.
For those that like to do there own research on “green” products and building methods, there is a great forum online - Green Building Talk. There are many educated builders and consumers posting daily on all sorts of topics from SIPs and ICFs to radiant and solar systems. I find myself searching through these forums often when I am looking for a unique method that may have been proven or disproven by someone in the know.
They have also just started a Blog which already contains a lot of good content. We have added it to our blogroll in the right column. Check it out today.
Level 5 Construction wrapped up construction of a new, modern townhome at 22nd and Fitzwater in Philadelphia last week. This project had a lot of custom features including stairways, metal railings and kitchen cabinets that all came together to make a modern statement in this new construction project. The completed townhouse will make a great home to a growing family in Philadelphia.
We attempted to jump start the Build it Green Philly marketing efforts by participating in the 2008 Greenfest Philly event that was held on September 7th at 2nd & South Streets. For our first foray into the street festival type atmosphere – it wasn’t half bad. Obviously, our intent was not to sell any of our Energy Star designed homes on the spot – but rather to raise awareness of our company and its mission to build certified green homes in the city. I would guess that maybe 50% of the vendors present were selling “green” products, from healthy cleaning materials to organic clothing and food and drinks made from responsible and sustainable practices. I was pleasantly surprised to see several of our vendors displaying various green & sustainable products that we have used or plan to use in our Green Homes. 
For those that like to do there own research on “green” products and building methods, there is a great forum online - 
