Location: Egremont, Massachusetts, USA
Project type: Single-family new construction
Builders: Little Deer & Company
Architects: EASTON COMBS Architects
Assembly: Vented rainscreen - MENTO 1000 - plywood - 12" vertical I-joist structural/dense-pack cellulose insulation, INTELLO
Details: I-Joist Outrigger Smart Enclosure DOWNLOAD HERE
This meticulously constructed, beautiful high-performance home will ensure its occupants comfort and durability for decades to come. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
This home in Egremont, MA integrates many of our recommended best practices - all while achieving aesthetic beauty and thoughtful integration into the site landscape. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
INTELLO PLUS serves as the interior air barrier, and horizontal battens will ultimately help form the service cavity - which will extend the life of the air barrier by minimizing penetrations. This uncommonly clean construction site reflects the meticulous work done to apply the membrane for near-perfect airtightness! Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
Light floods the job site through triple-pane, high-performance windows. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
On the building exterior, SOLITEX MENTO 1000 serves as the WRB and exterior air barrier. The structure on the right is fitted with battens which will support the standing seam exterior wall while creating a cavity to maximize the structure's outward drying potential. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
Another view of the two buildings indicates how their placement obviated the need for destructive site excavation work, and instead adapts to the natural undulations in the landscape. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
The standing seam metal exterior wall is applied begins to go up. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
The standing seam metal roof is vented at both the roof ridge and at the junction of the roof and exterior wall, maximizing the drying potential of the roof. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
Another view of the buildings as they near completion. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
Beauty
We often talk about the extensive benefits of high-performance buildings: lower energy costs, more durable structures, resiliency, and healthier interior environments. High-performance strategies can improve the lives of building occupants. Beauty is not as quantifiable perhaps, but it can bring delight to life. And there is nothing more delightful than working on projects where the work of high-performance also results in beautiful architecture.EASTON COMBS Architects, the architecture and design firm of Rona Easton and Lonn Combs, based in the Berkshire Mountains of Western Massachusetts, integrated many of our best practices in this home in Egremont. They did this while crafting a thoughtfully designed home with exquisitely detailed finishes on the inside and outside as well..
This modestly sized 1800 sq ft home consists of two buildings connected by a breezeway. It was designed to be integrated into the unique topography of the site without relying on destructive site work or extensive excavation. It is highly insulated, extremely airtight, and integrates an electric heat pump for heating and cooling. Built by Little Deer & Company, the building is poised not only to meet Passive standards , but also designed for easy integration of solar panels for net-zero energy in the near future.
The thoughtfulness of this architecture is evident not just in the striking sculptural results, but in the very fabric and structure of the building - the components, the assemblies and the process. Beauty is apparent every step of the way.
Airtightness Above All: The Wall Assembly
The wall assembly integrated many of the best practices we recommend to maximize drying potential and ensure airtightness inside and out. Walls are built with a 12" vertical I-joist structural system with dense-pack cellulose insulation, with an R-value of 45. By using SOLITEX MENTO 1000 as the exterior weather-resistant air barrier and INTELLO PLUS as the interior air barrier, the walls are guaranteed to be airtight while also maximizing drying potential and preventing moisture from accumulating in the assembly. Dense packed cellulose insulation is a safe and non-toxic alternative to foam insulation. By including a service cavity inboard of the INTELLO PLUS, the team ensured the longevity of the interior air barrier by minimizing the number of utility penetrations through the INTELLO. The service cavity also provides an additional space between the air barrier and the drywall,a sacrificial layer likely to see many penetrations over the life of the building. Moreover, the horizontal battens that form the service cavity help to support the dense-pack cellulose and INTELLO every 16" and ensure that it maintains durability packed over the life of the structure.
A section of the wall assembly viewed from the interior, courtesy of EASTON COMBS Architects, showing the 12" of blown-in cellulose insulation, INTELLO PLUS, and the service cavity behind the finish interior wall board. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
A section of the wall assembly viewed from the exterior, courtesy of EASTON COMBS Architects, showing SOLITEX MENTO 1000 and the battens which will support the standing seam metal exterior walls and form the vented rainscreen. Photo credit: EASTON COMBS Architects
To further ensure the longevity of the interior air barrier, American Installations installed the INTELLO Plus and insulation with a clever system of cardboard strips to further reinforce the membrane. When cellulose is blown behind the membrane, it increases the pressure on the membrane and shear on the staples that connect the membrane to the studs. By laying cardboard strips over the INTELLO and stapling through these strips, the pressure on the membrane is significantly diffused. This is particularly helpful if you intend to build without a service cavity, but in this case, it simply adds a further layer of protection to ensure the long-term performance of the air barrier.
The Rainscreen: Beautiful, Functional, and Low-Maintenance
On the building exterior, the architects used plywood sheathing, which is more vapor open than OSB, and applied a vented rainscreen. Rona and Lonn also went further to ensure long term performance and prevent condensation buildup by vapor venting the roof assembly. The roof is vented via a rainscreen cavity through a half-inch gap between the rainscreens of the roof and the wall, and a roof ridge vapor vent. Both the exterior walls and the roof are fitted with a standing seam metal finish, which significantly reduces maintenance requirements: the house will never need to be repainted, and there are no gutters to be cleaned.
A Cornucopia of Best Practices: Other Steps Toward High Performance
A number of other steps were taken to ensure long-term high performance. By designing the building with condensed interior cores, plumbing and electrical systems were kept out of the building's exterior walls. This serves to significantly reduce the number of penetrations through the building envelope. The triple-glazed windows are flashed with EXTOSEAL ENCORS, a vapor-closed, water-tight, flexible tape. EXTOSEAL ENCORS significantly decreases the likelihood of leaks over the life of the building because its flexibility enables a single strip to be applied over the entire window bay sill and then approximately 4" up the jambs - eliminating joints where leakage could occur.
By integrating numerous best practices - using both a vapor-intelligent interior air barrier and vapor-open exterior air barrier, choosing vapor-open plywood sheathing with a vented rainscreen, vapor venting the roof assembly, utilizing non-toxic insulation materials, and including a service cavity inboard of the interior air barrier - EASTON COMBS Architects have taken big steps on the path toward perfection in building design. We are truly inspired when exceptional designers like these are also committed to whole-building performance - and ensure a healthy, comfortable, and efficient home for decades to come.
All images courtesy of EASTON COMBS Architects.
