Tiny Green Houses

5 Tiny Houses With Big Green Ideas

by Laura Caseley

As Posted on www.earthtechling.com

It used to be that the sign of living well was a big house, one with lots of rooms, maybe a pool—the kind of house you might envy when you catch a glimpse of it on TV or in a magazine. But that’s changing. Due to environmental and economic pressures, builders and buyers alike are beginning to think smaller and smaller and look to more sustainable technologies and materials for homes.
This movement, known as the “tiny house movement,” is a direct response to the growing concern about environmental impact, carbon footprints, financial challenges and concerns about space and land conservation. There’s also a sense of freedom that many tiny-house dwellers talk about. Many of these houses are modular, and that means they can be packed up, shipped out and then plopped down anywhere the residents desire (within zoning limitations, of course). They can even be placed on rooftops, which means they utilize the otherwise unused space on urban skylines. The houses are also very inexpensive, which means owners seldom have to be concerned with a mortgage. This gallery showcases five little houses with pretty big eco-conscious features. Simply click a photo to learn more. Oh, and did we mention how cute they are?

Buy Green Building Materials For Your Tiny House From World Class Supply

This Old (green) House

• As Posted On www.thisoldhouse.com
  The architecture may be old at This Old House's new project in Austin, Texas, but the thinking is thoroughly modern. For the first time, the show is going totally "green"—using as many environmentally friendly building products and methods as possible—and creating a functional home for a contemporary blended family.
  
  The subject of the renovation is a 1926 Craftsman bungalow that owners Michael Klug, 38, co-founder of a hologram company, and Michele Grieshaber, 41, a marketing executive, are turning from a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house into one with four bedrooms and two baths. Michele has owned the house for the past decade, but the couple married this past April and need more room to accommodate their new family, which includes Michael's two sons, Sam, 13, and David, 11. Add in the possibility of another child in the future, and it becomes clear that a house built for the lifestyle of a 1920s family won't cut it for this 21st-century clan.
  
  That said, there are many things about the house's original design that the couple plans to preserve and honor. Built before the days of hulking McMansions with 24/7 air-conditioning, the compact house was built to use natural air flow, high rooflines, and deep overhanging eaves to keep the heat at bay. It was efficient and green, and Michael and Michele have no intention of turning it into a oversized, over-cooled monstrosity devoid of its original Arts and Crafts details. In fact, their second-floor addition will only bump up the roofline by 6 feet. "We don't want a big house; we're not going to gold-plate everything," says Michele. "We don't need fancy—we need functional."
  Along with the added bedrooms, the couple's other wish-list item is an updated kitchen that opens up onto an entertaining area. Walls will move or come down entirely to allow the couple to interact with friends and family while preparing food. "I love to cook, and I'm at the stove while I'm socializing," says Michael. They also plan to spend as much time outside in the mild weather, so they'll create a screened-in porch and make sure that the entertaining areas connect easily to the outdoors. "We like to live outside more than the average Texan," explains Michael. "We're fine not having the AC on."
  
  That energy-saving mentality is one reason for their desire for a green renovation, but it may be the local way of life that truly influenced them. Austin, a young, tech-company town and one of the fastest growing cities in America, is at the forefront of the green movement. The Austin Green Building Program, one of the oldest in the country, will rate the project for its use of eco-friendly materials. Photovoltaic cells on the roof, rainwater collection for irrigation, spray-foam insulation, recycled-glass tile and countertops, and formaldehyde-free wood composites are just some of the resource-saving strategies and eco-friendly materials planned for the project.
  
  Overseeing it all will be architect David Webber and veteran green builder Bill Moore. With a budget of $250,000, they'll be working hard to incorporate the right materials and still accomplish the changes the couple need. The project will take less than five months overall, but when it's finished, Michael and Michele will have an updated version of their classic house, which they loved so much they couldn't part with it. "We did look at other, renovated houses in the neighborhood," says Michele. "But I feel responsible for this house. Houses have souls, and I need to take care of this one."
  
  
  Find Eco-Friendly Building Materials and Grass Seed at World Class Supply

So Many Ways to Build Low Cost Green homes

 


Want to build green?  There are loads of possibilities for everything from natural building like Cob and Straw Bale to re-purposed materials such as shipping containers.  One design-build provider, Blu-Homes offers pre-fabrication as part of their solution for green and affordable.


Blu-Homes factory-crafted prefab homes use Blu’s proprietary steel frame technology to create homes that are strong, durable and more spacious and light-filled than traditional homes.

This process—combined with sophisticated 3-D technology to design, engineer, build and finish a  home—enables Blu to complete a prefab home in less than nine months all at a fixed and transparent cost.

Click here for full article and photo gallery of Blu home samples.


Find Green Materials for construction, lawn and garden at World Class Supply

How Scottsdale does Green. Design Principles....

Scottsdale Arizona provides an extensive 18 page guide to designing Green. Be sure to also check out the useful Resource Links in this Guide.


Need green building supply?  World Class Supply provides eco-friendly windows, doors, sustainable grass seed and materials products and coatings.

Who Needs 3-D Design? 5 Reasons You Do

Whether you're remodeling or building new, 3-D renderings can help you save money and get exactly what you want on your home project

As Posted on Houzz

 

Dylan Chappell

Houzz Contributor and California Architect (http://dylanchappell.com/)

 

As a client, how can you avoid paying for design work you don’t want? Making sure you know what you're getting before you have it built helps.

Today there is no better way to understand and have a feel for new design than to see it in 3-D. Rather than your having rely on imagination to see if the bathroom door will be far enough away from the kitchen, 3-D allows you to virtually walk through your home before even approving any specs or designs. Want to see that living room wall with bay windows? No problem. Want to check out the view from the window? Step right up. Changed your mind and now want no windows? Hold on a sec.
Three-D design is a fast and efficient way to get involved in every part of the design process. When architects actually design with you, the client — and present other, different or better options — you'll be better equipped to make informed decisions on a design that's perfect for you.

How do you know if your architect works in 3-D? It's always a good idea to ask when you're interviewing potential candidates, and to take a look at their examples of drawings and 3-D presentations. Three-D design is becoming an industry standard, and finding a great architect who offers it should not be hard. The good news is, most firms don't charge more for 3-D; they either have it or they don't.

Here are five reasons 3-D design can work for you.

 

by Dylan Chappell Architects

1. Understanding traditional 2-D floor plans and elevations can be difficult. Many people can get the general idea from a floor plan but have trouble visualizing how the design is going to look. Being able to see and experience your design in 3-D will help you understand how it is going to work. The more you understand the look and feel of your design, the more comfortable you'll be at making decisions.

2. Designs can change and evolve in real time, during meetings with your architect. Meetings are the best way to be included in the design process and to make sure nothing is overlooked. What does a design presentation in 3-D look like? It could be a fly-through video or multiple perspective views of your project. I’ve found that the most efficient and productive 3-D design meetings are in the conference room with everyone sitting around the flat-screen, walking through the project room by room. This usually always brings up design questions, and changes can be made to the model during the meeting for instant results.

3. Design review boards generally respond positively to presentations that include 3-D. Three-D to show how a building relates to the existing environment or to a neighbor’s home is a very powerful tool when you're seeking design approval. I’ve had great success by rallying the support of neighbors when they can understand clearly how a building is going to look and feel compared to theirs. 4. Three-D design can help cut down on changes after construction has begun. Reducing the amount of changes during construction can help save time and money. But it can be hard to do until you really understand what the space will look and feel like, which is where 3-D design comes in.   World Class Supply carries eco-friendly building, cleaning and lawn products!