Custom Home411: Energy Efficient Sucess Story

About the Author

Henry Moreau, began his homebuilding career in 1986 as a carpenter working for one of the last “working homebuilders”, Ted Peagler of Morton MS. From “Mr. Ted” he learned the importance of attention to detail, an acquired a working knowledge of the basics of fine homebuilding. From there he spent several years working for Harrell Construction, and developed a detailed knowledge of structural wood framing. In 1996, he hired a crew and launched his own frame carpentry company, later incorporated as Moreau Building Contractors. By 1998 he had passed the State Board of Contractors exam and was licensed as a residential builder. “One of the problems I started noticing as a general contractor was that I don’t think anyone ever brought me a stock plan and said, this is it, its perfect, don’t change a thing. Field modifications can be made, but too often they are not the best solution to the clients needs; a redesign would be needed to be most effective. The idea of doing design-build was appealing to me early on.” By the year 2000, Mr. Moreau had begun to study residential design in earnest. “All of the college texts I acquired stressed the importance of understanding how buildings are actually put together, and advised spending some time in the construction field to acquire that knowledge.” As energy efficiency came to the forefront of the homebuilding industry, Henry realized that the combined effects of designing for a particular site and personally attending to details was having a huge impact on energy efficiency in a cost effective way.

Energy Efficient Sucess Story

I had the opportunity to visit with the client of a home completed around the end of May, and got some great feedback on the energy efficiency for the cooling costs during the month of June here in Mississippi.

The home is 4437 square feet of heated and cooled space, sited on an open hill with no available natural shade. In accounting for the views and solar orientation, we worked in wrap around porches on the south and west exposures, and included soffit returns on the gables to help shade the second floor windows. (They also helped to visually break up the large gable walls in a nicer proportion.) We used low-E argon filled glass with extruded vinyl frames in the fenestration. The insulation in the walls was a standard R-15 batt, with the ceilings blown to an R-38. The HVAC systems were Tempstar SEER 16 and 18 designed and installed by Central Heating and Cooling. A total of three units were used.

Particular attention was paid to sealing of the building envelope under plates and all penetrations through the exterior walls. No extravagant costs were incurred to build toward energy efficiency.

The bottom line; The owners previous home was a typical speculative subdivision home of around 1400 square feet. Their electric bill for the month of June 2008 was around $275. For the month of June 2009, in a home three times the size, the electric bill was $149.

Yes, I will crow a bit about this! I am truly happy when efforts to do the right thing pay off. I am contacting all of the trades involved to give them kudos as well, as it the integration of many systems in the home that contribute to these kinds of results.

At this rate, they could well recoup the “extra” costs in the first year or so.