Deck Design of the Week

Green Building in Michigan

Today’s Deck Design of the week is a two-parter. We’re going to look at the before and after phases of building a green home that has some wonderful sustainable and eco-friendly features.

The mind behind this home’s beauty is Danny Forster, host of Extreme Engineering and Build it Bigger on the Discovery Channel. He’s also a Harvard grad and, as evidenced by the lake front home in Michigan, a heck of an architect.

Today, we’re going to see Danny take you through a behind the scenes look at how a Green home is constructed. This Omena Lake front home is also going for either Gold or Platinum LEED certification, so you can tell that there are some serious and revolutionary design and architectural elements being used for this home.

As you can also see, there is no shortage of ipe being used in this home. Danny Forster has used both ipe decking and ipe siding in ways that are, at once beautiful, but also eco-friendly.

MyNorth.com Video: Danny Forster’s Cool, Green House

Tomorrow, we’ll see the finished product. If you’re planning to build a green home or are curious about LEED for homes, you’ll definitely want to take notes. You’ll also get some wonderful design and energy-saving ideas that are truly unique.

There are many different LEED requirements that builders and architects can take advantage of. One particular credit is the MRc7 credit.

If a green building project uses a certain percentage of FSC wood, they can qualify for this LEED credit. If you want to qualify for this LEED credit, your project must have installed at least 50% of FSC wood. An exemplary performance Innovation in Design credit can be attained if you use 95% FSC certified wood.

There are many different kinds of FSC wood available including:

• FSC Ipe
• FSC Cumaru
• FSC Tigerwood
• FSC Garapa

The great thing about building green and LEED construction projects is that they are extremely creative. The green building revolution is certainly pushing the envelope when it comes to how hardwoods like ipe wood can be utilized. One such example that I recently found was the recently opened Eco Park in the Discovery Green Conservancy project in Houston, Texas. 60% of the wood used throughout the whole park used ipe hardwood. Using ipe hardwood helped the Discovery Green park project earn a Gold level LEED certification.

The designers and planners of Discovery Green chose ipe for the following reasons:

• Mold, mildew, and rot resistant
• Extremely strong & dense
• Insect resistant
• Requires very little maintenance

At Advantage Trim & Lumber, we can help you get your LEED Certification with our FSC lumber, FSC flooring, and FSC decking products. Since 1992, we have been the leader in establishing sustainable forestry practices that lead to the overall health of the environment. We are also members of the United States Green Building Council and the Forest Stewardship Council. Visit our main website to learn more.

The LEED Certification (Leadership in Energy & Environmental Design) was established by the U.S. Green Building Council (USGBC) to provide the construction and building industries with a verifiable system to define exactly what a green building is. Using a point system, an eco-friendly building can achieve LEED certification. The more points a green building accumulates, the more prestigious the LEED Certification. If you think all it takes to get LEED Certified is screwing in a couple of compact fluorescent light bulbs, think again.  The USGBC has put in place a set of strict policies and procedures that must be followed. The good news is that there are various ways that a building project can earn LEED certified.

Here are the various LEED Certification levels:

• LEED Certified – 40-49 points
• LEED Silver – 50-59 points
• LEED Gold – 60-79 points
• LEED Platinum – 80 points & over

The Materials Resource Credit 7 (MRc7) is a great LEED credit to plan for. The Materials Resource Credit 7 (MRc7) mandates the use of eco-friendly wood. However, not just any eco-friendly lumber will do. The Forest Stewardship Council designates FSC certified wood and the USGBC and LEED has been specifically chosen to work with them to fulfill this crucial LEED credit. Since the FSC has strict guidelines as to how hardwoods like ipe, tigerwood, garapa, and camaru are to be managed and cultivated, FSC certified wood has become a key component for inclusion in LEED projects. In order to qualify for the LEED MRc7 credit, your green building needs to install a certain percentage of FSC certified ipe or other wood The percentage will change depending on the type of building or project. In order to even qualify for the credit, the required minimum of installed FSC wood  must be 50%. You can also earn an exemplary performance Innovation in Design credit if your project contains at least 95% FSC certified wood.

Because every LEED Credit counts, the use of FSC certified wood can be a great help. As an international direct importer of eco-friendly hardwoods, Advantage Trim and Lumber Company offers a full selection of quality FSC Certified wood like ipe decking. They can ship anywhere in the United States, or the world.