Great Lakes Carpentry helps clients realize savings in operation of homes

The Lakeland Times – We’ve all heard how green building equates to higher quality construction; that level of quality is largely due to building science.

The growth in understanding of building science and how buildings work as integrated systems is one of the most important developments in the recent history of the home building industry.

We’ve come a long way since the days when building scientists were mostly guiding us through the mess of mold and mildew. Those problems exposed critical failures, focused our attention to detail and made everyone realize that building science is absolutely relevant.

Every year, our continuing education and research deepens our understanding and expands our abilities to apply successful materials and details for greater performance. No longer can we afford to think of building materials, products, and systems as separate from one another, because we understand that they respond and perform as integral building components influenced by the variable effects of climatic and environmental factors, occupant behavior and materials’ properties. Our success lies in taking a holistic approach to the design/build process.

As a National Association of Home Builders designated Certified Green Building Professional and Trade Ally of Focus on Energy New Homes Program, Great Lakes Carpentry brings the power of building science principles; disciplines and best practices to bear at each new home or remodeling project that we take on.

Each home is performance tested by an independent third party, in order to verify quality of construction and efficiency. Our mission is to help our clients realize meaningful savings on costs to operate their homes, while helping them to reduce their environmental impact. These savings will be realized for the life of the home and will be passed on to future generations. When you consider the likelihood of rising energy costs and the added savings that will be realized, building a high performance new home or addition makes perfect economic sense.

Our clients take pride in knowing that we’ve taken their environmental impact into account and helped them to act in a responsible fashion, by greatly reducing their carbon footprint.

We look upon this as a mission with purpose and believe that it’s simply the right thing to do.

Energy-efficiency is the cornerstone of Green Building practices.

Your building envelope is one area of your home that offers but a single chance to get it right.

Our Enercept SIP superinsulated building envelop system offers the best way to build a home that will be strong, safe, comfortable, durable and super energy efficient. SIP homes are 2.5 times stronger than conventionally- built homes.

They go up quickly and efficiently. All window and door openings, electrical wire chased and plumbing vents are managed at the Enercept plant. The prefabricated panels produce zero job-site waste. They’re sustainable by nature.

SIP homes are air-tight by design. This gives our client control over the indoor environment by eliminating air-leakage and cold drafts. We mechanically ventilate by using Heat Recovery Ventilators (HRV). Sometimes called air-exchangers, they provide excellent indoor-air quality by expelling stale, moist air and introducing fresh air from the outdoors that’s tempered by warm exhaust air.

When you consider the impact that climate change is having on the frequency of extreme weather events, living in a home that is 2.5 times stronger than conventionally- built homes brings peace of mind in knowing that your home is built to stand up to the forces of nature.

SIP’s are the perfect marriage with our Timberpeg ® post & beam homes. They provide the energy efficiency and strength inherent to SIP’s for enclosing the timber frame and allows the beauty of the timber frame to be fully exposed inside the home.

We also use SIP’s for the gable walls and roof systems on our high-performance full-log homes.

When we combine our Alpen HPP super-insulated windows into our Energy Sipper building envelop systems, you have a structure that will return on investment for years to come.

Great Lakes Carpentry is working to end construction mediocrity, one incredible structure at a time.

View PDF Lakeland Times Feb. 21, 2014