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With recent changes to building codes, governmental policies and the extreme prevalence of “green” marketing it is apparent that there is a significant change underway to the values and methods that have directed production and development in our society for the past century.
Hearthstone Construction strives to be different than other home builders. We have a relentless commitment to lead the way in home building innovation. It means blending unsurpassed energy-efficient technology and sustainable building materials with homes that are beautifully designed, healthy for occupants, and remarkably comfortable. At Hearthstone Construction it is of utmost importance for us to conduct business as a responsible corporate citizen and incorporate the ideals of sustainability and accountability as a part of our operating principles.
Terms such as "green," "sustainable" and "eco-friendly" are used with such frequency today it can be hard to determine the magnitude and validity of these claims. At Hearthstone we have the tools and experience to evaluate and implement strategies tailored to your construction project so that they have the greatest (or smallest) impact. Not all “Green” strategies are suitable for all projects. Factors such as building size, usage and orientation must all be considered when selecting which sustainable features to incorporate. It is important to consider all building materials, systems, and components as a part of an integrated building system as opposed to interchangeable elements that do not affect one another. Sustainable features can be incorporated into any project with any size budget, and we believe in forming partnerships with our clients to ensure that the features selected are the right ones for them. After building many custom homes under the different “green” certification labels throughout the last 15 years such as Built Green, R 2000 program, EnerGuide and todays Net Zero and Net Zero programs, we’ve taken this knowledge and experience to offer our clients custom homes which are built to a High Performance level.
High Performance homes are built to a higher standard focusing on health, efficiency, and the comfort it provides the occupants. They also provide better rain penetration control, condensation resistance, drying potential for the envelope, better thermal comfort, fresh indoor air quality, aesthetically pleasing details and provides great adaptability to future renovations in the home and many more.
The New BC Energy Step Code is a performance-based energy code implemented by our provincial government. To achieve and meet a Step Code level 3, 4 or 5 home, the builder must meet or exceed 3 performance-based metrics specified by the Step Code level they are trying to reach. These include: Airtightness metric (# of air changes per hr (ACH) at 50 pascals pressure), Equipment and Systems metric (MEUI) and the Building Enclosure Thermal metric (TEDI). It is a vital part of high performance but it addresses energy and energy efficiency only.
Our method of building a High Performance home is more of a holistic approach consisting of many factors when designing a new home vs building only to a specific Step Code level. Building High Performance homes not only includes these 3 energy efficiency metrics but, in addition through design discussions with consultants using proven construction details, deliver exceptional and outstanding long-term durability of the building envelope and long-term service life of the cladding materials as well.
As a High-Performance builder, we take a conscious effort to capture all possible opportunities for our clients addressing the many key pillars of High Performance building.
The Step Code and energy efficiency is a very important component of high performance but it’s only one of the many key pillars. Other key pillars include increased indoor air quality and air tightness, better moisture management of building envelope, long term durability, increased thermal comfort, adaptability to future repairs/renovations, a quiet home with low acoustic levels, appealing architecture – ensuring details are pleasing in form and character to the building, cost – deciding what components are important or not to meet a project budget and opportunity to minimize carbon footprint impact where it makes monetary sense.
We believe these key pillars of high performance are very important but are not typically addressed and introduced by the majority of builders with their clients.
To start, the most cost-effective way to build a High-Performance home is first focusing on the building envelope (low air tightness results and higher thermal insulation performance targets), then devoting the same effort to exterior doors and windows using triple pane high performance glazing options. With this effort, the mechanical system can be sized smaller, capitalizing on lower utility bills and increased indoor air comfort. High Performance homes provide constant fresh indoor air controlled by the heat recovery ventilator (HRV)¬--we call it the whole house fresh air delivery system, providing fresh supply air into living areas like kitchen, bedrooms and exhausting stale/moist air from laundry rooms and bathrooms.
Further Reading: Heat Recovery Ventilation Guide for Houses
Please contact us if you are interested more in our holistic approach to high performance building. Let us be a part of your next project to help build you a healthy, energy efficient and comfortable home.
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After my husband's passing, I decided to build the home that both of us had dreamed of building... I wanted to ensure that I found a contractor that would listen and not take advantage of me. Several friends recommended that I consider Darryl Caunt (Hearthstone Construction) ... I selected Darryl as my builder because I found that he was the most prepared, business like, organized and knowledgeable... From the onset, Darryl listened to me and understood what I wanted... He took all the stress out of building a home. It was an excellent and rewarding experience... I recommend Darryl Caunt (Hearthstone Construction) without hesitation.
Marija V.