Good Energy Haus

First Floor Plan

Design

Good Energy Haus’ zero-step (accessible) first floor features an open living area, kitchen, mudroom (with access to the attached 2.5-car garage), guest bedroom/ home office and ¾  bath. The second floor holds two smaller bedrooms with a shared bath on the east side. A generous hallway connects a vertical space at the stair with an interior balcony overlooking the great room. A centrally located laundry room doubles as storage on this floor in the center north. The master suite completes the layout on the west side with a generous bedroom area, a walk-through closet and master bath. In total, the home offers about 2,150 finished square feet on two floors, and 670 square feet of attached, conditioned garage space. Both front and backyard feature generous covered outdoor areas for enjoyment, entertainment, projects, and to keep snow and debris from the accessible, zero-step entries. The main floor is designed for aging-in-place.

The design is simple and well-proportioned with a focus on function and flow, as well as space where it counts most, while not being large. From cork floors to reclaimed Ash-wood ceilings and stairs, materials and finishes were selected with regards to environmental and human impact. The exterior is resilient with metal panel siding where the home is hard to reach for maintenance, and locally sourced rough-sawn Cedar wood siding where it is within reach. Windows were sourced from Germany, which is typical for cold-climate Passive House projects in the US due to the quality and performance on offer in central Europe that is not being achieved by locally manufactured products at the time of writing. East, west and south-facing windows feature exterior motorized shades for sun-control.

The home is wood-frame construction with studs spaced 24 inches on center to reduce the structural wood content and maximize insulation levels. The double-wall is about 20 inches thick from inside to outside—filled with dense-packed Cellulose insulation. All siding is back ventilated. The stem walls are insulated concrete forms with an exterior insulation finish system and footed at frost levels of roughly 3-½ feet below grade on top of fully insulated perimeter footings. The roof is low-sloped and covered in an EPDM membrane. Downspouts are routed to raingardens on site for nearly 100% infiltration of stormwater on site.

The building envelope does most of the heavy lifting to keep the interior at room temperature. The “backup” mechanical system is made up of a cold climate air source heat pump for home and garage, with a dehumidifier for the home. The house is ventilated by a balanced, whole-house enthalpy recovery ventilation system. Hot water is being generated by a tanked indoor air-to-water heat pump, and augmented by a waste-water heat-recovery pipe, which captures the second floor drains. The exterior shades are controlled by a home automation system, which also provides thermostat and humidity controls, as well as some other amenities.