They also play a pivotal role in relation to sewer systems, particularly combined sewers, that are often flooded during heavy rainstorms or after severe snow storms.

While certainly not the norm – yet – blue roofs offer amazing potential in terms of sustainability and the urban environment.

While cities in various parts of the world are pumping money into blue roof projects, they are not commonly specified for residential homes. So would the idea appeal to homeowners?

To be able to answer that question, let’s first examine blue roofs in a little more detail.

The Concept of a Blue Roof

While many people understand the concept of a green roof and appreciate its value in terms of the energy efficiency of buildings as well as the positive impact they can have on the urban environment, the concept of a blue roof house is not as well known.

The primary difference between the two concepts is that green roofs retain water, while blue roofs detain water. So, instead of designing a roof that incorporates gutters and downspouts, stormwater is either left to pond on the surface of the roof or it is stored in a cistern of some sort and then released slowly with flow control devices so that it drains away gradually. Often some of the water is harvested and used in the building, for example, to supply non-potable water to toilets.

A blue roof system is essentially used for the management of rooftop stormwater to reduce the volumes of runoff that all-too-often lead to flooded streets and driveways and less-than-healthy sewer back-ups in basements. Because of what it is, it is only suitable for flat or almost flat roofs to avoid excessive ponding. Generally, a roof with a slope greater than two percent requires partitions to prevent excessive ponding.

A blue roof system also requires sufficient bearing capacity to carry the additional weight of water volumes. These systems must also be designed and engineered for stability in accordance with local standards. Of course, reliable, compliant waterproofing systems must be included in all designs.

In the U.S., while Chicago has been a leader in promoting green roofs, the New York City (NYC) Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) continues to play a pivotal role in blue roof technology. In Canada, Toronto has been a major player in relation to both.

The first North American city to introduce a municipal code to make green roofs mandatory (from 2010) on new high-rise residential, institutional, commercial, and industrial buildings with a minimum gross floor area of 2,000 square meters, Toronto was also the location of one of the earliest blue roofs! In fact, the blue roof shower on the roof at 330 Dundas Street West won first prize in the 2004 Coram Design Award. For this innovative system, rainwater was collected from the flat roof and stored in tanks for wind- and sun-powered filtration and treatment. After being used for the blue roof shower, it was re-used to irrigate the rooftop garden.

In 2016, Ontario’s Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change (MOECC) published a review of targets for volume control of stormwater. Of course, the immediate challenge was what would happen to the water that had been retained. Proposed alternatives included property owners:

• Simply keeping it without discharging it to a sewer (like the water in the Dundas Street West building shower)
• Treating the water to remove pollutants and contaminants and then allowing it to flow slowly into the city sewers

Both options would substantially reduce the risk of flooding.

There are at least 509 vegetated roofs in the City of Chicago, resulting in 5,564,412 square feet of coverage designed by Chicago engineers. NYC was a much slower starter, attempting to lure building owners to install green roofs voluntarily by offering tax credits. But in April 2019, NYC followed in the footsteps of Toronto and several other U.S. cities including San Francisco and Denver, making the installation of green roofs on specific City buildings mandatory.

Nevertheless, way back in 2010, NYC included blue roofs in its pressing campaign for a more sustainable, cleaner city. It is, though, still a voluntary system.

The Value of a Blue Roof System

Blue roof technology is particularly important in areas where combined sewers are the norm, like New York, older parts of Chicago, Toronto, and many other large cities.

In normal circumstances, combined sewer systems can operate just fine. It’s when there is really heavy rain that everything comes apart – quite literally.

Simplistically, when engineers design combined sewer systems, they design the pipes to take the stormwater and sewage to nearby treatment works, from where the waste is discharged into a specific body of water – sometimes the sea and sometimes lakes or rivers. Very heavy rain can easily overwhelm a combined system, resulting in a mixture of sewage and water discharging into the designated body of water.

In severe storms in Chicago, sewage ends up in the Chicago River and even in Lake Michigan. In Toronto, it can end up in Lake Ontario. And it’s not just the sewage! By the time rain has flowed along pavements and through gutters, it’s also polluted by oil and other contaminants.

Of course, where cities are pursuing blue roof and other solutions rivers and lakes are cleaner than they were before. But the risks are still major. For instance, research by the City of Chicago indicates that just 0.3 inches of rain can lead to sewage flowing via as many as 300 outfalls directly into the Little Calumet and Chicago Rivers.

While Chicago’s Metropolitan Water Reclamation District (MWRD) has built a Tunnel and Reservoir System Plan (TARP) that has the capacity to hold stormwater in reservoirs until it can be treated, blue roof detention systems are considerably cheaper and they are easy to install. This in itself should make it an attractive investment for the owners of residential buildings and homeowners.

In New York, where there are 14 wastewater treatment plants, when there is really heavy rain, sometimes just half an inch per hour, the flow is so great that it is permitted to overflow in the Hudson and East Rivers.

In Ontario alone, there are at least 12 cities, including Toronto, that have been negatively ranked by the Ecojustice environmental lobby group for their practices of dealing with stormwater and wastewater runoff. They all have combined sewage systems. The Peel Region, ranked number one, is supporting an investigation (initiated early 2018) into the possibility of retrofitting the Credit Valley Conservation building in Mississauga with a “smart blue roof” so they can investigate the feasibility of these systems for stormwater management.

The reality is that rooftop detention, in the form of blue roofs, is a very simple, inexpensive, and reliable strategy that is commonly overlooked as a “low impact development” technique.

However, while not yet commonplace, there are mechanical engineering services in Chicago, New York, Toronto, and a myriad of other cities that are capable of designing the very best, simply effective, blue roof systems.

Of course, the costs will likely be higher than a standard roof structure for homeowners, but there are sure to be people who will value the benefits and be prepared to pay. It is probably a concept that is more likely to attract those who want to harvest rainwater as part of a blue roof system.

Certainly, owners of larger residential buildings are going to be looking at both green and blue roof options more and more. And maybe owners of smaller suburban homes will mimic the blue roof shower!

Michael Tobias is the founder and principal of New York Engineers, Inc 5000 Fastest Growing Company in America. He leads a team of 30+ mechanical, electrical, plumbing, and fire protection engineers from the company headquarters in New York City, and has led over 1,000 projects in New York, New Jersey, Chicago, Pennsylvania, Connecticut, Florida, Maryland, and California, as well as Singapore and Malaysia.

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How does solar power work?

A solar panel is made of a group of “cells,” or units made of a semiconductive material that takes in light easily and efficiently. The material used is often crystalline silicon, and it’s arranged in several vertical layers in the panel—topped with a clear, protective layer and backed by a layer of polymer. The top layer is electrically negative, and the bottom is electrically positive. When sunlight hits the cell, it knocks loose electrons in the silicon layers. Because of the difference in charge, the electrons move from the top to the bottom of the cell, passing through a circuit on the way that transforms their energy into electricity.

How much does it cost to install solar panels in my home?

A rooftop solar array can cost anything from $10,000 to $20,000 or more to install. However, there are state and federal programs that encourage solar power by giving rebates and tax incentives to homeowners who install solar panels. Fifteen states in the U.S. have public benefit funds for the purpose of subsidizing solar energy, and 24 give rebates for home solar power installation. In New Jersey and New York, for example, the state will refund up to 70% of the cost of installing solar panels.

If I use solar energy, do I have to cut down on my energy usage?

Not necessarily. Solar cells are more efficient than they’ve ever been, and many people find they can use all the electrical appliances they’re used to after installing solar panels. Many homeowners with solar panels on their roofs are also hooked into the electrical grid, so they get energy from a combination of sources. While they’re still dependent on fossil fuels, it’s to a lesser extent—and the traditional utilities make sure they don’t notice a difference in how much energy they can use. If you install solar panels, you’ll still be able to use all the appliances you’re accustomed to using.

Will a solar array look bad on my home?

It shouldn’t. Today’s solar panels are more unobtrusive than ever. They typically show up a bit darker than the surrounding shingling, making it look like your roof is being patched—but it won’t make your house stick out like a sore thumb, either.

Does my location affect how much energy I get from solar panels?

Yes, it does. Solar panels will work anywhere in the world. However, as you’d expect, they work best in areas that get the most sunlight. Some areas of the globe get more sunlight hours than others, and a solar panel in Canada, for example, has to work harder to produce the same amount of electricity as one in New Mexico.

How much savings can I expect from solar panels?

It depends on your energy usage, as well as whether you’re still hooked up to the grid after your solar panels are installed. It’s possible for your energy savings in solar power to pay back your installation investment, but in all cases it can take many years—even decades. Most people who install solar panels do it for environmental reasons, not to save money.

I’ve heard that people with solar panels actually see their meters run backwards. Is that true?

Yes. It’s actually possible to produce more energy than you use—and you can sell the energy back to the utility company if you’re hooked up to the grid.

I’m building a home in a rural area. I’ve heard it’s actually cheaper to install solar panels than to have the electric company extend a power line. Is this true?

It can be—it depends on how far you are from an existing power line. Utility companies can charge anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000 per mile to extend a line. Given this, solar panel installation might be the most cost-effective choice for your new home.

Many people install solar panels because they feel they’ll be more prepared for a future energy crash—and there may be something to that belief. Scientists estimate that our known reserves will last us only from 40 to 70 years at current rates of usage—and those rates are only increasing. Regardless of the future, solar panels are an excellent way to save energy now—and do something positive for the environment.

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Use recycled shingles. If you want an environmentally friendly roof, the worst thing you can do is install 15-year, non-recycled shingles. These are among the most disposable building materials, are hardly ever recycled, and contain toxic volatile organic chemicals that evaporate under the heat of the sun. This means that just by sitting under the sun and heating up, your home is releasing toxic chemicals into the air. For a greener option, use recycled asphalt shingles that use reclaimed materials, reducing waste. These shingles often have a 50-year lifespan instead of 15, so you won’t have to replace them as often.

Consider metal. Metal roofs are more energy-efficient than shingles. Metal roofing is typically made from aluminum, copper, or steel, and you should ensure that your roofing is lead-free. Metal does not have the kind of heat-absorption qualities shingles have, so it will absorb and radiate less heat into your home. In fact, the right color metal will actively reflect sunlight, keeping your home cooler in hot summer months when the sun is most intense. Metal roofing also stands up to the elements better than shingles typically do—it’s the best for rainwater catchment systems, and snow slides off it easily.

Reflective coatings. To make your shingled roof more energy-efficient, brush a reflective coating on. Uncoated shingled roofs typically absorb around 80% of the sunlight that hits them—heating your home in the summer and driving up your air conditioning bill. A coated roof, however, can reflect about 80% of heat—giving you significant energy savings.

Clay and slate. Two natural materials that make excellent green roofing choices, clay and slate are both energy-efficient, can be disposed of without pollution, and are much less toxic than shingles. Corrugated clay tiles encourage air flow on the surface of the roof, keeping the home cool in the summer. However, hail will shatter it, which is why it’s typically only used in warmer climates. Slate is far more durable—it can last up to 100 years with minimal maintenance. Slate can also be reclaimed and recycled.

Building-integrated photovoltaics (BIPV). This is a roofing system that’s coated with a film that converts sunlight into electricity—a solar-power coating for your roof. This system uses tiles or shingles, and the electric current flows on the edge of the roof. The tiles look like slate, and can be installed by most roofers—an electrician will also be needed to hook the solar-energy system up to your home’s electrical system. The charge it generates isn’t huge—about 1 kilowatt of energy per 100 square feet of tile.

Roof turbines. Companies in the Netherlands, Scotland, and Britain are developing small turbines designed to install on roofs and convert wind power into home electricity. The turbines are typically around six feet across, and are usually mounted on the roof or a pole. Roof turbines feed energy into a converter, which transforms it into electricity for home use. They can typically provide enough power to operate lights, a refrigerator, a television, and a computer—providing significant energy savings. However, the amount of energy an individual house sees will depend on how windy its location is.

Green roofs. Imagine a carpet of grass and wildflowers—on your roof. Green roofing, also called “living roofs,” involve a protected membrane that provides a base for irrigated soil and vegetation. These roofs cool your home so effectively that several European countries actually subsidize their installation. They also retain water, which is especially valuable in urban environments as it helps prevent the sewer system from overloading during heavy storms.

The right roof for you depends on your budget, commitment to green living, your climate, and the design of your home. Green roofs, solar coating, and wind turbines are the most dramatic methods of making your roof more eco-friendly, but you can go a long way toward making your home less polluting and more energy-efficient simply by choosing a non-toxic roofing material that doesn’t need to be replaced often and can be recycled. This keeps toxic roofing materials from filling landfills, and does a lot to improve not just your energy bill—but your environment as well.

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Tinkerbell (Saint Bernard), Cutie Pie and Buddy (Pekingese), and Jingle Bells (Maine Coon) were escorted in and presented with the house. They were not as impressed as we had hoped. In fact they looked to us as if they’d missed something, but were perfectly happy to be with us once again. Oh well.

That evening, with much left to be unpacked and my wife and daughter in their beds, I made one last check of the windows and doors before going to sleep. Three dogs and a cat looked to me expectantly.

I realized they probably were not thrilled about sleeping on the tile floors, so I found towels to cushion their slumber until their beds were found. I made sure they had bowls full of food and water, noticing they seemed misplaced and liable to be tripped over there in the kitchen. The cat had nothing to climb. It occurred to me:

Shouldn’t all homes be built with pets in mind?

Over fifty percent of homes in the US have pets and that number is growing. Only a slightly smaller number own multiple pets. Americans spend more than 36 billion dollars every year on their canine and feline family members, and very often a design concept is pet, human, and environmentally friendly all at once.

Pets are one of the fastest growing positive factors in human households and possibly our best method of home protection as well.

I thought of a famous quote:

“The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated.” – Gandhi

Would pet-friendly homes in the US and Canada be moral progress?

The new environment of our new home suddenly seemed unnatural for my pets. I realized home builders generally ignore the fact that there will likely be pets involved, other than an occasional fence, which may have other purposes like security anyway. I thought about what a pet-friendly design for a dog or cat might consider:

Overall

• Resilience
• Ease of cleaning
• Economic friendliness
• Style and comfort
• Affordability
• Customization
• Family and pet-conscious design
• Environmental friendliness

Interior; for comfort, versatility, and durability

• Allergen/odor reducing air filtration
• Durable, eco-friendly flooring
• Pet friendly fabrics and furnishings
• Easy clean surfaces
• Pet friendly mudroom
• Cat friendly windowsills
• Professional series central vacuum

Exterior

• Easy lawn care and landscaping
• Pet containment / fencing
• Pet exterior access doors
• Energy efficient windows and siding
• Low VOC paint (volatile organic compounds, solvents that get released into the air and cause headaches and dizziness)

There were interesting, perhaps even exciting ideas here that would not be hard to implement. But why?

What positive impact could come from a more general acceptance of pet-friendly homes?

Well with less hassles involved in pet ownership the quality of life for pets and their owners rise, and there would be fewer spilling over into shelters of pets that became unmanageable. The movement would at once educate people about joys of pet ownership and simplify owning pets at the same time.

I was inspired. With all the known positive effects of pet ownership I felt I was on to a perhaps new and worthy cause, for both man and animal.

My pet-friendly home would have:

• Dedicated spaces for my pets, perhaps a pet room?
• Their own furnishings, whether built in or added, and incorporated into the design
• Dog couch/beds
• Cat tree/scratching/shelves
• Flooring that is resistant to fleas, dirt and smells
• A central vacuum system for easy hair removal
• Space fitted for/accommodating grooming
• Permanent location for food dispensing
• Dedicated food storage
• Fenced or otherwise contained yard
• Ingress/egress doorways
• Dedicated space for bathing
• A mud room buffer between interior and outdoor play areas
• Easy access for a dog bathroom and cat box
• Great air filtration

Also while I’m at it let’s add

• Green building materials
• Solar electric and hot water
• Efficient insulation
• An electric charging stations for automobiles
• Water purification
• Trash disposal systems that lessen environmental impact and encourage recycling

Some places are already hip to this. Many condominium and townhome developments and redevelopments of the earlier 2000’s included dog-walk paths with doody-bag dispensers and an off-leash fenced area for dogs alongside the tennis or volleyball.

For a veterinarian-owned hotel in Desert Hot Springs, California, pet-friendly means her hotel not only allows dogs but encourages them, provides dogs with freedom to roam (including the pool and breakfast area), and doesn’t relegate guests with pets to only certain rooms are areas.

But it seems all the homes I’ve lived in ignored the fact that the occupants were likely to own pets. Any pet-friendly modifications have always been made by me. Just as homeowners are likely to need a dining area, they are more and more likely to own pets. There could at least be some design elements that make later modifications easier.

I have more than once been stumped by wanting a dog-door in a certain place, only to be thwarted by the presence of a concrete wall. Builders could leave a channel if not an actual pet door.

My musings now sought company! This was too good an idea to sit on, and probably a concept that will emerge alongside the growing number of households with pets and the astronomical amounts already being spent on pets. It seems the only thing missing now is your voice added to the conversation, for ideas and support! Chime in!

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But moss has more value in construction than most people realize, particularly when it comes to roofs, and more specifically green roofs. While the idea of 21st century, energy efficient and environmentally friendly green roofs represents a relatively new sustainable technology in the modern Western world, the first green roofs date back to antiquity.

A Quick History of Green Roofs
The first green roofs that we know of were in the Hanging Gardens of Babylon that, of course, is one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. The Vikings also built houses with green roofs – in the form of turf sods or peat. This natural resource continued to be a material that was used for centuries. While the original motivation of those early homebuilders was to use materials that were easily accessible, there’s no doubt that the value of its insulating properties was important too.

We now know that because of “evapotranspiration”, which is the plant’s ability to absorb moisture through its root system and emit moisture via its leaves, the plants (be it moss, grass or anything else) effectively remove heat and provide shade. While conventional roof surfaces can reach a temperature of more than 90 °F or 50 °C (think cat on a hot tin roof), green roofs are cooler than the ambient air.

More recently, Germany became the first new age country to come up with a committed use for green roofs. They have developed modern technology since the 1960s – focusing on public buildings like schools, office blocks, shopping centers and stores, rather than suburban houses.

But funnily enough, the United States’ oldest modern-style green roof is even older than this. Situated on the roof of the Rockefeller Center in New York, this green roof was constructed in 1930. Since then they have become popular in many other US cities, including Portland, Washington and Chicago (which has the greatest number of green roofs in the USA – with more than 600 in 2011). They are also now common in Canada. Canadian, Joy Schmidt, who calls herself the “green roof lady”, has been promoting them for more than 20 years.

The Range of Green Roofs

In its widest sense, a green roof is any roof that incorporates natural plant growth as part of its structure, and includes eco-roofs, garden roofs and any type of “living” roofs. Rooftops that comprise a permanent landscape are also included in the concept.

Extensive Green Roofs
Roofs that copy the original idea of moss or turf surfaces are categorized as being extensive. Moss and some succulents are the most common plant materials used, and considerable research has been carried out to ensure that mosses and succulents planted will adapt to the ecological conditions of the roof site, and grow without care or maintenance.

A German company, Behrens Systemtechnik, began manufacturing moss (specifically bryophytes) roof mats as an alternative to heavier, more expensive slate roofs, in the 1990s. They now have bryophyte plantations where they prepare the moss for green roof construction, and in 2004 began installing their product in Michigan.

Advantages of their product, which may be pitched or laid flat include its ability to:

• Regulate rainwater that falls onto the roof and is then returned to the atmosphere by evapotranspiration.
• Increase biodiversity simply by introducing flora and fauna.
• Minimize the greenhouse effect by balancing temperature – retaining heat in winter and cooling (by evapotranspiration) in summer.
• Improve air quality because the bryophytes use harmful carbon dioxide and produce oxygen. They also trap particles of dust.
• Create a sound barrier for those inside the building.
• Act as a fireproof layer.

Generally these are the advantages of all green roofs, even though construction processes and plants used do vary.

A 2006 study of extensive roofs in London (United Kingdom) by Gary Grant of EcoSchemes Ltd, showed there to be three types:

1. Grass roofs dating to the early 1990s
2. Mass produced Sedum (a type of succulent) matting for roofs that were popularized in the late 1990s.
3. Early 21st century roofs made from brick and crushed concrete that created a habitat where Phoenicurus ochruros (a “rare black redstart” that occurs on derelict sites) would grow and increase biodiversity.

The first grass roofs in London were commissioned as part of a plan to replace man’s footprint with green space that had disappeared as a result of urban development.

Generally, extensive green roofs comprise some sort of structural support, a protective (and waterproof) membrane, and a shallow growing medium that, in the case of bryophytes, is usually laid in much the same way as roll-on lawn.

Where a green roof takes on the form of a roof garden, it is generally described as intensive. Anything that will survive in a rooftop environment can be grown.

Intensive green roofs are only suitable for flat roof surfaces, and the structural support required is far more substantial – due to the heavy weight loads of plants and the fact that a thicker (heavier) growing medium will be needed. Regular fertilizing, watering, pruning and so on is required, just as it would be in any garden. But its benefits are the same (or very similar) to those of extensive green roofs. When constructed on public buildings, they have an added benefit as they may also be used for recreation – a high-rise park or outdoor sitting space.

Semi-Intensive Green Roofs
Joy Schmidt’s Vitaroofs International offers both extensive (with pre-grown vegetation mats) and intensive (with shrubs, grasses and trees for recreational use) roof options throughout Canada. She also offers a compromise semi-intensive system that uses herbaceous plants, indigenous shrubs and coppices, and grasses that need less soil than typical intensive systems, and less maintenance.

Green Roofs Create Healthy Cities
There is no doubt that this is true, and a growing number of cities worldwide are coming to the party. In some parts they are mandatory, including in Toronto, where any industrial, commercial or public building with a roof bigger than 2,000 sq m has to have a green roof. In July 2012 it was reported that there were 135 green roofs in Toronto, and as many under construction.

It makes perfect sense. Quoted in the New York Times in 2005, the executive director of Earth Pledge, Leslie Hoffman, says, “Isolated green roofs are expensive insulation. But when you have a whole community of green roofs, it changes the micro climate of the area and reduces the demand for energy”.

Are Green Roofs a Sustainable Option for Suburban Roofs?

Research shows that all types of green roofs are substantially more expensive than conventional roofs, but because they are so eco-friendly and versatile, the benefits might well outweigh the costs. The question is whether mister average man-in-the-street will be prepared to pay the price.

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There is no doubt that the best way to squander money when building your own home is not to cost the project accurately in advance. Another is to try and build something that you can’t afford. Since a wide variety of circumstances can affect costs during the building process, it is also vital to control the impact of changes to original cost estimates.

Sometimes people talk about costs of building per square meter. But the variations of choice are so vast this is an impossibly simplified idea. In a word: useless. A more reliable method is to base estimates on a percentage of what each aspect of the building process should cost. But even this is potentially flawed because it depends on so many variable factors from the building site and construction methods used, to the wide range of fixtures, fittings and finishes chosen.

So how do you work out a reliable cost breakdown of building a house?

Establish what you want and what you can afford

The choice of building types is remarkably vast and varied, ranging from timber-frame to rough stone construction, and from cottage to castle. A wide variety of building techniques have been developed over the centuries, many of which vary from country to country, depending on climate, natural resources, socio-economic needs, available products, and also trends and fashions. Happily there is an increasing choice of eco-friendly products that we can use.

First you need to know what it is you are going to build (or want to build), in terms of size and style. Then you need to know what basic materials you are going to work with, timber or bricks and mortar being the two most obvious generalizations. But even within these two building methods, there is enormous choice in terms of both material and method. For example, brick walls may be solid, or they might be built with a cavity between two brick skins. The outside of the walls might be built using facing bricks or they may be built common building bricks and then rendered with a plaster mix and painted. Alternatively they may be stuccoed using a finish that does not have to be painted.

Timber homes often have a brick or simulated stone exterior or veneer. This is really no more than a cladding material although the veneer wall must be constructed on the foundation of the house. Walls of timber homes may otherwise be built with a timber exterior, or with some other type of cladding.

The building method you choose will also determine the type of foundations and footings you will need to construct.

Once you have a good idea of what you want to build, you need to get very specific and compile:

a) a detailed schedule of finishes, which must include all the exterior and interior materials and finishes you need, and

b) a detailed bill of quantities that how much or how many of each item on the schedule of finishes you need.

Only then can you accurately establish what the house is going to cost to build.

Of course, if you are employing an architect or similarly trained technologist to draw plans for you, you will need to ensure that he or she knows the type and style of house you prefer as well as desired building method you want to use. You should discuss your needs in terms of specific material choices and the fixtures, fittings and finishes required, as well as your budget constraints before even sketch plans are prepared.

Schedule of finishes

Specifying materials and compiling a good schedule of finishes can be difficult if you don’t have any real knowledge of the building industry. In this instance it makes sense to seek professional help. However if you know what you want, and enjoy shopping around, then there’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to compile your own schedules.

Ideally you should have your house plans before you make a final decision on your materials and finishes. However if you are inexperienced, but determined to do your own cost breakdowns, then it is best to use a sample floor plan that is similar to what you have in mind. These are reasonably easily sourced from home plan web sites.

Read more: How Much Does It Cost to Build a House

Today there are many computer-generated software packages that you can use to do specify as well as quantify and cost building projects (see below, Software that produces the cost breakdown of building a house). These usually include guidelines and lists in generic categories, for example:

• Preliminary and general (which would include permits, plant and so on as well as water and sewer tap-in fees) which will account for an initial 1.5% or more of your budget, depending on what is required, plus 4% for the tap-in fees,
• Utilities (electricity, gas, telephone and so on, if not included in general) which will take up at least 1% of your budget, largely depending where exactly you are located,
• Earthworks and excavation which will take up approximately 2% of your budget, more if it is a steep, difficult site,
• Concrete work (which would include foundations and footings as well as other concrete slabs or flatwork) which usually accounts for as much as 9% of budget,
• Brickwork (even if the house is timber frame, foundation walls might be built with bricks or blocks and there might be a brick or prefabricated concrete fireplace) and/or siding will take at least 7% of your budget. If built using bricks it could be as high as 14%,
• Door and window frames plus doors and windows, which will total about 5% depending on your choice,
• Timber and trusses (for a timber frame house these categories might be separated); at least 10% to get the house to the dry-in stage of building, where the shell is complete and waterproof, plus labor that will also account for about 10% of the budget,
• Dry walling, which presuming this is the building method used throughout the house will account for about 5% including labor and materials,
• Roof covering, which will account for at least 5% of your budget and as much as 11% if expensive shingles or tiles are chosen,
• Plaster and screeds, no more than 2% if the house is timber frame, but if it is built with bricks, as much as 8%,
• Ceilings, about 3%,
• Glazing, no more than 1%, unless of course the design of the house incorporates lots of glass or triple glazing is used throughout,
• Carpentry and ironmongery (including timber doors, skirting, and door hardware) around 4%,
• Tiling and floor covering (which would include both wall and floor tiles), around 6% depending on quality,
• Plumbing (from gutters to geysers and of course all the sanitary ware and sinks for bathrooms and kitchens) will take about 6% of your budget,
• Electrical and gas (including light fixtures), 5%, 1% of which accounts for the fixtures and fittings,
• Heating and insulation, both of which are essential in North America and other cold-winter countries, 5.5%,
• Paintwork, 4% for a professional job, including labor,
• Appliances (some of which you may already have) shouldn’t take up more than 2% of budget,
• External site work (which would include any patios and paving, and possibly landscaping of the garden), about 4%,
• Other provisional amounts (for example built-in cupboards or decks), about 67% including interior trim and the labor to undertake the work.

While this is a pretty simple list, within each category come numerous sub-categories. If you are likely to spend more than the percentage shown in our list, you will need to adjust another category’s allocated percentage otherwise you will be over budget before you even begin.

More detailed considerations within the cost breakdown of building a house

It is vital to be aware of the vast variations of quality and cost in the building industry.

Doors & Windows

For example if you consider door and window frames, these may be wooden or metal (some of which are hollow) and produced in a wide variety of sizes and styles – and of course prices. Some are hinged and some slide, including the ingenious Kristrack Multi Sliding System for Doors and Windows (www.kristrack.com). The company, which has a manufacturing plant in Burnaby, Canada also supplies pocket door hardware systems which a great when saving space is an issue. Even though they are more expensive than the average hinged frame, your ability to use them to save space will in itself save money.

When it comes to doors, there are so many possibilities it is mind boggling. Just go to Lowes to get some idea of the range of styles and materials used for exterior doors. The Lowes has doors made from wood, steel, aluminum, fiberglass and even vinyl, again in a wide range of prices. They’ve got double doors and single doors, solid doors and doors with glass panels – all suitable for a front door. They also stock a wide selection of patio doors which may also be hinged or sliding and made from the same materials as their front doors, as well as some that are clad with wood.  While you may prefer to try and minimize costs by buying doors and windows directly from a manufacturer, this type of outlet is great for getting a really good idea of what is available on the market. Also, not all manufacturers will sell direct, so you might have to buy from a building store like this one.

Then there’s the issue of saving energy. By choosing energy efficient door and window products, you can quickly cut down on your energy bills (even if it means you have to spend a little more on good quality, well insulated windows that incorporated recycled materials) – and you can ease your conscious knowing that you have done your bit to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

All Weather Windows (www.allweatherwindows.com) is a North American company that has a positive and very effective recycling program and conservation initiative. For example they recycle more than 2,000 lbs of PVC at their Edmonton factory every single day. They are also recovering 100% of the PVC waste that is created during the manufacture of PVC door and window products. Cut-outs from all polyurethane insulated door panels are also recycled, and so is the cardboard used in production of cellulose fiber insulation.

Cascadia – www.cascadiawindows.com– specializes in fiberglass doors and windows that are fitted with high performance glazing. These are highly energy efficient, so you can be sure that your energy bills will be minimized even if you spend a little more than your allocated budget.

Flooring:

Flooring is an area where there is loads of choice from tiles or carpet fitted on a concrete slab to suspended timber floors. It is also an area where there are some exciting “green” options that are not only sustainable but incredibly good looking as well. Instead of cutting down trees to make wooden flooring, a growing number of manufacturers have turned to materials like bamboo and sustainable palm trees. Many of those who still produce solid wood products make sure that they source their lumber from sustainable forests where trees are grown specifically for the building and related industries.

Smith & Fong Co – www.plyboo.com – was the first North American company to import bamboo plywood and flooring. Bamboo is, of course, one of the most rapidly renewable materials available. Today the company offers more than 25 SKUs (stock taking units) with a variety of grains, and more than 50 SKUs of bamboo plywood products. The visual effects are immensely different and quite unlike conventional flooring products, many of which are not made from sustainable materials. Like their bamboo flooring products, Smith & Fong Co’s palm flooring is recognized as “leading-edge” in the green building industry and is rapidly gaining popularity in the home building market.

Shaw Floors – www.shawfloors.com – also focuses on “green” products, for example top quality carpeting that will reduce your energy bills because they provide natural insulation that is up to 17 times more effective than other flooring. So even if their carpets are more expensive than another company’s, you can adjust your percentages in the bill of costs by reducing the insulation budget and slightly increasing the budget for flooring. This same company also offers environmentally friendly tile and stone products, including some that contain as much as 40% recycled materials. And they produce eco-friendly hardwood products including one that uses less harvested wood and incorporates an inner layer made from recycled wood fiber.

Roofing:

Roof covering is yet another category where there is loads of choice, but it is essential to remember that whatever you choose will determine the structure of the roof itself. For example, roof trusses are spaced a lot further apart for sheeting of all kinds than they are for tiles, relatively lightweight coated metal pressed tiles being the exception. So even before you consider the actual cost of the roof covering you should take the cost of your trusses into account. Having said that, the cost of trusses must be seen in conjunction with the cost of whatever roof covering you decide to use. If you are using tiles or shingles, a good rule of thumb is that lighter material is usually cheaper, needs less support (which is where your roof trusses and purlins or battens come in), and is cheaper to lay than heavier tiles or shingles. The steeper the pitch of the roof is, the more expensive the tiles or shingles will be. But this factor can even out. For example, concrete tiles must be laid at a fairly steep pitch (26° compared to a minimal 5° pitch for sheeting), which means labor costs will be a little higher than they will for sheeting. But they are considerably cheaper than other tiles. In fact Unicrete roofing tiles are said to last as long as cedar shingles, which we all know keep going for generations.

Whichever material you are choosing and costing, have a look at all the possible options. We are all gravitating towards houses that are more sustainable than in the past, and there are some fascinating options that may be considered. One that is grabbing people’s attention right now is shingles made from recycled rubber tires. They look much the same as slate and cedar slates and shingles, but they have a whole lot of other advantages, not least of which is that they aren’t damaged by hail or by major extremes of temperature. They are also maintenance free and so far have stood the test of both wind and time, however short.  Several companies make these shingles, including the US Minnesota-based Hi Tek Rubber Inc., and Canadian-based Euroshield (www.euroshieldroofing.com) which has been manufacturing rubber roofing systems for more than a decade.

Lumber:

The allocated budget for timber and trusses is relatively high (10%) and it really does pay to use quality lumber. An amazing energy efficient and environmentally friendly product that has been developed for conditions in Canada comes in the form of new age BluWood – www.bluwoodcanada.com. A trademarke,  two-part wood treatment product that is applied in the factory, it comes with a lifetime warranty and provides protection against mould, fungus and insects (including termites) for all timber components in the structure above the ground.

In all instances labor will have to be factored into the calculations. Sometimes items are supplied and fitted by the supplier – glazing and aluminum window and door frames for example. In other instances, specialist contractors or skilled laborers will be required. Generally it is best to avoid paying sub-contractors by the hour or by the day because it precludes you from making an accurate costing in the planning phases. If you are employing laborers and overseeing work yourself, you may be forced to pay according to time worked.

Paint:

Painting is one job that often attracts an hourly or daily rate – that is if you don’t employ a sub-contractor who charges for the job. Whether you are doing the job yourself or hiring an outsider, make sure that the best quality paint is used, and preferably one that is “green” or environmentally friendly. Benjamin Moore (www.benjaminmoore.com) and General Paint (www.generalpaint.com) are both quality brands that Canadians know and appreciate. While Benjamin Moore has a relatively new eco-friendly zero-VOC paint product, Green Paint specializes in health, eco-friendly paints for homes. The company also supplies bamboo flooring. Compare products and prices before you make a final choice.

Where specialist companies are to be used – for instance to design and fit the kitchen or to do all the landscaping – obtain firm quotations before finalizing contracts. These figures would usually be inclusive and simply added to your own costing estimates. In any case have a look at what reliable, well known companies produce, like Huntwood (www.huntwood.com), which produces eco-friendly solid wood kitchen cabinets, or Kingwood Cabinets (www.kingwoodcabinets.com), which only uses wood from sustainable forests.

Once you have your schedule of finishes, and detailed information about all items in it, you can use it to prepare a reasonably reliable costing estimate for the house.

Quantifying and costing building projects

There are many different ways to owner-build a house. Some people love the challenge of a hands-on approach where they get involved and do the work – or some of it – themselves. Others prefer to employ others and supervise the construction process. Many owner-builders opt to employ a project manager to handle the day-to-day site work, but still keep a hand in the project to check both quality of workmanship and cost control.

It is no secret that efficient cost control is one of the biggest issues people have when they build houses or even when they have them built by building companies. It is absolutely vital to know what quantities are required, how much these will cost, and where money has been spent at any one stage.

One thing you must always remember is that a lack of cash flow can quickly create problems with a building project (particularly a private home that is being built by the owner). If you don’t have the cash to continue building – be it your own or money supplied from a bank or another lender – you might put the entire project at risk. A horrifying number of home builders have found they have been unable to complete their homes because of cash flow problems. What this means is you absolutely must monitor what you are paying for materials and construction and compare these figures regularly with the figures in your budget. This is basically the cost breakdown of building a house that you should have prepared.

A competent and accurate running estimate will not only help you keep on track, it will also be information that you can (and will probably be required to) supply to your lender, if you have one.

There are many different ways to cost projects, but what is undeniable is that the more detailed it is, the more accurate it is likely to be.

The idea of relying on a cost per square feet is not accurate. The easiest way to illustrate this is to shows two houses that have a common area of say 400 square feet and to compare two different configurations. A square building will have four exterior walls that are 20 feet long, so the walls will total 80 feet in length. A longer rectangular building (10 feet x 40 feet and so also 400 square feet in size) will have longer walls in total – specifically 100 feet in all. Also it isn’t just floor area that determines what building is going to cost, as you have seen.

When quantifying and costing, it is important to be methodical. Approach the costings in a logical order, similar to that shown in this list above. Get quotations and bids for materials and any parts of the project you are going to sub-contract out. Shop around for the best prices but don’t choose the lowest price unless you are sure quality is acceptable and comparable.

Once you have prepared a detailed summary of costs, with subtotals for each section of work to be completed, you will find that it is reasonably easy to keep track of whether you are on budget or whether you are overspending.

While there is nothing to stop you keeping track manually – simply by writing everything down and noting expenditure, computer software simplifies this task and is considerably more accurate than most people’s maths!

Software that produces the cost breakdown of building a house

Long ago, before the age of computers, quantity surveyors had an enormous amount of paperwork to do to ensure accurate bills of quantities and cost estimates. Today there is a profusion of excellent software that they can use for every possible type of building project. Many packages are simple enough for owner builders to use. Even if you plan to employ a building company to construct your home, you might like to do your own cost breakdown to see what you are going to have to spend to get your dream home.

If you have never used any type of accounting or costing software, it is probably a good idea to experiment with free software first. If you take a bit of time to search the Internet you will probably be amazed at just what is available.

Here are just a handful of examples:

American home builder and author Carl Heldmann (whose book Be Your Own House Contractor was first published three decades ago) offers a free cost estimate spreadsheet package on his web site www.byoh.com. He has categorized the entire building process, starting with permits, fees and surveys, and specifies a recommended percentage of the entire project that should be spent on each category. It is similar but not the same as the percentages we have recommended.

Another great free product is the on-line calculator at www.building-cost.net. This tool will enable you to cost your building within 34 construction categories. It does, however, work on fairly broad “quality classes” of materials, and a per square meter cost, which is not very reliable. However it is based on a very reputable publication, the National Building Cost Manual which is produced annually by Craftsman Book Company. The 2011 edition (the 35th published by this company) costs $39.75 to download and $53.00 for the download plus the hardcopy version and a CD. It calculates cost estimates based on job sites in the United States.

Then there’s free bill of quantities software called PriMus-DCF which was developed by ACCA, an Italian software company that specializes in the building industry. Even though it has the Euro as its default currency, you can change this. You will however have to input all the prices yourself – which in the long run should make your estimates totally reliable.

Of course there are numerous cost estimating software packages that you can buy. Shop around and see if there are free trial options for those that appeal to you. That way you can make sure that this really is the best option to enable you to get a realistic and accurate cost breakdown of building a house before you spend money on the software.

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One excellent option for an eco-friendly floor is to use salvaged wood – in other words old wood that has been used before. If you opt for new hardwood, make sure it is certified and that no toxic glues or sealants have been used for laminates. Another possibility is to use products that look like hardwood, but that are considerably more sustainable and renewable than wood that relies on cutting down forests. These include bamboo, palm and cork.

Recycled hardwood flooring

There is something wonderfully appealing about wooden floors that are made from secondhand timber. Not only does it mean that you are avoiding using chopped down trees, but old wood can add a unique character to your home.

The most common source of recycled hardwood flooring is from old homes that have been demolished. While old wood used for building or old railroad ties are also available, these are more commonly used for making furniture.

It might be possible for you to salvage old wood yourself, but there are several companies that specialize in the supply of reclaimed hardwood. These include Canadian Heritage Timber, Logs End, NADURRA Wood Corporation, Nostalgic Wood and Second Wind Timber.

• Canadian Heritage Timber (www.canadianheritagetimber.com) rescues wood from abandoned buildings including mills, warehouses and even trestle bridges. The company remills the timber for various uses, including sustainable plank flooring which may be sanded to a new, smooth finish, or left so that it has a weathered, textured look, together with nail holes and even characteristic insect tracks.
• Logs End (www.logsend.com) supplies wide plank flooring made from hardwood that has been reclaimed from the Ottawa River where it has been lying since it was logged in the 19th century. The company also supplies environmentally-friendly new hardwood floors.
• NADURRA Wood Corporation (www.nadurrawood.com) reclaims Douglas Fir timber from historic Toronto building sites and use it to mill wide plank flooring.
• Nostalgic Wood, Inc (www.nostalgicwood.com) also rescues wood from barns and other old buildings. They manufacture tongue and groove flooring, leaving distinctive marks including nail holes, checks and seasoned knots, and the patterns left by burrowing insects to add to the “antique” appeal of the flooring.
• Second Wind Timber manufactures recycled wide plank flooring and decking from antique timber that they salvage from old buildings including sawmills, grain storage buildings, canneries and so on.

New environmentally friendly hardwood flooring

For hardwood flooring to be genuinely “environmentally friendly” it must be harvested from sustainable forests. There are several organizations that certify wood and provide guidelines for sustainable forestry. The Program for Endorsement of Forest Certification Systems (PEFC) – www.pefc.org, established in 1993 in an attempt to prevent continued global deforestation, and now nationally represented in more than 50 countries worldwide, certifies forests. The Toronto-based Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) – https://ca.fsc.org/ – also certifies forests in an endeavor to ensure that people like you and me don’t get conned into using wood that comes from environmentally unacceptable sources. The FSC has members from 70 countries around the world.

Another organization that has certification standards for forests is the US-based Sustainable Forestry Initiative (SFI). It is, however, a rather controversial organization since it does not appear to actively discourage logging or buying of lumber from biologically diverse and sensitive areas. It also permits the conversion of natural, native forests to single species, fast-growing pine plantations.

Another way that North American homebuilders can check eco-friendly standards of lumber is to contact the Ontario-based Canadian Standards Association (CSA) – www.csa-international.org. The CSA certification is dependent on conformance with the international PEFC Council’s Chain of Custody (CoC) requirements. The CSA Group has its European headquarters in Germany, so a number of other countries, including the United Kingdom, also rely on the CSA Standards. In addition, the Malaysian Timber Certification Council (MTCC) scheme is accepted as assurance of legally logged lumber in Europe.

Another issue to consider is the way the wooden flooring is manufactured or finished. It’s all very well using wood from eco-friendly, sustainable forests, but if it is sealed with products that are even vaguely toxic, what’s the point? Some hardwood products, including laminates, are made using glues; these too should be non-toxic.

Shaw Floors (www.shawfloors.com) promotes laminating flooring because it uses a lot less newly harvested lumber than conventional hardwood flooring. Their product is installed using their patented “locking technology” which means that it’s quick to do, and no adhesive is required. The company also produces eco-friendly hardwood floor products that incorporate an inner layer that comprises recycled wood fiber. They also only use legally sourced and delivered material.

Alternative options for eco-friendly floors

Bamboo and bamboo plywood flooring tops the list of alternative options because it is such a rapidly renewable material. Its popularity as a flooring material has also grown incredibly rapidly. North America’s leading producer is the San Francisco-based Smith & Fong (www.plyboo.com). They offer an amazing choice including 25 SKUs (stock taking units) bamboo flooring products that include flat, edge, strand (that is woven) and end-grain styles. They were also the first company to introduce bamboo plywood products to the US market in 1996, and they now have 50 SKUs in this range.

The Toronto-based NADURRA Wood Corporation produce a composite bamboo flooring product which they state is 180% harder than maple.

There is some criticism of bamboo as an environmentally friendly hardwood flooring type since it is often transported thousands of miles, adding to emissions. However bamboo is easy to grow in many parts of the world and it appears that local production is increasing in many areas. Like hardwood, bamboo flooring has FSC certification to ensure it comes from bamboo plantations.

Palm flooring hasn’t taken off quite as quickly as bamboo flooring, but it is another option offered by Smith & Fong. Flooring products are made from sugar palms and coconut palms that no longer produce coconuts. When the palms are not longer productive, they are normally removed. This means that the material the company uses for this type of flooring is potentially waste with no use at all. Smith & Fong cut the palm logs using a special process and then slice and kiln dry the material prior to a lamination process that uses only non –toxic adhesives. Like bamboo it has to be transported from wherever it is grown, in Southeast Asia for example. It is currently quite an expensive flooring product.

Then there is cork that has a similar color to that of wood – not surprising since it is made from the bark of mature cork trees. Trees aren’t cut down, but it does take about 10 years for the bark to regenerate. In the past it was not uncommon for cork flooring to be made with glues containing formaldehyde – a pungent gas that is believed to trigger asthma and other allergies, and possibly even increase the risk of cancer. Today eco-friendly products are made with non-toxic glue.

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There are many things that you and I can do including using less water; creating less waste; paying closer attention to conservation on all levels; avoiding the use of fossil fuels wherever possible; and using environmentally-friendly products as much as we can. Of course if you are planning to build your own home, you should embrace all these issues and go green from the very beginning. But what does building a green home entail? And are you up to the challenge?

There are some simple answers to these two questions, and also some that are quite complicated.  But essentially what it means is that you will look at enviro-friendly materials in addition to enviro-friendly methods of building. You will also build in such a way that when you move into your new home, you are able to use less water, create less waste, conserve what is precious, and use energy produced by the sun or wind instead of coal (if this is indeed the energy option you are given by your local authority). There is more of course – never less.

Environmentally friendly home building

There are a variety of factors to take into consideration when choosing building materials that are environmentally friendly. In essence these relate to reducing our carbon and water footprint on earth and improving the efficiency of both resources and energy. There is no doubt that the production of construction materials (particularly cement, lime, bricks, glass, plastics, and traditional paints, sealants and wood preservatives) contributes to toxic pollution. But on the positive side, we can do something about it.

According to thinkstep AG (www.thinkstep.com), sustainability experts with 16 offices worldwide, the building sector has the greatest potential of all sectors to reduce CO₂ emissions and reduce the use of precious non-sustainable resources. While their focus is primarily on commercial and industrial properties and large building construction, there can be a major ripple effect within the home building industry. Similarly various standards (including the Toronto Green Standard, LEED and Green Globes) that have been established to improve environmental sustainability within the building industry should be implemented, not just by large construction companies, but by home builders as well. This means that home owners also need to be informed.

Furthermore it isn’t just the materials themselves that we need to consider – although this is terribly important. It is also the impact of production and delivery to site which needs to be addressed. It is for this reason that it is good practice to use not only “green” materials and products when building, but to also use local materials wherever practically possible. It stands to reason that anything that has to be transported long distances (be in by road or in the air… or even by railroad) will immediately add to the carbon footprint.

It is also preferable to use products manufactured by companies that are proactive in terms of sustainability – and happily a large number of them are. Just one example is All Weather Windows (www.allweatherwindows.com), an Edmonton-headquartered company that specializes in energy efficient windows. Winner of the 2010 Energy Star Window Manufacturer of the Year Award, the company is strongly committed to green options. Apart from focusing on conservation conscious window designs, the company:

• recycles its cardboard and uses it to produce cellulose fiber insulation and other products,
• recycles the cut-outs from all its polyurethane-insulated door panels, using them for various insulation applications in the agricultural sector,
• recycles thousands of pounds of PVC on a daily basis so that it can be used to make PVC deck and fencing products, and
• recycles all its scrap metal.

They are also hugely energy conscious, using waste heat from the heat ovens they use to make sealed glass to heat the manufacturing plant, and they only use high efficiency lighting. These are all actions that work in favor of the environment rather than against it.

But what in fact makes products environmentally friendly?

Ensuring products and materials are environmentally friendly

When choosing environmentally friendly materials and all the other products we need to build our homes, we need to feel secure in the fact that they really are what they say they are. There are two ways you can go:

1. You can look for materials that are going to ensure your home is going to be a sustainable haven, or
2. You can simply build using materials that have been declared sustainable.

The ideal, of course, is to combine the two, but be warned … it will take a bit of work for you to achieve the ideal. So if you really are sincere in terms of wanting to create something that really is sustainable, and you really are forging a path towards building a green home, then you will want to explore every possible option. Extensive research prior to building is essential. A good way to tackle this is to combine your green research with your compilation of a schedule of finishes and costing. After all you’re going to be shopping around anyway, so why not spend a little extra time checking out green capabilities to ensure your expectations will be met? Considerations will include:

• the building method you use – remembering that lumber is at the heart of the conservation issue,
• materials for heating and insulation, including the roof covering,
• interior finishes, including paint,
• alternative forms of energy and wastewater systems.

Of course each of these opens up a realm of possibilities and options, and it might be easier to find a designer or even a builder who has experience and commitment building green. For example FORT Architect Inc. introduced a new sustainable design concept to the public just two years ago, steering away from traditional timber-frame homes. Sure there’s wood in their houses (quite a lot of it), but wood frame homes use as much as eight times less energy to heat and cool than those constructed with steel or concrete products. In addition, they’ve come up with a system that incorporates a range of conservation strategies. These are clearly top class because the concept they have launched resulted in them being awarded first prize in a Canadian architectural design competition that aimed to find a prototype for leading edge sustainable design in 2009.

Their target market was home builders, specifically those living in the suburbs.

Starting with the idea of minimizing waste and improving efficiency, they came up with the idea of using what they call “building blocks”. They designed 26 “modular blocks”, all of which may be combined in different ways to create homes with anything from two to seven bedrooms. Using this imaginative mix and match system, they introduced a unique way to improve both affordability and quality control. Furthermore they focused directly on the LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) green building rating system ensuring that all houses built according to their specifications will meet the standards set for LEED-platinum, the highest rating possible.

In Canada the LEED rating system is operated by the Canada Green Building Council (CaGBC) which, since 2003, has been working hard to ensure buildings have a sustainable future.

FORT Architect’s homes also meet the international Energy Star standards for energy efficiency. They incorporate passive solar design, top notch insulation, and they are built using durable materials, many of which have a high recycled content. They specify and use only FSC certified wood, install low-flow toilets, use both double and triple glazing for doors and windows, and even specify “recycled paint”. They are hot on renewable energy, water efficiency (which includes grey water and rain water harvesting), waste heat recovery, innovative wastewater treatments and advocate the planting of drought tolerant plants that are native to your area. These are the things that really do matter if you are building a green home.

Sustainable building methods

Different building methods are favored in different parts of the world, which means that materials used for building also vary. The most popular building methods for domestic houses in both first world and developing countries include timber frame and bricks and blocks that are laid using mortar. Concrete footings and foundations are required for both.

But there are many other methods, some that use steel, and others that rely on concrete products. When it comes to the manufacture of these broadly defined construction materials, there is no doubt that lumber is the most eco-friendly option – in spite of deforestation being a major environmental issue. The reason is that it takes more than 50% more energy to make steel products for building than those made of wood. It takes more than double the amount of energy (up to 120%) to make some products that are made from concrete. Furthermore, both steel and concrete manufacturing processes result in very high emissions of CO₂.

Concrete is, of course, made using cement and a mixture of coarse and fine aggregates (crushed stone, sand and so on) which are combined with water to give it strength. The shocking part is that cement production is one of the worst culprits when it comes to greenhouse gas emissions. Even though not even 15% of the concrete mix is cement, other factors to consider are:

• the mining of the aggregates used,
• the fact that a lot of water is used, and
• the fact that the manufactured product usually has to be transported quite long distances.

In addition, if the concrete is reinforced, it will also have a fair amount of steel in it.

While timber frame construction is favored in North America and Australasia, twice as much concrete is used for building construction throughout the world than all the other materials put together (including wood, steel, plastic and aluminum).

But if timber is to be used, it is vital that it is sustainable.

Green wood for building

An awful lot of wood goes into building houses in North America, and so this is an area that demands a lot of attention when we talk about going green.

First and foremost, FSC certification is a must (ic.fsc.org). An international organization established nearly two decades ago to promote the responsible management of the world’s forests, the FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certifies forests that are environmentally acceptable – meaning that they are sustainable. There are several other organizations that certify wood, and the Canadian Standards Association (CSA) keeps a handle on these worldwide – www.csa-international.org.

But it isn’t enough for wood to come from sustainable forests. If laminated products are used – be they beams or flooring – it is essential that they aren’t manufactured using toxic adhesives. It is also important that sealants and varnishes are non-toxic too.

Of course another green wood option is to use old wood that has been salvaged, either from old buildings or from companies that specialize in recycling building lumber. There are a number of these in North America, including the Canadian Heritage Timber Company (www.canadianheritagetimber.com) that has been rescuing old building wood for more than a decade. They re-mill it so that it is suitable for a range of uses including hardwood flooring, fireplace mantles, and stair treads. Second Wind Timbers, another Canadian company, produces an even larger range of recycled timber building products. In addition to flooring and decking, they manufacture both entry and interior doors as well as structural lumber for timber frame homes.

It isn’t only old building wood that is recycled, several companies reclaim lumber from rivers where it fell long ago during the logging process. Logs End (www.logsend.com) for example mills and crafts wood that was felled generations ago, but which has been lying under water in the Ottawa River, perfectly preserved. They also harvest from environmentally friendly, well-managed forests that are FSC-certified.

Then there is another equally important issue when it comes to building a green home – the chemical treatments used to preserve wood.

Preservation and treatment of timber

All timber used for construction should be graded and treated to make it resistant to insects, fungus, mould and so on. The question is what sort of preservatives are used. Until relatively recently, the best option was probably pressure-treated lumber.

The American Wood Protection Association (AWPA) is responsible for wood preservation standards. Until 2003, the most common wood treatment was chromate copper arsenate (CCA) – administered under pressure – which contains arsenic. AWPA put a stop to the use of CCA in the US, and since then copper-based pesticides have been used there, although CCA is still used in many other countries.

In 2006 a company called New Wood Global was formed in Vancouver, Canada to source and market what they termed “advanced wood protection products”. They discovered an amazing product line called BluWood and bought the rights to it from WoodSmart Solutions in Florida, USA. New Wood Global became BluWood International and then Nexgen Protection (www.nexgenprotection.com) and continued to promote this extraordinary two-part, trademarked, wood treatment product that provides what seemed to be the ultimate protection against mould, fungus and insect infestation.

Now they have produced the next generation of BluWood protection – BluWood NexGen (also trademarked). Timber in covered structures has a lifetime warranty for mould, mildew, rot, fungus and insects (including terrible termites). Because there is a tough UV-blocking agent in the new product, there is also a 30-year exterior use warranty on all outdoor applications including sidings and cladding, shingles and shakes, as well as fencing and decking.

The product is applied in the factory either as a clear coat or a custom-tinted color. It works on all wood species and laminates. No harmful VOCs are added to the wood, there is no off-gassing, and there isn’t any leaching of harmful chemicals. Better still, it can be used as a primer since both paint and stains can be applied over it.

It gets even better. BlueWood NextGen ADVANCED also has a fire inhibitor that upgrades the lumber from a Class B fire inhibitor to a Class A. This is the same classification that concrete has. The additive used is a registered “green” product that is used to protect many other products including clothing and mattresses. It is fast becoming the material of choice for all framing materials in North American construction. With offices in Europe, South America and the Asia Pacific region, it is also making an impact in other parts of the world. It would seem that blue is truly green!

Alternatives to wood

There are, of course, alternatives to wood when it comes to building materials. These range from metal (including both steel and aluminum) which as previously mentioned can be used structurally, to bamboo which is becoming increasingly popular for flooring. Concrete roofing tiles may also be used instead of cedar shingles.

The leading producer of bamboo flooring in North America is Smith & Fong (www.plyboo.com) and their selection of products is impressive, incorporating as many as 75 solid and plywood finishes.

Like wood, bamboo should have an FSC certification so that you are assured it comes from a bamboo plantation that is truly sustainable.

Smith & Fong also produces flooring made from palm trees, another green option worthy of consideration. While it is relatively expensive, its sustainability is unquestionable since it is made from non-productive palm trees that were originally planted for their coconuts.

While your roof covering will depend on both the structural design of your home and budget, there is considerable choice in terms of materials. One Calgary company that manufactures both concrete roof tiles and fiber cement sidings is Unicrete Products Ltd. Not only are these tiles economical, but they are also reasonably sustainable and may be fully integrated with solar panel systems.  The company also encourages home owners to install roof tiles using their Ener-Vent roof installation system to maximize energy. This provides air vents and optimizes air flow under the tiles reducing the potential for ice to dam in winter and improving overall energy efficiency. Taking the downside of concrete, it becomes a case of swings and roundabouts.

Energy efficiency

Energy efficiency needs range from insulation to heating and effects walls, floors, roofs and ceilings, doors and windows, and of course hot water systems and power generation. The subject is huge, but there are numerous specialists who are ready to advise new home builders, which is just as well since this really is an essential aspect of building a green home.

Solar energy One solar electric specialist in Canada is Home Energy Solutions (hespv.ca), which supplies a range of different products including fully code compliant off-grid solar heating kits. They can also assist with grid-tie inverters and the MicroFIT program for Ontario homeowners who get paid for solar electricity they generate that is then delivered to their utility provider.

There is no denying that solar is smart, even in countries that suffer from severe winter weather conditions. Quite simply, it is a sustainable energy system that is based on a renewable energy resource. What could be better?

Generally the first step people take is to install a solar water heater. But now more and more people are going the whole hog and using solar power for electricity as well. In most parts of the world, governments and local authorities offer rebates and incentives that encourage more and more people to take the step to solar.

A basic solar-powered system requires just a few basic components including solar panels, a solar regulator, a battery and an inverter to convert the electricity from direct current (DC) to alternating current (AC) that we can use to power appliances and tools. AC is basically like the electricity we get from the utility supplier, while DC is what batteries need to operate. Solar panels are what we call photovoltaic meaning light (photo) + electricity (voltaic); and what happens is that the panels extract light from the sun and quite simply convert it into DC electricity. This is channeled though a solar regulator to the battery or a bank of batteries. A power inverter then converts the DC power into AC electricity.

Once you have installed a solar heating system, you can save as much as 40% of regular electricity grid costs. Better still, it’s green. However it is true that solar energy is variable, depending on weather and season. For this reason you should have a generator that you can use as a back-up during winter. Alternatively make sure you have a larger-than-normal battery bank and consider the wind turbine option as well.

Wind turbines While the wind turbine option hasn’t yet caught on quite as much as solar, it can be very effective, particularly where there is a lot of wind – since the more wind there is, the more electricity you will generate! Having said this, if you live in an area that is prone to hurricanes, you’ll need to lower the turbine if there is a hurricane warning.

Essentially a wind turbine works the opposite way to a fan, and it uses wind to make electricity in a generator. There are various factors that influence the amount of electricity you can generate this way, including the height of the turbine tower and the size of the rotors. This will obviously affect cost, but the two generally balance out in the end.

Like solar power, wind turbines may be connected to the grid but they don’t have to be. However to produce electricity they should be connected; those that aren’t generally used for charging batteries – great if you need it to charge batteries for an electric car. Wind Energy Solutions Canada (WES Canada), a subsidiary of a Dutch manufacturer of wind turbines, maintains that their system can save up to 90% of fuel costs.

Having sorted your energy source, you need to consider insulation issues. After all if glazing isn’t energy efficient and you lose heat because you don’t have adequate insulation in the building, then you’re going to need more electricity in whichever form it is available.

Glazing and insulation We build our homes so that that are weatherproof and can be made airtight – or at least reasonable airtight. Within this context, we use various materials to ensure thermal insulation. Generally speaking, there is a “thermal envelope” which is the living space within any house. Sometimes we include the attic or basement of the house in this space, sometimes we don’t. But however the house has been designed, the important factor is to prevent heat loss or heat gain to and from the building. Once the house is airtight, a system must be available to manage the air.

A house that is badly insulated will be cold, damp and directly under the roof (in an attic for instance) unbearably hot on sunny summer days.

Our houses incorporate different types of insulating materials, depending on function. Some have low thermal conductivity while others are primarily effective at blocking heat radiation, while others (like foil-faced rigid panels) can reduce heat transfer in various ways.  But for a product to be green, it needs to be eco-friendly, as well as safe and unhealthy (or rather not unhealthy).

More than a decade ago the North American Insulation Manufacturers Association (www.naima.org) introduced a voluntary work practice partnership with the US Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), primarily to promote the safe handling and use of insulation materials, primarily fiberglass, rock wool and slag wool products. But this doesn’t necessarily make them green. Eco-friendly products include those made from recycled paper and several others that are listed at www.greatgreenlist.com.

When it comes to windows, in cold-climate countries like Canada, it is essential to have double or even triple glazing. In countries that experience a great deal of heat, like most of South Africa, single glazing is the norm. Even so it is best to use quality glass that blocks ultraviolet light when it’s hot, and benefits from solar gain. This means that the window pane will retain heat and not transfer it out of the window. The other factor to consider is how much visible light is transferred through the panes. About 5% of visible light is filtered naturally. Clear glass with no coatings will allow about 90% of visible light to enter. Triple glazing with an ultraviolet sun stop coating may only allow 40% to 60% of visible light to filter through. A company like All Weather Windows will be able to give you the full specifications so that you or your designer can make an educated choice. Another is Cascadia (www.cascadiawindows.com) which produces windows with fiberglass frames and high performance glazing. Th
eir products meet or exceed the Energy Star criteria, which is a very important consideration when building a green home.

Environmentally friendly paint products

Paint is another building orientated product that has been targeted by advocates of green buildings, primarily because of the VOC factor. Happily a growing number of companies are now producing eco-friendly products including Benjamin Moore (www.benjaminmoore.com).

Or you could hire an eco-friendly paint company like Element Painters Inc (http://paintcanadagreen.com) to do the job for you.

Of course there are many other details to consider when going green. This is just the beginning.

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But hard wearing flooring also needs to look good and feel comfortable. So you should consider your needs carefully. Happily there are quite varied flooring options to suit all tastes.

If you do have children, or are planning children, then you will need to focus on the needs of little people very carefully. If you have animals, unless you lock them out of the house, it will be vital to install pet friendly floors. Again, if you sell the house down the track, both child and pet friendly flooring can be a positive selling feature.

Why we need flooring that is “friendly” for pets and children

While the comfort factor is important for children, particularly babies and toddlers who are learning to walk, maintenance is a primary consider if you have pets or children. They can all be extremely messy creatures, and if you can’t keep your floors clean…  and you can’t keep them clean easily, then life is likely to be pretty miserable.

Children and dogs love rolling in dirt and are notorious for tracking in mud and sand. When the weather is wet they won’t usually give a second thought to the fact that precious flooring might be wrecked underfoot. While cats are reasonably clean animals that don’t like to get their feet wet, even little kitty footprints on carpets can be extremely difficult to remove.

You could, of course, introduce a Japanese principle of removing shoes before entering the house, but it isn’t going to work with pets. So unless you are in fact not a pet friendly person, and lock them out in the wet and cold – shudder the thought – you might as well give some serious consideration to what comprises pet and kiddy friendly flooring.

Apart from the basic dirt factor, other factors to consider are that both pets and children have to be toilet trained in their early life, and until this happens accidents do happen. If this mess can’t be easily cleaned, you may not only have a stained floor, but you might also be stuck with a lingering smell that is difficult to get rid of. Cats are the worst offenders here, especially tomcats that haven’t been neutered.

Children and animals also get sick from time to time, and so there is always the possibility that they might vomit on the floor. It’s a fact of life. They are also naturally clumsy and even wagging tails are common culprits when it comes to knocking over things including drinks, plates of food and even pot plants.

Hard flooring

The most hardwearing floors are usually considered to be those that are made from hard materials, ranging from hardwoods to bricks and tiles. But animal claws can cause quite extensive damage to floorboards and some other hard surfaces. Also, when it comes to ease of maintenance, you need to consider porosity. For instance if tiles are porous and you don’t clean up blood immediately, it will stain.  At the other end of the scale, highly glazed tiles become slippery when wet and can be hazardous for children and for pets. So neither of these options translates to what we consider to be pet friendly floors.

A company like the USA-headquartered Shaw Floors (shawfloors.com/stone-and-tile-flooring) has a selection of hardwearing, contemporary tile and stone flooring products that are easy to clean. They also offer a range of flooring types (both hard and soft) that are sustainable and eco-friendly. Hard products include:

• an engineered wood flooring that has a dense inner-core of wood fiber by-products that would otherwise be burnt or put into landfills,
• a laminate flooring product that simulates either exotic hardwoods or ceramic tiles without using the natural resources,

The hardwood floors from Anderson (andersonfloors.com) are also both eco-friendly and pet-friendly. Recently acquired by Shaw Floors, Anderson has an amazing product made from 100% wood by-products that has been heralded as one of the most “environmentally responsible” hardwood flooring products that is currently available.

Now here’s something else to consider. When we talk about hardwoods, this doesn’t necessarily mean that they are HARD woods. In fact some types of hardwood is actually quite soft. The difference is that a true hardwood comes from a deciduous tree like oak or cherry, while softwoods are cut from conifers, like pine and redwood. While most types of pine are quite soft, redwood is reasonably hard, which is why it is a popular choice for decking. Boggles the mind doesn’t it?

Ironically, though, if you choose to buy recycled hardwood flooring from a company like Nostalgic Wood, Inc (www.nostalgicwood.com), one of their selling points is the fact that their flooring has those wonderfully distinctive marks left by old nails and burrowing insects. So is it really important to worry if Bruno antiques your floors for you?

Another company that revels in maintaining a lovely weathered look with its rescued timber for floors is Canadian Heritage Timber (www.canadianheritagetimber.com). They do, however, also supply plank flooring that has been sanded to a lovely smooth, new-looking finish.

Soft flooring

Carpets and other so-called soft flooring is not only more comfortable underfoot, it is also generally warmer. However carpeting is also often linked to allergies and asthma that affects not only humans, but pets as well. So while a dog might prefer to sleep on a soft carpet than on a hard brick floor, is this really a pet friendly option? According to research, yes it is. The issue though is that carpets must be properly cleaned and maintained. If they are properly cared for, they in fact have an even lower level of dust-borne allergens that rooms with hard surface floors where the dust and other small allergenic particles are airborne (because they simply can’t settle in the hard surface).

The issue you need to consider is whether you are prepared to go that extra mile in terms of maintenance. After all, if you have fitted wall-to-wall carpets, and your devoted dog delivers mud on a rainy day, will you be able to cope or will you have to call in a professional carpet cleaning company to rectify the damage?

The compromise

Then of course you might decide to combine a hard floor of some sort, be it brick, tiles or timber, with a soft area rug on top. Or you could simply create pet friendly floors by giving your favorite animals an easily removal bed on an easily cleanable floor surface.

At the end of the day the choice is yours.

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Generally you will probably be looking at the best hardwearing options available, as well as options that are more sustainable than others. You may be looking for solid hard floors – tiles on concrete, timber boards and so on – or you may want a flooring product that you can lay on top of a solid surface. Either way, bamboo flooring has advantages you really do need to consider.

So what are the advantages of bamboo flooring, and why should you consider using bamboo rather than wood?

Why invest in Bamboo Flooring?

Bamboo floors are made from material that is obtained from various bamboos plants, most of which originate in Asia and China. Unlike trees, bamboo grows rapidly which is why it beats lumber hands down in terms of sustainability. In fact it matures to a height of at least 65 feet in as little as three or four years. Like grass, it continues to grow rapidly after it has been cut. Some say it is the fastest growing plant on planet earth.

Another incredible fact about bamboo is that it can be even harder than wood. For example some varieties are said to be 13% harder than maple and 27% harder than oak. At very least it’s as tough as black walnut, another hardwood.

Provided it isn’t harvested too early, the natural fibers of bamboo generally don’t absorb moisture as easily as wood does – particularly softwoods that grow relatively quickly, like some types of pine. When you buy wood planks or wooden floorboards, it is always essential to make sure that the wood is not defective. After wood has been sawn it dries out, and if there are knots in the wood these often drop out leaving unsightly holes. You may also find that planks are slightly bowed (bending slightly along the length) or cupped (bending across the width of the plank). This makes the wood extremely difficult to work with. Good quality bamboo, on the other hand, is guaranteed not to cup or twist. If it does, chances are it was cut when it wasn’t mature enough. Happily this doesn’t happen if the boards are manufactured by a reputable company.

But the increasing popularity of bamboo flooring is not just because it is sustainable; bamboo also offers a brilliant alternative to conventional hardwood flooring. Bamboo floors are strong, durable and as resistant to insect infestation, moisture and many other elements as hardwood flooring.

What is bamboo flooring?

In South East Asia, bamboo floors are made by cutting bamboo stems as flat as possible and then using these in a similar way to floorboards. The bamboo is nailed to wooden (or sometimes even bamboo) beams, to form a floor.

Commercialized bamboo flooring takes this a whole step further. In North America and other parts of the world, bamboo is used to make floors that look just like wooden floors. The manufacturing process negates the rounded bamboo shape so that you have typical planks that are both horizontal and flat. Individual slats are joined side-by-side so that adjacent pieces meet neatly and look like wooden planks.

Like wood, bamboo should have an FSC certification so that you are assured it comes from a bamboo plantation that is truly sustainable. Another accreditation to look out for – in the form of credits – comes from LEEDs, the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design, which has a Green Building Rating System accepted as the benchmark for the design, construction and operation of high performance green buildings in North America.

When laying bamboo flooring, some companies recommend laying natural cork – another sustainable resource. This provides both thermal and acoustic insulation.

Which companies offer bamboo flooring?

Bamboo flooring is available from manufacturers, distributors of imported products, as well as from specialist flooring outlets that sell a range of different products.

Teragren (www.teragren.com) is a US-based manufacturer of bamboo products, including flooring. All their raw materials are sourced in China, and their products are sold not only in the US and Canada, but are also exported to Australia, New Zealand and to parts of Africa. Teragren’s very first product was traditional, solid-strip bamboo flooring, but today the company also manufactures wide-plank and floating floors with a range of finishes – natural, caramelized and stained. They also make flooring parts for stairs. You’ll find their products at exclusive flooring distributors and at a range of retail flooring outlets.

Another top North American producer of bamboo flooring is K&M Silkroad (www.silkroadflooring.com) which also sources its raw materials from China. Boasting sales of more than 2-million square feet of bamboo hardwood flooring in the US and Canada since their launch in 1994, they manufacture pre-finished and unfinished flooring, that is either engineered solid, as a composite, or as a floating floor. They also manufacture bamboo plywood and bamboo veneer.

Smith & Fong (www.plyboo.com) is another leading producer of bamboo flooring in North America. This company has an impressive selection of products that incorporate as many as 75 solid and plywood finishes. The company prides itself on offering formaldehyde-free bamboo products with the FSC certification. It is available from distributors throughout North America and Europe without a finish, or stained brown, grey or white. You’ll also find their products at select trade shows and you can buy online.

While you might imagine that all imported bamboo comes from China, it doesn’t. Doug Lewis, owner of the Seattle-based Bamboo Hardwoods (www.bamboohardwoods.com) sources his bamboo from Vietnam, where he has a factory. This company manufactures plywood and bamboo flooring in countless styles and colors – aiming to compliment all types of interior design. They also manufacture a range of other bamboo building materials. Products are both FSC certified and CARB-compliant.

Their motto is one that anyone in the bamboo flooring industry is sure to endorse:

“Notice that the stiffest tree is most easily cracked, while the bamboo or willow survives by bending with the wind.”

This is, of course, the key to one of the leading advantages of bamboo flooring.

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