Our LEED House
It may not seem in the spirit of sustainability to remove the original house, but the level of termite damage and the expense of trying to build around it led us to the decision to remove it. The house we are replacing was originally an old sharecropper's house based upon the original floor plan and style of construction. The wood portion of the building was 60+ years old and the house was apparently moved from a site not far away to its current location according to our neighbors. After it was moved, a scratch brick shell was put in place and it stood until December 27, 2007 when it was demolished. To keep with the principle of sustainability, prior to demolition, we
donated many parts of the building to Habitat for Humanity for resale in their ReStore in Anderson SC. This included the HVAC system, the hot water heater, the gas logs, plumbing fixtures, light fixtures, and some doors and windows. We then proceeded to strip the house of as much of the remaining usable material as possible—windows, the remaining doors, flooring, fireplace mantel, fixtures, cabinetry and electrical switches and outlets for use in other building projects on site (we have a number of outbuildings). The rest was not really serviceable for a
The old house, minus the windows
That left a small number of other trees that had to be removed for construction and safety purposes. All timber under 20 inches in diameter was chipped for construction and landscaping purposes. Several mature pines had to be removed due to proximity to the new structure and will be milled for building materials—flooring and trim-by Greg Fowler of Foothills Reclaimed Lumber and Millwork. Thus, a portion of the new house will be made from materials that had to be harvested anyway, This helps meet LEED requirements for reusing materials and also reduces our materials costs significantly in trim and flooring material.
Moving the landscape trees
variety of reasons and was slated for demolition. During demolition, the brick exterior was removed and utilized for the base of the driveway renovation—reducing the need for landfill space and the need for purchasing additional fill material on which to build a stable driveway. The remnants of the house were subsequently burned and the very small pile of ash removed to a landfill.
During site preparation, we had three favorite landscaping trees moved for later use in the new landscape—two mature pink crepe myrtles and a 25 ft Camellia sasanqua. Nate Bradford of EcoArt dug up the trees, wrapped the root balls in burlap and stored them in holes on a shady portion of the property waiting to be replanted in a new LEED certified landscape design. We still had to protect a half dozen other trees that are close to or within the building site. We did this by installing heavy fencing around the trees out to the drip line and mulching with wood chips to a depth of 4 inches to keep heavy equipment away from the tree root zone and allow these trees to survive.
Timber from the felled pines-this will be flooring and trim work in the new house.
