October 29, 2024 • 21 mins
In this episode, we dive into key design elements that make a home truly energy-efficient and sustainable. Mark and Alison are joined by guest Amanda Weglinski, Design Project Manager with the Bensonwood Design Group and key contributor to the recent launch of Bensonwood's OpenHome product offerings. Together they explore smart siting for natural solar gain, efficient layouts, and multi-use spaces that reduce the home’s footprint. You'll also learn how material choices, shorter MEP runs, and native landscaping make a lasting impact on the resiliency of a design. To learn more about OpenHome and the Bensonwood Design Group, visit: https://bensonwood.com/build-with-us/our-homes/open-home/
Learn more about Bensonwood by visiting our website: bensonwood.com
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Episode Transcript
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Alison Keay (00:00):
Al, welcome to a new era of home building, where
(00:07):
we explore sustainable homebuilding, high performance
design, innovative off siteconstruction and groundbreaking
practices that are transformingthe home building industry. This
podcast is produced by Unityhomes, a brand of Benson wood.
Welcome back. I'm your host.
Allison Kay, Sales Lead at Unityhomes,
Mark Hertzler (00:25):
and I'm your co host. Mark Hertzler, Director of
unity homes. Today we'respeaking with Amanda weglenz, a
design project manager with thebenzoyl Design Group. Amanda has
over 20 years in the designfield, and she has recently
worked with a team to developthe open home offerings. If
you're more interested infinding out about open home, you
can check out Open home onbensonwood.com So Amanda,
(00:49):
welcome and why don't you tellus a little bit about what is it
you do? Well,
Amanda Weglinski (00:53):
thank you, Mark and Allison for having me.
I think it's a really excitingtime to be at bensonwood in this
specific season, so I feel veryblessed to be here. I've been in
the field of architecture, asyou mentioned, for 20 years, and
it's a great joy to interactwith clients on what often is
the sort of biggest purchase oftheir life, and be able to help
(01:14):
shepherd and lead that projecttowards construction on the
Benson wood Design Group. We'rea group of architects and
designers. We have a wonderfulteam here that helps support
that effort on the build side aswell. And so it's it's just
exciting to be part of a greaterteam, and we work on both open
homes and custom projects. Openhome is a product home that we
(01:39):
have designed in collaborationwith Karen Timberlake of
Pennsylvania and Lake Flato ofTexas. They're both world
renowned architecture firms intheir own right, and together,
we have a collection of producthomes that represent the
collective intelligence of thedesign teams and the legacy of
(02:00):
the firms that we're all partof.
Alison Keay (02:02):
With that nice overview, let's jump into our
topic for today on designefficiency and sustainability.
So we want to focus on what arethe design elements, the design
conversations that can happen toimprove in energy efficiency and
sustainability within a homedesign.
Mark Hertzler (02:21):
So what kind of design decisions are you
thinking through in regards toenergy efficiency, aside from
the building science, wherewe're talking about the
insulations and the airtightness that the building
science part of it, what's thedesign aspect to energy
efficiency?
Amanda Weglinski (02:40):
Yeah, I think generally, when we are starting
to work with clients indesigning their home, we're
always trying to right size thehouse and so making sure that
we're not inflating the squarefootage unnecessarily, we're
focused on really how eachindividual family uses their
space. And so I can think backon past projects where clients
(03:03):
really enjoyed just having thebedrooms be a place for sleeping
and not for activities. So wewere able to, for instance,
really cut the square footagedown of the house because the
bedrooms were all much smaller.
They just had a, you know, a bedin it. And other clients have
have needs that we try to thinkabout that maybe are more
flexible so that we can sharespaces. Sometimes sharing spaces
is an opportunity to cut downsquare footage as well using
(03:27):
them for multiple purposes.
Yeah,
Mark Hertzler (03:31):
and that's great, because I think I've recently
read that for many, many years,the average size of a home in
the US have been increasing, andnow recently, it's actually
starting to decrease a littlebit, and people are getting away
from that sort of McMansionattitude of, I need a bigger
house to now there. I need theright size house. Not only cuts
costs up front, but it also cutsyour operating costs going
(03:54):
forward. Sure,
Amanda Weglinski (03:56):
yeah, I think the average home in the United
States is around 2000 squarefeet, and other countries in
Scandinavia are closer to 1200to 1400 so there's areas to
improve.
Alison Keay (04:06):
I tend to be really drawn to the spaces that are
multi use too. We have a lot ofprojects that will do a room off
the living room that can be kindof included in that living room
space or or closed off. So itoften is playing a multi purpose
use of a library or office aswell as a guest room or again,
(04:26):
that extended living space andthe ability to close rooms off
and include them and when youneed them. And there's just a
lot to be said for not wastingspace, especially when it comes
to your heating and cooling.
Yeah, I would
Amanda Weglinski (04:40):
agree with that. In fact, when we're
speaking with our clientsinitially, clients, initially,
we try to think of the lifecycle of the house and even a
season that they might be in nowwith young children, we might
think of that flexible space toserve one purpose, like a
homeschooling room. But in thefuture, does it become a guest
bedroom, or even beyond that,does it become the first floor
primary suite when it's coupledwith. Other areas on the first
(05:01):
floor. So I think thinking aboutthe longevity of the house and
how it could be flexible overmany years is a helpful
consideration.
Mark Hertzler (05:09):
Good and how about the design itself, sort of
the shape. Any thoughts there onhow that affects energy
efficiency? So
Amanda Weglinski (05:17):
we know in the Northeast that the most
efficient design is a compactplan, and part of the reason for
that is because we're cuttingdown on the amount of wall area.
Of course, when we have walls,we want to put windows in those,
and those are the less efficientpart of the wall, so just makes
the overall envelope lessefficient.
Mark Hertzler (05:36):
Yeah, and you bring up windows, which is was
something else I wanted to touchon. There's a double edged sword
to Windows. Everybody wants moreglazing. Everybody wants more
natural light. But as youpointed out, there is a sort of
a negative impact of Windows,and so how do you balance that
out? When it comes to design andenergy efficiency, we
Amanda Weglinski (05:55):
often are inspired by the site, and
especially views from the homeout to the site. That's our
starting place. Oftentimes we'rethinking about the solar
orientation and where we mightlocate windows. So we're getting
the good warmth of the sun inthe wintertime when we want it,
but also being concerned aboutshading in the summertime, when
(06:15):
we wouldn't want to overheat thehouse. So those views and
passive solar orientation or twothings we focus on. I would also
say, in general, we try to underglaze the north side of the
building, where you're oftenjust losing heat in the winter
time because there's no solargain. We try to have that help
and compensate a little bit formaybe how we might be over
(06:38):
glazing the south side of thebuilding or the east side of the
building. Yeah,
Mark Hertzler (06:42):
so good balancing of that, glazing and the siting
definitely important. How aboutthe mechanicals? How do you work
those into the design and getthose as efficient as possible?
Generally,
Amanda Weglinski (06:56):
we try to have the mechanical room centrally
located and we we bury it withinthe plan, but it usually does
need to have access to anexterior wall, so we try to be
thoughtful about that. So Ithink, in general, shortening
any of the runs, whether it befor water or duct work, you
know, to where it's deliveringout to the perimeter, is is a
way to be more efficient. Andagain, if you're doing a more
(07:18):
compact plan, then that's oneway you can achieve that. Have
Mark Hertzler (07:21):
you ever been involved in the design? It was
gonna be kind of an oddquestion, but a design where you
worked in something with energyefficiency, and in retrospect,
you know, realized maybe thatwasn't the greatest approach, or
maybe that didn't work. And onething I'm thinking of is kind of
off the wall there, but we had aclient who was really interested
(07:43):
in a wastewater heat recoverysystem, which basically the the
incoming water wraps around thewaste pipe that we have, like
hot water from your shower goingout, so you're recovering some
of that water. Sounds great, butI think, in reality, maybe
probably didn't provide thatmuch efficiency. So you have any
(08:04):
other examples you could thinkof, like great idea, but it just
never really worked out well.
Amanda Weglinski (08:09):
I think one thing that clients are often
bringing to us are the ideas ofexterior blinds, and so the
purpose with those would be toblock the sun from coming into
the building so that themechanical system is not
expending energy to cool thehouse down, especially in the
summertime. And I have concernsabout how well those operate
(08:29):
year round. I know that we havesome clients that use them in
the winter, and I worry thatthey're just more delicate and
with our snow and ice, that itjust could be a long term
maintenance problem, trying tofix a solar glare problem, or
the solar heating issue,overheating issue in the summer.
Yeah.
Mark Hertzler (08:46):
So I think sometimes we try to outsmart
ourselves, and it really comesback to the basics, as you had
mentioned, that the tightdesign, you know, really
thinking through the glazing andthe windows and right sizing the
house, so that those are thingsthat make the biggest impact, as
opposed to some of these sort ofneat sounding ideas, but, you
know, more complicated than theworst, sure. So moving on from
energy efficiency. What aboutwater efficiency? Now, you know,
(09:10):
I know a lot of the focus onwater efficiency is on the
actual fixtures and low flow.
And, you know, toilets that arelow flush, or, you know, well
water when they flush, thingslike that. But beyond that, from
a design perspective, what aresome other things that can be
done to improve waterefficiency? Yeah, there's a
Amanda Weglinski (09:31):
couple of things that you can do. There
can be water collection.
Sometimes we're harvesting wateroff of roofs and collecting them
into barrels. And really, at abasic level, like some some of
our clients are extremelysophisticated gardeners, and
just having that free water tobe able to water their garden
makes a big difference. To notfire up the hose. There's more
sophisticated water collectionsystems, but I'd say
(09:52):
additionally, generally, we'retrying to promote natural
landscapes. So we're doing. Lessgrass and more native plantings,
and they can take the summerheat and also the drought of the
summer and don't need to bewatered all the time.
Alison Keay (10:09):
There's also the aspect of siting the home on the
site.
Amanda Weglinski (10:13):
Yes, when we start, we usually start with a
site visit, and it gives us areally good understanding of the
topography of the site, and wetry to be very sensitive about
where the house ultimately willbe located, so that we're
minimally disturbing the siteand retaining its natural
features. So for instance, ifyou have a site that has a very
(10:35):
steep incline on it, to make aspot really a flatter spot for
the House to land, you wouldhave to cut and fill a lot of
that site, trucking and fill.
There's a cost to that, butthere's also, you know, a cost
to the planet for that as well,in terms of the exhaust from the
trucking of material and andreshaping the landscape.
Obviously has effects too. Wehave to be cognizant about how
(10:57):
water flows and where does thatwater go, you know, making sure
that we're not impacting otherproperties. So I think in
general, our goal is to be asminimally invasive as possible,
which is also really good fornature and the flora and fauna
that are inhabiting our sites.
Mark Hertzler (11:16):
And tying the site design back with landscape
design. I think there's somestrategic things you can do with
planting the right kind of treesto give you shading in the
summer and, you know, windbreaks and things like that. So
you can kind of tie that sitedesign into the landscape design
(11:37):
along with the home design tocreate a really cohesive,
efficient, sustainable, say,ecosystem. But like I said, it
really is an ecosystem in thatsense.
Amanda Weglinski (11:47):
Absolutely. We often will work with a landscape
architect and use strategictrees to help with the wind
break, as you mentioned. So wemight put an evergreen tree that
is going to stay kind of greenand heavily leaved throughout
all seasons, and pepper that inwith some deciduous trees that
are losing their leaves but willallow more sunlight to come
through in this in the wintertime. Yeah, that's
Mark Hertzler (12:09):
definitely interesting. How about the the
materials that are beingspecified for a house?
Amanda Weglinski (12:16):
We try to focus on natural materials that
are sustainable. They can beharvested. You know what's a
great example. And there's justsome really great products out
there that are thermallymodified. Koya is one of them
that we've been using a lot ofrecently. There's also Kevin E
and thermary, a couple othercompanies, the companies
(12:38):
impregnate the wood fibers andthen bake out the material that
they've impregnated to make thewood be more robust. It's more
resistant to water and and bugs,and just the product itself will
last much longer than a regularpiece of wood siding. And
Mark Hertzler (12:55):
what a great way to take a natural product and
make it even better.
Amanda Weglinski (12:59):
We do have clients that are interested
depending on their location infire resistant construction,
even on their residents. And sowe have solutions for siding
options and roofing options thatare not non combustible and lean
into those, those needs in
Alison Keay (13:16):
terms of timbers and things like that, any
exterior woods. We like to havebe tropical woods because they
do much better in the outsideenvironment and moisture and
rain. But we have a very bigeffort to always have those be
FSC certified. And so there's awhole department too that works
(13:37):
with those woods and maintainsthose certifications. And it's,
it's a pretty important thingwhen you're working with
tropical woods, because of thepotential for rainforest
deforestation and things likethat, for these really well
sought after woods that do sowell outside, but to make sure
that you know, they're sourcedsustainably. Yeah, I would
agree.
Mark Hertzler (13:58):
And you touched on this a little bit, on the
resilience and durability. So Ithink that's a pretty common
concern of people now withweather events, whether it's
hurricanes or tornadoes orwildfires or even here in the
northeast, recently, we've hadthe smoke from wildfires. We
haven't had the actualwildfires, but they've blown in
from Canada, things like that.
So what kind of design thingsare happening to improve the
(14:21):
resiliency and the durability ofa house? Yeah,
Amanda Weglinski (14:26):
on the Benson wood side, we have had clients
that have been particularlyconcerned about that, and one of
the ways that we've solved thatproblem is by designing a timber
frame system inside of our shellso we have the redundancy of our
walls are self supporting, untothemselves. They don't
necessarily need a timber frame.
But in in a few of these homesthat we've designed recently, we
did do the timber frame plus thewalls, and so we feel like that
(14:49):
redundant system is more robustto withstand. You know,
potential future naturaldisasters. The timber frame in
general is great because it isa. Resistant to fire, in the
sense that when it does catch onfire, it chars and it creates a
protective layer around thetimber frame, and so it makes it
more challenging for there to befull burn through of the
(15:09):
structure. So we think thoseare, you know, good properties
and very helpful for the longterm.
Mark Hertzler (15:16):
And I think that's kind of an interesting
fact that it seemscounterintuitive, but a wood,
timber frame, in many instances,will do better in a fire than
steel. Well, because steel getsto a certain temperature and it
just fails right where, as yousaid, the wood will char and
kind of protect itself from fromburning all the way through. So
that seems counterintuitive, butI think that's a very
(15:37):
interesting fact.
Alison Keay (15:39):
The Open built systems that used by bensa wood
in Unity also are kind ofdisentangling the different
systems within a home thatallows it to be used for a
longer period of time. So it'sthe thought of separating
systems that we know have ashorter lifespan or going to
change and need updating in ashorter amount of time than the
(16:02):
structural systems, the airbarrier, the insulation, things
like that that we want tomaintain for the life of the
home. Is there any other waysthat we can think about that the
disentanglement of the systemsin design as well?
Amanda Weglinski (16:17):
Yeah. Allison, I agree with that 100%
especially as we think abouttechnologies with audio, video
equipment and speaker systems,they're all just rapidly
changing. And it's really muchmore helpful if those things can
be exposed. I'm actually workingon a project right now where, of
course, since COVID, you know,home offices have become just
(16:37):
the norm as part of the program,and so clients are particularly
interested about how they, youknow, get their printer and, you
know, there's, they almost have,like, a server closet between
their offices. And how do theyget just those basic connections
to their computer, you know,electrical and internet and
otherwise. So I think, you know,keeping the system separate and
(16:58):
accessible is really helpful.
And our OB plus wall is a, youknow, a great solution for that,
but we also try to be thoughtfulabout that too in the design.
And so there could be some areasin the home where we drop the
ceilings, and actually evenhave, you know, something that's
more like a commercial product,where there would be a drop
ceiling that you can accesscabling and wiring above the
ceiling, but it's kept out ofyour view. So it's not
(17:20):
disturbing to look at when we'rein the early phase of design, we
like to talk to our clientsabout thinking about the
longevity of their house, evenfor generations beyond their
ownership. You know, maybe it'sa legacy home that their
children would inherit or, youknow, just a completely
different homeowner. And so wetry to think about even
disentangling the structure sothat we minimize the amount of
(17:41):
bearing walls or on the interiorof the house, so that there's
opportunity for flexibility inthe future to reconfigure the
home in a different way. Youknow, over many generations,
we're we're learning to livedifferently, you know, than our
grandparents generation even. Sothat's something we can relate
with. And so who knows howpeople might be living here in
the future, yeah,
Mark Hertzler (18:02):
and regardless of you know what happens in the
future, the House still has thatreally solid envelope, which is
as a house mentioned, the airbarrier and insulation layer
layer, which doesn't change, butthe infill inside can change
over time. I think one of thebiggest examples that we talk
about is kitchen so you'restarting out, you know, you put
(18:26):
a kitchen in that you canafford, like, you know, in my
case, I know Allison's case,with young kids, you know that
that kitchen is going to takesome wear and tear, and
eventually, at some point, youcan take it out and you can
replace it without having to,you Know, redo a significant
portion of your house. So
Alison Keay (18:42):
another aspect of sustainability is waste, right?
Eliminating waste. What are somethings for waste reduction and
maybe even recycling that can bepart of the design.
Amanda Weglinski (18:53):
During the design phase, we try to design
with a two foot grid in mind,and that gives us the
opportunity to be less wastefulwhen cutting materials. If you
think of a four by eight sheetof plywood that's divisible by
two feet, and we can actuallyreuse the off cuts if we're
cutting the sheet down in otherareas of the home, that's where
Alison Keay (19:13):
product homes, I think, really shine in their
efficiency and sustainability,as well as the ability to think
through down to that level ofdetail. And of course, thinking
about waste reduction, our offsite fabrication is definitely
aiding in that our ability todesign for the specific lumber
and shipping capacities reallypaired with the CNC cutting
(19:38):
really allows us to reduce thewaste that we create to begin
with, and then on site, we haveminimal waste. There's almost no
waste at all on site, or evenutilizing the packaging for our
bundling, which is a recycledmaterial, and we're collecting
that, bringing it back from thesite, making sure that it gets
shipped back to themanufacturer. Over and turned
(20:01):
into the very same plastic thatwe're using for that next round
of projects. So off sitefabrication is a huge waste
reduction element,
Mark Hertzler (20:09):
and it does go into the insulation. There's
many reasons why we like thisdense, packed cellulose, but one
of them is that it's a recycledproduct.
Amanda Weglinski (20:18):
Even our 24 inch on center framing reduces
the amount of studs that are ina wall. You know, a typical wall
has 16 inch on center. Well,this has
Alison Keay (20:27):
been really great.
Amanda, thank you so much forjoining us today and giving us
some insight into the Bensonwood design group and efficiency
and sustainability.
Mark Hertzler (20:37):
Enjoyed the conversation. Yes.
Amanda Weglinski (20:39):
Thank you and Dan,
Alison Keay (20:43):
thanks for listening to a new era of home
building. If you're passionateabout high performance homes
like we are, be sure tosubscribe to our podcast and
stay tuned for our next episodeon the pretty good house book
with builder and co author DanColbert from Colbert building in
Portland Maine. You can alsovisit unity homes.com to learn
more about our upcoming events,subscribe to our newsletter.
(21:04):
Check out our home plans and getin touch. Thanks to George
Peavey, Jason reamer and JoshRiemer of our company's very own
plum dable band for the musicyou hear on this podcast, and
thanks to Damaris Graham for theproduction and editing of the
podcast. We hope you enjoyedthis episode. Until next time.
I'm Allison Kang and I'm MarkHertzler, and here's to better
building you.
Al, welcome to a new era of home building, where
(00:07):
we explore sustainable homebuilding, high performance
design, innovative off siteconstruction and groundbreaking
practices that are transformingthe home building industry. This
podcast is produced by Unityhomes, a brand of Benson wood.
Welcome back. I'm your host.
Allison Kay, Sales Lead at Unityhomes,
Mark Hertzler (00:25):
and I'm your co host. Mark Hertzler, Director of
unity homes. Today we'respeaking with Amanda weglenz, a
design project manager with thebenzoyl Design Group. Amanda has
over 20 years in the designfield, and she has recently
worked with a team to developthe open home offerings. If
you're more interested infinding out about open home, you
can check out Open home onbensonwood.com So Amanda,
(00:49):
welcome and why don't you tellus a little bit about what is it
you do? Well,
Amanda Weglinski (00:53):
thank you, Mark and Allison for having me.
I think it's a really excitingtime to be at bensonwood in this
specific season, so I feel veryblessed to be here. I've been in
the field of architecture, asyou mentioned, for 20 years, and
it's a great joy to interactwith clients on what often is
the sort of biggest purchase oftheir life, and be able to help
(01:14):
shepherd and lead that projecttowards construction on the
Benson wood Design Group. We'rea group of architects and
designers. We have a wonderfulteam here that helps support
that effort on the build side aswell. And so it's it's just
exciting to be part of a greaterteam, and we work on both open
homes and custom projects. Openhome is a product home that we
(01:39):
have designed in collaborationwith Karen Timberlake of
Pennsylvania and Lake Flato ofTexas. They're both world
renowned architecture firms intheir own right, and together,
we have a collection of producthomes that represent the
collective intelligence of thedesign teams and the legacy of
(02:00):
the firms that we're all partof.
Alison Keay (02:02):
With that nice overview, let's jump into our
topic for today on designefficiency and sustainability.
So we want to focus on what arethe design elements, the design
conversations that can happen toimprove in energy efficiency and
sustainability within a homedesign.
Mark Hertzler (02:21):
So what kind of design decisions are you
thinking through in regards toenergy efficiency, aside from
the building science, wherewe're talking about the
insulations and the airtightness that the building
science part of it, what's thedesign aspect to energy
efficiency?
Amanda Weglinski (02:40):
Yeah, I think generally, when we are starting
to work with clients indesigning their home, we're
always trying to right size thehouse and so making sure that
we're not inflating the squarefootage unnecessarily, we're
focused on really how eachindividual family uses their
space. And so I can think backon past projects where clients
(03:03):
really enjoyed just having thebedrooms be a place for sleeping
and not for activities. So wewere able to, for instance,
really cut the square footagedown of the house because the
bedrooms were all much smaller.
They just had a, you know, a bedin it. And other clients have
have needs that we try to thinkabout that maybe are more
flexible so that we can sharespaces. Sometimes sharing spaces
is an opportunity to cut downsquare footage as well using
(03:27):
them for multiple purposes.
Yeah,
Mark Hertzler (03:31):
and that's great, because I think I've recently
read that for many, many years,the average size of a home in
the US have been increasing, andnow recently, it's actually
starting to decrease a littlebit, and people are getting away
from that sort of McMansionattitude of, I need a bigger
house to now there. I need theright size house. Not only cuts
costs up front, but it also cutsyour operating costs going
(03:54):
forward. Sure,
Amanda Weglinski (03:56):
yeah, I think the average home in the United
States is around 2000 squarefeet, and other countries in
Scandinavia are closer to 1200to 1400 so there's areas to
improve.
Alison Keay (04:06):
I tend to be really drawn to the spaces that are
multi use too. We have a lot ofprojects that will do a room off
the living room that can be kindof included in that living room
space or or closed off. So itoften is playing a multi purpose
use of a library or office aswell as a guest room or again,
(04:26):
that extended living space andthe ability to close rooms off
and include them and when youneed them. And there's just a
lot to be said for not wastingspace, especially when it comes
to your heating and cooling.
Yeah, I would
Amanda Weglinski (04:40):
agree with that. In fact, when we're
speaking with our clientsinitially, clients, initially,
we try to think of the lifecycle of the house and even a
season that they might be in nowwith young children, we might
think of that flexible space toserve one purpose, like a
homeschooling room. But in thefuture, does it become a guest
bedroom, or even beyond that,does it become the first floor
primary suite when it's coupledwith. Other areas on the first
(05:01):
floor. So I think thinking aboutthe longevity of the house and
how it could be flexible overmany years is a helpful
consideration.
Mark Hertzler (05:09):
Good and how about the design itself, sort of
the shape. Any thoughts there onhow that affects energy
efficiency? So
Amanda Weglinski (05:17):
we know in the Northeast that the most
efficient design is a compactplan, and part of the reason for
that is because we're cuttingdown on the amount of wall area.
Of course, when we have walls,we want to put windows in those,
and those are the less efficientpart of the wall, so just makes
the overall envelope lessefficient.
Mark Hertzler (05:36):
Yeah, and you bring up windows, which is was
something else I wanted to touchon. There's a double edged sword
to Windows. Everybody wants moreglazing. Everybody wants more
natural light. But as youpointed out, there is a sort of
a negative impact of Windows,and so how do you balance that
out? When it comes to design andenergy efficiency, we
Amanda Weglinski (05:55):
often are inspired by the site, and
especially views from the homeout to the site. That's our
starting place. Oftentimes we'rethinking about the solar
orientation and where we mightlocate windows. So we're getting
the good warmth of the sun inthe wintertime when we want it,
but also being concerned aboutshading in the summertime, when
(06:15):
we wouldn't want to overheat thehouse. So those views and
passive solar orientation or twothings we focus on. I would also
say, in general, we try to underglaze the north side of the
building, where you're oftenjust losing heat in the winter
time because there's no solargain. We try to have that help
and compensate a little bit formaybe how we might be over
(06:38):
glazing the south side of thebuilding or the east side of the
building. Yeah,
Mark Hertzler (06:42):
so good balancing of that, glazing and the siting
definitely important. How aboutthe mechanicals? How do you work
those into the design and getthose as efficient as possible?
Generally,
Amanda Weglinski (06:56):
we try to have the mechanical room centrally
located and we we bury it withinthe plan, but it usually does
need to have access to anexterior wall, so we try to be
thoughtful about that. So Ithink, in general, shortening
any of the runs, whether it befor water or duct work, you
know, to where it's deliveringout to the perimeter, is is a
way to be more efficient. Andagain, if you're doing a more
(07:18):
compact plan, then that's oneway you can achieve that. Have
Mark Hertzler (07:21):
you ever been involved in the design? It was
gonna be kind of an oddquestion, but a design where you
worked in something with energyefficiency, and in retrospect,
you know, realized maybe thatwasn't the greatest approach, or
maybe that didn't work. And onething I'm thinking of is kind of
off the wall there, but we had aclient who was really interested
(07:43):
in a wastewater heat recoverysystem, which basically the the
incoming water wraps around thewaste pipe that we have, like
hot water from your shower goingout, so you're recovering some
of that water. Sounds great, butI think, in reality, maybe
probably didn't provide thatmuch efficiency. So you have any
(08:04):
other examples you could thinkof, like great idea, but it just
never really worked out well.
Amanda Weglinski (08:09):
I think one thing that clients are often
bringing to us are the ideas ofexterior blinds, and so the
purpose with those would be toblock the sun from coming into
the building so that themechanical system is not
expending energy to cool thehouse down, especially in the
summertime. And I have concernsabout how well those operate
(08:29):
year round. I know that we havesome clients that use them in
the winter, and I worry thatthey're just more delicate and
with our snow and ice, that itjust could be a long term
maintenance problem, trying tofix a solar glare problem, or
the solar heating issue,overheating issue in the summer.
Yeah.
Mark Hertzler (08:46):
So I think sometimes we try to outsmart
ourselves, and it really comesback to the basics, as you had
mentioned, that the tightdesign, you know, really
thinking through the glazing andthe windows and right sizing the
house, so that those are thingsthat make the biggest impact, as
opposed to some of these sort ofneat sounding ideas, but, you
know, more complicated than theworst, sure. So moving on from
energy efficiency. What aboutwater efficiency? Now, you know,
(09:10):
I know a lot of the focus onwater efficiency is on the
actual fixtures and low flow.
And, you know, toilets that arelow flush, or, you know, well
water when they flush, thingslike that. But beyond that, from
a design perspective, what aresome other things that can be
done to improve waterefficiency? Yeah, there's a
Amanda Weglinski (09:31):
couple of things that you can do. There
can be water collection.
Sometimes we're harvesting wateroff of roofs and collecting them
into barrels. And really, at abasic level, like some some of
our clients are extremelysophisticated gardeners, and
just having that free water tobe able to water their garden
makes a big difference. To notfire up the hose. There's more
sophisticated water collectionsystems, but I'd say
(09:52):
additionally, generally, we'retrying to promote natural
landscapes. So we're doing. Lessgrass and more native plantings,
and they can take the summerheat and also the drought of the
summer and don't need to bewatered all the time.
Alison Keay (10:09):
There's also the aspect of siting the home on the
site.
Amanda Weglinski (10:13):
Yes, when we start, we usually start with a
site visit, and it gives us areally good understanding of the
topography of the site, and wetry to be very sensitive about
where the house ultimately willbe located, so that we're
minimally disturbing the siteand retaining its natural
features. So for instance, ifyou have a site that has a very
(10:35):
steep incline on it, to make aspot really a flatter spot for
the House to land, you wouldhave to cut and fill a lot of
that site, trucking and fill.
There's a cost to that, butthere's also, you know, a cost
to the planet for that as well,in terms of the exhaust from the
trucking of material and andreshaping the landscape.
Obviously has effects too. Wehave to be cognizant about how
(10:57):
water flows and where does thatwater go, you know, making sure
that we're not impacting otherproperties. So I think in
general, our goal is to be asminimally invasive as possible,
which is also really good fornature and the flora and fauna
that are inhabiting our sites.
Mark Hertzler (11:16):
And tying the site design back with landscape
design. I think there's somestrategic things you can do with
planting the right kind of treesto give you shading in the
summer and, you know, windbreaks and things like that. So
you can kind of tie that sitedesign into the landscape design
(11:37):
along with the home design tocreate a really cohesive,
efficient, sustainable, say,ecosystem. But like I said, it
really is an ecosystem in thatsense.
Amanda Weglinski (11:47):
Absolutely. We often will work with a landscape
architect and use strategictrees to help with the wind
break, as you mentioned. So wemight put an evergreen tree that
is going to stay kind of greenand heavily leaved throughout
all seasons, and pepper that inwith some deciduous trees that
are losing their leaves but willallow more sunlight to come
through in this in the wintertime. Yeah, that's
Mark Hertzler (12:09):
definitely interesting. How about the the
materials that are beingspecified for a house?
Amanda Weglinski (12:16):
We try to focus on natural materials that
are sustainable. They can beharvested. You know what's a
great example. And there's justsome really great products out
there that are thermallymodified. Koya is one of them
that we've been using a lot ofrecently. There's also Kevin E
and thermary, a couple othercompanies, the companies
(12:38):
impregnate the wood fibers andthen bake out the material that
they've impregnated to make thewood be more robust. It's more
resistant to water and and bugs,and just the product itself will
last much longer than a regularpiece of wood siding. And
Mark Hertzler (12:55):
what a great way to take a natural product and
make it even better.
Amanda Weglinski (12:59):
We do have clients that are interested
depending on their location infire resistant construction,
even on their residents. And sowe have solutions for siding
options and roofing options thatare not non combustible and lean
into those, those needs in
Alison Keay (13:16):
terms of timbers and things like that, any
exterior woods. We like to havebe tropical woods because they
do much better in the outsideenvironment and moisture and
rain. But we have a very bigeffort to always have those be
FSC certified. And so there's awhole department too that works
(13:37):
with those woods and maintainsthose certifications. And it's,
it's a pretty important thingwhen you're working with
tropical woods, because of thepotential for rainforest
deforestation and things likethat, for these really well
sought after woods that do sowell outside, but to make sure
that you know, they're sourcedsustainably. Yeah, I would
agree.
Mark Hertzler (13:58):
And you touched on this a little bit, on the
resilience and durability. So Ithink that's a pretty common
concern of people now withweather events, whether it's
hurricanes or tornadoes orwildfires or even here in the
northeast, recently, we've hadthe smoke from wildfires. We
haven't had the actualwildfires, but they've blown in
from Canada, things like that.
So what kind of design thingsare happening to improve the
(14:21):
resiliency and the durability ofa house? Yeah,
Amanda Weglinski (14:26):
on the Benson wood side, we have had clients
that have been particularlyconcerned about that, and one of
the ways that we've solved thatproblem is by designing a timber
frame system inside of our shellso we have the redundancy of our
walls are self supporting, untothemselves. They don't
necessarily need a timber frame.
But in in a few of these homesthat we've designed recently, we
did do the timber frame plus thewalls, and so we feel like that
(14:49):
redundant system is more robustto withstand. You know,
potential future naturaldisasters. The timber frame in
general is great because it isa. Resistant to fire, in the
sense that when it does catch onfire, it chars and it creates a
protective layer around thetimber frame, and so it makes it
more challenging for there to befull burn through of the
(15:09):
structure. So we think thoseare, you know, good properties
and very helpful for the longterm.
Mark Hertzler (15:16):
And I think that's kind of an interesting
fact that it seemscounterintuitive, but a wood,
timber frame, in many instances,will do better in a fire than
steel. Well, because steel getsto a certain temperature and it
just fails right where, as yousaid, the wood will char and
kind of protect itself from fromburning all the way through. So
that seems counterintuitive, butI think that's a very
(15:37):
interesting fact.
Alison Keay (15:39):
The Open built systems that used by bensa wood
in Unity also are kind ofdisentangling the different
systems within a home thatallows it to be used for a
longer period of time. So it'sthe thought of separating
systems that we know have ashorter lifespan or going to
change and need updating in ashorter amount of time than the
(16:02):
structural systems, the airbarrier, the insulation, things
like that that we want tomaintain for the life of the
home. Is there any other waysthat we can think about that the
disentanglement of the systemsin design as well?
Amanda Weglinski (16:17):
Yeah. Allison, I agree with that 100%
especially as we think abouttechnologies with audio, video
equipment and speaker systems,they're all just rapidly
changing. And it's really muchmore helpful if those things can
be exposed. I'm actually workingon a project right now where, of
course, since COVID, you know,home offices have become just
(16:37):
the norm as part of the program,and so clients are particularly
interested about how they, youknow, get their printer and, you
know, there's, they almost have,like, a server closet between
their offices. And how do theyget just those basic connections
to their computer, you know,electrical and internet and
otherwise. So I think, you know,keeping the system separate and
(16:58):
accessible is really helpful.
And our OB plus wall is a, youknow, a great solution for that,
but we also try to be thoughtfulabout that too in the design.
And so there could be some areasin the home where we drop the
ceilings, and actually evenhave, you know, something that's
more like a commercial product,where there would be a drop
ceiling that you can accesscabling and wiring above the
ceiling, but it's kept out ofyour view. So it's not
(17:20):
disturbing to look at when we'rein the early phase of design, we
like to talk to our clientsabout thinking about the
longevity of their house, evenfor generations beyond their
ownership. You know, maybe it'sa legacy home that their
children would inherit or, youknow, just a completely
different homeowner. And so wetry to think about even
disentangling the structure sothat we minimize the amount of
(17:41):
bearing walls or on the interiorof the house, so that there's
opportunity for flexibility inthe future to reconfigure the
home in a different way. Youknow, over many generations,
we're we're learning to livedifferently, you know, than our
grandparents generation even. Sothat's something we can relate
with. And so who knows howpeople might be living here in
the future, yeah,
Mark Hertzler (18:02):
and regardless of you know what happens in the
future, the House still has thatreally solid envelope, which is
as a house mentioned, the airbarrier and insulation layer
layer, which doesn't change, butthe infill inside can change
over time. I think one of thebiggest examples that we talk
about is kitchen so you'restarting out, you know, you put
(18:26):
a kitchen in that you canafford, like, you know, in my
case, I know Allison's case,with young kids, you know that
that kitchen is going to takesome wear and tear, and
eventually, at some point, youcan take it out and you can
replace it without having to,you Know, redo a significant
portion of your house. So
Alison Keay (18:42):
another aspect of sustainability is waste, right?
Eliminating waste. What are somethings for waste reduction and
maybe even recycling that can bepart of the design.
Amanda Weglinski (18:53):
During the design phase, we try to design
with a two foot grid in mind,and that gives us the
opportunity to be less wastefulwhen cutting materials. If you
think of a four by eight sheetof plywood that's divisible by
two feet, and we can actuallyreuse the off cuts if we're
cutting the sheet down in otherareas of the home, that's where
Alison Keay (19:13):
product homes, I think, really shine in their
efficiency and sustainability,as well as the ability to think
through down to that level ofdetail. And of course, thinking
about waste reduction, our offsite fabrication is definitely
aiding in that our ability todesign for the specific lumber
and shipping capacities reallypaired with the CNC cutting
(19:38):
really allows us to reduce thewaste that we create to begin
with, and then on site, we haveminimal waste. There's almost no
waste at all on site, or evenutilizing the packaging for our
bundling, which is a recycledmaterial, and we're collecting
that, bringing it back from thesite, making sure that it gets
shipped back to themanufacturer. Over and turned
(20:01):
into the very same plastic thatwe're using for that next round
of projects. So off sitefabrication is a huge waste
reduction element,
Mark Hertzler (20:09):
and it does go into the insulation. There's
many reasons why we like thisdense, packed cellulose, but one
of them is that it's a recycledproduct.
Amanda Weglinski (20:18):
Even our 24 inch on center framing reduces
the amount of studs that are ina wall. You know, a typical wall
has 16 inch on center. Well,this has
Alison Keay (20:27):
been really great.
Amanda, thank you so much forjoining us today and giving us
some insight into the Bensonwood design group and efficiency
and sustainability.
Mark Hertzler (20:37):
Enjoyed the conversation. Yes.
Amanda Weglinski (20:39):
Thank you and Dan,
Alison Keay (20:43):
thanks for listening to a new era of home
building. If you're passionateabout high performance homes
like we are, be sure tosubscribe to our podcast and
stay tuned for our next episodeon the pretty good house book
with builder and co author DanColbert from Colbert building in
Portland Maine. You can alsovisit unity homes.com to learn
more about our upcoming events,subscribe to our newsletter.
(21:04):
Check out our home plans and getin touch. Thanks to George
Peavey, Jason reamer and JoshRiemer of our company's very own
plum dable band for the musicyou hear on this podcast, and
thanks to Damaris Graham for theproduction and editing of the
podcast. We hope you enjoyedthis episode. Until next time.
I'm Allison Kang and I'm MarkHertzler, and here's to better
building you.
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