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Greetings!
Featured this month is the home of Jim and Melanie Blackerby. They bought an existing home in the Chevy Chase area of Lexington and decided to tear it down and build a brand new home. Read on to see how they made their dream a reality with UBuildIt!
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Build Cost: $303,000
Finished Sq Ft: 3,678/$82 ft
Total Sq Ft: 4,810/$63 ft
Land Cost: $230,000
Appraised Value: $770,000
INSTANT EQUITY: $237,000 |
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 "Thank you so much for all your help! We are so happy with the house and would not hesitate to use UBuildIt again!" Sincerely, Jim and Melanie Blackerby
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Original House Before "Tear Down"  |
| "Nice Neighborhood with Great Neighbors!" |
| This older home was situated in a convenient city setting in the Chevy Chase area of Lexington but the house did not have the space or amenities that were needed. The Blackerbys solution...tear it down and build their dream home! |
| Home Design Specifics |
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This was a unique project including the demolition of their existing house (keeping the in-ground swimming pool) and replacing it with a new one-story with a full finished basement.
This home is situated in very nice established neighborhood located on Clinton Road in the Chevy Chase area of Lexington.
It features a first floor living area with a master bedroom suite, living room, dining room, breakfast area, 2 baths, nice covered porch and a 2 1/2 car garage. The basement has 3 more bedrooms, a common room, office, storage area and 2 additional full baths. The finished basement walks out to the in ground swimming pool.
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Demolition of the House |
| "Trackhoe At Work!" |
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In Ground Swimming Pool  |
| "The Backyard Pool Survived!" |
| This new home was designed with a walkout basement and lots of porches to take advantage of the existing swimming pool that remained in the rear yard. |
| Demolition and More
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| The Big Shovel Does It Right! |
| This is about all that is left after the track hoe demo'd the existing home. All debris was loaded into dump trucks and hauled off and disposed. |
| Energy Pros Free Home Seminar in Lexington |
THIS WEDNESDAY! October 15th-6:30-8:30 PM
HIGH PERFORMANCE HOME BUILDING SEMINAR
Why? Learn the 5 basic steps to building a high performance energy efficient home
Where? Bluegrass Community and Tech College, 470 Cooper Drive (across from Commonwealth Stadium)
When? This coming Wednesday nite October 15th from 6:30 to 8:30PM.
Interested in more information about our group and the upcoming seminar. Just check out our website at:
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| Starting From An Empty Lot
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| "Don With UBuildIt was Jim and Melanies Senior Consultant!" |
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The new concrete basement is now ready to be poured. The lot is cleared for all new construction. |
Framing  |
| "The Structure Goes Skyward" |
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The carpenters are busy framing on this sunny day. |
| Helpful "Green Building" Tips from UBuildIt Lexington South! |
What are the Four Basic Elements of Green Building?
Green building is more than the actual construction of your home, though that is a big part of the process. It is a beginning to end process which begins with the selection of your land, the design of your dream home, the materials and practices used during construction and finally, how you operate and maintain your dream home once it is completed. Tell your UBuildIt Consultant this is how you want to plan and build your dream home and they can help you from start to finish. You can incorporate as many or as few of these elements into your home's design as you choose. You decide how "Green" you want to be.
Let's look at the four basic elements in Green Building:
1. Increasing energy efficiency
2. Materials selected for building your home
3. Increasing the efficiency of water usage both in and outside of your home
4. Improving air quality, which improves the health/productivity of your family
There are many parts to each element. Let's look at each of these in a little more detail.
1. Increasing Energy Efficiency
Advanced Framing - Talk with your UBuildIt Consultant and your framing contractor about using the advanced framing technique during the construction of your home. This creates a structurally sound home with improved energy efficiency, and lowers material and labor costs. This technique replaces lumber with insulation material and maximizes the wall that is insulated, improving the R-value of the home. On average, advanced framing uses 30% less lumber, which reduces the building costs and saves 2% to 4% of the total energy use.
Hot Water Heater - Water heating can account for 14% to 25% of the energy consumed in your home. To increase the efficiency of your hot water heater, locate it near the highest point of usage. This is typically near the shower followed closely by the clothes washer.
Pipes - Insulate the hot and cold water pipes within 3 feet of the hot water heater. This reduces standby heat loss. Your hot water heater is continuously heating the piping and water in it, even when no water is being used.
Household Appliances - A green built home features appliances that are as energy efficient as possible. The U. S. Department of Energy and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency have developed a program called Energy Star which labels those appliances meeting strict energy efficient criteria. The typical household spends $1,900 a year on energy bills. A great deal of that energy is consumed by the appliances in your home. ENERGY STAR qualified appliances incorporate advanced technologies that use 10-50% less energy and water than standard models. Just look for the Energy Star label. The Federal Trade Commission requires that refrigerators, freezers, water heaters, washing machines, dishwashers and window air conditioners be labeled with an Energy Guide Label. When comparing different appliance brands for your new home, be sure to look at their estimated energy consumption. This will impact the operating cost of your home for years to come.
Air Sealing - This is advanced caulking which is a part of the airtight drywall approach (ADA). Specifically, caulk or gasket drywall is installed on exterior walls at the top and bottom plates, windows and door frames; on interior walls at the intersections with exterior ceilings; and at electrical, plumbing or mechanical penetrations in the drywall. This approach minimizes heat loss in your home. Work with your UBuildIt Consultant and your drywall contractor to see if he/she uses this method.
Radiant Barrier - Reflect heat away from your home by installing a radiant barrier (a sheet of aluminum foil with paper backing) on the underside of your roof. This significantly lowers your cooling costs by reducing your heat gains through your ceiling by 95%.
Insulation - Add insulation to your attic to keep the heat in your house. There are some environmentally friendly insulation products made from recycled blue jeans, soybeans, cotton or newspapers.
Solar Power - If the sun shines on your home for most of the day in the winter, you have the potential for solar power to reduce your energy costs. A good solar design allows the winter sun to reach a thermal mass like a tile floor which holds heat and radiates it into your home for a period of time.
Lighting - Install high-efficiency lighting systems with advanced lighting controls. This allows you to only use the light when you need it. Replace traditional incandescent lights with energy-efficient compact fluorescent bulbs. These bulbs will use 75% less electricity and last up to 10 times longer. When designing your home or remodeling project, introduce natural daylight into as many places as possible.
Thermostat - Use a programmable thermostat to provide you and your family the comfort you want day and night while minimizing heating use when you don't need it.
Ducts - Seal your ducts with mastic and insulate them to R-11. This minimizes the heat loss from your home.
Paints - You can mix non-toxic ceramic powder into your interior paint to insulate your walls and reduce the amount of heat passing through to the outside. These ceramic particles create a radiant barrier that reflects the heat back into the room. Redirect The Heat - If you have a ceiling fan, redirect the heat back into your room by reversing the direction of the blades to counterclockwise. This brings the heat back down into your room.
2. Materials Selected for Building Your Home
Plastic Lumber - This product can be used for non-structural applications such as fences, benches, decks, retaining walls, and picnic tables. It is weather and insect resistant, and will not crack, splinter or chip. It does not need painting and will not leach chemicals into the ground or surface water. By doing this, you minimize the amount of lumber used in your home, reduce your ongoing maintenance costs, and you won't harm your local habitat. The US is home to 4.5% of the population but is responsible for over 15% of the world's wood consumption.
Engineered Wood - This combines the raw materials of wood veneer and fiber with adhesives to produce such laminated lumber as wood veneers, I-beams and roof and floor trusses. The manufacturing process uses fast growing, small diameter trees, allowing more than 80% of the log to be used in the end product. This produces a product which is very consistent and stable while decreasing the impact on a natural resource.
Fiber Cement Siding - This is a composite of cement and wood fiber reclaimed from wood processing waste or small diameter, fast growing trees. It produces a siding which is durable and low maintenance. Many fiber-cement composites offer a 50-year warranty, which increases the value of your home and decreases the maintenance costs.
Brick -The process of extracting clay for brick results in limited wasted material. Brick has a limitless lifespan and can be recycled or salvaged after demolition. Recycling - The efficient use of materials when building Green comes in two forms. First, recycle construction waste and use reclaimed building materials during construction when appropriate. Once your home is finished, practice responsible recycling of the materials you use every day.
Design - When working with your architect or designer, use standard dimensions, engineered wood and stacked floor plans to reduce the overall volume of lumber used as well as the volume of waste.
3. Increasing Water Efficiency Usage
Porous Paving Schemes - Watertight, or "impervious," surfaces suchas paved driveways, walkways and patios don't allow storm water runoff to infiltrate into the ground's aquatic systems. Using uncompacted gravel, crushed stone and open or porous paving blocks for walkways and other light traffic areas minimizes the number of impervious surfaces on your property, allowing storm water runoff.
Rainwater Collection - Rainwater collected from your roof is a free source of landscape irrigation water. This collection system consists of a suitable roof and guttering system, a storage tank and a simple filtration unit.
Low Impact Development (LID) - This innovative approach mimics your land's original method of water run-off instead of disposing and treating storm water in large, costly, end-of-pipe facilities. This can come in the form of open spaces, vegetated rooftops, reduced street widths and curbs, pervious parking lots and sidewalks, medians and other buffer zones using more vegetation.
Plumbing - Design your home to use recycled water for toilet flushing. Use ultra low-flush toilets and low-flow shower heads. Some older toilets use 3-7 gallons per flush while an ultra low-flow toilet uses less than 1.6 gallons per flush.A family of 4, each showering for 5 minutes per day will use 700 gallons of water per week - a 3 year drinking supply for 1 person in the US. Using a high performance shower head uses 1 - 1.5 gallons of water per minute - up to 60% less than a traditional shower head.
In Your Yard - Mulch exposed soils in your garden beds and improve that soil with compost to a depth of 8-13 inches to increase the ability to hold water. Select plants that have low water and pesticide needs. Planting trees not only beautifies your yard, but will also increase the value of your home while decreasing your impact on the environment. A single mature tree can provide nearly $300 in energy and resource values in terms of cooling, erosion and pollution control. Plus they reduce your "carbon foot print." Putting the right plants in the right place and developing quality, healthy soil means less watering in the summer, less need for chemicals and less waste to worry about.
Chemicals - Avoid outdoor chemicals and fix oil and other fluid leaks to prevent contamination of the water runoff. According to the NY State Attorney General's office, 95% of pesticides used on residential lawns are considered possible carcinogens by the EPA.
Hot water - Use recirculating systems for centralized hot water distribution or utilize "on demand" systems vs. traditional hot water tanks.
4. Improving Air Quality
Which Improves the Health and Productivity of Your Family...The EPA ranks indoor pollution among the top 5 environmental risks. Unhealthy air is found in up to 30% of new and renovated buildings. The electricity generated by fossil fuels for a single home puts more carbon dioxide into the atmosphere than 2 average cars.
Carpet - Using a low pile or less allergen attracting carpet and pad greatly improves air quality. Wool or PET carpet (made from recycled pop bottles) are good choices. In addition, at installation, have the carpet tacked down, not glued, to reduce pollutants. Many Green Built designs minimize the use of carpeted surfaces, replacing them with hard surfaces which don't have these pollutants and are easier to keep free of dust, mold and mildew.
Paints - Use low-VOC (Volatile Organic Compounds, such as formaldehyde) paints. Ventilation - While you want to seal your home to prevent heat loss, this creates a need for mechanical ventilation. Ventilation can be provided by quiet fans with automatic controls or by heat recovery ventilators. Talk to your HVAC contractor for the best system for your home's design.
Construction Materials - To prevent microbial contamination, select materials that are resistant to microbial growth. Drainage - Provide effective drainage from the roof and surrounding landscape, as well as allow proper drainage of air conditioning coils.
Window Treatments - Avoid synthetic window coverings or those that cannot be cleaned easily. Even though there is a lot to think about when using Green Building techniques and principles, your UBuildIt Consultant can help you work with your architect or designer, subcontractors and suppliers to help you build or remodel your dream home while minimizing your impact on the environment. Taking the time to plan and build or remodel your dream home using UBuildIt and Green Building will positively impact you and generations to come.
We'd love to help you make the right building decision for your family. Here are the next steps: 1.) Visit our website at www.UBuildIt.com where you'll find out more about our company and building your own home.
2.) Order your FREE INFORMATION KIT below and read through the report "You CAN Build Your Own Home" if you haven't already... and watch the DVD. Write down any questions you have as you review these materials.
3.) Call us to schedule an appointment so we can talk about your situation. Our number is 1.866.UBuildIt...
...or call us about attending a FREE HOMEBUILDING seminar here in Lexington
On behalf of everyone here at UBuildIt Lexington South, I'd like to thank you for your interest, and let you know we look forward to helping you enjoy the satisfaction and savings that comes from building your own home.
Sincerely,
Wayne Henning/Owner
UBuildIt Lexington South
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 Masonry Construction
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| Porch Overlooking Swimming Pool!
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| Rear View of Home |
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| Jim Relaxing on the Front Porch of His New Dream Home
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| Want Some Free Help With Your Dream Home? |
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