A: Energy Star Acronym Guide for Windows, Doors and Skylights.

In the EnergyStar standards set by the DOE and EPA for windows, doors and skylights, requirements change with the latitude. In the northern areas of the U.S., energy concerns are to keep warm; in the southern areas, it’s all about staying cool. Energy Star gauges heat transfer (U factor), the solar heat gain coefficient (SHGC), the visible transmittance (VT), air leakage (AL) of a window, and condensation resistance (CR).

Here’s a quick guide to help you sort out which windows are the most energy-efficient for your home.

• If the goal is to keep as much heat in the home as possible, then triple pane, low U-factor/low E in a non-metal frame window is the best choice.
• If the goal is to let in as much warmth as possible then look for LoE-180, which has a high solar heat gain coefficient. Look for windows with a SHGC of 0.40 or higher.
• If the goal is to let in as little heat as possible look for a low SHGC coefficient.
• If the goal is to let in as little noise as possible, double and triple-pane windows work well. Argon or krypton gas helps insulate and dulls the sounds. Specially made sound-sensitive windows also have special features such as spring-loaded seals and extra dead-air spaces.
• If you use air conditioning and want to reduce that cost, look for SHGC values of 0.30 or less.
• If the goal is both heating and cooling, as it usually is in Colorado, then the Low-E coating is a good choice.
• If the goal is to keep the view unobstructed, then a titanium dioxide coating might be valuable. This coating is activated by sunlight and it sheers off water and dirt so it resists water spots for a clearer view and less maintenance. Look for windows with a high VT.
• If the goal is to reduce fading, windows can be purchased that exclude certain light spectrums, but generally look for a window with a low VT. While some fading is due to the ultraviolet part of the spectrum, visible light can be responsible for about half of the fading of fabrics, art, and wood finishes.
• If the goal is to reduce condensation, the entire window system needs to be considered. Double and triple pane windows with Low-E in a non-metal frame work well. Look also for a high CR rating. You can reduce interior humidity by turning on your AC or heating system, or installing a de-humidifier.

For more information.

Next Window Wonderland FAQ >

3/3) “What type of window frame is better: wood, metal or vinyl?”
We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to “Post a Comment” in the box below.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter (or text HOMESTYLE to 22828)

A: The salesman says the windows he’s selling are energy efficient. Probably true, but the question you should be asking is: are they the right kind of energy efficiency for the climate where you live and your particular home and layout?

You most likely already know a single pane window in an aluminum frame is bad. You are going to want windows with gas insulation and special glass. But argon or krypton?  Tri-pane, Low-E or U-value?  Not all energy-efficient windows are right for every situation.

Windows open our homes, psychologically and literally. We want natural light. But is that the primary goal of the window?  Do we want to encourage heat exchange or discourage it? In a north-facing window you will want to keep the heat inside, in a south-facing window, you may get more heat than you bargained for.

When building a house, it is important to consider orientation of the house and window placement to encourage solar gain in the winter and discourage it in the summer. Strategic landscaping can also be useful in attaining these goals.

NEXT Window Wonderland FAQ >

2/3)  “Energy Star Acronym Guide for Windows, Doors and Skylights”

We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to “Post a Comment” in the box below.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter (or text HOMESTYLE to 22828)

The average American home has had electric light fixtures for about 90 years.  The simple act of turning on the lights is becoming more complex. Now we have to consider the choice of LED, fluorescent or (for a little while longer) incandescent.

Technology has changed and that has caused standards to change as well. Our good ol’ standard 60 watt incandescent bulb is being ordered out of existence (by 2012) and replaced with more energy-efficient bulbs. For someone remodeling or building a new home, there are regulations. The city currently requires a certain number of energy-efficient lights to be installed at the time of completion of certain projects.

With CFLs and LEDs replacing incandescent lights, you are more likely to hear the term “lumen” or “lux” than “watts” when evaluating the new light bulbs. But what does it all mean?

Custom under-cabinet and can lighting in ceilings can eliminate the need for multiple lamps and increase efficiency, allowing you to turn off all lights from one central light switch.

Watts is a measure of energy; lumen is a measure of visible light. 

A standard incandescent bulb only generates about 12 lumens per watt.  So a 60 watt bulb creates 720 lumens.  You’ll find this listed on the light bulb package. Easy enough, but now you’ll also see the light level measured in something called “lux.”  Hold onto your hat: a lux is defined as one lumen per square meter.  Wait, how’s that again?  The lux measures light per area.

To illustrate this, 1,000 lumens in a room that is only one square meter will give 1,000 lux’ of light to that area, but that same  1,000 lumens in a room that is ten square meters only lights up the room to 100 lux.  Let’s break that down to something we can all understand. A moonlit night might be .27 to 1 lux. An average living room is about 50 lux.  An office might be 320 to 500 lux.  And a bright day–sunglasses required–is 32,000 to 100,000 lux, or more.

Light experts will also talk color spectrum. Lumens are most visible to the human eye if they are emitting light in the yellow-green spectrum–some 555 nanometers in wavelength. Initially, LED’s gave off a bluish light. That’s improving.  The language on the box might indicate which color it favors. There have been complaints that LED’s do not emit the red spectrum, so red objects will appear somewhat grayish under them. Further, LEDs have a focused beam, and up to now have been great for spotlights, but less acceptable for interior illumination in homes. This is evolving, too.

(They also don’t have a filament that will break when shaken like an incandescent bulb does.)

Don’t like the look of most low-energy bulbs? Plumen is now available for purchase in the U.S., for a designer pricetag of $30. Image copyright © 2011 Plumen. http://www.plumenshopus.com/products/plumen-001

The light spectrum of CFL’s is similar to an incandescent and they even fit in the old light fixtures. They use significantly less electricity than a traditional bulb but they also cost significantly more. They are supposed to last longer, although we haven’t personally found that to be true. Furthermore, CFLs, like regular fluorescents, contain mercury, a highly reactive, toxic heavy metal. Aside from bringing this
substance into the home, which may be objectionable, they pose a disposal problem because they cannot be thrown into municipal garbage collections. All CFLs may be taken to the Boulder County Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) Facility, at no charge. Home Depot also accepts unbroken CFLs at no charge.

Learn how to clean up & dispose of CFLs.

We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to “Post a Comment” in the box below.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter (or text HOMESTYLE to 22828)

© Snehitdesign | Dreamstime.com

We’ve all seen the infomercials and heard the warnings about toxic environmental hazards like asbestos and lead paint.  Staying educated about green building materials can protect not only the environment outside, but it can also create a more healthy environment for you and your family inside your home.

A builder in Eagle County had complete liver failure at the tender age of 43 and was convinced the liver failed because of toxins in the homes he lived in and had built.

After that he had strict rules for his life and the houses he built: no smoking within 100 feet of the building, only natural cleaners were to be used, and no harsh chemicals in the paints, varnishes, carpets, floorings or other constituents of the home.

He went as far as importing mouldings from Italy to be confident his homes would not contain some of the common wood treatments and finishes typically used in the United States; however importing materials like this builder did can be costly.

You don’t have to go outside the U.S. to get safe products. Green building materials are becoming more readily available than ever.

After our asbestos safety meeting at Parrish this month, we learned some disconcerting things. Although Canada is one of the most conscientious countries when it comes to environmental and health safety, their standards are different for exports. We found both floor tiles and wall mud from Canada may contain asbestos. When the tiles get crumbly, or when the mud is dry-sanded, it can release these lung-damaging fibers into the air.

Did you know it’s still legal to import products containing asbestos? Certain brands of these products are carried on the shelves of local hardware stores and the asbestos may be obscured on the ingredient list by calling it “natural mineral product,” or “Chrysotile.” Similarly, some drywall from China was found to emit some toxic and corrosive gasses. Parrish Construction has taken extensive precautions to never use these products, however their existence is still a concern for our workers and home owners like you.

Knowledge is our only defense against these lurking toxins. The first step is to read the labels on products brought into the home, but because manufacturers sometimes use pseudonyms for chemicals, it’s best to go one step further. Look on the manufacturer’s website and you’ll likely find a small button that will lead you to the M.S.D.S., the material safety data sheet. This document, in clear language, will explain health hazards and precautions for use.

All homes, regardless of when they were built, may have asbestos in the drywall mud, as pipe wrapping, or in other areas.  Any home built before about 1978 should be expected to contain lead paint. Certain precautions should be taken if you are contemplating a do-it-yourself project.

Contact us to discuss the source of products being used in your home or to get a free brochure on Lead Paint and Asbestos Safety.

We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to “Post a Comment” in the box below.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter

Because more people are buying green, the prices have come down in the last decade. Also, certain standards have been enforced across the board (such as level of formaldehyde and sustainable harvesting) which makes regular products more green than ever. Still, standards (LEED, National Green Building Standard, Energy Star Qualified) can drive up the costs of building a home. Additionally green building products might be a little harder to find, so there could be extra shipping costs. For instance, using reused products, a very green practice, actually costs less, but there can be more time involved in finding and acquiring them. Green products can some times cost more because, just like it’s harder to grow an apple without pesticides, it can be harder to create and maintain quality in other products without those pesky chemicals.

Of course, the additional costs are offset over time because there are energy savings while occupying the home. Another cost savings may be in lowered medical costs since many green products are also safer.

There are subsidies and rebates for certain green products, so be sure to ask the vendor.

Remember green-built houses can also fetch more dollars on the selling end, so green is increasingly a financial investment.

We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to “Post a Comment” in the box below.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter

The single biggest water user in the home is irrigating lawns and vegetation.  Colorado often has little rain and doesn’t allow gray water, so valuable premium treated water is used to water plants.  Consider xeriscaping and strategic plant placement.  The second biggest water use is in toilets.  Low flow toilets have gotten a bad rap because the earliest versions sometimes required more than one flush, technology has improved now and special features such as dual-flush and pressure assist toilets can make the smaller water use flushes more efficient and very worth the investment.

Here are some features that can be added to create a water-efficient home:

• place bathrooms and kitchen near water heater to shorten the time it takes to get hot water to your faucets, or use tank-less water heaters in     remote areas of the house
• monitor your water use with your PC.  The PC can also be used to detect leaks and control irrigation
• hot water recirculation pump
• Energy Star dishwashers can use 30% less water
• Energy Star washing machines use 33% less water
• EPA WaterSense toilets use 20% less water
• replace faucets and shower heads to use 20% less water
• bring your garden indoors by incorporating greenhouses and garden windows into the design instead of using more water in this arid landscape
• composting toilet for outbuildings
• large awnings that direct water onto vegetation and reduce the need for air conditioning
• downspouts directed away from the home and toward vegetation
• Xeriscape yard
• moisture-sensing irrigation timer (so sprinklers don’t go on when it’s raining!)

We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to “Post a Comment” in the box below.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter

Assuming that your home’s heat system doesn’t fail, it is the water pipes located in outside walls, or in floors over unheated spaces, such as garages, that are in danger. Bathrooms over a garage are a common source of trouble. If you have an attached garage, keep your garage door closed. Unheated garages can be twenty or more degrees warmer than the outside temperature, and even if you don’t have water pipes over the garage, keeping it closed will keep the adjoining rooms of your home warmer too. Get in the habit of checking that the door is closed before you retire for the evening!

A contractor friend in the Chicago area related a pertinent story just last week. His clients had recently moved into a new home he had built. They had a large contingent of friends and family over for Thanksgiving dinner, and were in the Dining Room about to offer thanks, when their silence was punctuated by the sound of dripping water. Not intending to use their new exercise room for awhile, the new homeowners ignored by friend’s advice and turned off the heat zone that served the room, resulting in a little more holiday excitement than they had bargained for.

If you’re leaving town for the holidays, never turn your furnace off, or set the thermostat below about 55 degrees. Regardless of how well walls are insulated, unless there is a source of heat for the pipes, they can freeze when the temperature of the room drops low enough. Every year I see problems in unused rooms whose heat registers have been shut off, and from vacant homes and commercial buildings whose thermostats have been turned down or off. Arrange to have someone check on your home frequently when you are out of town during the winter.

If you have a pipe that freezes every year, try insulating the space between the pipe and the outside wall, and then installing a louvered grille between the pipe and the heated room (be sure not to insulate between the pipe and the heated room). This will allow some heated air to get to the pipe and keep it warm. When insulating, look especially for small holes to the outside that let cold wind blow on the pipe. Some expanding foam caulking will do a nice job of sealing out the breeze.

Learn how to shut off the water supply to your house. If you don’t know where this valve is, find out now, before your furniture is floating. When you find the correct valve, actually close and open it to make sure it will operate. This way, if you have a water emergency, you will be able to minimize the damage by shutting the water off quickly. If you can’t find your shutoff valve, you can use the valve inside the water meter pit. This pit us usually located somewhere in your yard, probably near the sidewalk or street, under an iron cover plate.

If the temperature is forecast to be near or below zero degrees Fahrenheit, try to get heat to the water pipes by leaving sink cabinet doors open, and maybe placing a fan to blow under the sink. This will help keep pipes in outside walls warm enough to avoid freezing. In some cases, it may be necessary to leave the water trickling from the faucet, allowing the relatively warm water to keep the ice at bay. This should be a slow stream, but not just a drip. Be sure to turn on both hot and cold faucets. If you have a single-lever faucet, set it for warm water.

Remove hoses from outside faucets! Even “frost-proof” sillcocks can freeze if water is left in the throat. Removing the hose is your best protection, even if your sillcock is the self-draining kind. If your sillcock freezes, you may not know it until the next time you turn the water on.

Make sure that heat registers are open in all rooms with water in them. If you have forced air heat, leave the door open. This will usually allow for better heat flow into the room.

As an added precaution, consider buying an inexpensive water alarm, (about $15), and locating it under susceptible pipes to give you early warning in case of a leak. These are battery operated, sold at hardware stores, and sound a loud alarm when their sensors get damp.

If your pipes freeze in spite of your best efforts, be careful how you go about thawing them out. NEVER use a torch. According to Cathy Sorter, Assistant Fire Marshal with the Boulder Fire Department, fires are started in Boulder every year by people being careless with heat sources while thawing frozen pipes.

If you can tell that the frozen pipe is split, shut off the water and call your plumber. You may have to be patient—if your pipe froze, you are not alone. Chances are your plumber has received dozens of calls.

If the pipe appears undamaged, the safest way to thaw it is to use a hair dryer or space heater blowing on or near the frozen section UNDER CONSTANT SUPERVISION. Open the related faucet or valve while thawing the pipe, and leave it open until the water runs at full flow—the running water will help thaw the pipes. Remember to review the location of your main shutoff valve BEFORE you thaw the pipes, because when they thaw out, the water might not come out where you want it to!

Remember the old saying about an ounce of prevention, and be prepared. Here’s hoping you have water this Winter only when you want it!

View Larry’s YouTube tutorial on frozen pipes:

“Larry on the Level”- How to Winterize Your Home & Prevent Frozen Pipes

(You must have the updated version of Adobe Flash to play video)

We welcome your comments below. For immediate questions, or to submit a question to Larry for a future FAQ blog, e-mail info@ParrishBuilt.com

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox.

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter

• Don’t be moved by age. According to the American Association of Retired Persons (AARP), older homeowners overwhelmingly prefer to age-in-place, meaning to live at home safely, independently and comfortably.

• With Universal Design principals, this has become increasingly easy. You can make your house your home-for-life. The changes needed, often simple and small, are cheaper than moving into assisted living facilities.

• As one of my clients says: “Ain’t movin’ ‘til they take me out in a pine box”.  As a Certified Aging-in-Place Specialist (CAPS), here is my advice on what you need to consider if you feel the same way:

Installing grab bars in bathroom showers can ensure safety and prevent falls.

• Safety:

1. Lighting, more of it and higher quality; color corrected bulbs help.
2. Contrast in surface textures and colors to enable you to distinguish between them.
3. Compact fluorescent bulbs, cooler to the touch and energy efficient
4. Scald prevention plumbing fixtures.
5. Non-slip surface treatments in baths and bath rooms
6. Electronic ignition to replace pilot lights, so you are not kneeling with a match and your reading glasses!

• Ease of Use:

1. Look ahead. Update now to prevent having to deal with it when you are less able: new major appliances; re-roof; re-side to prevent regular paint jobs. Low maintenance is your goal.
2. Shop with a critical eye. When you replace an appliance, look for convenience in cleaning and servicing.
3. Heights: cabinets can be designed now to be removed later to create an under the counter knee space to accommodate wheel chairs. Raise some appliances, such as dishwashers, to load and unload without stooping.
4. Put the master bed and bath on the first floor.
5. A high maintenance yard is like a high-maintenance person. ‘Nuff said (See ”Upgrading and Modernizing” below).

• Independence:

1. Widen doorways and traffic areas to accommodate walkers and wheelchairs.
2. Remove levels and steps.
3. A lever handle puts less demand on your grip than a knob.
4. Convert space for anticipated live-in help.
5. Build a network of support: gather around you now (through trusted referrals) the help you need for gardening, heavy house cleaning, shoveling snow, cleaning out gutters, find a good handy man service.
6. Keyless entries mitigate forgetfulness and afford the ability to change locks easily. They also allow someone to drop in easily and check on you.

• Upgrading and Modernizing

• While you are at it…Green Up! Many of these changes also provide an opportunity to increase insulation, improve window quality, and use higher efficiency appliances. Sensitivity to cold increases as we age. (We are all familiar with Grandma’s house being very warm.) Furthermore, utility prices will only continue to rise. Commonly, adding insulation and other energy saving ideas costs only an additional 5%. However, the ROI (return on investment) is usually better than 8% immediately, and in the current energy market, even above that.

• Use any remodeling opportunity as a Greening Up opportunity as well. You won’t regret it. It will only help in selling your home eventually, too. Xeriscaping is a major boon in at least three ways: your aching back, high water bills and our alpine desert environment. Boulder abounds with xeriscaping experts and many beautiful examples of how gorgeous such landscaping can be.

• Remember, with a little planning, you can live at home and live well…for many years to come.

Get the latest Parrish Blogs sent directly to your inbox each month

Click here to sign up for our e-newsletter

• We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to post in the “Comments Box” below.

Xeriscaped, sloped yards require little maintenance and allow ease of access.

• We recently proved the old adage “a stitch in time saves nine”. For weeks our hot water has been coming out of the faucets looking like weak tea and there was a dried rust stain under one of the water heaters. Both of the heaters were also over ten years old. We’re smart people so we knew this meant that our water heaters were failing, and we had our plumber order two new heaters. We’re also frugal and busy so we thought we would wait a little longer and squeeze a little more service out of them. After all, money in the bank earns interest and we didn’t think they would fail before we got them replaced.

• When I ran out of hot water while taking a shower last Sunday, I knew something was wrong. Larry quickly ran down stairs and discovered one of the water heaters had failed. If you’ve never had a water heater fail, you may not know that ‘failing’ means they rust out at the bottom and then all the water inside them leaks onto the floor of your house, in our case 50 gallons of water! If the water heater is in a basement near a drain, and the floor slopes properly, hopefully most of the water will disappear and you will just have a little mopping up to do. If your water heater is on a second floor with finished rooms beneath it, you have major problems.

• Our floor in the basement doesn’t slope enough so the carpet in the basement was soaked for about four feet in and the water was about ½ inch deep in places. We also believe in being prepared, if not pro-active, so fortunately we have a water vacuum just for these emergencies. Needless to say, most of our morning was spent moving furniture, vacuuming and mopping up water, and tearing up carpet (which now needs to be replaced). The basement is trashed, we had to cancel our morning plans, and we have to spend hundreds of dollars we hadn’t planned on for new flooring.

• The real point here is that putting off replacing an old water heater never saves you time or money. If your heater is ten years old or older, just replace it now. You’ll have another ten years of peace of mind and not wonder every time you go on vacation whether or not you’ll come home to a wet basement. Trust me, it’s worth the peace of mind!

• We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to post in the “Comments Box” below.

An example of a water heater before & after replacing to a more energy-saving, headache preventing one.

This ceiling fan helps cool a child's bedroom with vaulted ceilings, where the top bunk usually feels warm

• Colorado’s climate is just about perfect isn’t it? And it doesn’t get any better than Springtime in the Rockies. The Robins are back, flowers are poking their heads out, and the Colorado Rockies are playing ball again. Life is sweet. The sun feels so good, it’s easy to forget we will soon be complaining about the heat!

• Summers are so pleasant here, in fact, that most homes don’t have air conditioning—at least the older ones. But then most cars didn’t have air conditioning in the 1950’s either. Would you order a new car today without it?

• If you find yourself “Sweatin’ To The Oldies” this summer while just sitting and listening to the radio, here are some ideas for chilling out at home:

• Extra insulation can yield dramatic improvement. Attics are usually easy to add insulation to, while walls can be trickier, but not impossible. If you don’t want to disturb your vaulted ceiling, consider adding rigid insulation on top of the roof, just under the shingles when you re-roof.

• Deciduous trees planted in strategic locations can provide enough shade to make a real difference. They’ll lose their leaves just in time to give you the southern sun when you can appreciate it.

• Cross-ventilation works well on days with a breeze. Adding an operable window or two, or perhaps a venting skylight, can exhaust the heat without raising your electric bill.

• Windows aren’t what they used to be—they’re much better. High-tech window glazing can keep the heat out while letting the view in. If you can’t change the glass, heat-reflective films can be applied to your existing glass. Various window shades can also keep your home cooler. The idea is to reflect the sun back where it came from. Shutters, awnings, and blinds are all efficient. Attic fans with the proper number of vents will exhaust the intense heat that is trying to radiate into the house through the ceilings. Usually installed with automatic thermostats, they are efficient, inexpensive, and effective.

• Whole-house fans, usually mounted in the ceiling of the uppermost floor, will bring in outside air, distribute it throughout the house, and exhaust it out through the attic. Since our evenings are usually cool, these fans work well at cooling the house after the sun goes down, but they are noisy. The path of cool air through the house is determined by which windows you open. These fans are usually multi-speed and controlled by a timer. Be sure to open plenty of windows and doors, or you risk down-drafting gas appliances and their dangerous exhaust!

• Ceiling fans can be helpful by providing enough of a breeze to let your body’s own evaporative cooler work. Similar to rolling down your car windows to keep cool, relief is seldom adequate in July.

• Evaporative or “swamp” coolers work very well (on most days) in our dry climate. Usually mounted on the roof, they can sometimes be located on the ground or even in an attic with special venting and water containment provisions. If you have an attic, the cool air can usually be ducted to the ceiling of several rooms to distribute the “’breeze” throughout the house. Similar to a whole-house fan, you can control the path of the breeze by the windows you open.

• If you have forced-air heat, the ductwork is already in place for refrigerated air conditioning with the addition of an “A-coil” and a condenser unit. Since air conditioning requires air of a higher velocity than heating, you may need to add a new multi-speed blower. It is also a good idea to add return-air registers near the ceiling for best efficiency. A condenser unit with fan will be located outside, as far as fifty or more feet from your furnace. Since condensers can be noisy, you’ll want to locate it where the noise will be the least problem.

• If you don’t have the ductwork, or only need to cool one room, there are some very good through-wall air conditioning units now on the market. They have a small condenser outdoors, and a refrigerated blower unit which mounts to the outside wall. Inside the room, a louvered grille mounted high on an outside wall distributes the cool air. Installation only requires a single small hole through the wall, and the unit is controlled by a small wireless remote, complete with thermostat. While somewhat expensive, this air conditioner can be the perfect solution for cooling a single room or area.

• If you’re undecided about which techniques to implement, remember that they can be used in combination. Try the most energy efficient and passive ideas first. If you still need more relief, you can add others as the budget allows. Remember, also, to start on your project now. If you wait until July to call an air conditioning contractor, it will be too late for this season.

• We always welcome your comments, questions and suggestions. Please feel free to post in the “Comments Box” below.