If you're planning to build a new home in the Everett area, an eco-friendly approach offers lasting benefits. Beyond minimizing environmental impact, green homes lower operating costs through energy and water savings. Homeowners also appreciate improved indoor air quality and natural light brought in by sustainable design practices. Our team at Innovative Touch can help guide your upcoming home build using sustainable materials and techniques. Here's an overview of some core green building strategies for new residential construction. Trusted home construction companies delivering quality craftsmanship and personalized solutions for building your dream home with excellence and precision.

Renewable and Recycled Building Materials 

Constructing the physical structure with recycled, renewable and responsibly-sourced materials reduces ecological strain associated with production and transportation. Some options include:

Reclaimed Wood: Salvaged from old barns or buildings, reclaimed lumber gets a second life as rustic flooring, walls or trim. Each piece exhibits rich character. 

Fibrous Concrete: Mixing in recovered fibers or industrial processing waste into concrete cuts down on virgin materials used while creating a strong and sleek panelized product.

Recycled Stone Surfaces: Replace quarried stone countertops or tiles with eco-alternatives incorporating bits of post-consumer glass or porcelain waste. 

Bamboo Products: Fast-growing and rapidly renewable bamboo can substitute for conventional hardwoods in products like flooring, cabinets or furniture. 

Local Brick: Choosing regionally manufactured brick simplifies transportation requirements and supports the local economy. 

For a recent green concept home in Mukilteo, we sourced reclaimed heart pine for the flooring, installed gorgeously speckled fibrous quartz countertops in the kitchen and accented fireplaces with locally fabricated recycled glass mosaics.

Energy Efficient Envelope     

An airtight thermal envelope including the walls, roof, windows and doors greatly controls energy performance. Incorporating robust insulation, high performance glazing and product certifications creates homes needing less mechanical heating and cooling. Best practices involve:

Spray Foam Insulation: Get a seamless air barrier and high insulation value by spraying open wall cavities with foams up to double fiberglass batts.

Efficient Windows & Doors: Upgrade to triple pane glass and argon filled window units plus solid wood/foam core doors meeting ENERGY STAR ratings to prevent conductive heat transfer.

Certified Products: Seek out third party certifications like EPA Indoor AirPlus label that verifies minimal VOC off-gassing and air tightness integrity.

For the Mukilteo home, we selected EPA Indoor Air Plus certified windows along with open cell spray foam bringing insulation values to R-23 in the walls and R-48 in the ceilings. This cut modeled heating bills by 30 percent over the building code minimum.

Eco-Friendly Mechanical Equipment 

Even with an efficient thermal envelope, you need appropriately sized and energy responsible mechanical systems to maintain comfort. Ideal heating, cooling and water heating solutions include: 

Variable Capacity Heat Pumps: Ductless mini-splits along with centralized heat pumps automatically adjust cooling and heating output to match needs for superior efficiency over conventional systems.

ERV Ventilation: An energy recovery ventilator (ERV) exchanges indoor and outdoor air while transferring heat and moisture to balance ventilation with efficiency.

Solar Ready: Pre-plumb your roof’s ideal solar orientation to readily add PV system later for net zero home potential.

Tank less Water Heaters: On-demand tankless units only heat water as needed rather than storing reserves avoiding standby losses. 

For the Mukilteo model home, we implemented a ductless mini-split system for even room-by-room comfort control plus a centralized ERV for ample fresh air circulation. We also pre-wired the south facing portion of the roof for solar panels.

Call Innovative Touch to make your next custom Everett area home build as sustainable as possible through renewable materials, high performance envelope assemblies and responsible mechanical system selection. We can even advise on zero energy or Passive House credentialing. Let’s discuss green building strategies for your new residence.