 |
| Stage Framing Complete |
  |
| Installing the Wood Floor Design |
 |
| Clear Floor Finish |
 |
| Applying Clear Floor Finish |
 |
| Shady Jack-Owner Shady Jacks Saloon and Grill Downtown St Louis MO https://www.shadyjackssaloon.com |
 |
Scotts Contracting shared an album with you.
Simple Diagram explaining how a Passive Solar Roof Overhang keeps the Hot Afternoon Sun from Entering a Home via a window in the west wall of a home. While allowing the Winter Time Suns warmth into the Home. Both of which supply Natural Daylight for the room. by Scotty +Scotts Contracting
Google+ makes sharing on the web more like sharing in real life. Learn more.
| |||
 |
– How to build your green building business –
In the building industry, green business is the only good news that is left for the consumers. Are you a promoter who is looking for constructing buildings and still struggling within the sluggish market conditions? Though traditional buildings may no more seem to be a hot cake anymore, you must try your luck in going green. Sustainable business firms can boost your profits as it has been said that getting into green building can certainly boost your income during tough economic times. Here are some green home building tips that you must consider if you're interested in going green with your building.
1. Do enough research: Every salesman wants to know about the most important skill that he may need in order to make extra profits. You have to make a market research so that you get to know what the actual things are that are needed in order to boost their profits. See what your competitors are doing so that you may get an idea regarding your faults and try to make your weaknesses your strengths.
2. Know what is selling in the market: The recession has got a very diverse impact on every part of the economy and you must make sure that you clearly know what are the products that are selling in the market so that you may comprehend the inabilities of the market and the according steps that you're supposed to take in order to make the most out of the market situations.
3. Specialize in the subject: When you're looking for ways to start off with green home building, you must always make sure that you specialize in this particular field so that you do not fall short of ideas that can make your building a sustainable one. You must get to know all the details that can help you with the business project and make you earn better returns.
4. Get yourself certified: After you have all the plans in your head, you need to get yourself certified and getting the Green Advantage certificate is a necessity. Remember that doing green things doesn't make your house green and thus you have to be a witty and a better builder in order to be a true green builder.
Therefore, if you're planning a sustainable home building project, make sure you follow the tips mentioned above. Every bank and financial is adopting green methods so as to save money and energy. Green building is an important way of handling your talent and using it to its best.
Guest Post provided by Scotts Contracting
A Roof that: Generates Electricity is a Win-Win for Generating Clean Electricity and Protecting your Home-Scotty
Does your Shingle Roof need Replaced? Consider a Roofing Shingle that also creates Electricity. The new DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle Received UL Certification as a Roofing Material that creates Clean Green Energy via the Integrated Solar Photovoltaic Electricity Producing System.
The DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ solar shingle has chosen thin-film CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium deSelenide) as the PV material in the Solar Shingle to convert the Suns Rays into use-able Electricity for your Home and Business.
DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ solar shingle will become available to the US public mid 2011. Till then Scotts Contracting will be researching the Electrical Out-Put, Efficiency, and Other variables that are needed to determine if the Solar Shingle is a cost-effective option for your Integrated Roofing and Solar Photovoltaic Project.
Prior Articles Here:
Oct 19, 2010-$1 billion investment Dow Chemical announced last February it is making to build a manufacturing plant in Michigan for its shingle-integrated solar PV technology.
DOW POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles Receive UL Certification
© Business Wire 2010
2010-11-02 13:12:32 -
Today, The Dow Chemical Company (NYSE: DOW) and Underwriters Laboratories (UL) announced that the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is the first residential solar roofing shingle with an integrated connection system to receive Underwriters Laboratories (UL) safety certification.
The DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is a ground-breaking photovoltaic solar panel in the form of a solar roofing shingle that can be integrated into rooftops with standard asphalt shingle materials. It reduces installation time and complexity using a revolutionary system design that eliminates on-roof wiring, minimizes through-roof penetrations, and allows the product to be installed in the same manner as a standard roofing shingle.
"The receipt of UL safety certification represents the successful completion of a rigorous and comprehensive multi-test process for the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles," said Dow Solar Vice President, Jane Palmieri.
"This is another important milestone towards the planned 2011 commercialization of Dow's solar shingles, and represents aWe are dedicated to making solar easy for homeowners, builders, and roofing contractors who already trust the performance and safety of building products bearing the Dow brand."
crucial third-party validation of the safety of this product.
Given the new and unique nature of the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle, Dow Solar worked closely with UL - a trusted global resource for product safety certification and compliance solutions - to indentify a series of rigorous tests to assess the safety of the unique design and of all the elements of the combined solar and roofing product. The final listing awarded to the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles represents compliance to a diverse sequence of UL's safety and building standards, specifically, UL 746, 1703, 1897, 790, 486 and 514. Over 50 individual tests were conducted to assess the safety of the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles against building code standards, including wind and fire resistance, and electrical code requirements, such as proper wiring and photovoltaic (PV) connections.
"UL has been leading the development of PV equipment testing methodologies and standards since the 1980s, and has contributed to the safe operation of PV equipment by providing safety testing and certification services for PV equipment manufacturers worldwide," said Jeff Smidt, Vice President and General Manager for UL's Global Energy business. "In the case of Dow's solar shingles, we had to take a unique approach in order to test the product as both a roofing shingle and a PV system. We are proud to provide the UL mark to this first-of-its-kind solar shingle from Dow."
In addition to the vitally important design and material safety tests performed by UL, Dow will continue with its own reliability and durability testing in support of commercialization. Dow is currently performing tests on installed systems of DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingles in addition to individual shingles in order to assess the durability of the product, utilizing Design for Reliability and Physics of Failure methodologies to measure performance against weather, extreme temperatures and more.
Dow has chosen thin-film CIGS (Copper Indium Gallium deSelenide) as the PV material in the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ solar shingle, and Global Solar Energy (Tucson, AZ) was selected as the preferred supplier in support of the product launch. CIGS technology offers the best balance of low cost and highest sunlight conversion efficiency of the commercialized thin film technologies available today, and the flexible foil substrate of the Global Solar Energy CIGS cells provides the necessary level of flexural durability to allow the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle to perform reliably in a demanding application environment.
Breaking the traditional barriers to residential solar adoption – complexity, affordability and aesthetics – this technology offers the missing link needed by the energy industry to drive solar adoption across the U.S., and will bring the possibility of safe and reliable solar power to American households. The DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle is expected to be commercially available in select U.S. markets by mid 2011.
About DOW™ POWERHOUSE™
In 2007, Dow received a $20 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy as part of its Solar America Initiative to develop "building integrated" solar arrays for the residential and commercial markets. In October 2009, Dow Solar unveiled the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle as the first in a portfolio of building related solar energy generating products.
Since its introduction, the Solar Shingle has been hailed as revolutionary, including being named one of the "50 Best Inventions of 2009" by TIME magazine.
The innovative product design provides an unprecedented integrated roof appearance and simplified installation. It combines a roofing shingle with a solar cell, enabling the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle to be installed by a roofer along with standard asphalt roofing materials.
This makes the DOW™ POWERHOUSE™ Solar Shingle an easy choice for homeowners looking for a residential solar solution that is easy to install and aesthetically pleasing. Building Integrated Photovoltaic (BIPV) products from Dow Solar are evidence that Dow is focused on developing energy alternatives and expanding Dow's commitment to use chemistry to solve the world's energy challenges. More information about Dow Solar can be found at www.dowsolar.com :.
About Dow
Dow combines the power of science and technology with the "Human Element" to passionately innovate what is essential to human progress.
The Company connects chemistry and innovation with the principles of sustainability to help address many of the world's most challenging problems such as the need for clean water, renewable energy generation and conservation, and increasing agricultural productivity. Dow's diversified industry-leading portfolio of specialty chemical, advanced materials, agrosciences and plastics businesses delivers a broad range of technology-based products and solutions to customers in approximately 160 countries and in high growth sectors such as electronics, water, energy, coatings and agriculture. In 2009, Dow had annual sales of $45 billion and employed approximately 52,000 people worldwide. The Company's more than 5,000 products are manufactured at 214 sites in 37 countries across the globe. References to "Dow" or the "Company" mean The Dow Chemical Company and its consolidated subsidiaries unless otherwise expressly noted. More information about Dow can be found at www.dow.com :
®TM Trademark of The Dow Chemical Company ("Dow") or an affiliated company of Dow
For editorial information:Greg BaldwinThe Dow
Chemical Company+1 989 638-0745 gbaldwin@dow.com : mailto:gbaldwin@dow.com orChris
GramsGolinHarris+1 312 729-4364 cgrams@golinharris.com : mailto:cgrams@golinharris.com orKate
NigroDow Solar+1 989 638 9629 knigro@dow.com : mailto:knigro@dow.com
Deep overhangs and standing-seam roofing are among the features of the homes at Cobb Hill Cohousing that will help to ensure a long life.
A green home should last a long time. Living in a timber-frame home in Dummerston, Vermont that was built in 1785 and having grown up in a log home in Berwyn, Pennsylvania that was built in 1710 (three centuries ago this year), I think a lot about durability. It shocks me to realize that some of the homes being built today are designed for just a fifty-year lifespan. I feel that homes should last a minimum of 500 years. My friend (and leading building science expert) Joe Lstiburek once told me that a well-designed home today should last 1,000 years.
Creating durable homes involves a two-part effort: the first is designing it right with proper construction details; the second is selecting durable products and materials.
Use construction details that control moisture
Careful design and construction is the top priority in creating a more durable home—and often the most important issue is how we manage moisture. This is a big part of the focus of "building science." The building enclosure (walls, foundation, roof) has to be designed to a) keep moisture out, and b) allow any moisture that does get in to dry out. As we have made our homes tighter and better-insulated over the past several decades, this has become even more important. (The leaky, unheated homes our grandparents built could easily dry out because air readily flowed through the walls.)
Building science is a complex field that is evolving quickly as we learn more about moisture and air movement through buildings and building assemblies—far beyond the scope of this column. But here are some examples that will help to illustrate the concept:
Select durable products and materials
Along with design and construction, the products and materials we install in a home can influence durability. We focus a lot of attention on selecting green building materials (see my #8 priority). When a product has high recycled content, for example, it not only reduces the energy and environmental impacts of extracting the raw materials that would otherwise be required, but it also helps keep material out of the waste stream. In my opinion, though, it's an even higher priority to use very durable materials.
If material A will last three times as long as material B, we have three times as long to amortize the environmental impacts that were involved in producing that material. So even if material A took twice the energy to produce, our selection of that material will have a net benefit over the long term.
Fiber-cement siding, for example, costs a lot more than vinyl siding, but it should last a lot longer. The same goes with high-quality, standing-seam metal roofing or slate shingles, compared with asphalt shingles. There is usually a higher up-front cost for more durable materials, but that extra cost is repaid over the long term—both monetarily and environmentally.
Hire someone with expertise in building science
Very connected to the above two priorities, relative to durability, is to hire someone with expertise in building science. This applies equally to new construction and remodeling. It's complicated—and it's important that your designer and contractor understand what's involved in building (or remodeling) a home in a way that will keep it going strong for hundreds of years.
-- Scott's Contracting scottscontracting@gmail.com http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.blogspot.com http://www.stlouisrenewableenergy.com scotty@stlouisrenewableenergy.com
  Living Spaces Over Garages Living spaces over garages create conditions that demand careful attention to insulating the floor. Yet it is difficult to support the insulation in this cavity, and oftentimes the insulation falls onto the garage ceiling. This separation between the insulation and the living space floor creates a thermal bypass that compromises the value of the insulation. Air easily infiltrates in at the band-joist area over the top of the insulation, which scavenges away heat. This often freezes plumbing pipes, creates cold floors, and can lead to major mold and water damage. Builders often try to solve the problem by supplying forced-air heat near the plumbing, but this only succeeds in pressurizing the space with warm, humid air. As this air exfiltrates through the exterior cracks, it can condense and lead to even worse moisture and mold problems at the band-joist areas. |
  Attic Knee Walls These are areas where the insulation on the back side of unsheathed walls is exposed to outdoor temperatures and airflow. They are often adjacent to ventilated attic areas. The Energy Star Thermal Bypass Inspection Checklist requires that an air barrier be placed on all sides of the insulation. This means that the back sides of knee walls need to be sheathed and sealed. Thin-profile cardboard sheathing with ccSPF works well here. Since ccSPF is air impermeable, the insulation does not have to fill the entire cavity, and it meets the air barrier requirement. Some codes require R-19 insulation, which is difficult to do in a 3 1/2-inch space with batt insulation, but 2 inches of ccSPF provides about R-19.5. |
 Sloping Roof Areas The sloping areas in a cathedral ceiling can be the sites for significant thermal bypasses. These areas are not only difficult to insulate but are difficult to ventilate. Yet ccSPF solves both problems. Placing ccSPF directly on the underside of the roof deck also creates a secondary rain barrier, and because of ccSPF's high R-value and low permeability, moisture is not likely to condense on its surface, eliminating the need for cavity ventilation. |
  Band-Joist Areas The band-joist area is typically a major site for air infiltration. These areas are usually very poorly insulated, causing one of the most significant thermal bypass areas. If the home is under a positive pressure (air pushing out from inside) in a heating climate, the air is likely to be at a high humidity level. This can cause frost, and eventually mold, to build up on the back side of the band joist. In a cooling climate that is under negative pressure (air pulled inward — a condition that's commonly caused by leaky HVAC ducts), this can pull hot, humid air from outside, where it is likely to condense and lead to mold problems. The sealing properties of ccSPF will reduce these air-infiltration and energy-loss problems in this troublesome area. |
  Attic and Crawlspace Bypasses Attic and crawlspace bypasses are penetrations into the living spaces. Pipes, ducts, flues, and electric wires are the most common reason for these penetrations, and the best way to seal them is often (but not always) with ccSPF. Because ccSPF expands and seals, it does an excellent job of filling voids that allow conditioned air to escape. However, ccSPF should not be used to seal around high-temperature areas such as combustion appliance flues. |
| Roofing & Insulation | |
| Credit Available | 30% of cost (product only, no labor) $1,500 maximum for all improvements combined |
| Timeline | Must be "placed in service" (ready and available for use) Jan. 1, 2009 – Dec. 31, 2010 |
| Requirements | |
| Metal and Asphalt Roofs | Energy Star–qualified |
| Insulation | Meets 2009 IECC & Amendments Must be expected to last five years or have a two-year warranty Primary purpose must be to insulate. As of May 31, 2009, IRS has not ruled on SIPs or insulated siding, but it is believed that SIPs are eligible |
| Provided by Scotts Contracting | |
|
Brett Hall/Joe Hall Roofing
|
