Green Tips from Sean de Launay of Virginia

Green Tips from Sean de Launay of Virginia

Green Tip #1: Have everyone across the organization get green certified.

By having management, designers, and field staff all get green certified—and the same certification—you ensure a clear understanding of the green goals and a commitment integrated across the company.

Unplugged Holes
Unplugged Holes
Unsealed Sill Plate
Insulated Holes
Correctly Sealed Sill Plate
Unsealed Sill Plate
Insulated Holes
Correctly Sealed Sill Plate

In addition, having this consistent, uniform green certification may help win jobs. Nash Construction won one recent job we bid on largely because the competition had one guy who was green certified whereas Nash could point to Green Advantage's certification across the board. Fourteen of Nash's employees have earned GA-residential certification. It's one thing to say you're green; it's another thing to do it.

Green Tip #2: Use basic green techniques for finishing the basement of an existing home.

There are a number of very commonsense green techniques that can be used in finishing the basement of an existing home.

1: Instead of framing 16” on center, do 24” on center or wider spans. Since basement framing is not load bearing you can have the wider spans and save materials and labor.

2: Use dry wall corner clips. An example is the Prest-on corner clip. Doing so saves on stud corners thereby using less material and allowing the contractor to fully insulate the corner.

3: Use open floor joists for running electricity then drop the wiring straight down along the wall framing. Running electricity through the ceiling takes advantage of its open lengths and avoids gaps in the wall insulation that would occur when wiring across the wall studs.

4: Space studs one inch off foundation wall and place rigid insulation (tape the seams!) behind it in the gap between the foundation and the studs. This cuts down on drafts.

5: Stop air infiltration. Before installing batt or cellulose insulation, go around the whole basement with spray foam insulation and seal gaps where the floor framing hits the sill plate and where the sill plate hits the foundation wall.

6: Last, before finishing the ceiling, spray insulation around the bases of all pipes and electric wires that pass to the upper floors. Again, this prevents air exchange between floors.

Sean de Launay

Nash Construction, Inc. - Marshall, VA - www.nashconstruction.com

Mr. de Launay is in Design and Sales with Nash Construction, Inc. Nash Construction provides new home design and construction, remodeling, renovations, and handyman services. All Nash designers, project managers, and on-site superintendents have received Residential Certification by Green Advantage®