Homeowners put their green ideals into practice
This spring, Kate and Brent Halfwassen plan to build a storage shed with a green roof behind their 1,600-square-foot 1890 Victorian home in Riverwest. Because the roof is level with an adjacent slope and can hold 165 pounds per square foot, it will double as a play space.
“A lot of the homes in Riverwest are like that and can do something similar. Kids could look at it as a tree house and parents as a greenhouse,” Kate Halfwassen says.
Benefits of green roofs include reduced stormwater runoff, better heat insulation and reduced greenhouse gases through the plantings. But the Halfwassens also believe that the garden roof reclaims a slice of the urban landscape and serves up a chance to practice sustainable agriculture in an unlikely spot in an unlikely locale.
Translating a green sensibility into a green reality is getting easier, thanks to locally produced eco-friendly building materials and a growing cadre of green-minded designers, retailers and contractors.
Some Milwaukee-area architects are skilled in designing homes that don’t tax natural resources. Non-volatile organic compound paint can now be applied to the walls, and locally discarded building scraps can be revived into components of interior design. Eco-oriented stores, such as Future Green in the Bay View neighborhood, sell furniture, paints, flooring and carpeting.
“So much of our business really has to be educating people. They need to know where to buy materials and what to specify,” says Lyn Falk, owner of Solterra Studios in the Milwaukee area and an interior designer for 22 years. Since 2003 her firm has coached consumers in how to build, remodel or decorate a greener home; she also organized a green-building library at Milwaukee’s Urban Ecology Center.
About 18 months ago, she says, green homes became a household term in every sense, when homeowners realized that they might be able to save money by reorienting to a green point of view.
“People are finding that within three to five years they’re able to recoup some of that front-end cost through energy savings,” Falk says. “Once you understand what sustainable, healthy buildings are all about, you never really want to go back.”
Trying to make affordable
“It’s great that there are innovators out there doing solar and straw bale,” says Sara Lamia, author of “Housebirth: Your Guide to Buying An Energy-Efficient, Healthy New Home That Pays You Back,” “but the masses can also be part of this green movement. When builders get past the initial learning curve in how to build them, they shouldn’t cost more.”
By partnering with Milwaukee-based Growing Power - a nonprofit organization that runs a farm, greenhouses and aquaculture facility on Milwaukee’s northwest side - the Halfwassens are learning as they go along.
“You talk about trying to do something environmental, but a lot of the times you can only afford to do it” if you have plenty of money, Halfwassen says. Growing Power, she adds, is tackling that dilemma by providing resources about funding for environmentally responsible building and remodeling.
The couple hope that the finished green-roof structure will inspire similar ventures among their Riverwest neighbors. They also hope that Wisconsin utility We Energies will promote green roofs with programs similar to those it offers for solar panels.
The Halfwassens also partnered with Just Weight, a company that produces Notblox insulating concrete forms for wall structure, a custom product of old wood pallets and wood chips commonly called “wood concrete.” This type of product has greater use in Europe than it does in the United States. “When you use these in the wall they will have an R value of 25,” says Halfwassen, citing its insulating power. The material also “breathes,” adjusting to humidity levels.
A tax credit of up to $3,000 through 2009 is available for builders who construct Energy Star homes, but nothing similar exists for green homes, according to Lamia. “That’s where the lending industry should be but is not. Does that get passed on to consumers? Maybe, maybe not,” Lamia says. “What they really need to focus on is the fact that these homes not only have lower operating costs, but they are better built in every single room.”
Tapping geothermal
Three years ago, with the intent of building a green home, Juli Kaufmann and her husband purchased a former brownfield site in Walker’s Point from the Milwaukee Redevelopment Authority. The following year they moved into an 1,800-square-foot loft-style home of their own design. That was the same year she founded Pragmatic Construction, a green-minded company that builds sustainable commercial properties and private residences. “Our basic mission is to help make greater Milwaukee a more sustainable community,” Kaufmann says.
The house has many environmental attributes, right down to the construction phase - dirt formerly on the lot was used for the Marquette Interchange project. A geothermal heating and cooling system transfers heat from the Earth into a heating source, converting it to warm air. According to Kaufmann, this costs between a third to 50% less than traditional heat, and the installation cost pays for itself over time.
The Kaufmanns also believe in shrinking their carbon footprint - the rate at which they consume natural resources - to the point that Juli works from a coach house in the backyard.
Brick siding was chosen to blend in with the neighborhood’s aesthetics. Windows are positioned for cross-ventilation for natural cooling. Floors are finished with maple discarded from a Third Ward warehouse. Non-volatile organic-compound paint was applied to the walls.
Attempts were made to minimize costs while still supporting green-minded companies or sourcing from local companies. IKEA cabinets cost an affordable $2,000 and were made by a company that has made a green commitment. A breakfast bar is made of recycled timber from the same source used in the Alterra Coffee Roasters’ Fifth Ward Foundry cafe. Above it are light-emitting diode, or LED, lights that are four times more efficient than traditional lights and last up to 35 years, according to Kaufmann. Energy Star appliances use 30% less energy, and the two bathrooms have low-flow toilets and faucets.
Near the home’s entryway is a closet Kaufmann constructed for $30 by painting three wood panels black and setting them on rollers, creating a room divider if pushed all the way to the left and in front of an open doorway. A steel staircase to the second floor was made with material from Badger Railing in the Menomonee Valley. For the outdoor deck, recycled plastic and wood waste was used; and much of the brick came from regional quarries.
On the second floor, cork flooring was laid in their toddler’s nursery and a set of French doors converted to windows. “It’s an historic element,” says Kaufmann, “but this is great for air movement in the summer.”
