2008 Spring Parade of Homes

If you get a chance please stop by our 2008 Spring Parade of Homes house we designed. It was built by Scott Bronkema Builders and is full of custom crafted details which Scott is known for. This home is situated on a beautiful wooded site with views of two different ponds and is one of the last sites to build on in Dix Farm development in Rockford Michigan. The parade of Homes starts May 21st and go through the 31st. This home should be a show stopper.

Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day everyone! I hope you all take a moment today to really appreciate our earth and maybe do something today to help save it. Try planting a tree or picking up some garbage get your kids involved too. If you really want to help call your senator and tell them that you would like them to support a Renewable Portfolio Standard - or RPS - that will help jump start the growth of alternative energy in Michigan. Please remember one of my favorite Indian quotes today.

"We do not inherit the Earth from our ancestors: we borrow it from our children."

Onekama Project Receives LEED for Homes "Platinum" Certification

Image Design and Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes are please to announced today that its Hybrid Home project in Onekama Michigan has been awarded the U.S. Green Building Council’s (USGBC) highest certification through is LEED for Homes program. The Hybrid House received LEED "Platinum" certification. Only 22 other homes in the nation have received this honor. Along with the "Platinum" LEED Certifications and winning the GLREA 2007 Exemplary Project Award, this hybrid home has also been awarded an Energy Star Rating of 5+ Stars. You can also read more about this project in the March issue of Concrete Homes magazine and in the up coming Northern Home & Cottage magazines May issue. If you would like to tour this home it will be the 2008 Michigan Energy Fair Show Home. The Michigan Energy Fair is June 27th - 29th in Onekama Michigan.

Energy Audits are they worth it.

After meeting so many people at the Home & Garden show this last weekend and hearing them all telling me about there utility bills being $500 to $1,200 dollars and wanting to know what they can do to make there home more energy efficient. I told them sometimes replacing old, leaky windows with new, energy efficient windows may help, but you need to take a step back and see how your home is really performing before you spend any money on windows, insulation, roofing, etc. My advise to all of you is have Mike Holcomb from the Home Inspector General come test your homes. Mike can perform a “energy audit” to find out how well your home is performing. If your home has leaks, where are they? As part of Mikes energy audits he performs thermal imaging where he takes a picture of your home to see where the heat is leaking in vivid color. Mike can also preform a blower door test where a 15-20 mile per hour wind is simulated in your home to see where air (and heat) is leaking from. Without knowing how your home performs, you could be throwing your money out the window. I recently read a energy audit report Mike did on one of my remodel clients project and I was amazed at how detailed his report was. I believe Energy Audits are worth it and would recommend you get one done before you start any remodeling project.

Come see us at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute

Thank you for those of you that stop by Team Hybrids booth and the LEED for Homes booth at the West Michigan Home & Garden show at DeVos place this past weekend. I got to meet alot of great people and vendor wanting to know about Sustainable Home Design and LEED for Homes. For those of you that missed us at the Home and Garden show or for those of you that didn't get enough of us we are also going have a booth for Team Hybrid and a booth for LEED for Homes at Pierce Cedar Creek Institute on Saturday, March 15 for the 6th Annual Renewable Energy Conference. Our friend Mark Bauer from Bauer Power will be speaking on solar hot water and our friend John Sarver of the Michigan Energy Office will be give a State of the State Address. Hope to see you all there.

Result from our What is your fravorite home style poll

In December through February we polled our blog reader on "What is your favorite home style". And the following were the results of our poll.

Traditional Style 11%
Arts & Craft Style 23%
Prairie Style 31%
Cottage Style 15%
Old World Style 9%
Modern Style 20%
Other 6%

I want to thank everyone that took part in the poll we had over 105 responses, it will help us in our marketing research. I personally like all these styles but was excited to see the top 3 Styles. If you would like to find out more about any of the above style or if you would like to see examples of these styles please email me or call. Also please check out the new poll on "If you could have any renewable product on your home what would you want".

January and February Update

This year has started off with a bang! We have been hired to design a green remodel in Sawyer along with three new LEED for Homes certified projects in Glenn, Delton and Tustin. Adam Bearup of Hybrid Homes, LLC will soon start construction on two LEED for Homes registered projects we designed in Paw Paw and Grand Rapids these homes will raise the standard for what is green building.

Our Spring Parade of Homes house is coming along great, this will be a must see home built by Scott Bronkema Builders. Also if you get a chance check out the award winning home we design and Scott Bronkema Builders built that's featured in the Early Winter 2008 edition of Cosmopolitan Home Grand Rapids magazine and the award winning Onekama home we designed and Hybrid Homes built will be featured in the March issue of Concrete Homes magazine. Besides the magazine article check out this web article on Concrete Homes web-site about the Onekama project (Click here to read the article).

Last be not least come see us at the Hybrid Homes Booth and the LEED for Homes Booth at the 29th Annual West Michigan Home and Garden Show at DeVos Place February 28th -March 2nd. Hope to see you their!

Janurary is Radon Action Month

This month is National Radon Action Month. At Image Design we are alway watching out for you and your loved ones. Did you know that Radon is actually deadlier than carbon monoxide. List below are some interesting fact you might not know.

• Breathing home indoor radon causes nearly one hundred times more deaths each year than carbon monoxide poisoning.


• Radon is the second leading cause of lung cancer.


• Some 20,000 people will die this year due to breathing too much radon without even knowing it.


• Radon is estimated to be a health risk in as many as one in fifteen homes throughout the country.
• According to Governor Granholm's Proclamation, one in eight homes in Michigan (EPA's map of Michigan radon zones) have elevated levels of radon
  

Radon is a colorless, odorless, tasteless, invisible radioactive gas that seeps into homes undetected through cracks or openings in the foundation, floor or walls, and can reach harmful levels if trapped indoors. It travels up from underground sources and uranium in the earth’s crust. And can be found in all the county in the state of Michigan see our Radon Map for our state below.

My goal this month is to raise your awareness of Radon and to teach you how we at Image Design take extra steps in our plans to reduce your risks of Radon.

At Image Design we include all these Radon prevention techniques in our sets of plans:

1. Gas Permeable Layer. This layer is placed beneath the slab or flooring system to allow the soil gas to move freely underneath the house. In many cases, the material used is a 4-inch layer of clean gravel.


2. Plastic Sheeting. Plastic sheeting is placed on top of the gas permeable layer and under the slab to help prevent the soil gas from entering the home. In crawlspaces, the sheeting is placed over the crawlspace floor.


3. Sealing and Caulking. All openings in the concrete foundation floor are sealed to reduce soil gas entry into the home.


4. Vent Pipe. A 3- or 4-inch gas-tight or PVC pipe (commonly used for plumbing) runs from the gas permeable layer through the house to the roof to safely vent radon and other soil gases above the house this system is called Passive Radon Mitigation. If , after your house is complete, a test determines that levels are still too high, you may have to convert to an Active Radon Mitigation System by installing a fan than runs continuously which creates low pressure under the slab and increases the rate of gas evacuation..


5. Junction Box. An electrical junction box is installed in case an electric venting fan is needed later.
   

As our nations builders start moving towards Green Building, builders shouldn’t forget that they can’t truly be green without being safe places for people to live.“It’s remarkably easy to protect our loved ones by testing for radon and building new homes with radon–resistant features that allow everyone to breathe freely and safely.” “It’s simple and cost–effective to build new homes with radon–resistant features“It makes sense to do it right from the start.” The radon threat is preventable with the simple steps above. When building new homes, builders can easily and economically include radon–resistant features during construction. The EPA also recommends that new built homes still be test for radon gas before they move in to make sure the radon–resistant features are working.

For more information please visit these web-sites.

www.epa.gov/radon/

www.epa.gov/radon/zonemap/michigan.htm