7,000-square-foot Greenwich home built to be sustainable
By Susan Nova
Special Correspondent
Posted: 01/09/2009 02:55:53 AM EST

With the focus on preserving and improving the environment, Richard Granoff, whose Greenwich-based architectural firm carries his name, spoke about “green” building to members of the Greenwich Association of Realtors.

Granoff, who holds a bachelor of architecture degree, cum laude, from Syracuse University, spent a school semester studying design and history in Florence, Italy. Recently, he established the Richard S. Granoff Endowed Scholarship Fund at his alma mater.

A registered AIA architect in Connecticut and New York, he is also a LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) accredited professional, focused on “sustainable” green building practices.

Using as one example a custom home in midcountry Greenwich built by Hobbs Inc. in New Canaan, Granoff reviewed many of the special features of this green mansion of 7,000 square feet, plus basement.

“Big can be green,” Granoff said. “And most of the ‘green’ is invisible.”

The main living area of the Greenwich house faces in a southerly direction, offering heating help from the sun. Insulation is efficient, fiberglass-free, spray-in icynene foam, as are the ductlines, which are lined with recycled blue jeans. With a higher R value, a rating of the insulation’s effectiveness, this high-performance insulation provides what Granoff describes as a “tight building envelope.”

Radiant heat in the floors is used throughout, as the Romans did centuries earlier. In Ephesus, Turkey, you can still see some of the half-buried clay pipes that carried warm water into the ancient buildings. In the Greenwich home, the system used is warmboard, where subflooring is bonded with aluminum. Warmboard combines a structural subfloor and a thermodynamically sophisticated radiant panel system, where channels for radiant-heat tubing can be custom cut.

A photovoltaic system of solar panels is recessed into the roof, making use of the sun’s radiance. The boilers are superefficient, as are all the mechanical systems and the energy-rated appliances.

Windows are low-E argon-filled Thermopane glass, and naturally treated lumber was used for the sills. All rooms have cross ventilation, and the HVAC (heating, ventilating and air conditioning) system is controlled by a computer that adjusts the heating and cooling automatically.

To keep the air in the house healthy for its occupants, low or no VOC (volatile organic compounds) paints and adhesives were used throughout, and radon piping was installed below the slab and vented through the roof. All the millwork, doors, paneling and cabinetry is free of formaldehyde.

The ducts were sealed during the construction period to make sure the house stayed healthy. Another factor in this healthy home environment is the ozone-based pool filtration system, replacing chlorine, according to Granoff.

For sustainability, the siding, a clapboard look-alike, is made of durable HardiPlank, a cement resembling cedar that will not require paint for at least 10 years. FSC lumber, certified by the Forest Stewardship Council, a global network that encourages sustainable forestry management worldwide, was used throughout. The roof was crafted of natural slate, with copper detailing. Plywood was used for subflooring, natural stone from Connecticut is in place, and there was extensive recycling at the site during the construction, with donations to nonprofit organizations such as Habitat for Humanity.

A house Granoff designed that is under construction in Conyers Farm in Greenwich will soon have a geothermal system that provides 100 percent of the heating and cooling. Geothermal uses the energy generated by heat stored in the earth, some 1,500 feet down, where the temperature is a constant 55 degrees. At a “spec” house in the Hamptons, rainwater will be harvested and stored in underground cisterns, to be used for irrigating a landscape that is planned to require little irrigation.

At his own Greenwich home, Granoff has done a photovoltaic, or solar, retrofit, installing low-flow plumbing fixtures and programmable thermostats, and he is considering heating his pool via an attic heat-recovery system.

“Within five years, there will be a building requirement for LEED, or the equivalent,” Granoff said.

LEED is a green guilding rating system developed by the U.S. Green Building Council that provides standards for environmentally sustainable construction. Certification exists at the silver, gold and platinum levels.

To date, the only house with LEED certification in Fairfield County is the first home built at Windermere in Stamford, a gated, eco-conscious development in Stamford.

Some “green” elements carry no cost, others are inexpensive, and still others do require an investment but offer paybacks.

No-cost elements include the building’s orientation and ventilation, low/no VOC products, alternative insulation and other building materials, not forgetting recycled wood and soil, rocks and plants found on-site.

Those elements that are low-cost could be a tight building envelope, FSC-certified lumber, recycled wood and other natural materials, and water-efficient plumbing fixtures.

Photovoltaic systems cost money upfront but pay back over time in rebates and energy savings, as do geothermal heat pump systems, high-efficiency HVAC equipment and electronic controls.