The holidays are a time for food and friends, and for the Levine Family  it was a time to celebrate in their family’s new again home. After inheriting the property from their grandparents, the Levine family contacted us to help them with a complete gut and energy efficient renovation of their all brick ranch home in Olivette, MO.

During the project we worked with our highly skilled trade partners and the Levines to design and transform their home into a certified, high performance home with enough space for their growing family. Their newly renovated home not only features a second story addition with an additional three bedrooms and two bathrooms, but the project also included

• Replaced an outdated HVAC system with a highly efficient geothermal heating and cooling system.
• Added a thorough caulk and seal package with unique hybrid lycnene foam and fiberglass insulation.
• Installed energy efficient windows, lights, appliances and low-flow plumbing.
• Appraised value increased more than $400,000.
• Salvaged and refinished original hardwood or used sustainable bamboo flooring on the main levels.
• Skylights and solar power throughout take full advantage of natural lighting to reduce energy usage.
• Outstanding indoor air quality for a healthier living environment.

In early November the home passed the final certification inspection for the ANSI-700 National Green Building specification and Energy STAR rating.

Everyone’s hard work has paid off, and the the Levines were able to move into their home the weekend before Thanksgiving – just in time to enjoy turkey and ring in the newyear in a more comfortable and energy efficient home that still has all of the sentiment and charm of their grandparents’s home. The Levines recently told us they were extremely happy with the comfort of their home, and have been able to dial down their thermostat even in these cold temperatures.

We are thrilled to have worked with the team and our clients on such a cool, green home renovation, and we look forward to sharing a complete set of pictures that show off their new home very soon!

Crews from Scott Lee Heating installed the geothermal system for our energy efficient renovation project in Olivette, MO.

Geothermal technology is growing in popularity, and more homes in St Louis are being built with these systems or having their homes renovated to include the technology. If your home’s lot is suitable for it, Geothermal is a great technology that taps into the earth’s near constant temperatures underground to heat and cool the home. However, for a long time, Geothermal was cost prohibitive, but since 2009 a Federal tax credit has nearly leveled the playing field and many homeowners are taking another look at Geothermal heating and cooling.

Geothermal isn’t a brand new technology, in fact it’s hundreds of years old. But many people in the US and St Louis are just starting to discover the benefits to using this heating and cooling system in their homes over a standard HVAC system.

Geothermal is twice as efficient as a traditional system. A geothermal system still uses electricity to operate, however it uses much less than a traditional system. And because of the dramatic reduction in operating costs, homeowners begin saving money right away when they start using a geothermal system.

Geothermal offers homeowners a more stable energy price. Because the amount of energy used for a geothermal heating and cooling system is generally flat throughout the year, energy bills associated with geothermal are very low and owners do not see huge spikes in winter and summer months.

Geothermal technology is an excellent option for homeowners who are interested in using more natural resources to save money on their energy bills. And as the technology continues to come down in price, it is also becoming a more reasonable solution for our clients that are building on a budget.

The stranded bamboo being used in the Olivette, MO energy efficient renovation we are working on is sustainable, durable, and gorgeous.

The energy efficient renovation project we have been working on in Olivette, MO includes a lot of high performance features in the design and materials. From Geothermal heating to Energy STAR fixtures, many of the pieces of the remodel will be focused on greater energy efficiency for the homeowners.

Another large component of this remodel are the eco-friendly finishes and building materials that are being used throughout-including the flooring. The homeowners have chosen to recycle the original oak flooring on the bottom floor of the home, so we carefully preserved the flooring and when we moved walls we stitched in pieces of flooring where gaps were left.

However, the addition of the second floor means that we needed to introduce new flooring into the home, and instead of matching the existing floors the homeowners chose to go another direction and are installing highly sustainable, stranded bamboo flooring that is just stunning.

Here you can see the bamboo being used on the second floor as well as the dormer that will light the first and second floor landings.

Stronger than traditional bamboo, but just as modern looking and sustainable, stranded bamboo is actually woven together and pressure glued for a very durable finish. The stranded bamboo flooring our clients in Olivette chose is a mixture of dark and lighter finishes so it almost gives the look of a tiger wood.

We are installing the stranded bamboo in the areas of the lower level where the oak isn’t being reused, and also in the landing for the first and second floors, and it really looks phenomenal, especially with all of the extra lighting being pulled in from the second floor dormer windows.

We have been updating you on the progress of this very innovative energy efficient renovation project here on the blog, but the homeowners have also started their own site to share all of the details and progress about the project! You can head over to Our Big Green House and see the whole project from the client’s perspective, and even read about how and why they chose to renovate the home and what they think about the process.