Designer: SawHorse, Inc.
Builder: Carl Seville, Seville Consulting LLC, in Atlanta, GA
Price Tag: Renovation costs $450,000
Square Feet: 4700
Construction Type: Wood frame, brick veneer, and stucco exterior finish

My family moved in to this house during December of 2003, planning to renovate. A few things happened that affected the project. We had difficulty selling our other house, and while we were planning the renovation, a huge tree hit the house and crushed the back corner, doing significant damage to the roof and driveway. This ended up being a blessing in disguise, as it accelerated the project and the insurance helped to pay for some of the renovations. We also had an ice storm while the roof was off during the renovation; this let in a lot of water onto the existing hardwood floors. Fortunately we were able to dry them out and refinish them with no problems. There was some structural damage, but nothing excessive. We moved to an apartment in November of 2004, renovated and reoccupied in June of 2005.

This renovation project took place in the Druid Hills Historic District in Atlanta, Georgia and entailed the expansion and major renovation of the entire structure. Druid Hills is a historic neighborhood that was designed by Frederick Law Olmstead (designer of Central Park and the Biltmore House Landscape). The neighborhood was the location for the filming of “Driving Miss Daisy” with Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman. The house was built in 1918 and had to go through a historic preservation committee approval before we could start construction. We reused all the salvageable clay tiles and located several thousand additional vintage tiles that matched the house perfectly: we only needed a few new tiles to finish the project. The original buff-colored brick on the house was hard to match; as a matter of fact we had planned to have the new brick stained to match, but when they arrived they were an almost perfect match for the original bricks. Beginning with the three bedroom, two bath house, we expanded the house to five bedrooms, including a large master suite, and renovated and expanded the kitchen into a state-of-the-art family room. We also built a screened porch, a new garage, and we completely upgraded the home’s systems and equipment.

I became committed to sustainable construction while I was at SawHorse and worked with Southface Institute to develop the EarthCraft House Renovation program. The main reason to go green, beyond my personal commitment, was to be a good steward of the environment and for indoor health. From my experience in transforming my last home into an EarthCraft House, I became acutely aware of the superior indoor air quality and comfort that these techniques provide. Specifically, homes of this quality have very healthy indoor air, are practically dust free, and have comfortable humidity levels all year round: not too dry in the winter, nor too humid in the summer. Energy savings comes in a close second, probably tied with the idea of reusing existing structures and minimizing impact to the environment.

We used green materials wherever possible and practical, although there is some debate about certain choices. We used PVC exterior trim, which some consider to be very un-green, although I believe this is open to debate. Although this material is not very environmentally friendly, the fact that it is practically indestructible makes it very durable, saving the cost of replacement materials and reducing the waste placed in landfills. We used low VOC paint and floor finishes, and MDF and finger joint wood products on the interior. We considered low VOC cabinets, but opted for more typical construction, due to time, style, and cost. The fact that we have excellent HVAC systems and outside air introduction helps to minimize any toxins in the air from construction materials. Another low impact concept was to reuse as much of the existing structure while expanding the house considerably. One reason we purchased the house was that there was an existing attic space that was enormous and easily renovated. The size of the house was doubled to over 4700 SF with a very small addition on the rear and finishing the existing attic. In fact, the exterior wall surface on the first floor is unchanged, and the roof expansion included only three new dormers.

Another aspect of the low impact of the project was the extensive reuse and recycling. All the unpainted wood from the site was reused on other projects or ground into mulch and used as erosion control. Extra bricks and broken roof tile were ground and used as gravel below the driveway. The concrete removed from the drive was hauled to a recycling plant and ground into gravel that was repurchased and used for underneath the rest of the new driveway. Most of the cabinets, counters, plumbing, and electrical fixtures were recycled through individuals and organizations. Job site recycling included all drink containers, corrugated cardboard, paper, etc.

Carl Seville is a green builder and consultant on sustainability to the residential construction industry. He founded and served as Vice President of SawHorse, Inc, an Atlanta, Georgia design/build firm, for 25 years where he worked with Southface Energy Institute in developing the EarthCraft House Renovation program. He can be reached at cseville@comcast.net or visit www.sevilleconsulting.com.

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