When homeowners Stan and Colette Corwin purchased a 1920’s cabin off of Chunns Cove Road, they had no idea the repairs that lie ahead. But, they were sure of one thing: they wanted the remodel to be as energy-efficient and green as possible.

During this time of drought, building or greening an existing home in our area means turning an eye toward water conservation. So, while building, the Corwins, along with Jim Demos, who owns and operates Demos Builders, and his team, have done just that.

The Utopia Road home features Asheville’s first installed greywater system and one of only two BRAC (a type of greywater recycling system) systems in North Carolina. A greywater system is a system that collects wastewater from the home (from bath and shower drains and utility sinks, although not from the kitchen sink or laundry), filters it through a particulate filter, and dyes it, then making it available to use for flushing toilets. While there are often health and safety concerns from officials relating to greywater, the homeowners and building team thought it a no-brainer with the area’s worsening water situation, and they pressed forward, getting approval from the City for installation. “In Florida [where the Corwins previously lived] we harvested rainwater as our main water supply. Water is a big issue in Florida, so we were really kind of tuned into that,” says Colette. “Here, it didn’t seem like that would work as well with all the trees around. So, the greywater was a way we thought we could save water.” Jim estimates that no less than 34 percent of the home’s domestic water use will be conserved through this measure alone. (The home will draw off of municipal water except for the greywater, or the toilet water.)

“It’s very motivating,” says Georg Efird—whose company, A2Z Plumbing, installed the system—of being involved with the first approved greywater system in the City of Asheville to date. The system was approved for installation as an educational tool for seminar purposes, and he and Jim, as well as the homeowners, are continuing the approval process to gain the okay from the County for more systems like theirs, which should come soon. Since Georg describes the process of installation as “no more complicated than installing a plumbing system,” he hopes this project will break the ice so other plumbers can follow in their footsteps.

But the pioneering greywater system isn’t the only water-conserving measure being put into place with the rennovation. Tankless water heaters have been selected for the home, which, as opposed to conventional hot water heaters, do not heat and store water around the clock. A loop hot water system is also being installed, with on-demand buttons at each faucet that allow for only a short wait time for hot water and virtually eliminate the waste of cool water that flows down the drain while waiting for the hot; the hot water is re-circulated through a loop only when needed. The Corwins also plan to harvest rainwater, either in a cistern or rain barrels, to water their organic vegetable garden and use for other landscape irrigation. They will also install low-flow fixtures and low-use commodes.

Water conservation alone isn’t the only aspect of the element that deserves attention on a site. After all, water can do a lot of damage, causing mold that leads to poor indoor air quality and creating the need for many repairs throughout a home’s lifetime. According to Jim, the crawlspace of the home was one of the biggest problems he faced during the renovation process. Decades of moisture left mold and wood-boring insect damage for the team and homeowners to discover. So, as old cedar siding was replaced with HardiePlank™ and the entire thermal envelope of the home—including underside of roof deck—sprayed with Icynene® insulation, Jim and his team also paid careful attention to sealing the crawlspace from moisture and installed a dehumidifier.

To ensure a long life for the home, building water management tactics were also implemented, including gutters designed to handle the water volume of the roof area, trenching out and re-waterproofing the foundation, and re-grading the surrounding land to give a positive slope away from the home.

Of course, what good is a water-efficient home if it just stops there? The location of the home on the property left it not a great candidate for passive or active solar gain. And, since the goal of the remodel was to demo as little as possible, Jim looked to other energy-efficient means of heating and cooling, eventually settling on installing a centrally located cupola, or turret, to the roof. For the design of the cuploa, Jim turned to John Legerton of Legerton Architecture. “On hot summer days, the cupola will act as a thermal siphon,” Jim says, “naturally cooling the house and introducing fresh air by drawing in from opened main-floor north-facing windows cool, prevailing breezes and sending out the gathering hot air through operable windows located at its top.” The primary source of heating is a wood-burning stove, but as backup, a new and more efficient heat pump was installed, combined with a HEPA whole-house air filter and ERV (energy recovery ventilator) to bring fresh air into the home during winter months when the cupola’s windows are closed.

With the changes that have been made and the many more that are in progress, Jim feels the remodeled home is well on its way to lasting a lifetime and serving as Utopia for the Corwins.

Specifications
Location: Utopia Road in East Asheville
Builder/Designer: Jim Demos of Demos Builders, John Legerton of Legerton Architecture
Plumber/Insulation: Georg Efird of A2Z Plumbing and Gas Piping, Inc. and Home Energy Partners
Size: Approximately 2,100 square feet
Completed: To be completed mid-March

Top Green Points
Environmental
Existing home renovation
Grewayter system installed
Locally supplied and manufactured FSC-certified cabinet-box material
Reuse of demolished materials, including metal roof panels and lumber
Reuse of existing doors, commodes and sink
Local, Carolina Blue Stone and reclaimed sunken river lumber used for decking and flooring (along with natural cork recycled pallets and natural-fiber carpet)
Demolished materials recycled and donated
to others for reuse
Keeper tress protected and construction entrance created, along with silt fence and silt pit

Low-toxicity
Sealed crawl space with dehumidifier
Eradicated mold
HEPA filter and ERV
Replaced HVAC flex with metal trunks
Non-toxic and zero-VOC finishes, including adhesives, grout and locally made EarthPaint interior paint
Pure Bond® zero-formaldehyde cabinet-box material
Low-VOC sheathing

Efficiency
Icynene insulation throughout home
Greywater system
Rain catchments
Wood-burning stove with heat pump as backup
Tankless water heaters with loop system
Energy Star® appliances
Working with H.E.R.S. rater to certify home
as Energy Star partner

New Life Journal’s Green Home Experts Say…
Michael Figura of Eco Concepts Realty: The Corwins reused an existing site instead of purchasing vacant land to clear and build upon. This is a great reuse of an already developed site and minimizes their environmental footprint because energy did not have to be spent on clearing land and building a roadway to the site. Besides minimizing the site impact, the reuse of an existing structure preserves the embodied energy in that building and prevents the materials from that building from going in a landfill. While the site is suburban in nature, the density is appropriate in the urban-to-rural transect. Our nation has too much suburbia in general, but because the owners reused the existing building, they did not create another suburban home. Also, the couple is retired and will not be making the home-to-work commute everyday, thus they will be driving less than a working couple. The owners also have an organic garden and will be growing some of their own food…a great use of suburban land!

With the help of Demos Builders and Legerton Architecture, the owners were very conscientious in all of the decisions they made, from putting a catalytic converter on their wood-burning fireplace to replacing the water line between the street and their home. I think that they are a great example of people putting their money behind their values, and they should be commended for their efforts.

David Tuch of Equinox Environmental: It was great to finally see a greywater system in place and the efforts the homeowners and builder are taking to reuse water. It’s a shame that it is so difficult due to regulating authorities to do something as simple as reuse water from the sink or shower. The greywater system is a true strength of this remodel project.

One Step Further

David Tuch: Since I am the only landscape architect on the New Life Journal Green Home Experts Board, it’s my role to talk about the landscape, which is not the main feature of this remodel. However, the homeowners are organic gardeners, and they have reserved space for this use. Hopefully they will use native plants adapted to our region and water requirements. They can even use native plants that are edible as part of the gardening experience. One thing I noticed is the excessive amount of English ivy on their property, which is a significant invasive exotic plant. They will have to battle trying to control the English ivy, but I hope it will be a battle they choose to take on. English ivy poses a significant threat to our natural habitat, as this vine can topple large trees and overrun the diverse native flora of our mountain landscape. Developers and homeowners alike should never plant this plant and hopefully will restore their landscapes by removing it.

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