Greenhaven Technical Data

GENERAL CONTRACTOR:

Whole Village Ltd.

DESIGN:

The design for the building evolved through a collaborative process between the architect, Denis Bowman, and Whole Village members. Greenhaven covers 15,300 square feet (1,421 square meters).

CONSULTANTS:

Housing: Jon Harstone, Toronto

Renewable Energy: Peter Turrell, Grand Valley

Sanitary: Ecowerks and Andrew Hellebust

Structural: A-D Engineering, Toronto

Legal: Iler Campbell, Toronto

Financing: DUCA Credit Union, Orangeville

Insurance: The Co-operators, Orangeville  

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT:

Contract Administration: Jan Wintjes

Construction Management: Jeff Gold and Brenda Dolling

Administrative Assistant: Michelle Fruendt  

SITE GRADING:

Raeburn Construction, Orangeville.

Topsoil was stripped from the building site and stockpiled for reuse in the final landscaping. The native grade of the building site was then raised by up to 2 meters and compacted using fill from a borrow pit on the Whole Village farm.  

SITE SERVICES:

A composting toilet was built out of recycled refrigerator and freezer doors, for use by workers on the site. A moveable 360 watt photovoltaic power station was set up to run power tools (along with a backup gas generator) until the building was connected to the main electrical service. Wood construction waste was sorted, stored and re-used. Waste drywall is being composted as part of the Whole Village farm operation.

FOUNDATION/STRUCTURAL FLOOR SLAB:

Plywood used to build formwork for the floor slab was re-used to create the weather edge on the perimeter of the roof. There are no conventional footings supporting the building   An eight inch (20 cm.) thick structural thermal floating slab with a perimeter grade beam (~360 cubic meters concrete in total) supports all bearing walls.  

EXTERIOR WALLS:

Exterior walls are 4 foot x 9 foot x 8.25 inch thick (120 cm x 270 cm x 21 cm) Structural Insulated Panels (SIPs)   The SIPs are a sandwich of two ½ inch (125 mm.) oriented strand board panels glued to an expanded polystyrene core   The SIPs are glued and mechanically fastened to 2" x 8" (50 mm x 200 mm) spruce plates anchored to the perimeter of the floor slab   Panels are connected on their vertical edges by pre-manufactured splines   A double 2" x 8" (50 mm x 200 mm) top plate reinforces the tops of the panels and provides attachment for the roof panels   Window and door openings are framed with solid wood which is let into the edges of the SIPs.   There are 50 corners in the exterior wall, ½ of which are 45/135 degrees.   The outside of the exterior walls are covered by a layer of Tyvek house wrap, followed by a layer of 1" (2.5 cm) expanded polystyrene rigid insulation.  The rigid insulation minimizes thermal bridging through the solid wood plates, sills, jambs and headers which have been let into the SIPs panels   Wood strapping is applied over the rigid insulation, and then building paper, expanded metal lath and finally two layers of polymer modified stucco.  The stucco was primed and painted with silicate dispersion paint. Total insulation value of the exterior walls is R-40. >

FIREWALLS:

There are two cement block firewalls in the structure, dividing it into three separate sections connected by fire doors.

ROOF:

The flat roof consists of SIPs 10.25" (26 cm) thick, which can span up to 16 feet (4.88 m). A 1% drainage slope to the perimeter of the roof is created using polyurethane foam insulation   The foam is covered with a polyurea spray-on membrane   The total insulation value of the roof is R-50.

INTERIOR LOAD BEARING WALLS:

Interior load bearing and partition walls are framed with 2"x6" (500mmx1000mm) kiln dried spruce.

INSULATION:

A minimum of 3" (7.5 cm) polyurethane foam insulation (R-20) was sprayed directly on the ground prior to installing electrical conduit runs, wire mesh reinforcing and the PEX piping for the infloor radiant heating system   Under the perimeter grade beam supporting the exterior walls, the polyurethane was increased to 6" (15 cm)    3" (7.5 cm) rigid extruded polystyrene insulation was applied to the exterior surfaces of the foundation   Recycled refrigerator and freezer doors from the Woods plant in Guelph were used for perimeter insulation extending five feet (1.5 meters) horizontally from the bottom edge of the grade beam. 1" (2.5 cm) expanded polystyrene rigid insulation was installed on the exterior surface of the outside walls. The roof deck is covered by a layer of sprayed-on polyurethane foam insulation from 1.5" (3.8 cm) to 6" (15.25 cm) thick.

WOOD:

The roof weather edge is coved with western red cedar shingles. Exterior trim around the windows and doors is also cedar, treated with a natural, non-toxic sealer. Interior trim is oak from Denis Bowman's property in King City, cut with a portable band saw and planed and jointed by Whole Village workers   It is sealed with a natural sealer.

CABINETWORK:

All cabinets are custom made on site from strawboard panels.

DOORS:

There are 22 exterior doors in the building   All are fibreglass with full lites, triple glazed   (R-7.7) on the east, west and north sides and double glazed (R-4) on the south side; argon filled with a Low-E coating,. Interior doors leading from the common areas to the individual suites are solid, fire rated with birch veneer   Interior doors in the suites are solid, with hardboard veneer   Medium duty commercial grade lever handles are used throughout.

WINDOWS:

All windows are fibreglass casement or fixed.   Windows on the east, west and north are triple glazed   Windows on the south are double glazed   All are argon filled with a Low-E coating.

ROOF WINDOWS:

There are 58 roof windows, half of which can be opened for natural ventilation.   Each roof window is mounted on a custom plywood curb covered by 6" (15.25 cm) polyurethane foam insulation.

FINISHES:

Drywall on interior walls is Ecologo certified with recycled content. Silicate dispersion primer and paint is used on all interior ceilings and walls. Low or ultra-low VOC paint is used on cabinets and valences. Floor finishes are bamboo, ceramic tile, cork laminate, linoleum, Jewelstone or stained concrete.

APPLIANCES:

Refrigerators in the suites are Maytag high efficiency models   One high efficiency Asko washer and dryer set service the building.

VENTILATION: The main ventilation is supplied by a Lifebreath heat recovery ventilator operating at 1200 cubic feet per minute   The supply and return ducts are oversized at 18 inches (45.75 cm) diameter to reduce noise levels   The return ducts are encased in concrete and buried beneath the floor slab   Fresh air is tempered by a heat exchanger coil in the fresh air duct which is supplied by a dedicated ground loop circulating a water/ethanol mixture   In frigid weather the exchanger pre-warms incoming air   In hot weather the exchanger pre-cools and dehumidifies incoming air.

HEATING:

Heating for the building is supplied by three 5 KW electrically powered ground source heat pumps feeding an in-floor hydronic radiant system.   The in-floor system consists of 17,000 feet (5,180 meters) of ½ inch (1.25 cm) PEX piping   There are 10 distribution manifolds and 20 separate heating zones controlled by individual in-floor digital thermostats   The heat pumps extract heat from 7000 feet (2134 meters) of PEX piping buried 6 feet (1.83 meters) deep in the ground to the east and southeast of the building. The heat pumps also supply domestic hot water via two 70-gallon (265 litre) stainless steel storage tanks.
A wood fired masonry heater heats the common areas of the building (~6000 square feet, 557 square meters)

WATER:

Fresh water is supplied by a variable speed Grundfos submersible pump installed in a drilled well   This pump increases its speed to maintain constant pressure inside the building.   Rain water from the roof is stored in 42 rain barrels for watering suite gardens.

SEPTIC SYSTEM

All toilets are 6 litre low flush   Shower heads are low flow. The septic system consists of standard plumbing drains which empty into two 10,000 litre settling tanks that gravity feed a dosing tank.   When the dosing tank is full the contents are pumped into the first of a series of three biological treatment beds.   Each bed is 200 square feet (18 square meters) in area and 4 feet (1.23 meters) deep   There are alternating layers of sand and gravel in each bed.   The effluent is fed into the beds by two separate layers of piping, the upper for summer and the lower one for winter   The top of the beds is planted with cattails   The treated effluent from the final bed is pumped to a small leaching field.

ELECTRICAL, VOICE, DATA:

The electrical system consists of a 400 amp feed from the local distribution grid, to the mechanical room, where it is distributed by conduit to 100 amp panels in the individual suites and one panel for the common areas.  Each suite has a separate digital meter prominently located to encourage occupants to monitor their energy use and to permit Whole Village to fairly apportion costs for electrical usage   Electrical fixtures are high efficiency compact fluorescents or T-8 efficient fluorescent. There are two parallel distribution systems   The first is from the main grid feed and the second allows for future off-grid photovoltaic and wind generated power   Electrical circuits can be gradually switched from the main to the off-grid system as the alternative power capacity grows. Telephone, data and video cables are distributed from the mechanical room throughout the building via under-floor conduits   The building is supplied by a 50-pair telephone cable from Bell.   A high speed satellite dish provides Internet access throughout the building   Two satellite receivers distribute television service to 5 of the suites.

SOLAR HOT WATER: Solar hot water will be supplied by roof mounted hot water panels above the mechanical room.

REFERENCES:

General Contractor                       Whole Village Ltd.            www.wholevillage.org

Architectural Services                    Denis Bowman Architect    www.denisbowmanarchitect.ca

Contract Administration                 Jan Wintjes                           conso@rogers.com

Construction Management             Jeff Gold                                www.ecologicalconsulting.ca

Engineering Consultants                 Sustainable Edge                 www.s-edge.com

Structural Insulated Panels             Thermapan                            www.thermapan.com

Silicate Dispersion Paint                 Eco-House                            www.eco-house.com

Urethane Foam Insulation               Hesterman Technical        www.hts-urethanes.com/roofing.htm

Polyurea membrane                        Hesterman Technical           www.hts-urethanes.com/roofing.htm

Exterior/interior wood sealer           Sansin Corp.                         www.sansin.com

Strawboard                                     Dow Chemical                     Dow has ceased mfg. this product

Fibreglass doors and windows       Fibertech                             Concord, Ontario

Roof windows                                 Velux                                   www.velux.ca

Bamboo flooring                              Silk Road Bamboo             www.silkroadflooring.com

Linoleum                                          Marmoleum                         www.forboflooringna.com

Stained concrete                                  Behr concrete stains         www.behr.com

Ventilation                                              Lifebreath                              www.lifebreath.com Heat Pumps                                     Nordic                                 www.nordicghp.com/mg/nordic_heat_pump.htm

Hydronic heating                              Fulford Supply                     www.fulfordsupply.com

Septic System                                  Aquatreatment                     www.aqua-tt.com