Custom New Homes, Net Zero & Positive Energy Homes

Cottage by the Sound

This house features an open-style layout with French doors facing south for natural light and views of the Sound and community tennis courts.

This three bedroom house was built to replace an older home that was destroyed by Hurricane Sandy. The new house was built with the lowest floor elevated to 17.75 feet above the mean sea level, which is well above the base flood elevation of 13 feet for the location. The ground level garage has flood vents and breakaway walls to prevent damage to the house above.

The house features an open-style layout with French doors facing south for natural light and views of the Sound and community tennis courts. The raised and covered front porch extends the full width of the front of the house and allows the owners to spend time outdoors in the summer enjoying the cool ocean breezes in shaded comfort.

Special Features

Open concept living/dining/kitchen area
Covered porch across the front of the house
Natural gas fireplace in main living area

Green Building Approaches

Front of house faces solar south for an 8Kw photovoltaic system which was sized to provide enough electrical energy to fully offset all other purchased energy required to operate the house.
1^st floor was framed with 16” open-web trusses insulated with 16” of 1/2lb SPF (R-58)
Exterior walls sheathed with ZIP R-sheathing (OSB mated to a 1” sheet of polyisocynurate rigid foam board insulation,) to eliminate thermal bridging
Exterior walls framed with 2×6’s at 24” spacing, insulated with 2” of 2lb SPF and 3.5” of 1/2lb SPF (R-34 exterior wall assembly, including ZIP-R sheathing)
18” roof trusses filled with 1/2lb SPF (R-65)
European triple-glazed windows with u-values of 0.13 (roughly R-8)
Fiber cement siding installed over drainable weather resistive barrier
Wall-hung, air-source heat pump units heat and cool the entire house
Condensing, propane, tankless water heater for domestic hot water
Energy recovery ventilation