Belmont Attic Conversion

Posted on March 1, 2012 | Leave a comment

Tyler Reed,  one of our three project managers just started another attic renovation for BGB. This makes it 4 attic remodels in the past 3-months. Ths one, though is pretty straight forward and was completely demolished and cleaned out before BGB got on site.

We started with rough framing and straightening and leveling out the existing strapping and collar-ties. Electrical layout and rough-in was next.

Insulation on this job is a combination of open and closed cell spray foam and  is scheduled for the end of this week. We are using closed-cell on the gable-ends  then adding a layer of 1” Dow Tuff-R rigid foam over the studs. This will achieve a total of approx. R-28.375 and eliminate any thermal bridging.

In the third picture above you will see the rough-in for the Mitsubishi mini-split head just above the window. This will heat and cool the space. We roughed-in an HRV on the opposite side of the dwelling and snuck into the ceiling of the bathroom to access the bath fan to pull some stale air from the second floor.

Board is dropped and we will have plaster starting next week as soon as we are approved for our insulation inspection.

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Hopkinton Blu Home Project Update III

Posted on February 24, 2012 | Leave a comment

We have water!!!!!! At a depth of 720’ we hit the required GPM (gallons per min.) The first 7′ was sub-soil and the remaining 613’ was bedrock. NorthEast Water Well Co. drilled  the well for about 5 days the first week of Dec.

Once the well was drilled, we needed to obtain a water sample. These results determined that the water was drinkable. We then delivered this to the local Health Dept. for approval. Once we have this approved this and the health department inspected the well head and conducted a pressure test, we had approval to apply for a foundation permit.

We received our foundation permit on the 27th of January. We are re-mobilizing on the site to start the foundation excavation the end of this week.

The photos above attached show the completion of the road past the bend of the road completed, Well rig on site and photo of the site from behind the well. The final photo gives an idea where the Blu Home units will go. The Well truck is where the ‘Evolution’ will be located.

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Solar PV ROI

Posted on February 21, 2012 | 1 Comment

An update from the Medford DER that is a part of the Thousand Homes Challenge.

Here’s what a 6.9kw solar array can do to your electric bill:

In the span of 2 months, we’ve gone from consumers to producers of electricity back to the power grid, with all of our home’s electricity demands met !

The solar PV system on the roof is leased from Community Energy and installed by Transformations Solar of Townsend, MA.

This, combined with the ultra low heating demands of this super-insulated home is a major triumph for proving the efficacy of retrofitting an old home. This 1908 2-family now outperforms “code built” new-construction homes by a wide margin!

More to come, as we continue tracking our Thousand Homes Challenge compliance over the next 10 months.

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Somerville Renovation Update

Posted on February 20, 2012 | 1 Comment

There has been a lot of quick progress on this project. Since our previous update, which introduced the project, we have finished  completed all the demolition & repurposing, rough framing and rough mechanicals.

The rough framing involved a small crane and a couple tons of steel. This gave us the ability to remove all the interior partitions except one half-bathroom. Cronin Welding and Build-it-up Builders quickly executed the new layout.


One of the major objectives of this projects was to open up the floor plan. In order to do this, we removed the existing chimney and reclaimed the space since the new mechanicals do not need it for venting.  Improved efficient of the mechanical systems and tightening of the building envelope meant that we could increase the ceiling height by removing the existing dropped ceiling without increasing heating costs. We added clerestorey windows for more natural light.

The main steel beam on the first floor  initially projected down by 2″; we added 3″ more inches to it to make it look deliberate.
Lights define the space on the first floor. Malsky Electric, the electrical subcontractors used air-tight receptacle boxes for the rough-ins to cut down on air leakage.

Insulation is scheduled for the end of the week and plaster for the end of next week.



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Cambridge Attic Renovation Update

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 2 Comments

Our attic conversion from un-heated storage space to Master Suite and Guest Bedroom is progressing nicely. We are about to start blue board and plaster.
The strategy for insulation was to spray the open -cell spray foam before installing the HVAC equipment. This ensured that we were able to spray every inch of the space without having to deal with the duct work being in the way. Having said that, this method also protects the duct work from accidental damage. The pictures should give you an indication of the difficulty with spraying the foam behind the duct work.

The City of Cambridge has adopted the Stretch Energy Code, which means that the R-values required in the walls are higher than what is prescribed by the building code. Cambridge also requires all HVAC duct work to be hard piped (no flex).

In the rough framing stage we reinforced the floor joists and roof rafter, installed ¾” plywood and the interior partitions. We also installed 4 Velux skylights and 5 Marvin windows.

Next stages: Dennis Bourne of Bourne plastering is on site and preparing the site for the delivery of blueboard. We love seeing the tarpaper with the seams taped with duct tape; this sets the tone for the rest of the plaster job.

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Cambridge Renovation Project Update

Posted on February 9, 2012 | 2 Comments

Here’s what we said about this project earlier. We are happy to report steady progress.


We have finished the demolition : repurposing and salvaging as much as we could.The project has now moved into the rough framing stage.

In finishing a third floor attic, the challenge was to get the rough framing material up to the attic. We decided to take the extra effort to occupy the street (with the neighbors’ consent) and boom the lumber directly into the attic rather than carry it up manually through the front door to avoid going through the finished spaces. We are using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) certified lumber for this project. This means that the lumber has been sourced from responsibly managed sources.

We are also saving the decking and floor joists for re-use on the project. The design calls for barn doors for different spaces, we will be milling down the old floor joists to create these doors.

We are heading up to Nor’east Architectural Antiques today to view, evaluate and tag some reclaimed timbers for the new collier ties & ridge on the second floor; living room hearth and beams for the kitchen and dining room opening.  The existing second floor ceiling and old 5/4” floor boards will be removed to create a vaulted ceiling.

The images from Stack Design & Build below show the second floor finished perspective.

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Another mechanicals project in JP

Posted on February 6, 2012 | 1 Comment
As part of the Boston “Green Triple Decker” pilot program, this Jamaica Plain 3 family residence will now reap the benefits of energy savings, comfort, and increased property value.
The project entails the replacement of 3 aging furnaces, and 3 water heaters.  2 of the 3 furnaces were installed in the 1920′s and were expensive to operate and maintain, delivered poor comfort, and were of questionable safety to continue operation.  The 3 “standard” efficiency water heater tanks (appox. 55% efficient, were replaced with 96% efficient Navien models that only operate on-demand, so there are no standing losses of heat.
The improvements to the building envelope improvements include a program of air sealing in the basement and attic; addressing thermal bypass issues with pipe and wire penetrations where air was infiltrating.  The attic sloped ceiling cavities are being insulated with densepack cellulose, and the open ceiling framing will be covered with loose fill cellulose.  Behind the difficult to access knee wall areas, we will spray open cell foam to insulate the roof, and seal it to the top of the 2nd floor walls to address this notorious air leakage concern.

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