Our Energy Efficient House

Our house is complete!! It's only taken what seems like forever to finish, but it's done! I have to admit that it's nice to be in a house again. We no longer have people walking around upstairs with their shoes on, slamming cupboards or having company late at night. We no longer have to use quiet voices and walking feet when we get home. AND...the boys each have their own room! I'm not sure who is more excited about them having separate rooms: us or them??

There are so many great things about our new house. It starts with the poured concrete foundation and the SIPs (structurally insulated panels) it's made with. Our attic was spray foamed as well as the vents and perimeter of our basement. We installed ceiling fans in all 3 bedrooms and the living room. Cree (US made) LED light bulbs were put in most fixtures. (Especially those used most often.) We have low flow faucets and shower heads installed in the kitchen and all bathrooms. When the house was done we received a report about the contents of the dumpster and almost 2/3 of the items were recycled! How's that for being green?

The most exciting addition in our new home??  We have dual flush toilets in our bathrooms and even have a waterless URINAL thanks to American Standard!! The waterless urinal definitely helps keep our water usage down with the number of times the boys go to the bathroom. This is the best feature in our house!! Our plumber had never installed a residential urinal so this was new to him as well. As you can see, the urinal hides nicely in the back of the bathroom and you don't notice it until you have to use it. Thank you SO MUCH to America Standard! We are grateful for their generosity and appreciate it very much!

Now it's all about making it feel like home. We have to go through all our pictures and frames to see what will go where. We are waiting for our blinds to arrive so we have some privacy. I'd like to add a window box to our front porch so it feels a little more like home also. The most recent thing we did was add shutters to the front windows and they look great! 

We are also having our house green certified and should be receiving our certificate in the mail. Once received, I think I'll  frame it and post in the entry way. Why not show people what all our green decisions led to in the end, right?

People say you'll hit bumps in the road when building a new house and I think we hit every single bump. Regardless of the issues we had, we love the house! It is our new HOME!