Environmentally conscious development

The Specs

• Approximately 9,500 finished square feet on 3.6 acres
• Energy efficient, fire-resistant and surrounding vegetation and trees left largely undisturbed
• Walls made from class-A materials, including cultured logs will contribute to the home’s fire-resistant exterior
• Insulation that is formaldehyde-free that provides superior energy performance for the life of your home
• Heating that comes from energy-saving radiant heat; Warmboad is under the wood floors
• Groundbreaking began in August of 2006 with the public debut slated for September 29, 2007
• Located in Bear Dance in the countryside near Larkspur, Colorado
• Warmboard is the only radiant heat panel and structural subfloor in one
• Warmboard delivers even, responsive, energy efficient radiant heat
• Warmboard’s ease of installation, faster response times and no restrictions on floor coverings all add up to unparalleled performance and efficiency

Green building can be luxurious too!! Warmboard has joined with Ken Pieper and Associates and numerous other eco-friendly suppliers to showcase green building trends. This 8,200-square-foot, five-bedroom home has been designed and constructed to surpass Built Green standards, using natural, reclaimed and organic materials wherever possible. Built with logs made from composite materials, the home requires relatively little maintenance and is fire-resistant.

Dream home stats

• 5 bedrooms, including a spacious master suite
• 7 luxurious bathrooms
• Energy-efficient and professionally-equipped gourmet kitchens
• Temperature-controlled wine cellar
• Extensive outdoor entertaining space
• Breath-taking great room
• Environmentally-friendly design
• Sustainable site
• Structurally superior
• Organic home products throughout

Building and decorating green is hot!!

Although Green Building has been gaining momentum in recent years, it has a long history. Back in the 19th century, passive systems such as roof ventilators and underground air-cooling chambers were introduced. In the early 20th century, skyscrapers were built with deep-set windows to shade the rooms from direct sun and Frank Lloyd Wright used large overhangs to allow the sun in during the winter and keep it out in the summer. Global warming, rising energy costs and a concern about the quality of the environment has tapped into a very American can-do attitude. Architects are specifying floors of reclaimed wood or renewable resources like bamboo. Designers are creating furniture out of recycled corrugated cardboard and area rugs out of materials like palm leaves, cactus and hemp. Warmboard’s contribution to Green Building is two fold. Germs, dust, pollen and mold spores generally associated with forced air systems do not apply to Warmboard radiant heat. Warmboard provides superior comfort with healthy, clean indoor air quality. Additionally, the high conductivity of the panel leads to lower water temperatures. This creates greater energy efficiency that ultimately reduces energy use and benefits the environment.

UNIQUE BENEFITS

• Saving Money

Warmboard’s radiant panel is so conductive it uses the lowest water temperatures in the industry. Home-owners realize 10-30% decrease in energy costs

• Saving Resources

Warmboard’s 12″ on center tubing outperforms other panels using 6″ on center tubing. This spacing also results in lower material useage. It replaces a traditional plywood sub-floor, further reducing wood usage while its high conductivity reduces the amount of tubing and manifolds needed for radiant heat.

• Better Health

Germs, dust, pollen and mold spores do not apply to Warmboard. Warmboard is a significant contributor to healthy, clean indoor air quality. In fact our founder invented it to help his asthmatic children.

“Warmboard- it just makes sense”

-Ken Pieper (Architect)

To learn more about the Mountain living Dream Home, please visit: http://www.mountainliving.com/mountain/dreamhome/dream_info.html

Mountain Living Natural Dream Home, CO. PDF

Warmboard Chosen as Radiant Flooring System for U.S. Government Retrofit Application

It is the coldest, driest, wettest, windiest, most extreme place on Earth. It is a landmass of 14 million square kilometers, containing more than 90 percent of the world’s ice. The climate is described as a “cold desert.” It is Antarctica. Since 1959, more than 14 countries from around the world have used this continent strictly as a place of research. For studies of Antarctic marine ecosystems to research of the Earth’s atmosphere, Antarctica is the seasonal home to a global team of scientists and engineers.

U.S. contractors recently began the renovation of U.S. Antarctic Program buildings in Antarctica. In these buildings,heat is the priority. But with winter temperatures reaching an average of -40 degrees Fahrenheit, how do you build a structure that provides adequate warmth and comfort? These U.S. contractors chose Warmboard to solve the problem.

“Let’s face it – this is the coldest place on earth. We chose Warmboard because it provides the kind of heat we need here,” says Bill Koleto, Consulting Engineer for the United States Antarctic Program. “Warmboard gives you warmth where you ARE – at the floor level. It’s easy to install and it’s energy-efficient.”

Warmboard is a unique three-in-one radiant heating system that provides a surprising, yet smart solution to heat dilemmas – by designing a system that is located in the floor. Warmboard offers an efficient heating system on its unique base of strong, tongue-and-groove subflooring. Hot water is circulated through tubing installed on these flooring panels. This heat radiates through an aluminum top layer – into living spaces. This radiant heat travels through the air, but rather than heating the air, the heat energy warms solid objects in the room. The heat offered by the floor and the solid objects in the room creates a clean, fresh and comfortable heat balance in any room.

Engineers were thrilled to learn about Warmboard’s ease of installation, since many similar products on the market require the pouring of concrete – a virtual impossibility in a cold climate, much less in Antarctica. In addition, Warmboard’s retrofit applicability matched this job, as one of the goals for this renovation was also to protect the building from damage resulting from seismic activity. Warmboard’s low mass is an added benefit in applications where seismic activity is a concern, because it adds negligible load to a structure, particularly when compared to systems using concrete.

A team of engineers traveled to Antarctica for the renovation and seismic retrofitting of U.S. Antarctic Program Building #155. Home to a large dining hall, a computer server room, and TV/radio equipment, this building is one of the hubs of American activity in Antarctica. The job included an overhaul of the building’s dining facility, including multi-level flooring installation. Warmboard excels in installations like these because of its two-in-one solution forbuilders as a sub-flooring and heating system in one cost and energy-efficient package. Warmboard’s subflooring features seven bonded layers for extra strength, and added functionality for the easy creation of multi-level floors. The 1 1/8 inch flooring panels feature visible tubing paths for the insertion of hydronic tubing. The system’s aluminum topcoat ensures that uniform heat is conducted in any room.

“Warmboard is a great system to work with because the product itself makes installation so easy,” said Ken Robinson, a carpenter involved in the installation. “The tongue and groove system of the subflooring fits together beautifully – and the tubing is really easy to place. From the flooring panels to the aluminum sheathing, this was one of the most user-friendly products I’ve ever installed.”

In this application, Warmboard has been installed as part of a forced-air system; the hydronic tubing will conduct heated glycol. “In Antarctica, you can’t use water for this system,” said Robinson. “You need something with a lower freezing temperature – so we’ve used glycol – and Warmboard allowed us this flexibility.” Warmboard provides a comfortable heat balance that matches a body’s external temperature of 85° F.

While seals and penguins may thrive in the Antarctic, humans probably never will. But with the best quality materials in building and a Warmboard radiant flooring system in place, at least they will be warm.