Typical Habitat for Humanity Houses in Mobile, AL (top) and Slidell, LA (bottom).

In the recovering communities along the Gulf Coast, the need for housing, particularly affordable housing, is still acute. While builders struggle to meet demand and keep up with the changing code environment, they have little energy to devote to learning new and better ways of building homes. Yet there is a prevalent interest throughout the whole region in not just rebuilding but in rebuilding the Gulf Coast better.

Given the opportunity to impact thousands of houses in dozens of communities, DOE has provided abundant technical resources to builders in the region on how to apply Building America’s proven approach to building high performance homes. In many markets across America, this type of technical assistance to production builders has created a ripple of change, in a challenging post-disaster environment, builders are reluctant to embrace any unnecessary change. To spur change, the Department of Energy funded a unique BAIHP effort to build demonstration houses in partnership with affordable housing providers. In addition to the normal complement of technical assistance, this demonstration effort will track and pay the incremental cost of the high performance package including staff time.

Even with this financial incentive, builders were reluctant to commitment their limited resources to the demonstration effort. After discussing the challenge with many affordable housing providers in the region, four Habitat for Humanity affiliates agreed to participate – motivated both by the learning opportunity and a desire to advocate for high quality affordable housing in their communities.

The four affiliates operate in Baton Rouge, New Orleans, and Slidell, Louisiana and Mobile, Alabama. Each affiliate has committed to building two demonstration houses. The first house will be a trial run to iron out the details and clarify quality assurance measures. The second house will serve as a the centerpiece for one-day workshop builders and subcontractors that will cover the Building America systems engineering process and discussion of how to implement the high performance package in different types of houses.

Researchers worked with the four builders to evaluate their standard practices and identify a package of improvements from the Building America high performance recommendations that are appropriate for their construction process. Special attention was given to selecting improvements with broad applicability to maximize the benefit of the demonstration.

Brandon Strunk (site supervisor) and Josh Bontrager (construction manager) at East St. Tammany Habitat (Slidell, LA) review analysis with Building America researcher Janet McIlvaine.

The Gulf Coast High Performance Affordable Housing Demonstration homes will be built by:

• Habitat for Humanity of Greater Baton Rouge (Louisiana)
• New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity (Louisiana)
• East St. Tammany Habitat for Humanity (Louisiana)
• Habitat for Humanity of Mobile County (Alabama)

Indoor Air Quality Features

• No atmospheric combustion heating or water heating equipment (therefore, no combustion safety measures required)
• Low radon potential (therefore, no mitigation system recommended)
• Indoor humidity and infiltration control strategies (estimated natural ach < 0.35)
  • House wrap, air sealing, and insulation checklist and inspection (ENERGY STAR Thermal Bypass Checklist) Top plate and exterior wall penetrations sealed
  • For frame floors: bottom plate and floor deck penetrations sealed
  • Passive, positive pressure ventilation when Heat/AC operates
  • Heating and cooling equipment right-sized with ACCA Manual J
  • Kitchen and bath exhaust fans ducted to outside for humidity control
  • Interior air handler closet (sealed and separated from attic and crawl space)
  • R-13 wall insulation - dense pack cellulose or batt (fiberglass or recycled cotton) installed to meet RESNET Class I quality requirements
  • Sill seal under bottom plate
  • Can lights (when present) are rated for insulation contact and air tight (ICAT)

Baton Rouge Habitat ducted kitchen exhaust fan detail and raised heel truss with radiant barrier roof decking.

Durability* Features

• Air handler in conditioned space (less harsh environment than attic)
• Water heater located in attached storage room (less harsh environment than attic)
• Long life fiber cement siding
• Ship-lapped window and door flashing
• Kitchen and bath exhaust fans ducted to outside for humidity control
• 2’0” overhangs to direct water away from house
• Slab raised to promote drainage away from foundation

Energy Efficiency Features (HERS Index ~73)

• R-30 blown cellulose attic insulation
• R-13 wall insulation meeting RESNET Class I requirements
• Low-E double pane windows
• At least 75% fluorescent lighting
• ENERGY STAR refrigerator (412 kWh/year) and ceiling fans (when present)
• High efficiency heat pump, (at least SEER 14, HSPF 8.5)
• Interior air handler closet (sealed and separated from attic and crawl space)
• Radiant barrier decking
• Sealed air distribution duct system (Qn,out = 0.03 or less)
• Light colored exterior finishes
• Insulated exterior doors with double pane lites

*Disaster resistance measures are addressed by prevailing local codes and are outside the scope of this Department of Energy activity.

For More Information Contact: Janet McIlvaine (janet@fsec.ucf.edu) or David Beal (david@fsec.ucf.edu)