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It depends on the HOA, but you usually have to submit paperwork. So when you submit the roofer's quote to them, they would see what the material is made of.
You really don't want to try and "get over" on an HOA, if they discover you have, they could potentially make you re-roof to be in compliance...people have to repaint their houses all the time .
HOA neighborhoods can be nice to live in, you just have to know what the rules are and make sure you're okay with them before you move in.
If the HOA is not pro-green you will run into lots of snags and problems down the road.
I second tallrick's suggestion..move outside the city limits and do what you want.
How you site your house is just as important for passive solar energy and that is just not allowed in neighborhoods with lots.
That's what I would do too. Another option is to buy in a developer New Urbanism community where the developer is building using green products, but you're not custom building.
Tek_Freek offers good advice. We build in Tampa and you cannot tell from looking at the house (inside or out) that it is going to be Certified by Florida Green Building Coalition and Energy Star.
TF is right about the ICF's once the exterior finish is on you don't know the walls are superinsulated; I prefer Structural Insulated Panels (SIPS) from http://platinumadvanced.com - they have 26.5 R, made to your design (factory built. but still considered site built by the building dept, so meets the HOA test there) & panels go up very fast (especially if your crew is familiar with metal framing). They meet the wind codes here in Fl and are termite & mold resistant. You can stucco (most common finish here) right over the fiberglass mesh that covers the panels. The cost is barely over traditional methods, the time savings in labor costs makes up for the extra cost of the panels. If you use the panels for the roof, you don't need traditional trusses, so you can have cathedral ceilings, those do get pricey though. If you go with wood or steel trusses, then use an open cell spray on insulation (icyene - which although is a petroleum product, does provide super insulation so, yes, there are the green, greener and greenest variants) open cell is also offered in a soy product, but again another discussion of how green??
The windows and doors are Energy Star, with an insulated garage door too. All glass is Low-E, high impact & double paned (sever weather protection is also green, since your home won't be damaged in storms and need major repairs).
We have natural gas here, so we installed tankless hot water saving water and energy all at once. We also save water inside with low flow faucets, showers, and toilets (and not having a disposal grinder in the sink) and rain barrels, micro irrigation (if any at all) and planting native species outside.
As for solar, here in Florida, it is illegal for any HOA to prohibit their installation on any property. I know, I used to write the docs for the developer I worked for, before the bust that is...
If you have a flat roof, consider a green one, also not visible from the street, which is the main thrust of the HOA docs. The benefits are tremendous, but depending on your location may not be feasable Green Roofs for Healthy Cities - Home
Please focus on the possibilities and not the restrictions...I applaud your choice of a new ubanism community, walkability is the best way to be green!
Tek Freek, thanks so much for all the links! I've bookmarked the GreenBuilding fora and will be checking those often.
I'm building in the Charleston, SC area, and the main ARB requirement is that the house solidly demonstrates the Charleston vernacular. I don't view this as a negative requirement; I love the Charleston style of architecture and it's part of the reason why we chose the neighborhood we're building in.
So, metal roofing would be welcomed by the HOA/ARB in this case. I am looking into the traditional metal panel roofing materials, as they fit in well with our house design. I'll be sure to keep my eye on aluminum.
The IFC and geothermal sound like great options, and I'm going to start doing some research on windows, too.
I had tankless hot water in my last (100+ year old) house in RI (the old verson of it, with a timer) and loved it. That's high up on the priority list for this house, too.
We'll look into solar, to see if the SC laws match those in FL. I just made an assumption that solar would be refused here.
Thank you all for your great suggestions! And I'm relieved that there were only a couple of posters who had negative things to say about New Urbanism.
I can totally see the appeal for some of moving to a rural area and building with no restrictions. For me, though, I'm way too much of a social creature to go "off the grid" entirely. Walking to parks and the market are a big part of my life, and I'm just happy to have found this compromise for myself.
Tek Freek, thanks so much for all the links! I've bookmarked the GreenBuilding fora and will be checking those often.
I'm building in the Charleston, SC area, and the main ARB requirement is that the house solidly demonstrates the Charleston vernacular. I don't view this as a negative requirement; I love the Charleston style of architecture and it's part of the reason why we chose the neighborhood we're building in.
So, metal roofing would be welcomed by the HOA/ARB in this case. I am looking into the traditional metal panel roofing materials, as they fit in well with our house design. I'll be sure to keep my eye on aluminum.
The IFC and geothermal sound like great options, and I'm going to start doing some research on windows, too.
I had tankless hot water in my last (100+ year old) house in RI (the old verson of it, with a timer) and loved it. That's high up on the priority list for this house, too.
We'll look into solar, to see if the SC laws match those in FL. I just made an assumption that solar would be refused here.
Thank you all for your great suggestions! And I'm relieved that there were only a couple of posters who had negative things to say about New Urbanism.
I can totally see the appeal for some of moving to a rural area and building with no restrictions. For me, though, I'm way too much of a social creature to go "off the grid" entirely. Walking to parks and the market are a big part of my life, and I'm just happy to have found this compromise for myself.
the solar panels used today are not the eye sore that they were in the past. If you choose the right lot they can be virtually invisible. Passive solar arrays can be fitted and have an installed height of 5" off of the roof surface. Get a south south east facing lot, with the rear of the house to that direction. Geo-thermal does need some space, there is a minimum distance they need to be installed from the house. Most cities now are adopting laws to prohibit HOA's from interfering with the use of "green" items. New builds are in my mind better to do than using an old house that you may think is "green" IE that 1800's inner city Victorian. They typically have a very high infiltration rate for airflow, and leak like a siv. They generally do not have insulation and if they do it is newspaper that was read the day they were installing the lath and plaster. The windows were single pane, and wood clad. It is Extremely expensive to get an old house up to the energy standards that new homes are being built with today. check with your local jurisdiction and see what the requirements are for energy code in your area. Boulder Colorado instituted a HERS energy rating system along with the "green" points and energy star rating systems within the county. Any new building that falls within certain square footage needs to meet a set energy rating on the HERS scale. Homes at 4500 sqft need to reach a HERS rating of 10 which is 90% better than 2004 IECC code, or more energy efficient than your standard 5-star rated home. Very strict, but there are more and more cities that are instituting these building regulations.
From my personal experience designing many homes in our local New urbanist sub-divisions, the HOA's in them seem to be more open for using alternative building materials. ICF's are GREAT, they do however increase the cost of the home, usually around 20-25% more. There are various ways to get a traditional stick framed building to be environmentally friendly and at a much friendlier cost than going with ICF's or SIP panels. the type of insulation and windows are going to play a HUGE roll in the end result.
In Charleston, SC cooling will be a more expensive proposition than heating. The ground source heat pump would be a real money saver. Also design the house for lots of night time passive ventilation to store the coolth for the day. Remember the point of all this Green is to save money overall.
If the HOA objects you and a few like thinking friends can get elected to the board and change the rules.
In Charleston, SC cooling will be a more expensive proposition than heating. The ground source heat pump would be a real money saver. Also design the house for lots of night time passive ventilation to store the coolth for the day. Remember the point of all this Green is to save money overall.
If the HOA objects you and a few like thinking friends can get elected to the board and change the rules.
ALL green items are EXPENSIVE, and take many many years to see any benifit out of them.
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