KC Health Home | The KC Health Home Solution

The KC Health Home Solution

For more than ten years, the American Lung Association (ALA) has been leading the initiative to identify the sources of unhealthy indoor air quality and to help develop methodologies and products that significantly improve the quality of indoor air. The result of the American Lung Association’s efforts is a program called “Health House” which educates and certifies builders who are interested in constructing higher quality, healthier and more energy efficient homes. Every American Lung Association Health House must be built by an ALA Certified Builder, conform to an extensive list of detailed requirements and be inspected for conformity and performance by an independent auditor.

Beginning in 2005, H&S Covenant Homes began its research, education and training in building homes with cleaner indoor environments. This arduous process culminated in certification in 2006 and the initiation of our first Health Home in 2007. Even after building custom homes for more than 25 years, there was a wide array of new building science to assimilate and new products to embrace. While there is still much to learn, H&S Covenant Homes believes it is the leader in healthy home construction in the Kansas City metro area.

Please step inside and let us welcome you to the KC Health Home, a project guaranteed to raise important questions about the type of home you may want to live in.

KC Health Home Affordability

Perhaps one of the most challenging aspects of building homes with healthier indoor environments is to do so at reasonable and affordable prices. The process of making a healthy house demands a keen understanding of the cost/benefit tradeoff of various strategies that eliminate home pollutants from a home’s living spaces. Only a very limited number of consumers could afford to take every precautionary step in removing all pollutants from their homes. The American Lung Association Health House program ensures that the most critical healthy house solutions are mandatory requirements in their certification protocol. In addition, the ALA has hundreds of other strategies that are recommended but not required for their stamp of approval.

It is very difficult to state the incremental costs of building a home to Health Home standards. Much of it depends on the size and scope of the home. What we can do is schedule an in-person meeting to discuss approximate costs for some of the key health home products and systems such as:

»	Single zone HVAC system with high efficiency 94% furnace and 13.5 seer A/C – Cost over typical HVAC system
»	HRV – Heat Recovery System to ensure constant air exchange
»	Capillary breaks in foundation walls and vapor barriers
»	Waterproofing of foundation walls
»	Advanced insulation systems
»	Advanced framing techniques to ensure tightness
»	Sealed combustion appliances
»	Direct vent fireplaces
»	Radon mitigation system
»	Low VOC paints, finishes, adhesives and engineered wood products

Energy Star Bonus

Before any American Lung Association Health House can be built, the plans and specifications for that home must be submitted to an independent energy auditer to validate and ensure that the home will qualify as an “Energy Star” home. The Energy Star requirements are demanding, but ensure that the home is at least 15% more energy efficient than the average home currently constructed utilizing building codes in effect today.

The Energy Star program requires more advanced framing techniques, higher efficiency windows, advanced insulation, sealed combustion mechanicals, a super tight building envelope and a host of other energy saving strategies. Most importantly, the Energy Star rating requires a series of independent inspections to ensure compliance.

You might say that we get to “kill two birds with one stone” when we build a Health Home because the American Lung Association standards incorporate all of the Energy Star requirements. Once the Energy Star standards are met, we can more effectively incorporate the even more exacting ALA Health House standards.

Green Building Bonus

A great secondary benefit of constructing an ALA Health House is that it is also a “Green Home” which positively impacts the environment. Because KC Health Home is also Energy Star compliant, it is substantially more energy efficient than a typically constructed new home. The addition of ICF walls in the KC Health Home will reduce heating and cooling costs by as much as 70%.

KC Health Home, by virtue of its insulation concrete walls (ICF) was built with considerably less lumber than the typical wood framed home. Triple glazed windows, spray foam insulation and high efficiency heating and cooling team up to significantly reduce the energy footprint of the home.

The American Lung Association construction requirements demanded the use of low-VOC paints, glues, finishes as well as engineered wood products. All of these products have a positive impact on both the indoor and outdoor air quality.