49 Orchard Avenue is more than just any green home deeply rooted in nature. Apart from positives such as being twelve miles west of Boston situated in Weston, recently rated amongst one of the top school districts in Massachusetts by Boston Magazine, this property has been nationally recognized for its cutting-edge eco-friendly engineering and prolonged sustainability. The Lindal Green Coast to Coast program constructed this contemporary Lindal Cedar Home in 2007 with the goal of not only protecting the environment but creating a beautiful masterpiece. The underlying motive was also to show how beautiful, affordable and rewarding it can be to live in a green house that not only looks breathtaking, but whose energy and maintenance savings alone are enough to leave any owner proud.
The International Chamber of Commerces (ICC) Green Standard under their Environment and Energy Commission was established in 2009 and it was 49 Orchard Avenues groundbreaking green initiative for the area that attracted the ICCs attention. The Commission is recognized by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and their Green Building Standard for residential construction. This standard, which is administered by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) Research Center, required a verified inspection to take place on the plans and specifications of the constructed residence on 350 different practices that are divided into 6 broader components:
- Lot Design, Preparation and Development
- Resource Efficiency
- Energy Efficiency
- Water Efficiency
- Indoor Air Quality
- Homeowner Operation and Maintenance
49 Orchard Avenue brought fourth very favourable and exciting grades after inspection. It was found that after completion of the Designers Report for National Green Building Certification, this home was awarded a Gold Rating. With 4,948 square feet of living space, five bedrooms, four and a half baths and a three car garage, this homes perceived opulence nonetheless uses approximately 45% less natural gas annually than their typical neighbor of the same size. Measured in Therms (the standard unit of measuring for heat energy) this reduction of a homes energy footprint can save a homeowner upwards of $2,000 per year in energy savings.
Some features that set this Weston home apart include:
- Entire home is enclosed in Icynene foam insulation providing superior air leakage prevention and highest performance insulating capacity for both heating and cooling
- Low E Argon glass double pane solid cedar windows
- Radiant heat in specific areas
- Reversible Casablanca Ceiling Fans to distribute the air from the core open space and even heat from its Lopi Freedom wood stove insert
- Three ductless cooling units for central open space, with a outside compressor unit for redundancy
- Nine forced hot water heat zones
- Six ductless air conditioning zones
- All heating controlled through Tekmar Model 541 programmable thermostats in all main rooms
- Runtal baseboards or wall mounted radiator units
- Great Room, Kitchen and Dining area open space heated with two zones of Viega Climate Panel System
- Aluminum Play Radiant Sub Floor that provides one of the fastest heat recovery times available today
- Outdoor shower
- Two 200 amp electrical panels with surge suppressor for each panel
- Outdoor low voltage lighting
- Built-in stone fire pit
- Sub-Zero refrigerators, Wolfe range top, Miela double oven and dishwasher, LG washer and condensing dryer unit, and Bosch washer and vented dryer all are Energy Star certified
Green living is no longer an unattainable fantasy or simply practiced for the betterment of our planet. Green living is more affordable than it has ever been and can offer homeowners substantial energy savings.
Marketed by the Tom and Joanne Team.
