Our Values: Quality

Hi, Dale here.  Welcome to Mi Net Zero!  I’m glad you found us!  In this blog, we’ll explore the why, what, and how of net zero living.  

In this post, I want to share the first of four values we will follow as we design our houses.  These values are the why behind the what of our designs. 

Our first value is quality, on which we take a “no compromise” approach.  By quality we mean the house is built to last and built for health.  Let’s take those in order:

1. Built to Last:
   1. The Phius standards includes a hygrothermal analysis of the building envelope (with a program called WUFI) that ensures the walls, roof, and floors will never have mold-causing moisture condense in them.  This both ensures that the building will be durable AND healthy.
   2. The Phius standards also require back-vented rain screens for the exterior siding and roofing.  This ensures the durability of the siding and roof deck.
   3. Material upgrades that improve durability will include bamboo floors and siding, standing seam metal roof, and 5/8” drywall.
2. Health:
   1. As noted, durability brings health benefits by preventing mold.
   2. In addition, high performance quad-pane windows are designed to never have condensation form on them, again, insuring that mold cannot grow (and also providing an exceptionally comfortable living environment even in the cold of winter).
   3. Exceptional air sealing also significantly reduces the number of insects that find their way into the home.  This is because the entire envelope, top, bottom, and sides, is sealed with high performance membranes and tapes.  (These membranes also both retard vapor flow through the assembly AND allow vapor that does get in to diffuse out, again, preventing mold.) 
   4. Triple-gasket seals in windows and doors prevent air leaks and drafts.
   5. A high efficiency energy recovery ventilator (ERV) provides filtered, fresh air continually to the home.  It provides the fresh air to the living spaces, and removes stale air from the bathrooms, kitchen, and laundry areas.  This home will have near-HEPA filtration that can significantly minimize allergens.
   6. A high-performance induction stove eliminates the pollution associated with natural gas cooking.
   7. All cabinets and interior finishes will be ILFI certified Red-List free.  This certification reduces VOC off gassing and other chemical exposures in the air to healthier levels.

Here’s a downloadable version of a one-page specification sheet on the house where can see some more detail on the high-quality assemblies and components we use as well as the certifications we achieve.

In summary, we are committed to quality because we believe it’s the right way to build and we expect owners to directly benefit from improved durability and exceptional indoor air quality.  

To close, thank you again for engaging!  I invite you to bookmark this page and check back to learn more about how your home is your key to net zero living.

I will aim to post by noon on Fridays.  Next week we’ll review our second design value: Lagom.