George and Susan Sullivan are rehabbing their 90-year-old brick three-flat in Rogers Park–gutting it and then some. They want to make it the city’s greenest Arts and Crafts building, as well as the first privately owned multiunit residential rehab in the country to get the federal government’s Energy Star certification. In three years and counting, they’ve caulked, insulated, replaced windows, added brick walls to soak up sunlight, and installed new heating and cooling systems. George figures these improvements have already saved them thousands of dollars a year in utility bills.
“The place had been rented as a cash cow,” says Susan, “like, ‘All I want is the income and then I’m out of here.’ It took us a year of reacting to maintenance emergencies before we could get to a proactive stance.”
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The goal of creating a green home can be approached in many different ways. Some approaches are global: the Sullivans buy environmentally certified lumber, which may help save forests half a world away. Some are local: they buy paint and adhesives that don’t outgas organic solvents, making the air more breathable in and around their home (especially important in tightly insulated spaces). Some approaches save energy–no small thing given that residential and commercial buildings use more energy than all forms of transportation put together–and they save money: insulating their water pipes cost an extra $480, but George says it cut hot-water costs by two-thirds and paid for itself within six months. Some are expensive, and the return is less tangible: their roof garden cost more than a standard roof, but it adds value at resale and is pleasant in and of itself. It also has three environmental benefits: it reduces the urban heat-island effect, decreases the impermeable surface area that contributes to floods and the release of sewage into Lake Michigan, and acts as a wildlife minihabitat and a source of native seeds.
In any case, being green doesn’t mean that you ignore money. It does mean that you don’t worship exclusively at that altar–that you sometimes pay extra to be environmentally friendly, whether or not you get every dime back the next year.
Most people are familiar with the idea of looking at the energy-efficiency labels on new appliances. Less obvious is what becomes of appliances later on, when they’re replaced. This concern motivated the Sullivans to buy cast-iron bathtubs, which are even more environmentally friendly than recyclables because they can be reused. Here again there’s a trade-off: cast iron costs more up front; fiberglass is cheaper, but it doesn’t last as long and then goes right to the landfill.
With brick, insulation has to be added to the inside, making the rooms smaller. Ordinarily you’d need six inches of insulation to achieve R 18, but that would have reduced the Sullivans’ floor area by more than 100 square feet per floor. George managed to get the same R value with just one and three-quarters inches. Against the brick wall he put a three-quarter-inch CertainTeed fiberglass batt that’s R 8, chosen because it meets the standards of two programs: Energy Star (it’s produced in an environmentally friendly fashion) and Green Seal (it doesn’t contain formaldehyde). Against that he put an extra-thick (ten mil) plastic vapor barrier. Finally he added two layers of a half-inch Dow Chemical board called TUFF-R. These boards, rated R 5, are made of closed-cell polyurethane faced with foil, and he arranged them so that the two layers overlapped, minimizing air leaks. All seams were sealed with foil tape before the drywall went up.
