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Building Envelope | Walls | Floors
and Ceiling | Windows
and Doors | Roof
Walls
| Local Tulip poplar trees were used for the siding of the facility. It grew on a family farm just 20 miles from Merry Lea and is certified as sustainably grown by American Tree Farm. Architects chose tulip poplar siding for the collegiate facility to match existing buildings and to take advantage of native materials. |  |
| The tulip polar was harvested and sawed within 25 miles of Merry Lea. The goal is to reduce the distance that materials need to be transported to the building site. |  |
| The buildings are sided with tulip poplar in the board and batten style, which matches the architectural vernacular of the Farmstead and the rural concept. |  |
| All the walls are made of 2" x 6" material to increase the thickness of the insulation, which is critical for having an energy efficient building envelop. |  |
Sheathing is OSB (oriented strand board) formed from wood chips bound with phenol-formaldehyde glue rather than urea-formaldehyde formulations. We are avoiding urea-formaldehyde building products throughout the project since more outgassing can occur with the urea based products. Phenol-formaldehyde is acceptable in the LEED standards. |
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| Workers begin wrapping the buildings, which is critical in creating a tight building envelope. The wrap creates a barrier to reduce air leakage and still permit the building to "breathe" and release trapped moisture.. This is essential in achieving the energy efficiency of the design. |  |
| Exterior walls will be filled with high performance cellulose insulation. This material consists of ground up newspaper - and is an outstanding insulator |  |
| All the heating and cooling ductwork is sealed and insulated to eliminate loss of energy in getting the conditioned air to the various rooms in the cottages. |  |
| The drywall was produced in Indiana. It is 96% recycled material. |  |
| All the cut off ends of drywall have been ground up. The truck is dumping the ground material on site. The gypsum will be spread on the ground as a soil amendment, which works like adding lime. |  |
| The high quality paint is VOC free, which creates a better indoor air quality. |  |