LaFleur Riverview Home

HOME DESCRIPTION:

The LaFleur Riverview House is a mid-century split level home originally constructed in 1963, and is nestled along the river valley in Geneva IL. To take advantage of views of the Fox River, the home was oriented on a north-south axis with a simple gable roof facing East and West.  The home’s orientation along with mature trees surrounding the site make for a very challenging installation for solar photovoltaics, but as a green building professional, the homeowner has been motivated to decarbonize within these site constraints.

Initial focus for home improvements focused on controlling thermal loads within the space. Previous owners had installed a west-facing two-story sunroom, with glazed ceiling that accounted for very extreme temperature swings between winter and summer. Isolating that space and controlling heat loss through a sealed attic approach and other air infiltration reduction strategies were employed. Mechanical system improvements first targeted indoor air quality issues, with a separately ducted fresh air system (energy recovery ventilator or ERV) retrofitted non-invasively, and attention to exhaust from pollutant sources. Due to load control, the two central HVAC systems were redundant. One was removed.

The remaining HVAC system was replaced with a prototype natural gas-fired air-to-water heat pump, which is one mechanical device providing both space heat and water heat to the home in a combined – or combi – system installation. This gas heat pump system sits outside the home’s thermal boundary to avoid concerns around combustion impacts on indoor air quality, and achieves over 140%  AFUE levels of efficiency.

Other wholistic approaches to green building include low-VOC finishes, installation of water efficient fixtures throughout, and a heavy focus on sustainable landscaping, including the use of permaculture techniques to help control unwanted solar gain on the south façade, and a rain garden to help address areas of poor drainage. Biophilic design informed a balcony reconstruction project, with the waste material from the old balcony used to create a whimsical treehouse getaway overlooking the Fox River.

Environmental data from the sunroom.