Earth Advantage Home Certification
Earth Advantage Home Certification ensures that your home is at least 20% more energy efficient than the state building code requires. Certification also means that your home passed at least two rigorous inspections by a trained building science professional to ensure it met Earth Advantage’s high certification standards.
Those inspections ensure your home was built to last, works efficiently, provides a healthy indoor environment, and retains its value. As a nonprofit, third-party verifier, Earth Advantage gives you the peace of mind your home was built better.
Practices used during the construction of an Earth Advantage certified home diminish land degradation and deforestation, promote healthy landscapes, reduce waste, and prevent potential erosion associated with lot development during the construction process.
New home construction and upkeep depend heavily on natural resources. The use of locally manufactured products is encouraged because they are environmentally responsible. Durable material choices are also incorporated. This helps the environment by reducing the number of materials needed to maintain the home
Building Safer Homes For Your Family
How does going green contribute to safer homes? Being Earth Advantage certified means that, while building your Portland home, we’re conscious of all of the materials and processes that can affect your family’s health. From indoor air quality to water usage and materials, we build for the benefit of your family’s overall health and lifestyle.
As an Earth Advantage certified Portland, Or home builder we begin by ensuring that our homes contain earth-friendly building materials that off-gas fewer harmful chemicals than most builders use. Our homes are carefully air sealed preventing airborne allergens and industrial particles from coming in. We then incorporate ventilation systems that reduce airborne contaminants, diminishing the chances of allergies, asthma, and other more serious health risks. We ensure all gas combustion systems are sealed, and we ensure that the home is protected from excessive moisture that results in growing organisms including molds, fungi, and pests
More Comfortable Homes
Can you walk around your home in the winter in your bare feet? Comfortable homes have a consistent temperature in winter and summer. They are cozy on a cold winter evening and comfortable on scorching summer days. The air is clean and pleasant and the surfaces fit your life.
Do you move easily from task to task as you prepare meals in your kitchen? A well-designed kitchen begins with bringing in the groceries and ends with finishing the evening with everything in its proper place. There is enough storage, good lighting, quality appliances, and counter space right where you need it.
Do your guests enjoy a variety of spaces when they visit? The proper design incorporates the flow of everyday life with spaces that are dual-purpose promoting hospitality and relationship. Thoughtful lighting design combines task lighting with ambient lighting and accent lighting changing a space from a homework station to a pleasant casual dining space.
The Team at Stone Creek Building intentionally creates comfortable homes with our client families specifically in mind.
More Efficient Homes
Building efficiently is good for the environment but also good for your family. Earth Advantage Certified Homes use a variety of features and techniques to save 20% or more energy than homes built to current code. Those include effective insulation systems, high-performance HVAC equipment, tight construction and sealed ducts. We add Energy Star qualified lighting and appliances and air-sealing techniques, and Earth Advantage certified home’s monthly energy costs can be significantly lower than those of a traditionally built home.
Our Earth Advantage certified new homes are also built using water-wise technologies that help lower water bills, reduce the amount of water needed to maintain a comfortable lifestyle and contribute to a clean water environment.
Integrated Design Process
Stone Creek Building believes that exceptional home results are achieved by being thoughtful, and intentional. The best high performing, comfortable, efficient, and safe homes don’t just happen by accident. The best homes are not off-the-shelf plans that have a few tools and techniques added to them. They are well-conceived projects that incorporate Site Planning, Building Form, and House Layout.
Our in-house designer is thoroughly trained in all phases of building science. From moisture flow, and heat flow, to solar orientation and the physics of rain. A Proper design incorporates the flow of everyday life with color, texture, light, space, and comfort. To achieve a great design with high performance requires the integration of the following: People – Building – Environment.
Stone Creek Building follows the Integrated Design Process using collaboration across a multi-disciplinary team based on a shared vision and understanding of the goals and budget constraints defined in the first meetings with our clients. Our commitment to implementing and following the IDP concepts grows with each home we build.
