Why certify your house as a green home? The Midtown Green House will be certified as an EarthCraft House, LEED House, ENERGY STAR home and the NAHB Green Building Standard. Why? For this house it is to show the public the difference between the different programs. The homeowners wanted to green because of the report at the end of this post. Green houses sell for more and faster!
The “proof is in the pudding” -Green homes in Georgia that are certified not only have lower energy bills, but they also sell faster and for more money. To see the report for Q4 2009 visit:
For the 2nd time already (and we just got started) – we are saving money because ‘our trash is another man’s treasure’. A few weeks ago we donated part of the existing house to the Fuller Center to reuse.
Now- I just got word from the landscape designer that the trees that we are going to take off of the jobs site will not end up as mulch but will have an even higher purpose. These are specimen hardwoods that will be milled and made into furniture! This company contacted us to see if they could “take the logs off of our hands” Wood Trader Blog
The main reason that we even got the permit from the City of Atlanta last week was thanks for Joel Kelly. He is the architect on the Midtown Green House and sat down with the city for several days to address any questions or concerns that they might have.
After months of having to deal with zoning issues, we have the permit in hand and will start construction next week! Next step grading and foundations. The site plan that we created shows that we should be dirt neutral when we are finished cutting out for the basement and using that soil as backfill. Actually, there will be .7 yards extra!
While we was grading and getting the footings inspected the foundation will be made off site once we are ready they will install it. This is going to save at lease a week or more on the schedule and the foundation is the same price as one built in place.
One continent won’t do for tastemaker Anthon Muller, who splits his life between
South Africa and the Dirty South | By Danny Bonvissuto | Photography by Sarah Dorio | Atlantan Magazine 2010
Two years ago, Anthon Muller was at the tippy top of the corporate ladder as a Vodafone business executive in his native South Africa. Today he’s the CEO and owner of Scic (pronounced “chic”) Atlanta, a new super- sleek design showroom-cum-rotating art gallery in Midtown. There he spends his days plying clients with cappuccino and exclusive lines of Italian design like the Scic System 30 kitchen, which has options for shimmering 24K gold-leaf doors.
At night, the showroom takes on more of a salon feel with periodic dinners for local creatives like designer/HGTV star John Gidding and architect Bill Carpenter, amid primarily South African artworks. Muller hand-picks the intriguing pieces, which range from modern “fractual” abstracts to origami-like white ceramics. And how did he make the leap from Vodafone exec to style impresario? “My job was sitting in boardrooms, running from one meeting to the next and spending three days a week in airplanes,” Muller says in his clipped English accent with a hint of Afrikaans. “But I have a creative side that I couldn’t exercise in the corporate environment.” So love and an economy-be-damned design market lured Muller to open an outpost of the Italian-based Scic in ATL, where he and his life partner are upgrading a Midtown condo that has (gasp!) basic appliances. “Right now our home is in transition, but it’s going to be gorgeous.”
Muller still spends a lot of time in airplanes: trips to monitor Scic showrooms opening in Cape Town and Houston in early 2010, quarterly jaunts to Europe for trend research, plus vacations to Russia and Egypt. And the 37-year-old is about to sign up for even more. His 2010 resolution is to get his pilot’s license and an aircraft. “I was just in D.C. and spent six hours in the Air & Space Museum,” he says. “As soon as it’s possible, I’ll be the first person to sign up to fly to the moon!”
Our rain harvesting partner is designing a specialize tank to fit on the our small lot so we can collect rain water!
Rainwater lands on the roof and drains into the downspouts where it is piped through a filter and then into the tank. From the tank rainwater will be pumped into irrigation system and into house where it will be purified and used to supply toilets and washing machines.
To find out why rainwater collection is so important, even when there is a rain surplus visit their site at:
We are set to start construction soon now that we got word from the City of Atlanta that we can pick the permit up this week. Hold on- we are using some techniques that will made the foundation and framing phase go by in a flash. For the foundation we are having it built off site and will be installed within 4 hours of delivery and the framing package will go up quickly since it is pre-engineered as well. Since the foundation is fully cured before it is installed, we can start framing as soon as it goes up since the concrete is strong enough to hold up the new weight.
We finally got our demolition permit and within 12 hours of posting the permit, we started major demolition! The whole house came down by the end of the day.
The mission of the Midtown Green House is to educate the trade and the consumer about how good design and sustainable practices go hand in hand. We partnered with the Fuller Center to selectively demolish parts of the house that can be reused again. Here is a video introduction to what we are planning to do at the house.
We will post some more videos in the near future to chronicle the parts of the house that we were able to save and where they will get reused.
The Southern Building Show is going to have a special section for all of the vendors for the Midtown Green House that decide to get a booth at the show. Anthon Muller of SCIC cabinets thinks that ‘this is a great idea’ and will help the attendees at the 2010 show get a better understanding of how all of the designed components fit together.
Make sure that you do not get left behind. The Southern Building Show is a great venue to learn about the latest design trends and cutting edge products. Make sure that you register today!
If you are interested in becoming a sponsor for the Midtown Green House click here.
Next week we will start taking reusable materials out of the existing house on the site to be donated to the local chapter of the Fuller Center. They will reuse these materials on existing homes of low income households that need help with the repairs. Once the storage container is dropped and we have some video and pictures we will share them with you.
Materials to be saved will include doors, hardware, hardwood flooring etc. We will also save any of the metal during the demolition of the house so it can be recycles as well. Recycling is good, however reusing is greener! Especially if it is for a good cause!
The Hoots Group, Atanta’s Green builder was selected to build the 2010 Southern Building Show Showcase house. This Year’s house will be located in midtown Atlanta just a few minutes from the show itself. Designed by Joel Kelly Designs, it is a modern house that will be showcasing modern design and cutting edge green technologies.
This year’s show will be located in the World Congress Center in downtown Atlanta. For more information on the show itself visit- Southern Building Show 2010.
