Earth Day Festival will have Green Home

As we get closer to Earth Day I keep an eye out for interesting projects. Tis one in my own community caught my eye and I felt it would be good to make it public on my blog

April 13, 2009, Santa Barbara
Written by MATT BLOISE

The future home of Lisa and Bryana Camarillo is quickly taking shape in the park at the corner of Santa Barbara and East Sola streets. The structure displays green features and fire safety provisions for the public to see.

The house is a unique project, combining private philanthropy, public awareness and environmental technology to create a home for a family displaced from the Tea Fire. At the same time, it showcases construction features that can make future homes more energy efficient.

John Heffner, project coordinator at the construction site, said “a pretty good portion” of the house will be completed by Earth Day, almost a week away. The first phase of construction will complete 80 percent of the home, built in just over a week, using largely donated materials and labor to raise the home in the park. Exterior and interior work — including cabinetry, front hall and back half — should be completed by that time, he said, and will also be framed and insulated. Donations from members of the community have also help build the house, he said.

Up where the former Camarillo residence once was, the foundation was also being laid for the new home, added Mr. Heffner, which would be ready to install by the time the house is done. The Tuesday after Earth Day, it will be shipped in two halves, and Mr. Heffner said that within a month and a half, the mother and daughter should be able to live in it.

Many of the visitors to the park had come to see the green technology at work. “We are doing some work on our house, and we’re interested in green (approaches),” said an onlooker. “If we’re doing something in the house or making modifications, we want it to be green.”
The house will be designed to be as fire-proof as possible “in all ways” in a mountainous region prone to fires. “Fire will always find the chink in the armor,” Mr. Heffner said.

Scott Coffman, a retired firefighter from Carpinteria who responded to the Tea Fire, explained some of the features that will protect the house from fires. The siding will be fiber-cement, a fire-resistant material that will not ignite if fire is lit next to it. The house will have eaves — the portion of the roof that hangs down over the walls — that will be boxed in, so that any embers cannot fly up to the roof and start a fire there. The roof will be recycled steel that will also be fire-retardant and will be Class A, the highest level of fire protection. Additionally, the house will have a 100-foot defensible space, meaning that there will not be sufficient vegetation around the home to fuel a fire if embers spread into the area.

“There were some houses that we saved because they had defensible space,” said Mr. Coffman. “If you can keep the fuels away from the house, you can save the house. Without defensible space, you’re in a world of hurt.”

Mr. Coffman said that while he had faced larger fires, during the Tea Fire the forest was filled with a wave of embers — tiny flaming pieces of wood or vegetation that flew in the air — and that could settle in any piece of a house and start a fire. “The intensity was unbelievable, probably about as intense as anything we’ve ever seen,” he said. These embers contributed to the greatest destruction. The house being built will also avoid a ventilation system above ground, so that embers cannot travel through the vents to start a fire.

Mr. Coffman predicted future homes in the area will be built with an eye to preventing the infiltration of embers. He expects many residents of the area will embrace fire safety approaches and green technology.