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The New American Home 2007 Project

The project is a 'real-world' laboratory demonstrating that "housing performance" can be incorporated into the most simple or most complex homes, and that it's equally as important as aesthetics.

This year, there are two homes unveiled at the IBS: The New American Home® 2007 adds a contemporary flair to the neighborhood, while The Renewed American Home® 2007 demonstrates what can be done to update an older home.

Location: The Lake Eola Heights Historic District is celebrated for its charming historical qualities and prized location near downtown Orlando. Both show homes — The New American Home 2007 and The Renewed American Home 2007 — are built on an in-fill site overlooking Lake Eola with views of the city's skyline (approximately fifteen minutes from the Orlando Convention Center.)

Challenge

The New American Home 2007 draws inspiration from a national trend: Homeowners are forsaking the suburbs to live downtown within walking distance of restaurants, parks and entertainment venues. The home's architectural design challenge is to achieve an urban international style home with a chic feel that will stand out, yet fit in with the surrounding historic homes.

Built in 1909, The Renewed American Home has been completely renovated and expanded. The 2,462-square-foot house showcases the latest technology available to homebuilders and homeowners, to enhance the livability of the home while preserving the integrity of the historic nature of the property.

Results

Incorporating smart products like Icynene®, The New American Home 2007 gives today's builders an up-close look at the future of home construction. By assuming two tasks (thermal insulation and air barrier), Icynene removes the need for labor-intensive sealing materials, saving the builder time and money while protecting homeowners from energy-robbing air leaks.

Icynene also helps The New American Home achieve certification as a "green" or environmentally friendly home under standards set forth by the Florida Green Building Coalition, an organization dedicated to eco-friendly construction practices. Adding a little green is easy when insulating with Icynene. The material is 100% water-blown and does not emit harmful gases in its cured form, whereas other insulation can continue to off-gas over time which compromises indoor air quality and diminishes the insulation's rated R-value. Icynene is guaranteed to last the life of the building, eliminating the need to re-install additional material in the future and thereby reducing the impact to the environment.

In The Renewed American Home, Icynene delivers more than comfort and energy efficiency. Applied to the underside of the roof deck, Icynene creates an unvented conditioned attic assembly for increased durability and added protection against severe storms. An unvented conditioned attic design minimizes the potential for wind — and the laterally-driven rainwater carried with it — to enter the attic space during severe weather conditions. By sealing the soffit vents, Icynene helps reduce the potential for moisture-related problems (like mold) in the home.

Builders of TNAH 2005 and 2006 also selected Icynene. Here's why:

"This is the first designated certified, green-built home in the whole [TNAH] program, and Icynene was a major part of that."

Alex Hannigan, builder of TNAH 2006

"We were delighted that Icynene was a team player with Goehring & Morgan on The New American Home 2005 project. Energy efficiency and indoor air quality are performance factors that are big issues to consider when deciding to use Icynene vs. the standard insulation material.

Icynene helped us achieve an ENERGY STAR® rating on The New American Home because of the efficiency of the home. We were recognized at the Southeast Builders Conference and given an Aurora Award for the ENERGY STAR® rating."

Kim Goehring, builder of TNAH 2005

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