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Although not every homebuyer has the budget to achieve the Platinum LEED-H certification, meeting some reasonable green goals for a home might be more  |
A completed modular home. Photo courtesy of Modular Homes, Inc.
| readily accomplished by going modular. Where the modules that comprise the finished home must be transported on flatbed trucks from factory to site and craned into place, they must be built sturdy to survive the handling. This means, among other things, the use of 2x6s for framing, rather than the 2x4s used in most site-built homes. What happens with the extra two inches? “It’s filled with additional insulation,” answers Deputy Director for the Modular Building Systems Association (MSBA) Chad Harvey says. That extra insulation contributes to higher energy efficiency. According to Harvey, there are countless nuanced factory construction techniques that result in a greener product, from tightly sealed outlets (of which there are many in any given home) to the extensive material
A completed modular home. Photo courtesy of Modular Homes, Inc.
| | recycling program employed by most modular factories.
Like traditional site-built green homes, green modular builders rely on educated subcontractors who understand the green industry. This can be a particular challenge to modular builders, who are often shipping the home from one state to another, sometimes to an unfamiliar area. “It’s not easy to find subcontractors who understand Energy Star and green building,” says Cooper. Resources like the NAHB and good old-fashioned word-of-mouth networking help the builder assemble the right team to complete a green project.
Site and Systems-Built Homes: The Best of Both Worlds
One inaccurate criticism of modular homes paints them as “cookie-cutter” or generic. Though this perception may be attributed to the confusion between the mobile home and the modular home, nothing could be farther from the truth. “People still have this image of a double-wide mobile home when you say modular,” says Harvey. In reality, the modular home industry allows for more customization than ever before. Higher-end modular homes, like many of the ones MHI are responsible for, are being built through a happy marriage of systems-built and site-built techniques. “We call it value engineering,” says Cooper. The phrase refers to a practice of assembling as much of the home as possible within the factory and then completing whatever is left on-site. Collaborations among the architect, builder and homebuyer can result in a floor plan that places challenges on the manufacturer, who can only adjust their factory building methods so much to stay profitable. To overcome these obstacles, the mostly constructed modules leave room for on-site completion of, say, a 30-foot great room that calls for post and beam spanning.
There will always be site work on a modular project, whether it’s adding the garage (a very common site-built component to the modular home), attaching siding or completing any of the myriad finishing pieces needed before the home is ready to be moved into. The increased flexibility of manufacturers and the marriage of construction techniques by builders have opened the door to customization options within the modular home industry that can only further drive homebuyers toward this attractive—and green—solution.
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Text by Benjamin Hardy
© 2008 BobVila.com
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