Can This Home Be Greened? Simply Grand

Enlarge Image Image Gallery The North Carolina brick ranch with mature boxwoods and trees gets a facelift with a welcoming yellow door, limestone marker in the yard, and energy-efficient windows. Stephen Cannoy

When Wanda Urbanska, host of the nationally syndicated public television series Simple Living with Wanda Urbanska, called to see if I could help “greenovate” her home, I said, “Sure.” Wanda had just purchased an “Anywhere, USA” 1956 brick ranch house in Mount Airy, North Carolina. Recently remodeled, the home had a new (if uninspired) kitchen, new hardwood floors and a fresh coat of paint. An east-facing sunroom had low-quality windows, which I knew would let in heat during summer and cold in winter. 

Simple Living is a fascinating series about enjoying life more fully, which naturally includes eco-friendly tips. Wanda wanted to use her home’s retrofit as an example of how to make a conventional house more energy-efficient and healthy. She was committed to buying as many materials as possible from local suppliers.

Natural Home editor-in-chief Robyn Griggs Lawrence joined me at Wanda’s house to help determine likely and logical steps in greening the home. For me, the energy conservation retrofit was Priority No. 1. Lawrence focused on eco-decorating and finishes.

Once her eco-remodel was complete, Wanda furnished her home with finds from local consignment, thrift and used furniture stores. She also added Magnolia Lane’s hemp window treatments in the living and dining areas and hemp bedding in the bedrooms. “My house is transformed,” she says. “I now live in a green home, a healing environment. I’ve never been happier with a house.”

PRIORITY 1: Improve Energy Efficiency

Problems: The biggest problem was an attic stairway that provided a perfect thermal chimney to draft heat up and out through
the uninsulated rafters and attic vents. In addition, poorly made, double-glazed windows had about ¼ inch of space between the glass panes; glass should have a ½-inch air space to reduce heat loss.

Solutions: In the attic, we sprayed closed-cell polyurethane insulation on the rafters and sheathing to keep heat from pouring out through the roof. (A bonus was that NCFI Polyurethanes, an Energy Star partner and U.S. Green Building Council member, manufactures its premium spray foam product in Mount Airy.) Insulating the rafters also helped mitigate heat loss through recessed can lights built into the ceiling below. These recessed cans act like holes in a bucket, allowing all the heat to rise through the ceiling in winter and pulling heat from the attic into the living space in summer. Wanda also installed new, Energy Star, double-pane, low-E windows manufactured by Norandex throughout the house.

Cost: 34 new windows: $10,000 installed. Attic insulation: $10,000 installed.

PRIORITY 2: Revamp the Bathroom

Problems: The main bathroom’s Pepto-Bismol-pink décor, dated cabinet and awkward configuration gave away the home’s age. Wanda said it was always cold.