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EcoTek Building System - vs - Summary May 3, 2011 Randolph D. Hedgebeth, Chief Architect, ATS, Inc. While the national rating programs (LEED, Built Green, Passive House, Energy Star, etc) have been good to start people thinking about making homes better, we feel that they are not going far enough in supplying homes that are net zero or near net zero homes, and that are healthy and comfortable as can be built. On the other hand The EcoTek System is already way past Building America's ultimate future objective of a 100% improvement. In fact it's a 300% improvement over the existing codes and we're making it better yet. We are able to achieve this by having a thicker wall than normal packed with BIBS insulation to an R-38 level. Because of the way we assemble the building frame we are able to have layers of thermal decoupling to achieve a true and uniform R-38 for the entire wall system. This also allows the walls to breath and makes for a much healthier building. With R-50 in the ceiling and a fully insulated underside the building is fully wrapped in insulation without any thermal weaknesses other than the doors and windows. Many high performance windows are now hampered and degraded by being installed in a wood framed structure. The framing around the window degrades the performance of the window. Extraordinary efforts and detailing has gone into how windows are installed in the EcoTek System so that they may perform up to their design capabilities. Structurally there is also little you can do beyond a 13 ft floor span without spending a lot more money on engineered wood products like Truss Joists. Even then you are limited and pay dearly. The EcoTek System uses this approach of separating the structural frame from the secondary framing that carries the finishes. This allows a great deal more flexibility and brings greater economy with it. Between the large wall cavity of the exterior walls and the flexibility of using lighter partition framing, plumbing and electrical installations are made much easier and accessible. Trim, cabinets and other items that you would think is easier with wood framing are no more difficult in light gage steel. In fact with straighter, plumb walls the tasks are made easier. Some of the tools are different but no more difficult to use. By using a thin skim coat of colored Lime plaster directly over the MgO wallboard several steps of finishing are eliminated and you have a superior. healthier finish to boot. The EcoTek System Starts with the light gage steel catalog which is many pages thick. If you can think of a profile it's probably in the catalog. In the size, gage and all the particulars you want. If it's not there they can easily make it. Simply using this wonderful material as a substitute for wood is selling steel short when the sky is the design limit. You can change the configuration of how a building goes together and achieve far more structural efficiency, hence lower costs. By configuring the profiles into our proprietary system the issue of steel's notorious thermal conductivity is easily dealt with to make a wonderful wall system that is super energy efficient and structurally super efficient. The design capabilities are endless as well. You are already in a steel system so integrating it with heavier steel components is easy. It's first important feature is its non-combustible nature. With a true non-combustible siding and/or wallboard like MgO and packed with BIBS fiberglass insulation it turns into a two hour fire rated system without anything extra or special. It's also super insulated and will dry itself from any moisture or water intrusion. Lime plaster or stucco with only enhance its fire rating. The sprinkler system is for the contents. With a metal shingle or raised seam metal roof system a brush fire or Oakland Hills fire won't cause any damage to the house itself. For the new Southern California brush fire ordinance MgO shutters should be installed to close off the windows and doors from fire entry. This would be a good thing in any such fire prone area. Steel Framed buildings and structures of any sort fair much better with earthquakes. They have a flexible nature that yields before it breaks. It's much lighter than wood even. Its Strength to Weight ratio is much more favorable. We capitalize on this with the EcoTek System. It's a fraction of the weight (mass) of other systems, including wood while retaining great strength and flexibility. With all the screws that hold the parts together even the parts that are not designed as structural will function so in extreme situations such as an earthquake. This has been found to be true in post analysis of the 1994 Northridge earthquake in California. Many concrete and wood structures failed catastrophically. An Industrial Park near the epicenter was of particular interest since there were no major failures, just minor damage. This is a Park with all steel framed industrial buildings of the red iron arch and light gage steel system so common in such buildings. Post analysis showed that even the sheet metal trim and gutters had functioned structurally during the earthquake. All were easily repaired and continue to be functional structures. Screws into light gage steel will not back out. They lock into the steel, unlike nails in wet wood, they hold forever. The EcoTek System is very similar in design and its constituent parts are so interconnected that in a seismic event even those parts not specifically designed to function in that manner will make their own major contributions to the safety and security of the structure. This is part of the redundancy built into the system unlike most other structural systems. Because of the low mass of the building we use screw piles at the corners to hold it down instead of large masses of concrete. These same structural features serve the EcoTek Structural System well when it comes to hurricanes. In Dade County, Hurricane Andrew of 1992 devastated wood framed, shingled and tile roofed houses, not one house with a metal roof was lost. Sometimes it was a lone metal roof house sitting amongst total devastation. We pay particular attention to even the aerodynamics of the roof shape when dealing with high wind locations. Means are used to foil the air flow over the roof preventing negative pressures from creating lift on the roof. MgO shutters would be of use here too since the surrounding houses may have tile roofs which become missiles in a hurricane as they are stripped from the roof not to mention the flying 2x4's from devastated wood framed houses. You have to protect yourself from the less informed. Finishes: The major shortcoming of wood framed construction is using the very same framing for the support of finishes. The structure is then required to follow the finishes whether it's needed or not. This gets costly which is why light gage steel is used almost universally now for larger commercial projects non-structural framing. That framing strictly used for the finishes alone. The EcoTek System uses this approach of separating the structural frame from the secondary framing that carries the finishes. This allows a great deal more flexibility and brings greater economy with it. Between the large wall cavity of the exterior walls and the flexibility of using lighter partition framing, plumbing and electrical installations are made much easier and accessible. Trim, cabinets and other items that you would think is easier with wood framing are no more difficult in light gage steel. In fact with straighter, plumb walls the tasks are made easier. Some of the tools are different but no more difficult to use. By using a thin skim coat of colored Lime plaster directly over the MgO wallboard several steps of finishing are eliminated and you have a superior. healthier finish to boot. Economics: One of the five initial goals of the design effort was to make the system cost effective. We have achieved this objective in many important ways. In any system one of the overriding cost factors is Life Cycle Costs. This has been largely overlooked in the past of cheap energy and an unbridled economic expansion. The idea of building past the mortgage was not on the list of criteria. As a result the wood framed building system has enjoyed a run of unchecked and unquestioned dominance. Issues of maintenance and the longevity of finishes were not a consideration. They were always subject to change. No one thought of the consequences down the road of the mold issue as the wood framing system rolled down the road of economic prosperity. "We can just tear it down and build a new one" was the mantra. We're in the process now of tearing down a lot of what we built and it's from that very attitude of ignoring the obvious. Mold has caught up with us and with a very large number of unoccupied and unheated houses in foreclosure there is a very large freeway multi house wreck in the fog now happening. On top of that, the new mandate for energy efficiency coming down, there is no where left to turn for this tired and flawed system. It's the end of the road. The EcoTek System is the answer to where we go from here. With its basic costs in the same range as a wood framed building of reasonable quality with so many other qualities well beyond the familiar, it is the wave of the future. Life Cycle Costs are often three to five times the original cost of construction depending on the life span and building type so it's certainly worth considering. Energy consumption is an increasing issue and will get much worse far sooner than most think. The EcoTek Building System is designed with very little energy consumption. In fact it is at such a low level that any solar means of creating its own energy for heating and cooling becomes "affordable" since a smaller system than normal is needed. We have designed a solar water heating system in the Building System itself as an option. Once in place there will never be a "heating" bill. GREEN: I haven't bothered to now bringing up the issue of GREEN. The wood framing system with all the stops pulled out for GREEN is so far short and off the mark as to be pitiful. The EcoTek system is the essence of GREEN. Furthermore it started where LEED stopped. Energy Conservation was the second issue behind Health. Energy Conservation is way down the list of importance in the LEED hierarchy of issues. The components chosen are chosen for their actual worthiness, health and efficiency. They also happen to be GREEN! The final results is a building beyond any LEED rating. On every point the EcoTek System out performs all others. |
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