A $4 million showcase relies on plastics behind the scenes

Orlando, Fla. — Some of the best building products on the market went into the nation's newest showcase for the well-appointed, high-tech, energy-efficient home, unveiled Jan. 8 ahead of the International Builders' Show.

Visitors can't see the major plastic contributions, but they are just behind the Tuscan-style canyon stone facade of the 2018 model of the New American Home in the Bella Collina golf community just outside Orlando in Montverde.

Constructed by Legacy Custom Built Homes for the National Association of Home Builders, which puts on IBS, the five-bedroom residence has 6,600 square feet of air-conditioned living space and about 10,000 square feet under its roof. One of the goals was to take an open floor plan and make it airier. The great room opens to the dining room, which opens to the kitchen, and these three spaces "daisy chain" into the master bedroom, a game room and tiered backyard, said Greg Hyatt, president of Hyatt Design.

"When I design houses, I don't have a lot of halls. One room transitions to the next. It's very simple. It makes sense. There are passage ways but the spaces are linked so the transition throughout the house is comfortable," Hyatt said. "This house has one hall if you could call it that. It's more of a mudroom."

The house feels warm and inviting with a lot of creams and grays in upholstery and carpeting and shimmers of gold and silver in art works, tile accents, furniture and even metallic-looking porcelain wall coverings in one of the five full bathrooms and half bath, courtesy of decorator Kate Clarke of Legacy Design. It also has three stone-enclosed natural gas fireplaces.

The property is 30 feet higher at the street than the rear, which overlooks Lake Apopka, so the builders brought in tons of dirt to level off parts of the yard and create the tiers. The first level has the pool, a hot tub and sitting areas, including one that flows into the master bedroom. The green spaces by the pool have a synthetic turf.

"You don't want to lug a lawn mower up different tiers. This will be low maintenance and your dogs can use it. It's a great product," said Legacy President Michael Rowen said.

The use of other plastic building materials isn't so obvious but it's there. What lies beneath?

For starters, there's Zip System sheathing by Huber Engineered Woods LLC. Unlike oriented strand board, these wood panels have a protective coating, or "tough, phenolic resin-impregnated overlay," that doubles as a water-resistant barrier and eliminates the need for a building wrap.

"This is one step. It doesn't take another subcontractor to set up scaffolds and apply another product over an existing product," Rowen said, pointing out the faster installation.

Panel seams are covered with an acrylic Zip system tape and the building is ready for a wide range of claddings to finish the exterior.

Two other plastic-related products that Rowen likes are AdvanTech Subfloor Adhesive, which acts like a foamy glue and prevents floor creaks, and AeroBarrier, which is a synthetic sealant that hit the market last year from Centerville, Ohio-based Aeroseal. AeroBarrier builds on technology developed 20 years ago by the U.S. Department of Energy to fill gaps as slight as a human hair up to a half-inch wide.

"It's really an incredible product that seals off all of the small gaps that seem impossible to get in the normal construction process," Rowen said.

AeroBarrier is sprayed in a room pressurized with an atomization system. The sealant particles travel through the air and fill any openings.

"It acts like a clotting agent. It attacks the holes and builds up a layer to clog them," Rowen said. "It took our energy efficiency off the charts."

This year's version of the New American Home scored 45 on the Home Energy Rating System (HERS) Index, which means it is about 36 percent more energy efficient than the average new home. Drew Smith, a green building consultant with Two Trails Inc. in Parrish, Fla., monitored construction from the ground up to make sure all products used would contribute to the home's energy efficiency.

"The pre-drywall inspection was the most stringent," Smith said. "We're looking at insulation, caulking, sealants — all of the behind-the-wall things — and we're checking moisture content, framing materials, subflooring and all that. We're trying to make sure what gets covered up has an extra third-party look at it to meet the National Green Building Standard."

The standard promotes construction of green buildings with a focus on site design, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, and building operations and maintenance. To that end, the house has only LED lighting inside and out, Energy Star-rated appliances, low-flow faucets and toilets, cross-linked polyethylene Evopex pipes by SharkBite Plumbing Solutions, and open-cell spray foam by Demilec Inc. sealing the attic.

Rowen credits another product, RedGuard, which is an elastomeric membrane, with preventing cracks in a 5-foot-by-10-foot porcelain tile that is only a ¼-inch-thick in the great room floor.

"It's the last layer of protection underneath one of the largest tiles made," Rowen said.

In addition, a 40-foot, motorized PVC-coated fiberglass mesh Phantom Screen separates the great room and pool area, blurring the line between indoor and outdoor spaces with the touch of a button.

The home also is net-zero ready, which means with some solar panels on the vented Boral concrete roof, which mimics slate, it can generate all or most of the energy it uses.

And, the New American Home has a dog-washing station in the garage, which has a traditional ceiling to conceal the door-opener system. The house is expected to sell for more than $4 million.