New American Home showcases how plastics support emerald green status

Henderson, Nev. — This year's model of the New American Home — a 7,722-square-foot angular monolith — was built in harmony with the hills outside the Las Vegas strip and in pursuit of reaching the highest standards for energy efficiency.

And that it did, thanks to plastics building products behind the walls of the one-story dwelling listed at $10.8 million with a sale pending.

The 41st annual showcase of best building practices and products was constructed by the National Association of Home Builders ahead of its major event, the International Builders' Show (IBS) held Feb. 27-29 at the Las Vegas Convention Center.

The five-bedroom, 5½-bathroom dwelling reached emerald certification based on the National Green Building Standard, which requires high performance in the areas of lot design and development, resource efficiency, water efficiency, energy efficiency, indoor environmental quality, and building operation and maintenance.

"I'm inspired by the level of performance. Last year, we certified 88,000 homes to National Green Building Standards and less than 1 percent of those achieved emerald. This is one of the highest-performing homes to the rigorous standard. It's able to have beautiful light coming in and still be incredibly energy-efficient and water-efficient because of the plants chosen and fixtures," according to Michelle Foster, vice president of sustainability for the NAHB's Home Innovation Research Labs.

Foster talked about the house, which is on a lot restricted to one story so it doesn't block any skyline views of neighbors living on the hillside of the gated community of Askaya in Henderson, at a media preview event on Feb. 26.

"Not only is this a home that will cost less to operate despite the fact it is quite a large house because it's so energy-efficient [but also] it has wellness aspects," Foster said, pointing to the selection of materials without pollutants, good ventilation and access to the trails outside going to recreational facilities.

The New American Home also meets certifications from Energy Star and the Department of Energy's Zero Energy Ready Home Program, which means the house is so energy-efficient that a renewable energy system could offset most or all of the annual energy use.

It is equipped with 84 XT-brand solar panels from Solaria Corp.

Designed by Sun West Custom Homes LLC, the New American Home is clad in a StoneWorks-brand panel product by Cornerstone Building Brands described as modern castle stone (Beardsley Panel Grezzo). The building products manufacturer said the stone veneer panels enhance the home's eco-friendliness and aesthetic appeal by using locally sourced materials for its front, back, side and interior elevations.

Cary, N.C.-based Cornerstone also manufactures vinyl siding, windows and doors. It ranks as the as the second-largest extruder in North America with related pipe, profile and tubing sales of $4.42 billion.

While plastic building products weren't installed for any exterior applications, some were used behind the ceilings and walls of the sprawling New American Home to achieve the green building standards. These products include Tamlyn wrap, a composite of nonwoven polypropylene and film polyethylene for a water resistive barrier; Fi-Foil multilayer reflective insulation with open-cell spray foam; and AeroBarrier-brand envelope sealant.

"We foamed the lids of the entire build," Sun West Superintendent Mark Schlachter said in a video of the third phase of construction of the Fi-Foil system.

The system provides R-value and is promoted as reducing 95 percent of radiant heat transfer across wall and ceiling systems, which boosts thermal performance and comfort while lightening the load on HVAC systems. The multilayer reflective insulation is used with spray foam to gain flexibility for last-minute wiring changes.

New American Home builders used the Hy-Fi hybrid insulation system, which combines a radiant barrier with an additional layer of fiberglass scrim for conductive heat resistance on frame walls and ceilings to lower Home Energy Rating Scores (HERS). The house has a -45 HERS, Foster said.

The Hy-Fi product, which is installed on the inside of the studs on the inside of the home, helps in a couple ways, Drew Smith, chief operating officer of Two Trails Inc., a sustainable building construction firm, said in a video about the 10-month construction process.

"That vapor barrier and air pocket now develops that same R-value as if you had spray-foamed the entire wall cavity," Smith said. "From a builder's standpoint, it saves a lot of money on the cost of spray foam insulation and achieves the same R-value and probably doing it in about 33 percent less time."

The builders estimate the system used 3½ to 4 inches of foam spray instead of 5½ inches.

"It's a win-win," Smith said. "The builder gets the same R-value. The insulation company is still doing a good job with a good insulation, and we're saving the planet by not filling the landfill with a lot of open-cell foam scraps and waste."

The builders used a unique system of polypropylene waterproofing and floor-heating products from Schluter Systems Ltd. in the primary bedroom and bathroom.

The New American Home sits on 0.7 acres high up on the hillside. The house features a four-car garage; all-glass entry; lots of floor-to-ceiling glass doors; a "casita," or guest house; a glass-enclosed wine room; an indoor-outdoor wet bar adjacent to the kitchen; and windows in closets for natural light.

"This site has a stunning view that's not just like 180 degrees out the back, but like 280 degrees, so it was a perfect palette to start a new design," Sun West Manager Daniel Coletti said in the video.

He describes the design as an angular monolith.

"Everywhere in the house you see this similar angle happening. I think it's fun and playful and unique. You don't see it too frequently," Coletti said.

IBS attendees who took a shuttle to see the New American Home may have been surprised the pool and adjacent spa take up little room for a multimillion-dollar custom home. That's because water as a design element had been limited by a recent local drought-abatement ordinance to no more than 600 square feet of surface area per home for pools, spas and hot tubs.

"This one is 599.9 square feet," Coletti said at the media preview. "That mandate came down about 18 months ago. For a property here, it's not a big problem. But many of our clients put two lots together and they still have the 600-square-foot requirement. Pool contractors now have a limit on every pool size."

Coletti will face the limitation again soon when his company starts to build the 42nd New American Home.