JANE CARDILLOS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

EDMONTON

Les Wold gets a kick out of peoples’reaction to the house his company builtin the west Edmonton neighbourhoodof Crestwood.

“They come by on bikes, walking theirdogsandtheystopandtheycomplimentthe house,” says Wold, one of the own-ers of Effect Home Builders.

“They ask, ‘Is this a renovation?’ ”Indeed, the gracious two-storey, in-

spired by Craftsman-style dwellings ofthe1930s, fitsseamlessly into theravinecommunity where many of the houseswerebuiltmore thanhalfacenturyago.

With its wraparound covered veran-dah, inviting dormer windows and ex-teriorstuccocoloured thesoftgreenofa

forest glade, the home appears as oldasthetoweringevergreensthatshadeitsfront door.

Inside, the illusion of age continues: abed of coal glows softly in the parlour’scast iron gas fireplace; a graceful claw-foottubadornstheensuiteinthemasterbedroom.

Cherrywood floors gleam underfootlike vintage sherry, and sloped ceilings,stainedglasstransomsandmulti-panedwindows complete the aura of bygonecharm.

“We wanted something that fit thearea,” says Wold of the showhome thatopens today at 14504 Mackenzie Drive.“We wanted to add to the neighbour-hood.”

House designer Katherine Ball re-mained true to the early 20th-centurystyle, but also gave it a modern appeal.

“We wanted the open concept in thehouse, but we wanted to give it the old-fashioned look of the 1930s,” says Ball,pointing to the archway with stainedglasstransomthatdividestheliving/din-ing area.

“One room is open to another but di-vided off in colour scheme and in feel,but not divided off in conversation andsight lines.”

Theshaker-style interiordoorsaresol-id wood; the loft at the top of the stairsopens to a balcony.

“It’s traditionally called a shake bal-cony,” says Ball. “It’s where you wouldshake your quilts and get them aired.”

Every finishing detail was picked withcareful intent.

“I chose the pewter hardware and Ichose the doorknobs because they havea more rubbed and more antique look,”says Ball. “They’re pewter rather thanbrushed nickel because that would be alittle too bright looking, not as old look-ing.”

There is more to this house, however,than its abundant visual and architec-tural delights. The latest green technol-ogy gives the charming 1930s replicasuperior energy efficiency.

Think,yourgenteelgrannyonsteroids.Two solar panels on the roof provide

about 70 per cent of the home’s hot wa-terneedsandahighlyefficientboilersys-tem replaces a conventional furnace.

Dual flush toilets help conserve wa-ter, triple-paned windows lock in heatand in-floor radiant heat warms thebasement.

Ball positioned the living/dining areaonthesouthsideofthehousetotakead-vantage of passive solar heating. Thekitchen on the north side is shady and

cool, but opens onto the bright livingarea.

The mudroom off the side entrancealso serves a greater purpose. With itsslate floor and beadboard wainscoting,ithasthelookofatraditionalbackporch,but it protects the house from the ele-ments.

“They would call this an airlock, butin an old house we would call it a backporch and the back porch was verysmart,” Ball says. “It kept cold air fromgetting into the house.”

What boosts this dwelling into therealmofhyperenergyefficiency,though,is something visitors won’t even see.

From foundation to rafters, the exte-rior walls are made up of interlockingpolystyrene blocks filled with concrete.The combination gives the home extra-ordinary insulating values.

“It’snearlytwiceas insulatedasastan-dard two-by-six woodframe construc-tion,”saysWold.“Basicallythe(concreteform construction) has an R value of 23andtheRvalueofthewoodframewouldbe 13 or 14.”

That’s good news for homeownerslookingforrelieffromhighenergycosts,says Wold, who moved his family into aconcrete-form house a year ago.

“Our heating costs have been drasti-cally reduced from our previous home,”he says. “It has cut the heating nearly inhalf.”

Not only does the house stay warm inwinter, the concrete keeps it cool when

outdoor temperatures rise.“Thereisnoneedforairconditioning,”

Woldsays.“Itstayscooler inthesummerbecause of the thermal mass of the con-crete. It cools down at night and then itslowly releases that coolness during theday.”

Besidesenergyefficiency, the12-inch-thick concrete walls give the homes aunique design feature, says Wold.

“One way that you can tell that it’s aconcrete form house is because of thenice, deep window sills,” he says.

“Everybody notices them, people lovethem. You can sit plants on them, catslove to perch up there.”

Thehousescostabout10percentmoreto build than conventional homes, butthey’re worth it, says Wold.

“Youdefinitelysee thatvalueback,notonly in your reduced energy consump-tion but also in the comfort and thelongevity of the home. They’re built tolast centuries.”

It all makes for a new-age twist on thegrand old houses of yesteryear.

“One of the things I visualize is you’redrawing your bath in a clawfoot tub,”says Wold.

“You turn on these old-style taps andthe water you’re drawing is being heat-ed by the sun.

“It’s a beautiful combination.”

Modernmaterials,old-fashioned charm

Craftsman design helps polystyrene blocks, solar panels fit into neighbourhood

PHOTOS BY IAN JACKSON, THE JOURNAL

An energy-efficient home can still look beautiful, as with this house builtby Effect Home Builders at the corner of 145th Street and 98th Avenue.

Architectural details add ambience to rooms.

Plenty of windows allow light in this Craftsman-style home.

A claw-foot tub nods to the past, but much of the house’s water is heated by the sun.

NEW HOMES ■Comics / I9■ Puzzles / I11

I EDITOR: JANET VLIEG, 498-5687; jvlieg@thejournal.canwest.com EDMONTON JOURNAL SATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

■ The benefits of a concretehouse / I6

Homes Ava i lab l e Fo r

ImmediatePossession

A l l A reas

I6 EDMONTON JOURNALH O M E SSATURDAY, JUNE 7, 2008

JANE CARDILLOS p e c i a l t o Th e Jo u r n a l

EDMONTON

A concrete house is not only more en-ergy efficient, it’s safer and quieter thana conventionally built house, says aspokesperson for a company that man-ufacturesonetypeofinsulatingconcreteforms.

Doug Dyck of Plasti-Fab, the companythat provided the insulating concreteforms (ICF) that Effect Homes Buildersused in its Mackenzie Drive showhome,says a concrete house poses less of a firehazard than a conventionally builtdwelling.

The exterior walls of an ICF house aremade up of interlocking polystyreneblocksthatare thenfilledwithconcrete.Insidewallsaregenerallyfinishedindry-wall. Pretty much any finish, includingstucco,sidingorbrick,canbeusedonex-terior walls.

“With half-inch drywall, they’ve got athree-hour fire rating,” Dyck says. “Itwould take three hours for fire to actu-ally penetrate that wall.”

Dyck points to the fires last summer inEdmonton’s MacEwan neighbourhoodthat destroyed 18 homes and damaged76 others.

“If one of those houses had been ICF,it would have stopped the chain,” Dycksays.“Sofromaninsuranceperspective,it’s definitely much cheaper.”

Concrete homes are also phenomenalat deadening noise from the outsideworld.

Dyck says they have a sound trans-mission classification of 55, comparedto 32 for a conventionally builtdwelling.

That makes for a lot of peace and qui-et,saysEdKalis,directoroftechnicalser-vices and training for the Alberta ReadyMixed Concrete Association.

“If you had a truck parked outside andit blew its horn, you wouldn’t hear it inthe house,” says Kalis.

“If your neighbour is cutting the lawnyou won’t hear it. The only sound trans-

mission is through the windows.”Thehomesaresosturdytheycanwith-

stand severe batterings from the ele-ments, too, says Les Wold, one of theowners of Effect Home Builders.

Asidefromthewindows,thehomesaretornado resistant, he says.

“There’s vertical and horizontal rebarrunningallthroughouttheconcreteandit’sallonemonolithicstructure,soit’snotmoving.”

Kalis calls the homes environmentallyfriendly.

“Concreteisaverysustainableproduct,

a very low-impact product within theecosystem,” he says. “Because of the re-duction on the heating costs, for in-stance, you’re providing much less (car-bon dioxide) into the atmosphere.”

The homes, which have nearly twicethe insulating values as wood-frame

houses, are good for the planet in an-other way, says Wold.

“They’rebuilttolastcenturies,”hesays.“They’re there for the long term andthat’s an environmentally friendly com-ponent too, that once they’re built theylast.”

Ihavetopinchmyself—thedayhasar-rived. After so many false starts, thetillandsias are here.

Theyaresogorgeous;therearemany inthe order that I have never laid eyes on.The colours and shapes are unusual, re-ally not comparable to any other plants.

Theyare, infact,fromadifferentworld:the world of true tropical plants. To callthem lush is an understatement.

Theyare,withoutadoubt,themost in-triguingplants in theworld.Theydonotrequire soil or transplanting, but live ontheir hosts, without drawing nourish-ment from the trees to which they cling.Theirrootsareforstavingoffgravity, forwithoutrootstheywouldsurelyfall fromtheirpercheshighabovetheforest floor.Dropping to the earth would be suddendeath, as there is no light that can pen-etrate the massive canopy of foliageabove.

Tillandsias love light. They must have

dappledshadeinsummer,but itmustbestrong light for them to survive. North-ern exposure or eastern sunlight is fine,but south light in summer will causescorching to occur.

Allow tillandsias to grow outside in aprotected area; they love the great out-doors.

However, theymustbeprotectedfromfalling temperatures, as 12 C is about as

fardownastheycanhandle.Ontheoth-er hand, the temperature may rise to 40C and the tillandsias do not seem to betroubled that much in the heat.

Hang them on a wall, mount them onwood,placethemuponaplaque—theydo not care. They are definitely the eas-iest of plants to grow.

Look closely at them, as they are fullof surprises. As I was fastening the salestags onto them this evening, I noticedtiny littlebabytillandsiaspeciesclingingto thebodyofanotherunrelatedspeciesof tillandsia.

They will grow anywhere.They only need three things for suc-

cess: enough light, water and nutrientstostayalive.Allday,aspeopleweremov-ing in and out of the greenhouse, they

wereoverheardsaying,“They just liveonair. You don’t have to do anything tothem.”

This is just not true, however. It is apopularmisconception,and Iwouldliketo set the record straight.

Theydoneedwater, theydoneedlightand theydoneednutrition tokeeplook-ing great.

What they do not need is soil; they donotneed toeverbe transplantedorhavea bigger pot. They will be quite happystrung on a wire, hanging in a north- oreast-facing window.

Ifyouarelookingforthatperfectgifttogive the person who has everything,tillandsias are IT! They are availablehanging, mounted on driftwood, dis-played on wood plaques and evenperched on beach coral.

Theydomakethemostwonderfulpre-sentations, and all recipients are guar-anteed to be surprised. They are muchmore impressive than a tie or a pair ofsocks.

Check your nearest garden centre tosee if tillandsias are available. Becauseofwhere Iwork, Iknowthey’reavailableat Ellerslie Gift and Garden.

I f y o u w o u l d l i k e t o c o m m e n t o r a s ka q u e s t i o n a b o u t p l a n t s , fe e l f r e e t o

c o n t a c t m e a t m a r y. p ra z n i k @ h o t m a i l . c o m

MaryP

raznik

Concretewalls a solid choice for constructionInsulatingConcrete Forms arewarmer, quieter, safer, and longer-lasting than other conventional building materials

PHOTOS BY IAN JACKSON, THE JOURNAL

Cherrywood floors and multi-paned windows add an auraof bygone charm to this Crestwood home.

Gorgeous tillandsiamust beworld’smost intriguing plant‘Lush’ doesn’t properly describe this unusual tropical plant that requires no soil

SUPPLIED

Mounting tillandsias on driftwood gives a more natural setting.

“Tillandsias will growanywhere; on the wall, woodor even a plaque, and theyonly need light, air and

nutrients to stay alive.”

The kitchen on the north side is shady and cool.

Sloped ceilings add to the vintage look of this gracious two-storey.

4 5 0 • 1 3 9 9

Style• Beautiful craftsman style homein Crestwood neighbourhood• Spectacular location - near rivervalley and downtown• Handcrafted shaker cabinets• Open stinger staircase• Claw foot tub• Mature trees with ravine view

Efficiency•Advancedwall constructionusing Plasti-FabAdvantageInsulating Concrete Forms (ICF)• Solar panels• Triple-panedwindows• Maintenance freeAZEK trim onexterior• Efficient boiler heating system• Dual flush toilets• Rain barrels• R-2000 certified

Marty Smayda

Building refined,energy efficient homes

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Features Include:

For Details Visit:

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