340 Emma Rd

We bought this farmhouse and surrounding land to create our Green Path Commons eco-cluster development. Built in 1915, it originally had the kitchen in the basement so that food would keep better. Not only did we relocate the new kitchen upstairs with great views of the grounds that the house used to preside over, we updated and augmented the house so that it now has four bedrooms including a master suite, eat-in kitchen, den, and 3 full baths. We determined that it was not cost effective to completely gut and do a total green retrofitting of the house insulation. However, we carefully insulted the attic to R-50, sealed the floor with 2 inches of closed cell foam insulation, and insulated all accessible wall cavities with R-15 Batts. For our clients and for Green Building generally it’s important to balance cost and efficiency;  “Green” must win in the marketplace not just in philosophy.  We added a 2.3 kW solar array to take advantage of good solar exposure.