HouseSmart Green Building, Remodeling & Renovation How Smart is your house? All houses are not designed or built the same. What happens behind the walls, below the floors and in the attic is every bit as important as the visible details we all tend to focus on. HouseSmart is our way of differentiating the homes we build and communicating some of the design trends and technologies that are available in a newly built or remodeled home.     Building Science Building Science is the study of the interaction between a home’s construction methods, its occupants and the environment in which the home is built. Did you know that coastal South Carolina is one of the most challenging regions in the country in which to build? In addition to hurricane and seismic considerations, we live in a very hot and humid climate. In such climates, it is critical for a home to keep heat and humidity out and to have the capacity to dry when it gets wet.  Closed, conditioned crawl spaces keep out humidity, condensation, mildew and mold. They also provide an environment for smaller, more energy efficient air conditioning systems. The benefits to you are lower monthly energy bills, improved air quality and more durable, mold free structural framing. Spray foam insulated, unvented roof lines provide a better air seal and insulation system in our hot/humid climate than an attic that is vented and traditionally insulated in the floor. Our attics are cooler and dryer, again providing a friendlier environment for smaller, more energy efficient air conditioning systems. The benefit to you is lower monthly energy bills and more usable storage space. A Drainage Plane with integrated flashings behind your siding is absolutely critical to allowing your house to survive the normal wet and dry cycles that a home in a hot/humid tropical climate goes through. Unfortunately, it is rarely installed nor specified.  The benefit to you is a more durable home with structural framing and wall sheathing that doesn’t rot. These are only a few of the qualities of building a home based on Building Science principals. The benefits of Building Science have a lot of overlap with Green Building. They include: Energy Savings Water Conservation Improved Durability High Indoor Air Quality Indoor Comfort