
DATE: Saturday, November 29, 1997           TAG: 9711260411

SECTION: REAL ESTATE WEEKLY      PAGE: 10   EDITION: FINAL 

COLUMN: OUTER BANKS 

SOURCE: Chris Kidder 

                                            LENGTH:  124 lines

COLD STEEL IS GOOD FOR HEATING

On autumn nights, when heat pumps hum in anticipation of a northern chill, some folks may dream of sugar plums and white Christmases. Others have nightmares about winter winds whistling through drafty houses - and heating bills that bear bad tidings of energy inefficiency.

When Fred and Fran Angelilli move into their new Southern Shores home next year, they won't be worrying about keeping warm. The exterior walls of the Angelillis' house are built with polystyrene forms filled with concrete, the most energy-efficient, above-ground form of residential construction on the market.

The Angelillis chose foam-filled concrete construction for its ability to withstand coastal weather hazards. (The patented Polysteel building system can withstand hurricane-force winds up to 200 mph.) Polysteel costs 7-10 percent more than conventional residential construction, a price the Angelillis thought reasonable for the added security.

But when the Pennsylvania couple learned that the additional cost would be amortized with savings from their heating and cooling bills in just a few years, they were thrilled.

The Angelillis' Polysteel house will qualify for North Carolina Power's Energy Saver Plus program. The program, a joint effort of the North Carolina Utilities Commission and the N.C. Power to reduce energy consumption, gives qualifying homes a 5 percent break on monthly electric bills.

To qualify for the conservation discount, the Angelillis' house needed a 12 SEER/7.8HSPF heat pump system installed by a North Carolina Power-certified ``Comfort Assured'' dealer who has been trained to design and install energy efficient systems.

All HVAC duct work in the house must be permanently sealed and pass air-leakage tests conducted by the power company.

Glass area was limited to 15 percent of the heated floor area and windows had to be double-pane.

The Polysteel walls earn an R-value in excess of 30; the Energy Saver Plus program requires walls to be at least R-15. Requirements for floors (R19) and ceiling (R30) were met with the addition of fiberglass batts.

The North Carolina Energy Saver Plus program also requires attic ventilation, vapor barriers and sealants around windows, doors and other areas prone to air leakage.

Virginia Power also offers an Energy Saver Plus program but its requirements and consumer benefits are different. The Virginia pilot program, which included features like waste management and lighting restrictions and offered a flat $10 monthly rebate, ends in January, says Terry Cole, senior energy consultant for both power companies at the corporate offices in Richmond.

The Angelillis' house far exceeds North Carolina's Energy Saver Plus requirements, says Pam Pekrun, the company's Outer Banks energy efficiency representative. Their electric bills will be ``tremendously low,'' she says. ``It won't take much to heat that house.''

In addition to required Energy Saver Plus inspections and a duct blaster test, Pekrun says she'll do air infiltration testing when the house is finished to gather data for comparison with conventional construction.

Decreased air infiltration plays an important role in the energy efficiency of the house, says Doug Wakeley, vice president of R.A. Hoy Heating and Air Conditioning in Kitty Hawk.

Wakeley is supervising HVAC work on the Polysteel house. Like all the other subcontractors working on this job, it's his first experience with this type of residential construction.

When designing an HVAC system on the Outer Banks, says Wakeley, he's most concerned with keeping the structure warm in winter. Heated air rises and actively seeks to escape the building envelope, usually through attic and roof where up to 60 percent of all air leakage occurs.

Cold air from outdoors rushes in to fill the void, usually unsealed electrical outlets, around plumbing fixtures, door frames and window casings and other holes or cracks commonly found in frame construction.

This exchange of air can create a strong draft capable of moving curtains and blowing out candles. The more outside air that gets in, the more work a heating system must do.

Cooling a house is less problematic. Cool air is less active, preferring to lie low rather than make a mad dash for the outdoors. Instead of hot air being drawn inside to replace cooled air, conditioned air is more often warmed by radiant heat (sun shining through windows and on the roof, for example).

While he generally assumes that an efficient environment for heating will work even better for cooling, the Polysteel house had to be looked at ``the other way around,'' says Wakeley, because its heating efficiency was greater than its cooling efficiency.

Polysteel's interlocking foam blocks eliminate the cracks normally found in conventional exterior wall sheathing. ``This house is a lot tighter than a stick-built house,'' says Wakeley. He found that Polysteel wall R-values (exceeding 30) decreased heating requirements for the house by 10,000 BTUs per hour and cooling requirements by 3,000 BTUs.

Even so, Polysteel outperformed wood framing enough to allow Wakeley to install a smaller heat pump system, saving the Angelillis about $1,100 up-front.

The Polysteel house is now in its thirteenth week of construction and is running a couple weeks behind schedule. When framing was finished, Ralph Woodard, the Angelillis' general contractor, needed his electrical, plumbing and HVAC contractors on the job immediately.

Scheduling conflicts caused delays. Almost every subcontractor at this point in the project is dependent on other subs to complete their work on time.

The electrician can't finish wiring until the HVAC system is roughed in; insulation can't be done until the plumber and electrician have finished running their pipes and wires. Sheet rock (also called dry wall) can't be hung until work inside the walls is complete.

Insulation, slated to begin on Nov. 7, was just getting under way this week. It will be a quick job because the most time-consuming part of most insulation jobs - hanging insulation in exterior walls - has been eliminated.

In addition to the fiberglass batts required in the floor and ceiling, Woodard is using R-11 fiberglass insulation as a sound barrier in walls between the master bedroom, master bath and the great room. MEMO: This is the fifth in a series of articles about the construction

of Fred and Fran Angelilli's Polysteel house in Southern Shores, N.C.

Next week, we'll look at how Polysteel's patented system facilitates

conventional exterior siding installation. ILLUSTRATION: FOR MORE INFO

About N.C. Power Energy Saver Plus: Call Pam Pekrun at 473-4150.

The Polysteel house: Construction of the Angelillis' house in

Southern Shores is being covered in an on-going series in the Real

Estate Weekly section.

General contractor for the job is Ralph Woodard, Woodard

Construction, Kitty Hawk, 261-1962; the Polysteel building system

was supplied by Tidewater Polysteel, 757-588-5570.

R-values are measures of heat conductivity (or heat resistance)

of materials. The higher the R-value, the better your efficiency. KEYWORDS: SERIES