Building America Project Renovates Dilapidated New Jersey House

September 2004

This cottage had been vacant for 15-20 years before it was renovated. The cottage after it was renovated according to the SEER model.

William Asdal, CGR, worked through a Building America research project conducted by the NAHB Research Center (NAHBRC), to rehabilitate an 1860s New Jersey property (which includes a house, a cottage, a barn, a shed, and a garage).

In late 2002 this 24-acre rural property in Lebanon, New Jersey, needed rehabilitation in the worst way. The buildings had been abandoned, the property used as a dumping ground. Asdal converted the five-bedroom, 4,000-ft² 1898 house into a bed and breakfast inn and the cottage into an innkeeper's residence. He planned to bring the houses up to basic energy efficiency standards, but the NAHBRC proposed to perform a gut rehab to maximize energy efficiency and comfort.

Building America funded the design, development, and testing of energy-saving systems for the cottage. Asdal paid for the construction, and incorporated many energy-smart systems in the bed and breakfast house. Some products were donated by manufacturers.

The old cottage had been vacant for 15 or 20 years. It needed a new roof and new flooring, wall and window repairs, a new coat of paint, and new appliances. In addition to these basic improvements, the NAHBRC installed standard vinyl double-pane windows; wall, attic, and floor insulation; new drywall and siding; basic propane-fueled furnace and water heater; and a standard air conditioning unit. Engineers replaced the original siding with house wrap and vinyl siding with foam insulation attached, and insulated the interior walls and attic floor with dense pack blown-in cellulose. To buffer the living spaces from the unconditioned basement, air sealing R-30 unfaced fiberglass batts were installed in the floor joist cavity. Solar collectors, which will put more power into the grid than the house uses, were installed on the south-facing roof.

For more information, visit HousingZone. For a detailed report and other housing information, go to the NAHBRC Web site.

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