Homes are selling at The Highlands!

Langley Builders has sold two homes during the week of April 15 – 20, 2012  at The Highlands! We have one home left in our current inventory, the Peregrine on Lot 21 with vaulted ceilings in the great room and a limited view of Puget Sound.

Langley Builders will start construction in the next four weeks on another Robin floor plan located on Lot 2.  We are also designing a new floor plan that will have three bedrooms and will be built on Lot 1.  Elevation and floor plans will be available on this website over the next couple weeks.

Whether you hire an Architect and Builder or find your dream home among the floor plans available on our website; there are a variety of vacant lots still available for your dream home.  Watch our website or call 360 221-1026 for more information.

Langley Builders has designed another floor plan, the Sandpiper that will be available for viewing on this website in early May 2012.  These home will be available on a “pre-sale” basis only.

New Homes are less expensive to maintain

The National Association of Home Builders publishes a blog entitled Eye on Housing.  A recent post by Robert Dietz states: “April is new homes month. And one of the virtues of a newly constructed home is the savings that come from reduced energy and maintenance expenses.

Data from the 2009 American Housing Survey (AHS) offer proof. The AHS classifies new construction as homes no more than four years old.

For example, for routine maintenance expenses, 26% of all homeowners spent $100 or more a month on various upkeep costs. However, only 11% of owners of newly constructed homes spent this amount. In fact, 73% of new homeowners spent less than $25 a month on routine maintenance costs.”  Click here to read the full article.

In addition to being the first Low Impact Development on Whidbey Island, The Highlands is a Built Green® Community.  Built Green® is an all-encompassing approach to home building, starting with how we treat the land we are building on. With minimal site disruption, we are less likely to develop drainage problems, and more natural landscapes will require less care. More careful use of raw materials, and more engineered uses result in less forest destruction per home. Designing the building envelope to be tighter and better insulated keeps heating and cooling costs low, and helps us control interior air quality.  The Highlands provides all this and a connection to a warm, energetic and involved community  – Langley, WA!

The Highlands have a number of lots available with prices starting at $99,ooo.  The Highlands will work with any architect and builder you choose.  We encourage you and your architect to build a Built Green® house.  The elevations of any house plan must be approved by The Highland Design Review Committee.

Langley Builders currently has two homes available for sale at The Highlands:  The Finch on Lot 6,  Built Green® 3 star and The Peregrine on Lot 20, Built Green® 4 star. For more information on theses homes, click the For Sale tab above.

Slide show for the NEW Peregrine House

The Peregrine houses are finished and look great!  We made a slide show of photographs to give you an idea of the spaciousness and warmth of these homes.  Watch the video – Read our blog that talks about the construction of these homes – Then come see them in person.  We would enjoy showing you the quality and energy efficiency of these homes.

Open House/Grand Opening

1056 Village Loop

Open House/Grand Opening

December 3 and 4, 2011

1:00PM to 4:00PM

Join us for a friendly visit and a cup of hot cider.

 The Peregrine homes located on Lot 20, 1056 Village Loop and Lot 21, 1050 Village Loop are now finished – including the landscaping!  We have furnished the home on Lot 21, 1050 Village Loop, as a model home which includes a refrigerator and a front-loading washer with dryer.

The comfort of the BiosmartTM Infrared heating technology is immediately noticeable and the energy savings will be noticed for years to come. The attention to detail and the finish work is outstanding.

We will have special financing available for these two models through the end of December.  Copies of the details for this special financing are available at the Model Home at 1050 Village Loop.  As an additional incentive, Langley Builders is offering the refrigerator, washer and dryer included in the price on Lot 21, 1050 Village Loop for $349,500.00 and on Lot 20, 1056 Village Loop for $334,900.00 until December 31, 2011.

Final energy testing

The Peregrine on Lot 20 attractively landscaped.

WE PASSED OUR FINAL ENERGY TEST WITH FLYING COLORS!

There is a lot of technical information contained in this blog.  Please take some time to read and familiarize yourself with the terminology and the requirements.

The blower door test determines how well the building is sealed.  This test is a new requirement in the Washington State Energy Code.  All new homes in Washington State must pass this test.  The minimum standard to pass is measured at 0.00030 Specific Leakage Area (SLA).  Here are the results for Lot 20 Duct Testing Calculator and for Lot 21 Duct Testing Calculator. They are identical:  SLA = 0.00013.  This indicates that our homes, the Peregrine floor plans are .5666% better than the standard which adds to your comfort, lowers your energy usage and saves you money!

This plus a 4 Star Built Green rating is why this house is a perfect investment!

Robert Stockmann of Pinnacle Inspections, who performed the tests, adds: “Here are some useful links…it’s a long explanation at times but the old axiom “Build it Tight & Ventilate it Right” equates to superior indoor air comfort and increased energy savings for the homeowners.  No matter how well or how much insulation you have in a home, it doesn’t matter one bit if the house is “ leaky”.  Once air is allowed to infiltrate the wall, floor and ceiling cavities of a home in an uncontrolled manner, it basically renders the insulation useless, produces uncomfortable indoor climates, increases energy consumption for heating and/or cooling AND it can cause numerous other issues, such as interior moisture condensation issues.  When the homes reach a specified air infiltration rate, then mechanical ventilation is required to produce necessary air exchanges within the building.  This is why the HRV is an excellent choice to provide a good balanced exchange of bad indoor air and fresh outdoor air.”  We have installed the Panasonic ERV  to maintain the indoor air quality in the Peregrine homes.

http://www.greenbuildingadvisor.com/blogs/dept/musings/blower-door-basics

http://www.pct.edu/wtc/docs/articles/Blower-Door-FINAL.pdf

http://www.buildingenergysolutions.com/pdfs/bdtest.pdf

Close to Completion-The Finishes

Close to completion–The finishes …
This is the phase where of all the planning, preparation and attention to detail from the early stages of construction start to show.  This is the FRUITION: Where form and function are evident and good planning and execution are on display.  Now is the metamorphosis from a raw “box of construction” to a livable house.

Please join us during the final stages of completion.

Finishes being installed: cabinets, flooring and lighting

Insulation inspection and dry-wall installation

The insulation inspection by the city building inspector and our independent inspector\verifier was completed and we passed without any issues or repairs or re-inspections necessary.  Now the process of dry-wall cover is in progress which includes proper nailing and screw patterns and the application of special corner treatments such as rounded or square corners on passage-ways, windows and alcoves. The City of Langley is one of the few places left that do a nailing\screw pattern inspection on dry wall.  Once all the dry wall is in place the floors are cleaned and covered with kraft paper prior to finish application which is both dusty and wet . Dust & moisture control procedures are paramount and must be adhered to strictly.  THIS IS WHERE THE INTERIOR OF THE HOME STARTS TO BE DEFINED.

Insulation: FLOORS, WALLS, CEILINGS and AIR BARRIERS

INSULATION – FLOORS, WALLS, CEILINGS and AIR BARRIERS

The areas between the floor joists are filled with batt insulation and the entire subfloor area is covered with a radiant air barrier.  This radiant air barrier provides protection from air wash which can reduce the effectiveness of the insulation. The radiant barrier also reflects any radiant heat back into the warm floor insulated area preventing heat loss to the cooler earth at the bottom of the crawl space.

Crawl space showing plumbing and air barrier

The same installation process applies to the walls and ceilings.   All insulation and barriers exceed WA State building code for this area.

Wall and Ceiling insulation

We are now ready for 3rd party independent verification of application and R-value prior to the installation of the sheet-rock.

Summertime events on Whidbey Island

Plan a visit to The Highlands on Whidbey Island to view our progress on the new Peregrine homes and visit our model home at 283 Laurel Loop – just follow the signs!

Add some fun to your weekend by attending a nearby event.    There is always something going on in Island County!   Events on Whidbey Island this weekend, August 6th and 7th have an outdoor theme:

Check out the Island Shakespeare Festival at the Chinook Land starting at 4PM.

Listen to the Whidbey Island Music Festival Program III,  Saturday and/or  Sunday.  Check website for locations.

Listen to Chamber music in the lovely Meerkerk Gardens Sunday, noon to 3PM.

A visit to Whidbey Island August 13th or 14th could include a drive to Greenbank and/or Coupeville.  The 13th Annual Highland Games are at the Greenbank Farm in Greenbank and the 48th Coupeville Arts and Craft Festival is in Coupeville, of course!  Both offer fun and food with spectacular scenery!

There is always the lively and lovely-to-look-at Bayview Farmers Market every Saturday until October.

Click the link to find a list of the fun and interesting events on Whidbey Island.

Heating and Ventilation

Heating and ventilation in the Peregrine models at The Highlands.

The first photo below shows the two BioSmart® Therapeutic Ceramic Far Infrared In-wall Heaters and the Panasonic ERV, energy recovery ventilation installed in the Greatroom.   The Panasonic ERV is the black box in the middle and the two heaters are to the left and right of the ERV.  The WhisperComfort energy recovery ventilating fan provides indoor air quality with a balance of supply and exhaust air.  These systems work together to provide an integrated, therapeutic heating and indoor air quality system for maximum comfort and energy savings.

The second photo shows how we sealed all wall, floor and ceiling penetrations. All of this specialty sealing is in preparation for the final installation of insulation and radiant barriers.