Mar 21 2013
During extensive renovation of an 1830s Greek Revival-style farm house in Clifton Park, N.Y., preserving historical design integrity while remaining committed to using green building products led builders to install JELD-WEN's MiraTEC® Treated Exterior Composite Trim.
Builders Paul and Joanne Coons chose to install MiraTEC Treated Exterior Trim on their 1830s Greek Revival-style farm house to maintain historical design integrity, while remaining committed to using green building products. Photo by Randall Perry Photography.
The project transformed the once dilapidated structure into a net-zero-plus energy efficient home, which earned GreenBuilder Magazine's 2012 Overall Grand Winner Green Home of the Year Award and also qualified for LEED Platinum and NAHB's NGBS Emerald level certifications.
According to the home owners and builders, Paul and Joanne Coons, they used more than 1,000 linear feet of MiraTEC trim (smooth surface) for window, door, column and water table trim; frieze, soffit and rake boards; as well as fascia and eaves on the 1,900-square-foot home.
"We reviewed several trim options, but we liked MiraTEC because it is a wood composite that doesn't contain oil or vinyl like PVC trim, and it is manufactured with less embodied energy than products like fiber cement, which also creates a lot of silica dust when it's cut," said Paul Coons, who is also a retired director of environmental health and safety from the New York State Office of Mental Health.
He added, "We used MiraTEC several years ago and know that it is a very consistent product. For this renovation, it worked well because it is available in a variety of widths and doesn't have the knots you can get with wood. It went up very easily. Plus, it is factory primed, which saved us a lot of time and labor."
Joanne Coons, an environmental science teacher at Shenendehowa High School East, added, "MiraTEC trim fit well with our priorities -- it is not only a green product but it also provides a nice, clean look that complements the home design. Overall, we also anticipate low maintenance and less frequent painting compared to wood."
Among the notable upgrades that helped convert the existing structure into an award-winning, net-zero-plus home were: triple-paned windows with exterior storms and interior sashes that slashed U-values approximately 50 percent; R-52, soy-based closed-cell foam wall insulation; standing-seam metal recycled roof with recycled rubber tire underlayment; reuse of existing building materials wherever possible; ground source heat pump; and 8.4 KW pole-mounted PV array with 40 200-watt panels. Surplus electricity was used to power the couples' two electric cars.
"It is very rewarding to be part of this remarkable project," said Peggie Bolan, vice president of sales, building products, for JELD-WEN, manufacturer of MiraTEC. "It reinforces MiraTEC's green attributes, as well as the performance characteristics that have made it a preferred choice among many home builders and remodelers for more than a decade."
As an engineered wood composite trim, MiraTEC trim serves as a functional, economical alternative to PVC, fiber cement, wood, OSB and hardboard. MiraTEC is also backed by a 50-year warranty that covers hail damage, delamination, decomposition due to fungal growth, splitting and cracking, excessive swelling and buckling, as well as damage from termites. No fiber cement, OSB, or fiber substrate/hardboard trim product available offers this level of protection. One side features a wood grain texture; the other side is a contemporary, smooth finish.
MiraTEC trim performs to the highest industry standard and is the first and only wood composite trim to earn an evaluation report (ESR-3043) from ICC Evaluation Service (ICC-ES). This means MiraTEC meets the strict requirements of ICC-ES Acceptance Criteria (AC424). Competitive trim products, like hardboard, cannot perform to those requirements.